Crushing stereotypes! Kerala tops with 86% in women going to Haj without ‘Mehran’

Chennai, Apr 20: India is furthering in social equality with popular consciousness. The religious obligations which are exploitative in nature are also eliminating from society with social consensus. As per the recently released government data presented astonishing truths. As per this data, 86% of Muslim women who will travel from India to Saudi Arabia for the Haj pilgrimage without a male companion (mehram ) this year are from Kerala.

Haj is a holy place for every muslim. This year 2,340 Muslim women going to Haj, out of this, 2,011 are from a southern state. More women have applied for haj from Kerala, this is more than the male applicant. To round up, there are more than 11, 000 pilgrims from the state, 6,959 women (with or without mehram) and 4,513 men.

Last year, a change in government rules allowed women above 45 years of age to travel in groups of four for Haj without being accompanied by a male companion, and Muslim women from Kerala are first to embrace this change.

The decision to enable women to travel without a male companion forms part of the Haj policy for 2018-22.

Through analysis, we can see a parallel trend, when 1, 124 out of 1,340 women undertook the pilgrimage without a male companion came from Kerala. Kerala Haj Committee said, “the high number of women traveling alone to various factors, important reasons among them are literacy and gender parity”.

The no. of women unaccompanied women- (Total no- 2,340)

Kerala- 2,011

West Bengal- 39

Maharashtra- 31

Rajasthan- 26

Uttar Pradesh- 99

Tamil Nadu- 37

Madhya Pradesh- 27

Delhi- 12

Bihar- 9

Assam- 8

Jharkhand- 5

Uttarakhand- 5

Chattisgarh- 4

Puducherry- 4

The oldest woman embarking on Haj this year is 87 years old. There are two more golden agers, aged 80 and 82 years.