Women Struggle to Find Place in Modern India

[Guest guest]

NEW DELHI, March 5, 2007 (Reuters) - From female deities worshipped

at Hindu temples to revered historic figures such as Indira Gandhi

and Mother Theresa, women have made their mark on India. But not

enough to stop widespread abuse and chauvinism.

 

Pushpa, a 23-year-old housewife, is one of tens of thousands of

battered wives in India, where many women are treated like their

husbands' vassals under a tradition that once demanded widows

immolate themselves on their husbands' funeral pyres.

 

" It's not easy to talk to anyone about this ... if my husband finds

out, only God knows what he will do to me, " Pushpa said, her voice

trembling as she recounted the beatings and abuse she has suffered

at the hands of her husband.

 

Pushpa has been married for almost four years to a bank clerk. Like

many victims of domestic violence in India, she is afraid to go to

the police, almost resigned to her suffering.

 

" He comes home from work, often drunk, and hits me with a wooden

stick ... once he pushed me down the stairs. But I have accepted it

as I don't have much choice. What else can I do? " said Pushpa, who

asked for her full name to be withheld.

 

More than 60 percent of married women, aged between 15 and 49, are

victims of beating, rape or forced sex by their husbands, according

to a study by the United Nations Population Fund.

 

Government officials say a new domestic violence law passed in

October empowers these victims by giving them rights over their

abusers' assets and legal protection.

 

The landmark legislation -- which also applies to women in live-in

relationships, mothers, sisters and daughters -- is one of many laws

introduced in this patriarchal society to bridge the gender divide

since India's independence almost six decades ago.

 

But activists say India still has a long way to go to safeguard

women's rights and security in a country where a woman is murdered,

raped or abused every three minutes on average.

 

BRIDGING THE DIVIDE

 

India has a long list of legislation passed to protect the rights of

women, but activists say the laws are rarely enforced.

 

Legislation banning dowries, a custom that frequently lead to women

being abused by husbands and parents in-law, was passed in 1961 but

is still widely flouted.

 

According to police records, a women is murdered every 77 minutes as

a result of dowry-related issues.

 

Sati -- the custom of burning widows alive along with the bodies of

their deceased husbands -- was outlawed in 1987 but rare cases still

occur in parts of rural India.

 

And the rising number of abortions of female foetuses by parents

preferring male babies has led to legislation barring the use of

ultrasounds to determine gender of unborn foetuses.

 

But such ultrasounds continue illicitly and a joint study carried

out by researchers in India and Canada last year estimated that

500,000 unborn girls are aborted in India every year.

 

At the same time, the role of women has changed since India's

economic reforms began in the 1990s and increasing globalisation has

opened up the traditional and largely conservative South Asian

nation to the rest of the world.

 

Today, there are an increasing numbers of women in the workforce,

more girls in schools, more women holding senior positions in

corporations and in government and thousands of organisations

representing the interests of women.

 

But in a country where the majority Hindus worship female deities

like Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, or Saraswati, the goddess of

learning and where the female form is revered as the Universal

Mother -- women continue to be abused and disrespected.

 

ABUSE CONTINUES

 

Despite some of most powerful figures in India's political history

being women, such as former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her

daughter-in-law, Sonia Gandhi, who is head of the governing Congress

party, India remains patriarchal.

 

A bill to reserve about 30 percent of parliamentary seats for women

was introduced a decade ago, but activists say it has not been

passed largely due to male opposition to the bill.

 

Activists say even after centuries of tradition where men have ruled

over women in every sphere, women are still largely considered

second-class citizens incapable of making decisions.

 

" Women are discriminated against in every possible way -- in

villages, in cities, in the home, in the work place, everywhere, "

said Brototi Dutta from Lawyers Collective, a national network of

lawyers fighting for the rights of abused women.

 

" They are beaten at home, sexually abused, face harassment on the

streets and at the work place ... even when they are raped, they are

often treated by police as the culprit, rather than the victim and

blamed for wearing 'provocative' clothing. "

 

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, there were 155,553

crimes committed against women in 2005, but women's groups say the

real figure could be ten times more as many cases go unreported with

victims fearing social stigma.

 

In one recent incident, a women was ordered by a village council to

marry her father-in-law after he raped her. And in another, a girl

was burnt alive by her rapist after she refused to withdraw a

complaint against him.

 

There are also frequent reports of spurned men disfiguring women by

throwing acid in their faces due to unrequited love and of husbands

and their families setting women ablaze for not providing sufficient

dowry.

 

" The problem is the law enforcement machinery -- the police and

local judiciary -- are not sensitive to crimes against women,

especially in rural areas where the majority live, " said Ranjana

Kumari, director of the Centre for Social Research, an independent

think-tank on women's empowerment.

 

" This is now slowly happening and more awareness is being created as

women are breaking their silence and talking more about the abuse

they face, but it will take time to change social attitudes. "

 

SOURCE: © Reuters 2007. . FEATURE - Women

struggle to find place in modern India. Mon Mar 5, 2007 10:12 AM IST

By Nita Bhalla.

URL: http://in.today.reuters.com/news/NewsArticle.aspx?

type=topNews & storyID=2007-03-05T095912Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-

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