In a world where women’s rights are on the forefront of the battle for equality, the second most populous country in the world lags behind at a lowly 108th place on the 2017 World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index. It is jarring to discover that India, with almost 587 million women, offers very little to women in the realm of gender equality.
The root behind this problem lies in years of oppression compounded by societal norms that are encouraged by cultural traditions within India. Unfortunately, the problem is on the rise: From 2001 to 2011, the number of crimes against women increased by an alarming 59%, with the number one crime being rape (John 2013). From dowries to gender related infanticide, the accumulating evidence of India being a misogynistic society is unavoidable. In 2012, local media created a frenzy over a gruesome Delhi rape case. The resultant watershed moment influenced lawmakers to stand against woman-related violence and the Verma report was implemented, calling for timelier convictions in rape cases. However, although the new laws are a step in the right direction, the real change will not come until India faces the underlying issues deeply rooted in a culture vested in normalized social divides of class and gender.
The origin of this inequality between the sexes began well before India’s colonization by the British, though colonial rule cemented an already prominent caste system based on family ranking. The “untouchable” case was removed from India’s constitution in 2013 (IAS 2013) yet a group of Indians, called the Dalit’s, are often still subjected to perform the worst of tasks: waste collection, day laborers and farmhands, tasks that were also designated to the “untouchables”. Within each caste, men within each family are ranked based on their social power and economic rank. In contrast, the women of a same class are subordinate to their male counterparts, regardless of social standing otherwise. A woman can be higher than men in lower castes, but can never be an equal to those in her own. While men are systematically planted in a position of power by carrying on their powerful family name, women are subconsciously indoctrinated to believe that their careers and dreams are valueless compared to those of their husbands, and that a woman’s first priority lies in providing their husband with a male child to carry on the family name.
Within the Vedic period, of India’s history (500 B.C to 1850 C.E), societal standards became more normalized and widely spread. Traditional Hinduism dictates that women are to be worshiped as pure and spiritual beings due to their ability to create new life. Although women were indeed worshiped, they also became tied to the establishment of marriage and, subsequently, became obligated to remain in the household and give birth to male heir. Soon, this role of women became cemented; women were to be submissive wives, while simultaneously serving as a beacon of chastity. These cultural norms place such emphasis on males being valued over females that sex-selective abortions (choosing to give birth to a male, yet opting to terminate a female) are incredibly common, although it was outlawed in 1996 (to little effect). The aborted female fetuses are estimated to account for a staggering 2.2% of the annual birth rate (Xu 2013). In 2011, this practice tipped the gender scales so dramatically that India’s gender ratio became the most imbalanced it had been in 60 years at 914 girls for every 1000 boys.
The clash of Western and Eastern cultures during British colonial rule is still one of the major causes of the misogyny that plagues Indian culture. Before British rule, sex was spoken about freely, as shown through popular Indian text such as the Kama Sutra, whereas the Victorian values of British created a newfound stigmatization of sex (Sharma 2015). Since then, sexuality, particularly that of women, has been considered taboo and is not spoken about openly This event marked a shift in traditional Indian attitudes and an increase in British conservative thinking and morals. Women were seen as personifications of Indian culture and tradition. To keep women unchanged by British influence, women were kept in the home and “protected”. When colonizers became increasingly set on giving women more power, they ironically created an even more unequal environment as Indian men felt like they had to insulate their women from British hegemony. After Indian independence was established, native Indians lashed out against the British reform and took steps to revert to traditional Indian culture, including regressing to abhorrent gender inequality. Although technically the new constitution granted women the same rights as men in all cases (Banerjee 2012), women, realistically, were constrained to the home, and made to stay there to support the men who aimed to create an independent country built on traditional Indian ideals, rather than those of the oppressor.
Women’s rights are human rights. Although equality between genders sounds like it should be a given, the first documented fight for worldwide equality was established in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 10th, 1948. Many women in India have been subjugated so many times that they tolerate, and in some cases even rationalize the abuses they receive since they have never known gender equality and therefore, heartbreakingly, simply do not know any better. The third National Family Health Survey asked female respondents in India about situations in which a husband would be justified in beating his wife. 41% of women agreed that disrespecting her in-laws was reasonable grounds for a beating. 35% said that not taking care of the children would be a punishable offense as well. Other accepted situations ranged from a wife not cooking well or even simply back talking her husband. Over half of all women justified domestic abuse for one reason provided (NFHS-4 2015-2016).
In India, the dowry system creates a never ending cycle of oppression through the exchange of money for marriage. A dowry is defined as money or goods that a bride’s family will award to her groom and his family in exchange for his family taking the bride “off their hands” and is a traditional social practice very common in India. It is the symbolification of a bride entering her new husband’s family and becoming their financial and emotional responsibility. Although this practice was outlawed in the Dowry Prohibition Act (1961), it remains common in most parts of India, and does not discriminate between classes. It paints women as tiresome and a financial burden on her family. While having a daughter would mean that a family would lose money, having a son would bring dowry money into a family. This tradition contributes toward heinously high rates of female infanticide, as poor families who feel as though they could not pay for a dowry would often chose not to have a baby girl, and would instead try again for a boy. Dowry-related violence also ensues from insufficient funds, adding to local violence. Oftentimes, a groom’s family will ask the bride’s money for more money in undesirable circumstances, such as the engaged woman being unable to cook, or infertile. In cases where the bride’s family cannot procure with the money, the groom’s family may resort to violence: throwing acid, mutilation or burning. The prevalence of the dowry policy, even after its outlawing, can be traced back to Hinduism. The institution of marriage is a major component of Hinduism, and the relationship between man and woman is sacred. Marriages are major celebrations, as well as a social necessity in many families. An unmarried daughter is pitied by her entire town, and considered a financial and emotional burden on her parents.
Wealth and poverty also provide a new lense to scrutinize women’s rights in India. Although women are legally allowed to own property, many fathers choose to divide their estates between their sons, cutting their daughters out of the will entirely and leaving them to live off their husband’s inheritances and paychecks. Although women make up around 48.5% of the population, they only make up a meager 28% of the workforce in 2017, a sharp decline from 37% in 2005 (Catalyst, 2017). Additionally, only 13% of working women are employed in jobs with consistant salaries. Women make about half (57%) of what their male colleagues make performing the same tasks (Catalyst, 2017). 40% of men who reported facing economic stress admitted to perpetrating violence, contrasting the 27% of men who had not faced this stress, further showing how women in lower castes or economically disadvantaged areas are more likely to be victims of abuse. Divorce laws are also geared towards men, and are often used as threats to coerce women out of requesting money from their families since the aftermath of a divorce could leave a woman penniless and without custody rights. Divorce is a very difficult commodity for women to come by in many areas of India, while men can be granted an ‘instant divorce’ under sharia code simply by saying the words “Talaq, talaq, talaq”, adapted from the Quran. In the Quran, it is stated that if a man states the word talaq three times over a span of three months that he will be granted a divorce after attempts at reconciliation have been made. Yet again, the path for women to acheive the same is much more arduous: women are required to provide documentation of specific reasoning as to why they requested a divorce, which must be signed by her husband before she can be issued a divorce (Dhillon 2017). Under these divorce laws, custody rights as well as any shared property is awarded to the male, which often deters women from the prospect of filing for a divorce. Additionally, female divorcées are stigmatized and often refused jobs, housing or health care in small villages. All these factors make it difficult for women to leave situations of domestic violence or mistreatment, because if they are granted a divorce, many of them will end up homeless or living with their parents, both equal causes for shame in this culture.
Although solving this societal issue will take decades, and may never be completely resolved, measures have already begun to be taken. The turning point in the fight for women’s rights was a highly publicized rape case, now infamously known as the 2012 Delhi gang rape. A 26 year old middle class woman named Jyoti Singh and her male companion were on their way home after watching a movie at a local movie theatre. The movie ended at 8pm, and they began the journey home. A white van approached Singh and her friend at the bus stop, and assuming that this was their bus, they got on. In the van, both Singh and her friend were beaten with iron bars. While her friend was unconscious, Singh was raped in the back of the van, with a rusty iron pipe, perforating her colon. They were thrown from the van and left bleeding on the side of the road for almost two hours before police officers came to take them to the hospital. Her attackers were identified by bite marks left on her body. Singh died 13 days later, of a cerebral edema. It was estimated that 95% of her intestines had been ripped outside of her body by the iron rod (Barry 2017).
This case, one of millions, gained such notoriety and was so publicized that Singh was given a new name: Nirbhaya, or fearless. She was portrayed as the “daughter of India”, and the subsequent trial was fast tracked due to the public backlash against the historical backlogging of rape kits and trials. The six attackers were arrested, including one 17 year old boy. All the men were convicted to the death sentence. The 17 year old boy was sentenced to 3 years in a reform home— the maximum sentence for a minor (Barry 2017.)
On January 23, 2013, the Justice Verma committee proposed amendments to the constitution to protect women. The amendments set laws providing expedited trials and set new, longer times for punishments of criminals convicted of rape. It amended the original rape laws, that differentiated between rape between and husband and wife and two people not in a relationship. It also create punishments for things that was originally legal, such as sexual harassment, verbal sexual assault, trafficking, and created new laws that would protect women who reported sexual assaults. (PRS India 2013)
After all of the legislation, unfortunately, the way many men in India view rape has not changed. A BBC documentary named ‘India’s Daughter’ explored the events that occurred after the rape and trial. It interviewed Mukesh Singh, on death row for his part in the Delhi rape. In his interview he said "A decent girl won't roam around at nine o'clock at night. A girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy,” and went on to say "Housework and housekeeping is for girls, not roaming in discos and bars at night doing wrong things, wearing wrong clothes,” (BBC 2015). But criminals are not the only one who agree with these outdated and frankly horrifying views on rape. A lawyer, ML Sharma, who had defended a rapist in court was also quoted in the documentary, saying “"If my daughter or sister engaged in premarital activities … I would most certainly take this sort of sister or daughter to my farmhouse, and in front of my entire family, I would put petrol on her and set her alight." (BBC 2015). Lawmakers can try to protect women, but until the mindset surrounding women changes, women will still face grotesque violence and inequality.
I am an Indian woman, but I grew up in the Western world. I can vividly remember the first time that my grandmother told me “Ashley, you have to keep your shoulders covered when you are out in public.” I was 7 years old. Here in the United States, I don’t even think twice about putting a tank top when I go outside. I wear a bikini at the beach, and don’t expect to be assaulted for it. I take take the bus by myself without having to worry about a man making unwanted approaches towards me. When I visit India, it feels like I’m stepping into a whole new world. Even in the sweltering heat, I am required to dress in conservative clothing that leaves me covered head to toe, so as not to tempt the apparently uncontrollable urges of men much older and stronger than I am. My grandmother always reminds me not to make eye contact with or smile at men, because they could take it as an invitation to follow me or yell sexual insinuations. At beaches, women don’t swim in anything other than fully covering street clothes in fear of being stared at. On buses, I was taught how to hold my bag on my lap and wrap my arms around it to avoid unwanted touches by leering men riding the bus.
Men are never taught not to assault, or rape, or touch without consent. They never have to listen to their grandfather warning them of things they must not do and they most definitely are never taught to treat women equally and with respect. Yet for some reason, there remain a million unwritten rules for women to follow. There is no such thing as an easy fix for the expansive and complicated issues that surround women’s rights in India, but I firmly believe that the first step is an upheaval of cultural standards surrounding women, particularly through education. 41.5% of women in India report that they have received no schooling, contrastingly the same parameter for men was just 21.9% (NFHS-3 2006-2006). Low literacy and education rates make women less able to understand when violence is being perpetrated against them, and less likely to get help in fear of being left homeless and helpless. Education has an inverse relationship between women’s acceptance of circumstances in which abuse is warranted, and therefore, educated women are more likely to recognize abuse when it occurs. Additionally, education systems in India do not include sex education. Men and women alike are less likely to understand consent, safe sex, and the rights that men and women have when it comes to sex. Education also equalizes parental preferences between males and females. 46% of men with little to no education report having a high preference for sons, while that number drops to 27% for men with higher education (Chartoff 2015). Although education is not a fix-all, well-educated women are more likely to understand and protect their own rights.