Prabhupada said, “So therefore, woman is advised by the Manu-samhita, they should remain under the intelligent man, not declare freedom. That will be their life nice. Therefore it is advised that until one is married with an intelligent husband, she must remain under the control of her father. Still in India, until a girl is married, she cannot move freely. Where is our Syamasundara? You know, what happened about that Sharma girls. Two girls in Nairobi, they wanted to join our society. So Brahmananda, as other girls are joining, he welcomed, but it created a havoc to the family of the girl. They went here and there. ‘Oh, the girl has gone out of home. There will be no marriage.’ That’s a fact. In India still, in respectable family, if a young girl goes out of home for three days, it will be difficult, or she will not be married. So this still I saw in Nairobi.
“Woman should not be given independence. She must remain just like a child remains under the control of the parents. That is good.”
“So anyway the system is unless one is married, a girl, she must remain under the control of the parents. Therefore it is the parents’ duty to see that the girl is married to a suitable boy. That is the duty. When the girl is married, then parent’s duty is finished. Not by the age. Up to this point. So during young time, say, up to, say, forty years, she should remain under the husband. And when there are grown-up children, she should remain… Just like that Mrs. Sharma. She is under the care of her elderly sons. So Manu-samhita says that na stri svatantryam arhati. Woman should not be given independence. She must remain… Just like… That is not bad. Just like a child remains under the control of the parents. That is good. Similarly, woman remaining under the control of father or husband or elderly boy, that is good for them. And still, they are very happy.” – Lecture on SB 1.3.21, 26 September 1972, Los Angeles