Women in Hinduism.

 Now let’s look at Hinduism. Like Judaism and Christianity, Hinduism endorses the view that men should rule over women in all areas of life. Women, along with lower caste Hindus are prohibited from studying the Vedas, which are the core Hindu scriptures. Women and lower caste Hindus are also barred from performing fundamental Hindu rituals. This is emphasized in the central Hindu legal text Manusmirti. 

Manusmriti (9.18) reads: "For women no rite is performed with sacred texts, thus the law is settled; women, who are destitute of strength and destitute of the knowledge of vedic texts are as impure as falsehood itself that is a fixed rule"

The notion that women cannot study the Vedas or perform Hindu religious rites based on the Vedas is affirmed in commentaries on Manusmirti, like that of Medhatithi. Medhatihi also emphasizes general female inferiority, commenting on the phrase: “destitute of organs and devoid of sacred texts, women are ‘false’.” Medhatithi explains this further:

 "Destitute of organs'__;organ' here stands for strength:---courage, patience, intelligence, energy, and so forth are absent in women: that is why they are prone to become over-powered by sinful propensities. Hence it is that they have to be carefully guarded" ' Women are false on account of the inconstancy of their character and affections, they are deprecated as being False'"

The Hindu tradition emphasizes that women must always be completely dependent on men and subject to male authority. Like the Christian tradition, the Hindu tradition likens the authority of the husband to that of God. Hindu texts even demand that a wife worships her husband as a god. Thus, Manusmriti (5.147-156) states: 

147. By a girl, by a young woman, or even by an aged one, nothing must be done independently, even in her own house.

148. In childhood a female must be subject to her father, in youth to her husband, when her lord is dead to her sons; a woman must never be independent.

151. Him to whom her father may give her, or her brother with the father's permission, she shall obey as long as he lives, and when he is dead, she must not insult(his memory).

154. Though destitute of virtue, or seeking pleasure (elsewhere) or devoid of good qualities, (yet) a husband must be constantly worshipped as a god by a faithful wife.

155. No sacrifice, no vow, no fast must be performed by women apart (from their husbands); if a wife obeys her husband, she will for that (reason alone) be exalted in heaven.

156. A faithful wife, who desires to dwell (after death) with her husband, must never do anything that might displease him who took her hand, whether he be alive or dead.

Other Hindu scriptures, like the Puranas, also emphasize that the husband is to be worshipped as a god. The wife’s religious duties center on such worship. In this way, the wife should obey her husband, worship his feet, and drink the water in which his feet are washed. The Skanda Purana states: Book 3 section 2 ,chapter 7 verse 33-39: 

33. She should never transgress the words of her husband. This is the vow of women: this is the highest virtue and the holiest of worships.

36. Desirous of taking holy dip in a sacred Tirtha, she should drink the water with which her husband's feet are washed. To a woman the husband is superior to lord Sankara and lord visnu.

37. If a woman transgresses the injunction of her husband and performs holy rites, fasts and other observances she takes away the longevity of her husband. After her death she falls into hell.

39. This is said to be the greatest and only sacred observance of women that they should resolve to take their food only after worshipping the feet of their husbands.

Imagine drinking the backwash of your Hindu husband's feet! For Hinduism, the husband’s authority gives him the right to physically discipline his wife. Manusmriti prescribes the beating of wives with various objects. 

Manusmriti (8.299) It states:" The wife the son, the slave, the servant and the uterine brother shall be beaten with a rope or a split bamboo when they have committed a fault.

In prescribing physical discipline for wives, Manusmirti affirms views which are common in other texts of Hindu scripture including the Vedas and the Puranas. 

Garuda Purana (1.109.31) states that women in general should be beaten with harshness. Indeed, women are compared to drums. A woman is like a drum in that it is in her nature to be beaten. Garuda Purana(1.109.31)  states: "Wicked persons, artisans, slaves, defiled ones, drums and women are softned by being beaten; they do not deserve gentle handling"

Now, what if a Hindu wife refuses to have sex? The Vedas (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 6.4.7) teach the following: "If she is not willing, he should buy her over; and if she is still unyielding, he should strike her with a stick or with the hand and proceed {i.e to have sex with her despite her resistance}, repeating the following mantra " with power and glory, I take away your glory'"

The Skanda Purana generally warns a wife against resisting beatings from her husband. If she does resist, she will suffer divine punishment by being reborn in another life as an animal such as a cat. Skanda Purana Book 3 section 2 ,chapter 7 verse 43 says:"On being struck, if she were to strike him back, she is reborn as a tigress or a cat"

Just like in Christianity, in Hinduism women are prohibited from seeking divorce from their husbands. They’re also banned from remarrying after their husbands die .According to traditional Hinduism, the ideal wife burns herself to death in the sati ritual after her husband dies.