NEW DELHI, April 4: Housewives and donkeys are much the same except that the beasts of burden are better companions, complain less and are more loyal, according to a school textbook used in India’s western state of Rajasthan. “A donkey is like a housewife. In fact, the donkey is a shade better, for while the housewife may sometimes complain and walk off to her parents’ home, you’ll never catch the donkey being disloyal to his master,” Tuesday’s Times of India quoted the Hindi-language book as saying.

The book, for 14 year-olds, was approved by the state’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party administration but has sparked protests from its women’s unit, the report said.

Shimla Parasher, chief of the party’s women’s wing, has threatened protests if the “objectionable sections” are not deleted.

The state education department however noted that women were not singled out — politicians also were rated.

“The same chapter also compares the donkey to politicians, calling the animal thick-skinned,” a state education official was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

Another state education official said the textbook was just an attempt at making school lessons humourous.

“The comparison was made in good humour. However the protests have been taken note of and the education board is in the process of removing it,” A.R. Khan, a state education officer, told the newspaper.

Rajasthan state, known for its conservative attitude towards women, has a ratio of 886 females to 1,000 males, according to the 2001 national census.