A woman from India lived as a man for 36 years just so she could raise her daughter safely in a male-dominated society.
According to an India-based news agency, Petchiammal – who hails from Kattunayakanpatti village of Tamil Nadu state, just after 15 days into her marriage. She was a 20-year-old back then.
She then gave birth to her daughter Shanmugasundari.
The woman found it tough to raise her daughter as a single mother. She refused to marry again and worked in shops and construction sites to make ends meet.
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Petchiammal decided to disguise herself as a man after she got tired of being harassed. She kept her name to Muthu and donned a shirt and lungi to keep her identity secret.
The woman, in a conversation with the news agency, said she came to live in the village 20 years ago. She added only her close relatives knew about it.
“We resettled at Kattunayakkanpatti over 20 years ago,” she said as quoted in the report. “Only my close relatives back home and my daughter knew that I am a woman.”
The report stated her daughter is doing financially well but the situation is different for the woman. She said she would live as Muthu forever.
