Gender justice is the only way forward for a better tomorrow
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Is the situation dismal? In a survey
of experts done in 2018, India ranks as the world's most dangerous country for
women. It had ranked 4th in the same survey done 7 years ago. The Global Gender Gap
Index 2017 by the World Economic Forum placed India at 108 position out of
144 countries benchmarked on the basis of gender parity in the fields of
economic participation, education, health and political empowerment. India
ranked 131 out of 153 countries in the global Women,
Peace, and Security Index 2017-18, that is based upon 11 indicators
incorporating inclusion, justice, and security. Despite women accounting for
49% of India's population, only 12% of the seats in the
national legislature are held by them. The female labour force participation
rate in India fell from 37% in 2006 to 27% in 2017, as per World
Bank report, ranking India at 163 out of 181 countries.
Some sparks of light
More women are getting educated and coming out of their cocooned existence.
They are entering professions that were till recently considered to be the
domain of males. They are flying planes, driving e-rickshaws and trains,
wielding the surgeon's knife and winning Olympic medals. It is heartening to
know that amongst the top 79 global airlines, Indigo Airlines employs maximum
percentage of women pilots (14%)
followed closely by AirIndia (nearly
10%). Even rural women are becoming more independent, working outside of
their homes and exhibiting active leadership at local government level. The Economic
Survey 2018 shows that 43%
of all gram panchayats (village councils) in India are headed by women.
Two young female staffers at a 5 star hotel told me that though they come from
humble backgrounds, their education and job has given them the courage to take
their own decisions and to raise their voice against gender injustice. Some
domestic helpers said that there are more job opportunities for them today. And
though gender equality is a distant dream, they feel more confident than
before. A domestic violence survivor said that girls are now becoming more self
sufficient and raising their voices against male dominance. She herself took
bold decisions to walk out of an abusive marriage through sheer determination
and strong will. Her courage has inspired her daughters to take life's
challenges head on and not bow down to the whims of a patriarchal society. Very
gratifying indeed!
Problems at ground level
Renu Mishra, Executive Director, Association for Advocacy and Legal
Initiatives (AALI) rues that the number of women in the work force is dismally
low and even those who are working do not get equal wages as compared to their
male counterparts. Women do not even have the right to take personal decisions;
they do not have the right to enter into matrimony or walk out of a relationship
of their own choice.
For Dr Pooja Ramakant, breast cancer and endocrine surgeon, striking a
balance between family and career is a huge problem for women of her age. "As a
female surgeon, I have to struggle more than my male counterparts. Why is a
woman expected to fit in the framework designed by a patriarchal society and
conform to the social norms laid down by others, even if they are detrimental
for her own well being? I have come across many financially independent women
also who suffer in silence and stay in abusive marriages. Perhaps, due to
emotional weakness, they are scared of what others will say", shares Pooja.
Even though more and more girls are going to school, education of the girl
child is still beset with problems, thinks educationist Dr Chitra Singh.
"This is more so in rural areas where girls' schools are still not a plenty and
parents do not feel safe for their daughters to travel long distances. Also
most rural schools have poor toilet facilities, which is another deterrent for
girls. Patriarchal mindsets when coupled with poor economical status, make
matters worse. They think it is a waste of their meagre resources to spend on
the daughter's education, as she will have to be married off. They would rather
educate the sons who they think would support them financially later on", she
says.
The way forward
Life cannot be a bed of roses, but neither does it have to be a throne of
thorns. Renu is emphatic that at a personal level each woman should ensure that
she would not allow herself and her family to abide by any patriarchal value
system. "All of us will have to, and can, contribute to bringing about gender
equality in our own life. Let us not do anything that helps propagate
patriarchy. We must also contribute to have an enabling environment at home, in
schools and outside where girls/women can speak openly and fearlessly".
Pooja exhorts women to speak up and not remain silent- "I do not remain silent
if I see any injustice being done to a woman. Rather I make it a point to speak
and make my voice heard and I face such situations very often in my professional
life. I encourage my young girl students (interns) to not get de- motivated by
society, but make their own informed choices regarding their professional and
family life. Also, women should insist on an equitable distribution of work
between all members of the family. Men will have to contribute equally to
household work and responsibilities. Let us not forget that all women are
working women, whether employed or not."
Chitra wants all girls to get at least some basic education plus job oriented
skills to make them employable. They should not be married till they are
economically independent.
Renu, who is also a lawyer, is happy that India has several women friendly laws
on girls' education, prohibition of child marriage, equal inheritance of
property, curbing of sexual and domestic violence, etc. However, lack of
political will power and a deeply entrenched patriarchal society makes their
implementation very poor. Moreover, most women- even the educated and working
women- do not have much knowledge about them and many are clueless even about
their existence.
She wants these laws to be part of the education curriculum, to make women, as
well as men, informed about them. Also, the government's Information and
Broadcasting Ministry needs to play a more proactive role in spreading
awareness around these laws and government welfare schemes for women/girls,
through channels like radio, television, newspapers, and billboards. It is the
onus of the government to disseminate all this information, and then act on
speedy delivery of redressals if it is really keen for women to benefit from
them. One reason for rise in the number of sexual offences is no quick
redressal-the case could drag on for long and/or accused goes scot free in most
cases.
Recognising that women in today's world have to balance multiple
responsibilities at home as well as outside, Dr Soumya Swaminathan,
Deputy Director General for Programmes at the World Health Organization (WHO),
urges women to take care of their own health-both physical and mental health.
In an exclusive interview given to CNS, she said that "Women play a very big
role in healthcare delivery. Not only do women constitute the majority workforce
in nursing and community healthcare work, they are also the main caregivers within
households and communities. But their efforts are often taken for granted and
are not publicly recognised. I would like to put the spotlight on these women
who are providing healthcare either in formal or informal settings. We should
appreciate this unrecognised army of women healthcare providers, and ensure
that they are able to provide these services in a labour and time saving
manner."
India is a vast country, which, despite the skewed up sex ratio (945 females
per 1000 males), is home to 65 crore women. That is a huge woman power, who
should neither bow down in fear nor remain silent, but be brave and snatch
their rights to exercise their choices- be it their education, marriage,
profession, or health (including sexual and reproductive health).
The International Women's Day 2019 campaign theme of #BalanceforBetter also
calls for driving gender balance across the world- gender-balanced boardrooms,
a gender-balanced governments, gender-balanced media coverage, a gender-balance
of employees, more gender-balance in wealth.
So, let us celebrate our womanhood everyday and fight till we win. In
solidarity we stand together!
Note: In response to this message I had posted on my FaceBook page- 'To all the
male readers of this post: Please share at least one action you have taken in
your personal life to advance gender equality' I got just one response and that
was from a retired Professor of IIT Kanpur. He wrote-'I have been instrumental
in getting the PhD Degree to 3 males and 10 females. Hope this justifies my
contribution'. Indeed it does.
Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)
(Shobha Shukla is the Managing Editor at CNS (Citizen News Service) and a noted gender justice activist. Follow her on Twitter @Shobha1Shukla or visit www.citizen-news.org)
- Shared under Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License
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