1. MANTHAN TOPIC : WALK TO EQUALITY
SECURITY AND EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN
ADUTY OF MANKIND…
TEAM DETAILS :
Anika Srivastava
Vishwas Singh
Stuti Rastogi
Saumya Singh
Abhay Prakash Pandey
2. SECURITY AND EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN :
It is indeed rightly said
“Women are neither safe inside nor outside the womb”
When we talk about India , there are many critical challenges that it is facing today in which
security of women is the prime concern.
Unfortunately, India stands to be on the 4th position in having highest cases of sexual assault in
the world.
How can we forget the recent rape cases in Delhi and Mumbai where the victims lost lives just
because those unethical men did not value her self-esteem and took her just to please them for
a while.
They call themselves to be humans but the biggest question that arises is where does their
humanity lie when they commit such a hateful, outrageous and shameless act of sexually
harassing a female to whom they owe respect…?
Is that what we expect from the males of our society.
No.
Young girls became easy targets or victims of sexual violence. Out of the 10,000 reported cases
in 1990, 2.5% of the victims were girls below the age of 16 and about 1/5th of the victims were
below the age of 10 years. This clearly indicates the seriousness of the problem of sexual
violence against girl child.
3. As rightly quoted by Naomi Wolf,
“Beauty provokes harassment, the law says, but it looks through men's eyes when
deciding what provokes it”
Is being beautiful also a crime now ???
Now let us ponder over some causes that leads to such barbaric and sinful acts committed
by people who are a shame to humanity:-
PROBLEM 1 :- Girl child abuse
It is one area in which very little amount of evidence is available. Girl child abuse within the
home takes place in various forms like sexual aggression, beatings and child labour.
Families rarely talk about issues such as rape very openly. If a daughter has been raped,
there is a tendency to suppress the matter. If the rapist is a family member such as father,
brother or an uncle, the chances of reporting the rape case is almost nil.
SOLUTION :-
Psychological Counselling :-
Do not isolate the victims from society and never let them to feel that they are alone in this
world. We need to motivate them mentally from the worst incident they faced and also
timed counselling sessions of parents should be held to make them realise the worth of
their daughters.
4. PROBLEM 2 :- Female Foeticide
This form of violence within home is the one which brings shame to humanity. It is the cold-
blooded murder of a baby girl (infanticide) as well as female foetus (foeticide).
There are open advertisements such as
“Better Rs.5,000 now than Rs.5 Lakhs later” .
In the male-dominated Indian society, the birth of a boy is always welcome but the birth of a girl
is looked down upon as a burden.
Amniocentesis is been misused now a days to determine the sex of the foetus .78000 female
foetuses were aborted after sex-determination tests in India.
SOLUTION :
The main reason why female foeticide is being
practised is Dowry. So for ending it first we have to remove dowry that is being practised in
society.
Amniocentesis should be carried out only in government hospitals so that its misuse can be
avoided as the documents will be registered under the custody of the authorised government
officials and doctors.
PROBLEM 3:- Rape
One of the most serious crime committed against women and whose effects are extremely
painful is rape. Rape is violence and not sex and it is more of psychological and emotional
violence. The effects of rape are not only faced by the victim alone but also by her family. Even if
she is able to register a complaint and manages to reach the courts for legal justice, there is no
guarantee of justice. The victim is asked vulgar and probing questions about the rape. This
causes additional emotional trauma for her to relive the unfortunate incident.
5. The case can go on for years and it is not necessary that the victim gets justice.
SOLUTIONS :-
Rape Kits :
It is a set of items used by medical personnel for gathering and preserving physical
evidence following an allegation of sexual assault which can be used in rape investigation.
An advanced form of PCR testing called short tandem repeats (STR) generates a DNA profile
that can be compared to DNA from a suspect or a crime scene.
6. Blood, inner cheek, swabbing or saliva should also be collected from victims to distinguish their
DNA from that of suspects.
This rape kit should be kept in every hospital for identifying suspects in investigation.
PROBLEM 3:- Domestic violence
Women are not safe even in their own family. Cases have been heard where the birth giver the
father acts as a rapist. Even the brother or near relatives & even the father in law or brother in
law are not exuded from this crime against women. As per the records 37% of women are
sexually assault by their husbands.
SOLUTION :-
There should be separate electrical switch in each house which would be directly connected to
the police station and whose information will lie only the female members of the house and in
case of domestic abuse or violence, the wife may press the switch immediately which will send
the signal to the police station about the domestic violence. This service should be available for
women 24x7.
PROBLEM 4:- Eve-Teasing
Eve-teasing which involves the verbal & physical harassment of women is the scourge of the
urban society. A woman cannot go out in the street without the fear of being harassed by
strange men.
SOLUTIONS :-
There is a need to create an awareness in society so that the attitude of general public may be
more sympathetic towards the victim.
7. The girls have to be bold an their own & must get themselves trained in art forms like judo or
karate for self defence.
Whatever the incident, it must be reported to the police as an eve-teaser who remains un-
reported gets encouraged in his exploits & this encourages other also.
The public has to also play an important role in curbing the evil. Public opinion also has to
build up against the eve-teasers.
It is also worth while for the parents to discuss sex with the children & remove from their
mind the unhealthy curiosity about it.
PROBLEM 5:- Lack of Awareness :
People are not aware of how thing works in society for both the gender. Taking note of the
fact that the present civil and penal laws in India do not adequately provide for specific
protection of women from sexual harassment in work places.
SOLUTIONS :
Only education can help in spreading awareness. Providing free sex education and
behavioural science in the schools in order to prevent the crime against women and timely
counselling from parents also helps children to set their frame of mind in the right direction.
8. COMMON SOLUTIONS :
1) Toll free support line :Open the toll free helpline for the emergency situations.one
can misuse this service by doing false calls. So to avoid such situation, track the
number and cancel the network connection .
2) Starting television episodes like Satyamev Jayate so that everyone gets the reality of
the nation and strict actions should be taken by the government of India against the
cases .
3) Though the Government body is far much more active in the present scenario than
it use to be earlier but still there are about 93000 rape cases pending against the
offenders which has yet not been provided with justice.
4) Women should not be silent spectators & must learn to speak up for the wrong
doings against them. Until & unless they themselves do not take the initiative to curb
this violence against them no laws or any court will be of any help to them.
5) One of the most important suggestions need to be introduced is amending the law
in favour of women.
6) Rape victims should not be maltreated at the hands of the police whose assistance
has been sought during the crisis. They should not be submitted to the countless
questions about her own sexual mores & behaviour by the police investigator.
7) In the hospital, the victims should be thoroughly examined by as expert doctor &
immediate cure of physical injuries, prevention of venereal diseases & prevention of
pregnancy should be taken.
8) Female should always carry Pepper Spray in their handbags.
9. 11) Report of rape victims should be recorded by women police officers & women
investigators are to be appointed to investigate such cases.
12) Rape stigma should not be attached with the victim & his family rather it should be shifted
from the victim to the offender.
13) Banning the supply of acids commercially to prevent the acid attacks.
14)Self-defence training should be compulsory at least for girls in schools.
EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN :
In present scenario empowerment of women is very essential as it makes them socially,
economically, domestically stable and equal.
It acts as a tool to move them from crisis and poverty to stability and self-efficiency.
Patriarchy :-
The term patriarchy is not only a descriptive term that explains how different societies
construct male authority and power, but also become an analytical category.
Patriarchy is thus the rule of the father over all women in the family and also over younger
socially and economically subordinate males. in India, upper caste widows were required to
slave their heads, wear no ornaments, or colour garments as they were viewed with
suspicion. Men also control women’s labour outside the home. They make women to sell their
labour or they may prevent their women from working. In the patriarchal society, men control
women’s productive labour and their reproduction. Patriarchy idealises motherhood and
thereby forces women to be mothers and also determines the conditions of their
motherhood. Patriarchy restricts women mobility and reproduces male dominance.
