In today’s changing dynamics, the role of women is becoming extremely essential and necessary unlike the olden days where they were confined to homes. Having women workforce in organizations is becoming increasingly important in terms of gender diversity which is so essential for the development of a society. However, one key question also arises “How can women’s dignity maintained both at work and home?”
Man and woman are termed like two equal wheels of a perfect chariot. If any wheel falls short in radius then the chariot cannot run properly. Likewise, if anyone of the spouses is short in position and not treated equally or lacking in dignity then the family cannot run its functioning smoothly, and cannot fully contribute its might to the society. Traditionally, wise people compared wife and husband with chickpea seed and termed both of them are like two pulses of a chickpea. When both pulses combined then they form a whole chickpea. Likewise, when a husband and wife come together in harmony and live peacefully they become a family full of love, peace, and prosperity. A large percentage of women in India take career breaks from the corporate world to raise children which is quite natural and needed for the human race to exist. While they give up their careers & time to raise tomorrow’s leaders, they also lose valuable years being away from work.
There are some laws and efforts of the government for the women’s development, education, protection and safety are a sacred duty of society as a whole. Everybody must respect the right of women to equal opportunities and a dignified life. The citizens have a collective responsibility to create a social system that ensures the safety, security and dignity of women in society. Despite various laws and government endeavors for women’s development, education and empowerment; the conduct of bad elements of society towards women and girls is condemnable. There is a widespread violence faced by women. It is an absolute shame that in many places the women and girls are sexually harassed, socially abused and sometimes their dignity, choices and freedom are brutally attacked. Manu, the great sage, has proclaimed in his famous treatise ‘Manusmriti’ that women form the foundation of a prosperous society. The contemporary society that provides respect and dignity to women flourishes with nobility and prosperity. And a society that does not consider women on such status has to face miseries and failures regardless of how much noble deeds they perform otherwise.
The Veda, Islam, Christianity recognizes man and woman’s nature as indispensable. Despite all religious teachings, international treaties, states laws, government schemes and programs for women empowerment, equal rights and the girl education, the condition of women in present day India is deplorable. The issues of women like discrimination against girls child, increasing violence against women, Trafficking, health and nutrition, harassment at work place and hardships due to divorce, desertion and dowry etc. still exist in the society. Added to all such things, the process of ‘Globalization’ let loose more in the beginning of 21st century and increasing impact of social media has brought for females new opportunities, and at the same time, it has created new anxieties, fears and challenges. We have to fight this collectively to find social and legal remedies and effective solutions to women’s problems.
Gender Discrimination
Women face discrimination in every society of the world, be it in India or elsewhere in the world where women aren’t treated on par with men. The gender discrimination resulted in five major areas of heinous crimes against the girl child.
Female Foeticide
This is an atrocity against a girl even before she is born and a forced abortion of unwanted pregnancies.It has been present in all societies in one form or the other since ages. Female foeticide is a sex selective abortion and most unfortunate way of preventing birth of daughters through sex determination test in which greedy doctors are involved. Though the Indian government has passed Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act (PCPNDT) in 1994 to ban and punish prenatal sex screening and female foeticide, it is still carried on secretly. It is presently illegal in India to determine or disclose sex of the foetus to anyone. Female foeticide isn’t prevalent only in rural India, but also haunts the educated and the urban class which has led to serious changes in marriage patterns, fertility rate and male-female relationships.
Female Infanticide
This refers to the killing of female babies as soon as they are born.It is more existent in parts of Haryana, Rajasthan, Bihar, U.P., West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. It is shocking to note that the mothers who mercilessly killed their own daughters openly and strongly defended their action. This has be mainly due to poverty, traditional belief and pressure from the male members of family.The problem can be solved through awareness building, education and removal of poverty.
Girl Child Prostitution
Selling of Girl Child
Due to the preference of male child,there is a severe gender imbalance in the world. The shortage of women is generating a dangerous demand for brides among men, especially in states like Haryana, which has one of the country’s worst gender ratios. Traffickers are stepping in to meet this demand by kidnapping women from other states and selling them to men. Al Jazeera, a TV news channel discovered that some women living in villages in Haryana have been sold (like cows and goats) as many as three times. The villagers call them “Paros”, a derogatory term implying they’ve been purchased.
Sexual Abuse of Girl Children
Young girls are often the victims of sexual abuse where children are forcibly involved in sexual activities who are immature to understand. Girl children are often abused at home, neighborhood, school, hospital and such other places. In more than 70% of the cases, they become the victims at hand of employers, co-workers, tenants, neighbors and acquaintances. It is utterly shameful that recently, there have been wide spread news from different parts of India about sexual assault on children.
After two separate cases of gang rapes which took place in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua and Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao, leading to massive outrage across the country, the Union Cabinet cleared the ordinance on POCSO act whereby death penalty to be given to those convicted of raping a child up to 12 years of age. The Central Government has cleared the criminal law amendment ordinance, and POCSO Act as part of this amendment. The Central government has increased minimum punishment in case of rape of women from 7 years to 10 years, extendable to life imprisonment. In case of gang rape of a girl below 12 years, the accused will be imprisoned for life or will be sentenced to death.
Inequality of Rights to Women than Men
The root cause of gender inequality in Indian society lies in its patriarchy system where in women’s exploitation is an age old cultural phenomenon of Indian society. The unfortunate part of gender inequality in our society is that the women through, continued socio-cultural conditioning, have accepted their subordinate position to men.There is several problems faced by women,
- Dowry and bride burning
- Domestic violence
- Social violence
- Disparity in Education
- Inadequate healthcare and nutrition
Government Efforts for Women Empowerment
The Indian Constitution provides positive efforts for empowering women. This includes achieving social, economic and political justice to everyone and to provide equality of status and of opportunity to all females. Apart from these Constitutional safeguards, various protective Legislations have also been passed by the Parliament to eliminate exploitation of women and to give them equal status in society.For instance, the Sati (Prevention) Act, the Dowry Prohibition Act, the Special Marriage Act. In recent years, the Government of India has thoroughly crafted noteworthy schemes and programs for the upliftment of women,
- Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao, meant for uplifting women in the sphere of women’s education.
- Sukanya Samriddhi Account, meant to help families’ save for their daughters.
- One-Stop Center scheme meant to offer easy access for women suffering from domestic abuse or violence and needing support.
- Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana meant to offer free LPG connections to women living below the poverty line
- Mahila Haat meant to support women entrepreneurs and women self-help, groups
- Rajiv Gandhi National Crèche Scheme for Children of Working Mothers meant to provide affordable daycare services to working women.
- Maternity Benefit Scheme meant for pregnant women and lactating mothers
- Women’s Helpline 1091 meant to provide emergency assistance to women in trouble, especially those facing the violence of any kind.
The issue of gender inequality should not be perceived as war between two sexes. The approach should be more on complementing each other than competing on perceptions which may be unreal or non existent. Societal bonds are purely based upon mutual dependence, respect and integration. The male is often blamed as the dissemination of gender injustice but it would be unjust to ignore that a man also subjected to pain as the injustice done could be his mother, wife or daughter. Whatever legislation or acts passed the ground reality id completely different. Crimes against women are increasing at alarming stage.
With a view to spread the gender sensitization among the society, women have always been given the highest level of respect in our country. Protection and safety of girls and women is a sacred duty of society as a whole. The rights of women to equal opportunities and a dignified life must be respected and the nation as a whole has a collective responsibility for creating the ecosystem to ensure their safety and dignity in society.
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