WHAT STUDENTS IN INDIA THINK ON WOMEN’S LIBERTY & SAFETY ISSUES ? – By N.S.Venkataraman
Nandini Voice for The Deprived, a not for profit organization based in Chennai , conducted an All India essay competition for students on the following subject
“WOMEN’S LIBERTY & SAFETY IN INDIA– ISSUES AND REMEDIES”
There have been good response from the students from all over India.
Around 90% of the entries have been submitted by women students.
It is gratifying to note that the students have put forth considerable efforts to assess the situation , identify the issues and have provided some useful suggestions and recommendations.
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Considering the thought provoking observations and appropriate suggestions made by several students , it was decided to increase the number of prizes for the competition to 14.
Highlights of the observations and recommendations made by the students :
- Should might deemed to be right ?
Due to biological reasons , men are physically stronger than women in most cases. Therefore, some misbehaving men seem to think that they can overpower the women easily and they physically abuse them , without being challenged by the affected women. This may be one reason why some misbehaving men get the courage to abuse the women mentally or physically and sometimes in both the ways . In the case of such abuses, most of the affected women silently put up with the harassment due to fear and the so called social stigma.
This problem can be solved only by punishing the offenders severely and in quick time. However, in most cases, this do not happen, even if the affected women report the matter to the police. The judiciary take painfully long time to give judgements in such cases and the offenders often manage to get bail and stay out of jail for several years , until the judgement would be delivered. In some cases, the offenders also go scot free , as the judges may dismiss the case due to what the judges conclude as insufficient evidence .
- Harassment of women is a global phenomenon :
Even in the so called advanced countries , abuse of women in work place, in home and public places happen , though they may not be as frequent as it seems to be happening in India. Of course , women in advanced countries are more aware of laws and regulations and may , on most occasions, gather courage to register complaints against the offenders.
In such circumstances, one tend to think that the sexual offenders all over the world have similar behavioral pattern.
- Not a cultural issue:
Traditionally and culturally , Indian women have been respected for their role as mother. Therefore, offence against women do not have the sanction of cultural and traditional value system in India. In spite of this , abuse of women have been taking place.
Probably, this is due to the fact that the society is not protesting against the abuse of women adequately and effectively in India .Only recently, this issue is being highlighted to some extent.
A conscious society should wage a battle in the hearts of men to make them realise the grave mistake that the offenders do.
Of course, the misbehaving offenders are still miniscule in India , considering the huge population of the country.
Possibly, the good men in the society are conspicuous by their lack of efforts to speak about the importance of protecting the dignity of women and they seldom fight for this cause.
- Cinema, internet, social media :
Cinemas and TV serials often show women in poor light, depicting them as mentally weak, giving an impression that the women would often put up with the offences against them too easily. This create a wrong and negative impression about women in the mind of the boys and girls in the formative age groups.
The social media and free access to all sorts of chat and so called reality shows have made several women to fall into the trap and get themselves misled and become the victims of abuse by their so called friends.
Unfortunately, there seem to be no way to check such onslaught against women’s image in the cinemas and social media and internet shows.
In any case, it is clear that the government has not paid enough attention to stop this kind of obnoxious scenes and shows.
- Declining parental influence:
Parental influence over the children has slackened considerably , as sons and daughters exposed to the social media etc. appear to think that they must have the personal freedom to think and act in the way they want. The fact is that the parents in most cases are unable to guide their sons and daughters suitably by providing them appropriate advice from time to time during their formative age.
In such scenario, it is often seen that young boys and girls go together for night parties or during dark hours without the knowledge of their parents. Many cases of rape and abuse seem to be happening during such outings.
With drug abuse and liquor consumption increasing at alarming level even amongst the teenagers , free mingling of young boys and girls in unrestricted manner are leading to disastrous developments, where the women are the ultimate victims.
Government’s steps to check and control the flow of drug and liquor amongst people are extremely inadequate
- Ban polygamy:
The practice of polygamy where men marry more than one woman is a humiliating experience for the women. They often put up with this practice, thinking they have no alternate way. Multiple wives in a family is one of the major issue impacting the safety, dignity and morale of women.
It is absolutely necessary that the practice of polygamy should be banned in India by imposing appropriate law. Men involved in polygamy should be barred from government jobs and should not be allowed to contest elections.
7 “ Live in “relationship:
Men and women living together without getting married is an obnoxious and un Indian practice that seem to be gaining ground in India too. In such cases, there is no emotional bondage and is the result of physical infatuation and personal indiscipline amongst both men and women.
Women who indulge in such practice often suffer in variety of ways and become victims of rape and abuse by the so called man associated with her and sometimes their friends too , making them think that the women has easy morals.
Live in relationship deserve to be banned and should be deplored by the society as abnormal and nauseating behavior.
- Women against women:
There are several cases of women suffering due to family quarrels ,such as the quarrel between the in laws. Such cases are rarely reported.
While the extreme form of violence such as rape do not happen in this case, nevertheless, number of cases of suicides by women have happened due to such abuse by other women.
- Special campaign for women:
While several laws and regulations have been announced in recent times to protect the safety of women, there is little awareness about such regulations amongst vast number of women, particularly those belonging to lower income group or living in rural areas.
Strong and continuous public campaign is needed to spread information amongst women about such regulations and how they should make complaints to the police in case of abuse . Governments have failed to do this in any meaningful way so far.
9, Women should guard themselves :
All said and done, women should be aware that they are physically weak and cannot protect themselves adequately in case of physical harassment by men . There is no alternative other than women taking extra caution to guard themselves in every activity all day long.
The suggestion that women should be taught self defence methods such as Karate can all be only of limited use.
Suggestions have been made that women should carry pepper spray , as assault can happen at any time or any location. This too can only be of limited use.
There are several apps announced by the government to inform the police and the authorities by the women , who suffer due to abuse. Women should keep themselves informed about such apps and readily use them in case of assault.
Women should always report about any abuses that happen to them whether in schools and colleges or public places or in homes to the police , without trying to put up with such issues.
Women should choose their boy friends with extreme care and avoid going to places with them without informing their parents or guardians or dear and near ones. The ground reality is that any friend or stranger can be a potential threat to a woman ‘s modesty in a lonely place.
Also, the practice of drug abuse and liquor consumption by women should be stopped forthwith , as an addicted woman is prone to be abused.
Finally, women should stop wearing provocative dress , thinking it to be a fashionable exercise in the modern world. On the other hand, such dress code inevitably tempt the men around to stalk and is self defeating for women.
