SUPARNA CHATTERJEE
Study Hall School
In our country we like to believe in the Orwellian quote ”to see what is in front of one’s nose needs constant struggle”. Hence if a girl is violated or abused the mother lives in denial for a long time and fails to recognize the crime. She would not even disclose the ghastly act to others to protect the family’s honour. They fear being ostracized by society. In villages women are paraded naked, many are declared witches to deface them.
It is, also, a Herculian task to go and report the matter to the police. Questions asked by the male constables are more harassing than the act itself. The police stations do not have the required number of lady constables.
The judiciary is also not untouched by this sort of discrimination against women. There are very few women lawyers and judges in the courts. Comments made by judges about women lawyers are sexist and need to be monitored. The need of the hour is speedy justice which can give confidence to women. Justice Verma’s report, on rape, within a month is a ray of hope.
Let us understand things in their perspective.
Violence against women have gone up. This is not only because of the low status of women. Literacy rates amongst them are low and hence they are not aware of their rights. Currently more women go out to work and a change is witnessed in society. They are constantly under a microscopic observation of their male counterparts and need to prove themselves over and over again. Women get pushed and groped in private buses. This seems normal to most. What the men would not like to acknowledge is that even a light touch, verbal abuse or constant gaze is also a form of abuse.
What is violence?
It is an act of aggression. So there is a perpetrator and a victim involved in the act. Violence itself can be classified as two types subjective ( perpetrators of violence) which includes acts of assault, murder or even terror and objective (violence inherent to the system), which includes the functioning of our political and economic systems. Slavoj Zizek.
What causes violence?
It is caused due to economic disparity in society. Lack of political will and globalization are the other causes of violence. Here subjective violence is related to objective violence and objectivity to subjectivity. This means the subject acts the way he acts due to the deep divisions that exist within our society – socially, politically and economically.
In the case of rape, the rapists can belong to a low strata income group (as we have seen in the case of Nirbhaya). They engaged in such a heinous act as a result of continuous repression and suppression. The perpetrators are a product of the ever increasing gap between the rich and the poor brought about by globalization, corruption and poor execution of government policy. The political system has failed to uplift their position. Society has failed them too. Hence the perpetrators can think of striking back.
We often engage in discussions and debates over subjective violence and fail to address the objective violence.
The only way of escaping this vicious circle is education and constant engagement with society. Our education policy needs revamping. Including gender education in our curriculum cannot be the only solution to the problem. Including spirituality could help. This may help us see women with respect. Let us not forget that this is the land where we believe
“yatr naryasto pojyantay, ramantay tatr devta” [3/56] Manusmriti.
(where women are provided place of honor, gods are pleased and reside there in that household)
Volunteer
Work With Us
I agree Suparna, that including gender education cannot be the only answer, much more is needed. But let us start changing discriminatory gender norms, patriarchal mindsets in our young men and let us treat them to view girls through a gender-equal lens. Let us do the work we as educators can do.
As for spirituality..ofcourse it is a desired thing, but we should be careful not to mix it with religion. The same ManuSmriti has many very objectionable quotes re women and their status. Much gender discrimination is done in the name of religion.
Agreed aunty. The whole problem arises from the fact that we have slowly become intolerant. I think that spirituality here plays a very important role as it teaches compassion and love and tolerance.
I too am totally against the organised and institutionalised form of religion.
this world is just nt safe for youngster girls we girls are becoming insecure no girl can walk on the streets with confidence each girl when steps out of the house atleast 100 times that i’m nt touched by any1 whether my shirt too tight or scirt too short why ???? becozzz of the fear of boys after the delhi gang rape case no girl can walk with pride why only girls are targeted.in some parts of the world many girls r a burden on their families and also there is prostitution a big whole racket of selling gls which we normally see on tv.all grls r unsafe in this world i wanted government to take strict actions aganst these rapists……..
Should the government take action only against the rapists? What about the stalkers, abusers and others who perpitrate violence? Should the government not take action against them? And also why should we leave the responsibility on the government? Why can’t we change the way we treat others, specially girls? Why can’t we teach our children to be more responsible, again specially boys?
We need to teach equality like we teach other subjects. make it part of our dna, our way of looking at life! If that is spirituality, I am all for it! Do get more of our young people to engage in this conversation!
I feel treating all women and men equally is not something to be taught as a subject in schools! What is needed is to cultivate a culture at home where parents set examples by treating their daughters and sons equally in every aspect. And this will naturally come into the DNA of the coming generations.
Everywhere in the world the girls are unwanted,
They are discriminated by their parents and also the whole world taunts them.
Some parents even sell them to monstrous creatures,
But if she were a boy, they would have taken her to school to flourish her talent and features.
People think girls are a load on their head,
They break their relationship like a piece of thread.
Our motherland’s daughters are unsafe, unwanted, uncared,
Can’t you people see they always feel scared
But we are the future of the world and will stop this discrimination,
And we can remove these things from love, truth and a healthy relation.
The last two lines sums up our effort to fight the ills in our socirty. You are the future and do remember to follow what you wroe when you grow up.
don’t worry aunty, i won’t forget, EVER
I am no expert aunty but what i think is that men who commit rape are so much frustrated at their inability to achieve anything worthwhile in the civilized society that they let their libido take the best of their limited consciousness.
As long as girls are kept inside and told to behave in-front of male members then these very “MALES” will find it very rude if they see women outside enjoying their freedom and treating the males without the so called “DEMANDED DEFERENCE” required from them.
Only way forward is to start teaching the upcoming generation of males to give women their freedom & to treat them at par with males and teach the upcoming generation of females that they have a voice and they have a right and no one can suppress it or take it and that there are many people in this world who will support them in their fight of injustice.
Correct. We can only hope that the coming generation takes it in their stride to treat girls equally and respect their empowerment.
WEll SAID Amritansh! I hope many of your friends think like you! You should work at changing the mind sets of your friends first and then carry the work out into the wider society too.
Will do aunty, will definitely do