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"All nations have achieved greatness by paying proper respect to women and a country can't progress by neglecting its womenfolk, just as a bird cannot fly only on one wing", said Swami Vivekananda. Therefore, the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission do not neglect or look down upon women. Relief and medical services are rendered to men and women alike. A women can visit a shrine of a center, attend its public celebrations, classes and meetings, enjoy library facilities just a man does.
Besides, some of the centers have units working exclusively for women. To name only a few of them:
- Maternity sections at hospitals in Calcutta, Trivandrum and Vrindaban,
- Domiciliary and Maternity Clinics at Jalpaiguri and Khetri,
- Invalid Women's Home at Varanasi,
- Sarada Vidyalaya at Madras,
- Three Girls' High Schools at Jamshedpur,
- Sarada Mandir at Sarisha,
- Four Training schools for nurses at Trivandrum, Vrindaban, Itanagar, and Calcutta.
Through literature and preachings, the monks of the Ramakrishna Order keep men
reminding of their duties towards women, of the respect they ought to show
them. But keeping in mind Vivekananda's views that the womens' problems could
be handled best if they were taken care of by women
themselves and that male inference in woman's affairs might do more harm than
good, they work for women only in a limited way. The major portion of this
task they leave to be accomplished by the Sri Sarada Math and Ramakrishna
Sarada Mission, which is exclusively a women's organization,
having the same ideals but completely separate from the Ramakrishna Math and
Ramakrishna Mission.
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