For the past twenty years India has been at the forefront of economic and technological development. As industry booms and population in cities rise it would seem that India has become a modern state.
Yet, some claim a dark undercurrent runs through this great progress as contradictions to liberalization are apparent when it comes to society’s view of women.
When a girl is born the popular Hindu saying is that it is “akin to the arrival of Lakshmi – the four-armed goddess of wealth, often depicted holding lotus flowers and an overflowing pot of gold.“However, women in India face discrimination and violence in both urban and rural areas. Of the G20 nations, that is the most economically advanced, India ranks second lowest in terms of women’s rights, only above Saudi Arabia.
In this past year women’s rights and safety issues in India have come to the forefront as several infamous rape cases were heavily reported on by media across the world. In one such instance a female medical student , given the pseudonym Nirbhaya (Fearless), was dragged off of a public bus and publicly gang-raped and eventually died due to internal injuries after she was sodomized with a metal rod. While this and several other tragedies did gain attention worldwide a problem still exists in how Indian society perceives rape and rape culture.
In Indian media instances of sexual assault and rape are often belittled by the term “eve-teasing.” This term references the biblical Eve who tempted Adam, and also implies that women are asking for these advances and assaults. As Ranjani Iyer Mohanty claims in a column for the Wall Street Journal “Both parts of the term put the blame on the woman; she is the temptress who isn’t providing something she has promised. The man is therefore fully within his rights to take it forcibly; or at least, his actions or reactions are understandable.”
The downplaying of rape extends far beyond the media though. Indian lawmakers and judges have been known to blame provocative clothing for incidents of rape. In 1996 68 percent of surveyed judges in India said that provocative clothing is an invitation to rape and as recently as the wake of the Nirbhaya rape a legislator saw banning skirts as a uniform in private schools as a solution for the problem of increased cases of sexual harassment.
Part of the larger picture is bridging the “two Indias” both in the sense that there are archaic views on women’s rights in a modern state, and that there is a large difference between women in rural and urban areas. Most of these notorious and highly publicized instances of rape occurred in urban areas like New Delhi or Mumbai. In rural and tribal villages, often populated by the historically discriminated former Dalit caste, these cases go unnoticed by the media and critics around the world.
However that is not to say that Indian society as a whole acts this way. Since the Nirbhaya case last year there has been a great swelling of advocation for women’s rights in India by both men and women. One important change has been breaking the silence. According to Newsweek there was a 200 percent rise in reporting of rape in just the city of Delhi, which goes to show that victims are less stigmatized.
Instances of rape, and “rape culture” in India mirror what occurs in less developed nations. As India continues to forge economic strength and feels the effects of modernization and globalization it must deal with questions of inequality in order to really call itself modern. India’s media, lawmakers, and everyday people must be willing to step up and call out what is not right.
I think that in this day and age women should not receive ay discrimination, and the fact that this still happens is ridiculous. We are in a new century now where as we all know women are equal to men, so the fact that they are still treated like they are not makes no sense to me. Also the fact that womens rights in India is at the forefront of the country, yet they are still are treated poorly, to the point where someone can die in front of a group of people n a public place makes me question, does india really care abut changing the womens rights rules as much as they say that they do? If all women are equal then why is there a difference between urban and rural women as well, we are all the same and where we are from should not be a huge factor, and rape should not be downplayed as much as it is, and it should not be worse if your from a particular area. The good things though is that even those these bad things are happening there is change happening, and i give much props to the women who are breaking their silence for this to happen.
These women’s stories are heartbreaking, but the awareness that they have created for issues of rape have the potential to really invoke change. As a developing nation, it is terrible to see how low they rank in women’s rights but I would agree that in order for them to be taken seriously as a developed state, their view and treatment of women both socially in legally needs to be seriously evaluated. The need for modesty as a means of safety is simply wrong; women should choose to be modest because they wish to do so not because they fear for their safety otherwise. I can only hope that as India continues to develop the view of women and policies to defend them begin to change.
I think it’s terrible that anyone should have to go through these experiences, or even just the fear of these experiences. As India is, as you say, becoming a modern and advanced nation, they need to realize that their views of women are archaic and a detriment to their progress as a nation. Women play a big role in the modern world – in the economy, the job market, and even just society itself. Suppressing the rights of women and leaving this curtain of fear and abuse on them can only slow India’s advancement, in addition to being morally wrong.
This is definitely a relevant issue. India is quickly becoming one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world and is modernizing at a rapid pace. However, in terms of culture, society’s view and treatment of women is alarming. A country cannot continue to progress if half of its population is seen as inferior, and is treated as such. The one good thing that has come from these tragic events is that more attention has been brought to the issue, and women, as well as men, are standing up for more women’s rights and fair treatment.
Having Indian origins myself (And being super proud of them =] ), I find this extremely relevant. I remember when those news stories came out…. as heart broken as I was, I wasn’t surprised. The last time I went to India was right before I turned 16. If I went out wearing jeans, I sometimes had to wear a longer top with a shawl to avoid the sometimes demeaning and objectifying stares and comments. But then again, like you said, this is not something that’s everyone or everywhere. The area where my grandparents live, and where I stay is relatively safe in comparison with some of the big cities, so it’s not much of a concern there. At the same time, cities are hubs of diversity, so things there can also be ok if you keep your eyes open and your chin up. But the thing is, and the problem is, is that we shouldn’t have to do that. While I appreciate the emphasis on modesty, I think it’s for the wrong reasons. I think it’s wonderful that Indian women can really be made to feel beautiful without having to reveal skin… but if they do, that’s not excuse or reason for someone to treat them in a matter less than what befits their dignity as a person 🙂
Not only is there a culture of sexual assault but with this negative attitude towards women comes “gendercide.” Many babies born girls are either abandoned or killed. Also prenatal screening have been used to determine the sex of the child (which is illegal in India) leads to abortion due to sex. The problem with India in regards to women starts at birth and goes throughout their whole lives with discrimination and sexual assault. More global attention should be brought to this issue.