A Republic not for Women!

The memory of December 2012 had hardly faded from anyone’s mind when the gruesome news of the rape and murder of four girls in Haryana within 24 hours surfaced. The question once again shook the sensibilities- why has India become such an unsafe and cruel place for women? When the entire nation erupted in an outrage over the Nirbhaya rape case, a hope glimmered somewhere that things will change for women, but sadly, they have worsened. Now, almost every day, newspapers carry some news or other of rape in a single column or a small box. And, that is all reporting on rape has been confined to.

The desensitisation has reached a stage that even the rape of minor girls no longer shocks the citizens of the country. The nation has gone into a numb slumber over such heinous crimes against women. India was supposed to be a free country for men and women at par since the latter actively participated in the freedom struggle. At that time, they were not only fighting against the Britishers, but also against many taboos, traditions and religious orthodoxy.

Due to the society’s willingness to change and progress, women’s coming out of the homes and breaking barriers was not really looked down upon, though they still fought two battles- one at home and the other against colonialism. The enemy, at that time, broadly speaking was one- the British Empire. Today, after about seventy years of freedom, women are still fighting a battle of freedom at home. It is not that things have not changed: education among women has improved but the inhibition among women is still widespread and almost ‘encouraged’. As reported, in 2015 3.7 million eligible girls dropped out of school. The major obstacle that limits a child education is poverty as 21.9 per cent of Indians are officially below the poverty line. Hence, the situation is even more severe for a girl child, who gets to go to school for an average of four years. The 2011 Census states male literacy rate to be at 82.14 per cent and that female 65.46 per cent. The most problematic task in case of girls, is their enrolment in primary schools but once they have been enrolled, they continue their primary education. The percentage of drop-out is so outrageous that out of 100 girls in rural India only a single girl reaches the intermediate level. On the All Development Index, India ranks 105 amongst 128 countries. This seriously calls for enhancement of the education system of India. Particular attention is warranted towards women’s access to education while severing all social, physical, psychological and structural barriers. The government along with NGOs and other volunteers are needed to sensitise the local population and run awareness programmes about the merits of girls education for shaping up a better future for themselves.

The country has many laws now to protect women- The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act-2006, Dowry prohibition Act-1961, Special marriage Act-1954, Indian Divorce Act-1969, Maternity Benefit Act-1861, Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act-2013, Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act-1971, Indecent Representation of Women(Prevention) Act-1986, Equal Remuneration Act-1976, and National Commission for Women Act-1990. Urban Indian women are finding their voice. Their dressing has become more fashionable, they are increasingly focusing careers than just on their homes. But these are only superficial changes. According to a March 2017 World Bank report on ‘Reassessing Patterns of Female Labour Force Participation’ (FLFP), which analysed government data from 2004-05 to 2011-12, stated that as many as 19.6 million women–equivalent to the population of Romania– dropped out of the workforce during this period, of which rural women accounted for 53 per cent. In its three-year (2017-20) ‘action agenda ‘draft’ released in 2017, NITI Aayog, a government think-tank, stressed on the importance of promoting equal participation of women in the Indian economy. Only 27 per cent Indian women are in the labour force– the lowest among BRICS countries; among G-20 countries, it is better only than Saudi Arabia. As reported on April 9, 2016.The labour force does not include women who do “unpaid care work“, which refers to all unpaid services within a household including care of people, housework and voluntary community work. India has the second-lowest FLFP rate in South Asia. The FLFP rate is highest among illiterates and college graduates in both rural and urban areas.

These two groups, illiterates and those with college education, are also the groups that experienced the largest drops in FLFP rates during this period. Higher literacy does not lead to greater decision-making power for women. It is also regrettable that only 691 females attend college for every 1,000 males. Unfortunately, this new-found freedom has become a double-edged sword for urban women. Now, they have two fronts to manage, two fronts on which they have to deal with the gender prejudices and conservative mind set. Of course, a lot has changed for women in the Indian republic.

But the basic factor which has to change for women to enjoy equality remains the same- and that is the mindset of our society. With growing influence of consumerism and globalisation objectification of women has also become rampant. Our society which is still engulfed in the caste and community struggles for equal rights, has not yet even started on the path for equal man-woman status.

A woman’s ‘honour’ is so integral to the ‘honour’ of patriarchal set up, that even her thought process is restricted. Our society has been passing through an acute state of transition, ridden with contradictions when women are ‘demanding’ equality, but are expected to follow traditions; women are being promoted as objects on one level, on the other, they are considered nothing more than objects; they are worshipped as goddesses, but they are not allowed in temples; they are given education(in middle class Indian homes at least), but they are not expected to rise beyond a point, not expected to even marry freely according to their own choice; a ‘free’ woman is admired and exploited simultaneously. Ask an educated ‘enlightened’ young man from a city, and he would say that women are enjoying equal status, in fact a better status in some cases. And this is the society where crime against women is alarmingly rising.

According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) crimes against women have increased more than doubled over the past ten years. Over the past decade, 2.24 million crimes have been reported against women which roughly translates to one complaint every two minutes. Semantically “crime against women” refers to physical or mental cruelty against women in which the victims are specifically and only women. The most dominant crime reported is the cruelty by husband and relatives under section 498A of Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The number of cases reported in such cases is 9,09,713 over the last decade followed by assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty (4,70,556), kidnapping and abduction of women (3,15,074) is the third-most-reported crime then rape (2,43,051), insult to modesty of women (1,04,151) and dowry death (80,833). With such a high rate of crime against women, Uttar Pradesh is the worst affected state with 58,953 cases reported. Some would argue that we come to know about these cases of crimes against women more now because they have started speaking up. But the point is there are many others who have still not got the voice or even the means to speak up. In that case, situation is all the more serious! Today, amid the clamour for reservation for women in the parliament, the common woman of India sadly struggles to lead a normal and safe life, leave aside a free and equal one.