Let Women’s contribution must not be limited to poster

Pic Courtesy – https://www.indigenouspeoples-sdg.org/index.php/english/all-global-news/1532-disaster-patriarchy-how-the-pandemic-has-unleashed-a-war-on-women

About a fortnight back, when the Shradha murder case came into the news, it was highlighted in a big way and was given huge coverage in print and electronic media. It was such a ghastly and harrowing incident, in which the male live-in partner cut down the body of his lady partner after her murder into more than 35 pieces, that everybody was shocked. After that, he kept them in a fridge for many days, and disposed of all the pieces of her body in different locations in Delhi and around. Similar incidents of woman murder and putting the body into a bag etc. have become so common that we take these incidents only as normal news that we read and forget. Being the very human has become questionable in today’s time. Why do these kinds of incidents become so common, we find that the reactions of society to these incidents are also dying. Probably, somewhere deep in our hearts, we have accepted it to be a part of today’s ways of life or a new normal in society.

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Ironically there’s a lot of emphasis on women’s empowerment in society, by governments across the world. November 25th has been declared as “International Day for the Elimination of VAW (Violence against Women)”. There are data available that “A woman is killed by kin or partner or family member in every eleven minutes”. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a massage said “Violence against women and girls is the most pervasive human rights violation in the world. This discrimination, violence, and abuse targeting half of humanity come at a steep cost. It limits women and girls’ participation in all walks of life. It denies them of their basic rights and freedom”. These are the indicators of how the whole of humanity is suffering from inner conflicts in society itself. Something very deep has eroded from the value system of humanity.

The level of violence against women is so extreme, that in some parts of the world millions of women are reported to be missing from the overall population. In the world, 60 million women are missing from population statistics. It means that there are 60 million fewer women alive than can be expected based on the ratio of females and males at birth. The history of violence against women VAW has been vague. This is in part because many kinds of VAW are generally under-reported. It is because of social norms, taboos, stigmas, and the sensitivity of the subject. Much of the violence was accepted, condoned, and even legally sanctioned. Roman law gave men the right to chastise their wives even to the point of death. According to the UN, “there’s no region of the world, no country, and no culture, in which women’s freedom from violence has been secured”.

The patriarchy has been an old and now universal phenomenon. The manifestation of these is evident in societies or communities all over the world, arranged and structured on patriarchal lines. In this structural frame of both, the societies and the governments, the male has been leading the family and the society. Different norms, customs, traditions, and institutions encourage hierarchal-and asymmetrical division. The male member is used to make decisions about the social systems, the world’s resources, and that of the household or the family. Patriarchy has remained a very dynamic historical process. Since humans learned and invented agriculture, male domination started from that point. Later on, land ownership made it strongly rootable.

When we talk about India, we have had a Patriarchal society since time immemorial. In ancient India, an initiation was taken to provide women certain rights by calling them “Ardhangini”. Later in the Vedic Period started many abusive trends, such as Sati System, Pardah System, Child Marriage, Dasi Partha, Niyog Partha, and so on. This period not only abused them with such trends but also punished them for their disobedience. Manusmriti had some differences concerning the position of women in society. At this time women were educated and respected. Women in medieval India were again overloaded with responsibilities. Although education was available, but only to a very low percentage of the women population. The slavery of women also came into practice. This was the era when women were given the title of Temple Dancer, DevDasis, and so on. The dowry system in the form of “VAR DAKSHINA” was also prevalent. Later in the era of pre-independence starting from the 18th century, the life of women was almost the same. Mahatma Gandhi fought for Indian Women’s Equality to akin them to join the freedom movement.

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Sometimes back, in a shocking incident reported in the newspapers, when a man stabbed his wife to death in a market in Delhi, bystanders did not come forward to save her. Such is the male domination in society. Even today in rural areas in the country, women have no right to raise their voices for minimum rights to live the life of an ordinary human being. Their condition is still hopeless and circumstances never seem to be changing. The ethics, values, morals, and culture of the society have been framed in such a way or we can say structured in a way, as to promote the exploitation of women. We don’t realize that women are the root of society. There’s ample evidence to suggest that women have been subjugated and exploited since the beginning of civilization and are still facing the trauma of the day.

Unfortunately, the situation of women in India is still worst. Out of the six million crimes that police recorded between January 1st to 31st December 2021, 4,28,278 almost 9% of cases involving crimes against women. A majority of cases in 2021, the report said were that of kidnapping, abduction, rape, assault, dowry violence, and dowry deaths. Also, 107 women were attacked with acid, and 1580 were trafficked. With more than 50000 cases UP topped the list, followed by Rajasthan with 40738 and Maharashtra with 39525 cases. These figures are limited to only police-recorded figures. In some international journals, India has earned the moniker “The Rape Capital of the World”. The world’s largest democracy gets a bad name, because of the way, victims and survivors are treated by society and shamed by the police and judiciary.

Jawahar La Nehru once said that “You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of women”. Our constitution has given women many rights, but Indian society does not leave its traditional philosophy behind. Whenever the term “Women Empowerment ” has been used by policymakers, professionals, and academicians, there’s little clarity, on how it can be achieved. Today, women are known for delivering multiple roles effortlessly every day. They are the backbone of society. Living in male-dominated societies, women play a wide range of roles from caring mothers to loving daughters and life companions to capable colleagues. The best part is that they fit prudently and perfectly in every role.

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Given the fact that today’s world amplifies problems related to the climate crisis, religious bigotry, changing of world order, and wide economic disparities, the participation, and contribution of almost 50% of humanity must not be curtailed to social agendas, political gains and pseudo policy deliberations only. Rather it should be assured and ensured by empowering women and providing equal scope and space to bloom and live a productive and meaningful life. Transformative actions must be taken to end violence against women and girls. We must not forget that mankind owes a great debt of gratitude for the contribution of women to, birth, survival, and the very existence of humanity. Let this contribution must not be limited to poster realization only.