When No Is Not An Option

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the article is of the individual author's only and not to be construed in any manner as the official views of IIT Madras.

Women empowerment is the ever-trending topic around the globe and in India, too. We see politicians talk about it. We see videos becoming viral. We see hashtags trending in social media. And there are articles, like these, about women empowerment floating around in the web in huge numbers. But, are they actually helping the cause in any way? Does a country whose laws do not provide a married woman with the right over her body stand a chance in this mission to empower its women?

Marital rape is not a crime in India. For those who are wondering how rape can happen in a marriage, rape is defined as a sexual assault perpetrated against a person without that person’s consent. And to think that a mere thaali gives the “husband” the right over her body is plain male chauvinism and the idea does not deserve a place in today’s society.

A society which sees marriage as a union of two equals remains utopian to us. We live in a country where the female sex enjoys a better representation in temples than in the parliament. We name our gods, life supporting rivers and earth after women and yet continue to allow such inhumane crimes against them. Ah! How ironic?!

Recently, Mr.Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary, the minister of state for home said, “It is considered that the concept of marital rape, as understood internationally, cannot be suitably applied in the Indian context”, citing that marriages are treated as “sacrament” in the country. This only makes one wonder if we are losing too much in an effort to uphold the so called Indian tradition and culture. If, for argument sake, we do consider marriages to be sacramental, how does it make Marital Rape any more legal than in other countries?

Let us see the state of marital rape in other countries. The United States criminalized marital rape in mid 1970s and most of the European nations did so in the 1990s. Australia made it a crime in 1992. The United Nations’ recommendation to India to criminalize the same was turned down by the government. Justice Verma Committee’s Report of 2013 on sexual violence laws said that the exemption for marital rape “stems from a long out-dated notion of marriage which regarded wives as no more than the property of their husbands” and recommended its removal. However, the Criminal Law Amendment passed by the UPA following the report avoided the marital rape question!

What might be the reason for India not doing something which seems so obvious to a rationally thinking individual? Is it the practical difficulty involved in the implementation of the law? Is it the fear that this law, if made, will be exploited by women just like the Anti-Dowry Law? Or is it because of the sad fact that the government is run by a bunch of ultra conservative people who are giving religion more importance than it deserves and are so adamant in upholding its sanctity that they tend to oversee the adverse effect it is having on the society?

Well, it’s a combination of all the above reasons. In India, marriage has a “holy” characteristic associated with it. And a woman is expected to uphold the sanctity of the marriage and to hold intact the fabric of family, even though the man and woman both constitute the institution of marriage. Woman is seen as the bearer of a family’s dignity and esteem. All these so called “duties” of a woman weigh her down and makes it all the more difficult to come out and report a case of domestic violence. Exempting marital rape from legal punishment is only making things worse for her.

Refraining from passing a bill because of the associated implementational difficulties is not a good sign for a developing country like ours. Challenges are everywhere. We cannot dream of becoming a superpower if we resent challenges. There are countries where laws are in place to check these crimes and a study of them will definitely give us a starting point.

With all this said, it will be too optimistic to think that the law will eradicate our society of these heinous acts. A major perceptional change is required to fix this problem. A broadminded, well informed society backed by well structured laws is required to fix this problem. And, we make the society.

Words can only initiate thoughts. Thoughts lead to actions and only actions can bring changes!

Let’s act, for a better India!

Contributed by Karthikeyan S Durai Pandian. Karthikeyan is a Dual Degree student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering,IIT Madras

Feminism in India

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the article is of the individual author's only and not to be construed in any manner as the official views of IIT Madras.

“I think women are foolish to pretend they are equal to men, they are far superior and always have been.” – William Golding

A slapped bottom and a gang rape, a senior IAS officer and a village woman from Rajasthan, both have moved the courts, seeking justice for all women. Both have stood up in the public arena to say that they have been robbed of freedoms supposedly guaranteed to them by the Constitution of independent India. Rupan Deol Bajaj of Chandigarh and Bhanvari Devi of Bhateri village have focussed attention on Indian feminism. Yet, notwithstanding the publicity given to the most famous derriere in India at the moment, women's groups say they have been "heartened" by the media response to Bhanvari Devi.

When the social worker from Rajasthan addressed a press conference, almost every newspaper carried the story the next day. The district judge may have declared the upper caste men do not rape, but nobody doubted Bhanvari's word. The campaign for a law on sexual harassment in the workplace has gathered momentum because of Bhanvari's experience and women's groups are planning several demonstrations in Jaipur in support of her. Rupan Bajaj may be a talking point, but Bhanvari Devi is the rallying cry. In Nineties India, a poor village woman has become a feminist symbol.

From anti-dowry campaigns in the '80s, to anti-rape demonstrations in the '90s, Indian feminism has taken a trajectory that has brought it into closer contact with the spontaneous struggles of women throughout the country.

Feminism in India has been a long, unsettled debate which is still persistently prevalent in various forms. The emergence of “Feminism” has been a powerful challenge to the prevailing power structures and gender equations at the level of the family, the economy and the polity. The term “feminism” evokes many positive associations and connotations when used in the Western context. Undoubtedly, this revolutionary movement played a vital role in liberating the status of women. This evolved from women’s own awareness and their struggles against power structures which excluded them from equal participation in many aspects of the economic, social and political life of their society.

For most Indians, except a microscopic number of highly westernized, elite people, the term “feminism” means nothing. Neither does that particular term have any equivalents in any of the Indian language. If anything, the term has acquired many negative connotations in recent years. Most urban English-speaking Indians are familiar with the term “feminism”, but their understanding of it remains vague. Among the urban literate, the awareness of feminism is largely confined to what is perceived of as the moral corruption of women.

For most Indian males feminism has contained to be an “obnoxious” word, which they feel have tremendous negative effects on the minds of Indian females. Since the Indian female has always been a considerably more conditioned product, totally custom-made and usually coerced into a mindless acceptance of male diktat, the possibility of a reasoned, open-minded approach to the concept of feminism has been at best sporadic. Indians are so biased and prejudiced against the concept of “feminism” that they mark out each and every person working for or supporting the women’s cause, are inevitably tabooed as if she/he is a terrorist, exploding anti-social elements and ideas, and corrupting Indian traditions and cultures. In fact, anyone working for women’s rights irrespective of the nature of their work, is automatically assumed to be a conscious or unconscious feminist, and allowed no choice on this issue.

Since the situation of women in India is quite miserable and a great deal needs to be done on their behalf, it is important that Indian feminists understand the Indian context thoroughly. Indian feminists need to phrase and frame their criticisms, their arguments and their demands keeping in mind the sensitive issues and sentiments related to the Indian society.

Contributed by Mamidi Vijaya Bhaskar. Vijaya Bhaskar is an Undergraduate student in the Department of Aerospace Engineering,IIT Madras.