Empowerment of Women in India
As we introspect on the last century of Indian history and compare the conditions of women before Independence and now, then many among us would be impressed by the ‘Empowerment of women’ in India. Our forefathers formulated India's freedom struggle not just as struggle for political independence but also as a struggle for economic and social reform. A whole generation of women leaders rose up influenced by the freedom struggle. It is in that direct correlation that in the modern India many women have carved a niche for themselves in various professions. Even though a lot of inequalities remain in our society, there is a constitutional provision that men and women are equal in all spheres. As Indians, we can be very proud that in the past, the same could not be claimed even by the so-called "advanced nations", 75 years ago women in Britain as well as in the U.S.A could not vote. But women's voting came very naturally to us right from the beginning. About 100 years ago, the woman of Europe, could not own property, get a divorce or take the custody of her children. We just have to look at the life and struggles of Dr. Annie Besant to understand the status of the western women in those days. The western women had to take to streets, overcome many stereotypes to establish their rights. But for indian women, political, economic and voting rights came embedded within the Indian constitution! .
In the last fifty years there have been various shifts in governmental policy on social development of women, from the concept of ‘welfare’ till 1970 to ‘Development’ in 1980 and to ‘empowerment’ in 1990’s. The focus has always been on capacity building, awareness generation, gender sensitization and for empowerment through training on women’s rights-issues or vocational training for their economic independence.
Inspite of the fact that most of the political parties are playing musical chairs and theatrically resisting the “women’s reservation bill” in the parliament, It is a truly interesting and exciting times for activists who have been advocating for women's equal right in electoral politics. The three major states out of the five going to the polls in December of 2003 have women chief ministerial candidates - Shiela Dixit in Delhi, Vijay Raje Scindhia in Rajasthan and Uma Bharati in Madhys Pradesh. The decision makers in distribution of seats in at least one of the major national parties at the national level is a woman - Sonia Gandhi. In two of the three states - Rajasthan and Delhi the chief ministerial candidates (both women) will have a large say in the selection of candidates. In the third state (Madhya Pradesh) a woman BJP ministerial candidate will also influence the selection of candidates and for the congress Ambika Soni has been selected to prepare the final list of the candidates. This in itself speaks volumes of the influence women wield within the nation.
Status Quo of Indian women
Exemplary strides have been made by Indian women in various fields to name a few, politics (Indira Ghandhi), bureaucracy (Kiren bedi , Chokila Iyer), Journalism (Shoba de, Arundati Roy), Sports (P.T.Usha),Beauty Paegents(Aishwarya rai, Susmita sen), Armed forces (Savneet and Sivika the first air force pilots of India) …etc. However it is a pity that this represents only the glorified and magnified end of a spectrum that tells an entirely different story. Inspite of the legal provisions of equality, the mental barriers remain. Women are still viewed, somewhere deep inside the male psyche, as slightly inferior, as somehow the lesser sex, incapable of rationality, of participating in political and economic processes as mature human beings. No one will say this openly because it would be politically incorrect. But scratch the surface, provoke men when they are less guarded, and the real beliefs come out.
The condition of women in our country, especially the ones who constitute the rural masses is far from fair, or morally and ethically correct. This fact has been highlighted on numerous occasions by the ill treatment of women in rural areas. One often hears of disturbing and tragic incidents, such as the ‘mob killing’ of a young girl on mere suspicions of her being “un-chaste" and hence a disgrace to the whole community. Many times there are, ‘confirmed’, but quite often many ‘unconfirmed’ reports of heinous acts of dowry deaths, female foeticide (selective abortion of female fetuses), female infanticide, Sati –pratha(immolation on husbands funeral pyre), gang assault and battery on women, including rape. We can unarguably assume that these incidents are merely the tip of the iceberg of such violations and injustices. One shudders to think of all the tyrannies those simple, illiterate, deprived women have to endure, simply because they were born of the wrong sex. Most of the rural women have been conditioned to such abuses by years of submission and subjugation. They usually suffer all injustices with nothing more than pious silence.
The situation of urban India is none the better off, the plague of Dowry, female foeticide, domestic violence are equally prevalent in cities as they are in the rural belts. In semi literate communities ‘Gender disparity’ manifests itself in various forms, the most obvious being the trend of continuously declining female ratio of the population.In urban areas harassment is more evident then elsewhere. Despite laws, exploitation of women at the workplace is reported regularly from different states. People in the higher rungs of society who are supposed to set an example to others and who are supposed to implement the law are often themselves guilty of harassing women. A minister in the former Kerala Government was forced to resign on the ground that he was sexually harassing a senior I.A.S officer. The I.A.S officer had the courage to go public with her grievances, but in most cases women suffer silently for fear of loosing the job or bringing stigma to herself and her family. Many times they are fatally ‘Silenced’ to protect the image of their discreet partners as evident from the ‘Shivani Bhatnagar’ murder case. The recent rape of a medical student and a foreign diplomat has highlighted the shame and insecurity of Indian cities.
China’s tale of ‘Empowerment’
At this juncture it would be wise to study and perhaps learn from China’s superlative success in upliftment of women in social structure. In China, before 1949 women could be said to be truly oppressed by a patriarchal society. The customs of foot binding, arranged marriages, child brides, no right to petition for divorce and lack of property and inheritance rights, in addition to widespread illiteracy was the lot of the women.
After the 1949 revolution education was made compulsory for all children and with the Marriage law of 1950, women achieved full legal equality of rights. By 1976, literacy rates for women were above 90 percent. Women not only gained equal rights, they entered the workforce as equal and productive members of society. Swift Punishment on ‘harassment issues’ ‘Domestic violence’meant that any mischief/misconduct with a colleague or relative was a foolhardy venture. Acceptance in the workplace led to acceptance by men of social equality. ‘One child policy’ norms though restrictive of personal freedom meant that if the couple was blessed witha girl then she was treasured and treated with the same love and care as their male counterparts.
All this did not occur by forced governmental campaigns but by active participation of women and social re-education on their ‘empowerment’ being an integrative aspect of development. India would do well to emulate the Chinese effort of social restructuring/reorganization through education and media exposure.
Empowerment…HOW?
Customs and conventions root themselves so deeply within the social fabric that acting on them becomes second nature to people. No doubt it is human nature to respect that mode of action that has transcended the jerks and jolts of changing circumstances but society cannot be kept static; the process of progress with evolution must be unhampered. Denial of basic rights and marginalisation of women in India is one such prevalent irony of a democratic India. The plight of the Indian women irrespective of their religion, caste or community is the same; they are considered unequal to their male counter parts. Their empowerment would mean a revolutionary change and is bound to be met with stiff opposition. Here many would do well to remember the initial friction faced by Lok manya Tilak and ‘Child Restraint Marriage, Act’’.
Women empowerment is an achievable goal of any vibrant democracy. To empower women, it is essential to increase their control over the decisions that affect their lives both within and outside the household. Emphasis should be given to advocacy of gender responsive legislation and constitutional revisions to increase women's opportunities to influence the direction of society and to remove obstacles to women's access to power.There is urgent need to enforce the ‘Uniform Civil Code’ that will ensure that decadent practices of Triple talaq,subordinate rights of inheritance, no rights to maintenance after separation are done away with or that women are given equality in the same. How often women's rights activists in this country have argued that at the root of many of the problems women face is the issue of women's equal rights to inheritance and their right to retain control over their income and property. Even the dowry problem that refuses to disappear is deeply rooted in women's disenfranchisement on issues of property ownership and inheritance. Girls would not be seen as a burden or a liability if they were guaranteed an equal right to inheritance and property.
We need morePolice stations staffed entirely by women police officers.These stations should be tasked to deal with cases in which women have been the principal victims, women would also feel more secure in approaching such stations for help. Government would do well to pass a law prohibiting the detention of women in police stations for questioning, except in cases of murder or robbery. Under this law, the police should be required to take women directly into judicial custody. Police regulations prohibiting the overnight detention of womenwould also ensure that cases of custodial abuses are prevented.
Women should be encouraged to bring their vision and leadership, knowledge and skills, views and aspirations into the development agenda from the grassroots to international levels. Media should be made pro-active on ‘Women Empowerment’ issues.Aproactive media illuminating on the potentials and applauding the achievements of the modern women can create a conducive atmosphere where greater women participation in all walks of life is seen as a natural progression into the 21st century.
Education in itself has the curative powers that many activists aspire to achieve. Many outline the need for “right to education” not only as a fundamental right but also a strictly enforced law to ensure greater enrolment and participation of the youth. Education can uproot the age-old bias and make the new generation fully aware of their privileges and role as citizens of India.
Conclusion
Should Indian society be a mere onlooker as the rural women of the nation are deprived of their fundamental and basic human rights or when the urban women are marginalized within their social structures of family or religion. An emphatic ‘No’ is the resounding answer. India has had movements initiated by illustrious reformers and activists like Raja Rammohan Roy, Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Durgabai Deshmukh, Muthulakshami Reddy, Dhondo Keshav Karve and others, all of whom sought to empower the Indian women and free her from the chains forged by customs and mores that had no relevance in the independent democratic India. We have sought to empower women through education and self reliance through employment and self employment. All the same, the evil still persists in virulent forms .It is urgently needed to bring about a radical change in our entire thinking on the subject of women otherwise India shall continue to carry the stigma of a backward nation. It is no crime to be backward in material progress or in scientific and technological development. But it is certainly both a crime and a sin to be retrogressive on women empowerment. That is true backwardness!
------
1