Violence Against Women in Indian Society

RELEVANT for UPSC-CSE SOCIOLOGY, ESSAY & GENERAL STUDIES PAPER 1

Of all forms of discrimination in society, gender-based discrimination is the most intriguing. This is because this discrimination is not on the basis of racial origin or economic status or ethnic identity; this discrimination is based on social construction of biological differences. A consequence of any form of discrimination is violence. Violence against women is very much rampant in our society.

Why does violence against women occur?

A naive student may state that women are biologically weaker and men are strong. This is a reason why violence against women is easy, but not a reason for violence per se. Violence against women is a product of social values, social status of women and legal protection that women get.
It is said that maturity of a civilization is known from the respect women get in that civilization.

Talking of the Indian society, the status of women here is not something we can boast about. Various forms of violence on women in India are:

1. Child prostitution
2. Human trafficking
3. Violation of modesty and rape
4. Dowry deaths
5. Domestic violence
6. NRI husbands’ atrocities
7. Violence during political protests
8. Violence during riots and communal violence
9. Atrocities on Dalit women
10. Atrocities on widows

Now, let us look into the psycho-social and structural causal factors in prevalence of violence against women:

Social values

• Historians assert that women had status and rights equivalent to men in ancient Indian society. They played an active role in public life. However, over a period of time, a heavy value-bias against women developed. A notion of female inferiority was introduced in social values. This debasing of women’s status further complicated during Muslim rule.
• Owing to this, the social cost of inflicting violence on women became low. Men inflicting violence on women were not stigmatized; rather women justified the violence on themselves as men’s right. This happens when women internalize the social values and start believing that they really are inferior. Men, on the other hand, are appreciated for “reigning in” on their wives and daughters.

Patriarchy

• A patriarchal family system is one where ultimate authority rests with the patriarch, the oldest male member. There is a clear division of labour between male and female members. While men go out to work (and have a right over economic resources and property), women’s work is limited to the household. Women do not have any source of income. Hence, women are economically dependent on male members of the family. This reduces their bargaining power.
• A major reason for domestic violence is patriarchy. Neither do women have bargaining power, nor can they leave the household. They have to tolerate all kinds of torture and violence meted out on them.

Contradictions of change

• The process of social change happens in all societies. But, social change in India in the form of modernization is fast and uneven. As a result, while social values of some sections are modern and progressive, social values of other sections of the same society are conservative. This leads to many forms of violence on women.
• Take the case of moral policing. Recently, some women attending a pub in Mangalore were beaten up by fundamentalist right wing members. While the victims were progressive and independent, and asserted themselves by having liquor at par with men (if men can have it, why cannot women? If men enjoy it, why not women?), but the assailants were conservative elements, who saw their act as a threat to Indian culture and tradition. In traditional India, women are ‘puppets’; there are numerous restrictions on women, and double standards in dealing with what women can do vis-a-vis men.
• Another contradiction of change is the rise in aspirations. The advent of open markets and capitalism has shown big dreams to people. To attain these dreams, they can engage in any kind of activity. For example, there is a mad rush among girls (and parents) in Punjab and nearby places for marrying NRI grooms. They do it hoping to get easy access to American shores and better quality of life. Alas, NRI husbands have their own plans. While they marry in India, they also have other affairs/relationships overseas. Often they desert their wives after a few days of marriage. When the wife is taken along to overseas places, many times she is resorted to brutal domestic violence. In foreign places, she has no one to complain to. If she is taken there illegally, she cannot even report to the police and take redressal with law of the country of destination. The movie “Provoked”, starring Aishwarya Rai was based on this issue. Anu Peshawariya, author of ‘Immigrant Dreams’, believes that this trend of NRI marriages is because of rising aspirations for better lifestyle.
• Dowry deaths are also a result of contradictions of change. Traditionally, dowry is meant to be a gift. Marriage is a relationship between two families and it was not seen from an economic angle. But, as social values changed, people developed a more consumerist attitude. Aspirations for better economic status induced grooms to demand dowry. Dowry became a means to an end: better economic condition, and hence, better status in society.
• Interesting to note in above cases is that as rapid social change takes place, social values change. But, ethics and morality cannot catch up. Hence, richness became a measurement of achievement. But, the means of becoming rich are not defined in social values. So, people resort to unethical and immoral acts for the same.

Role of Mass Media

• A section of feminists and psychologists are of the opinion that violence against women stem from the promotion of consumerist lifestyles through mass media. Advertisements and movies present women as beautiful models, objects to be desired. This traps women in stereotypes. In Hindi movies, most actresses get to only sing and dance. Their role is typified by their looks, their “size zero” figure and their dancing skills. These stereotypes create the image of women as objects of consumerism. Such image lowers the status of women (they are seen not as personalities, but as objects with sexy figures). Attempts to rape and molest women may be influenced by these. It is tough for a man to violate the modesty of a woman whom he looks as a person; this happens only when he looks at the woman as an object.
• Pornography has found an increased supply in recent times due co information revolution. Porns create ‘rape myths’, that women enjoy hard sex and that only bad girls get raped. Porn movies further increase a man’s desire for sexual gratification. Exposure to porn at a young age creates further desensitization towards women.

Law of the Land

• The clarity or ambiguity in legal doctrines regarding violence and atrocities against women is an important factor in the prevalence of violence on women. Neera Desai observes that there is a basic contradiction relating to women in the Indian Constitution. While women are referred to as equal citizens in Article 15, the right to freedom of religion (embodied in Article 25-28) provides for personal laws, which deny equality to women in several facets of life. For example, Muslim personal law dictates that a man can dispose off his wife by saying ‘talaq ‘ three times to her.
• Indian laws are more progressive and more rational than that of many other third world countries. Yet, feminist scholars have pointed to many anomalies in our legal system. Some interesting instances are:

Definition of rape does not extend to marital rape.

• Questions have been raised on the efficacy of ‘male’ judges in trying cases of violence against women. The famous Mathura Rape Case, wherein a 14 year old girl was raped in custody is an instance. The Supreme Court called it rape by consent. Feminist scholars argue that law implementation and law interpretation are in the hands of men who have no understanding of what a sexual assault means to women.
• Inability and unwillingness of state machinery to take initiative to collect evidence is another issue raised by scholars. In the first 21 years of Dowry Prohibition Act 1961, only one conviction had taken place. I had once read a report about a village-level Dalit woman worker, who had tried to prevent child marriage in her village as part of her duty. A few men of an upper caste family raped her due to her interference. A case was filed. The district court acquitted the rapist on the ground that upper caste men would not even touch, let alone rape, a Dalit Woman!

Political Violence

• If you look closely at communalism, ethnic conflicts, caste conflicts and fundamentalism, you will know that whatever be the reason for same, the victims are mostly women and children. In the aftermath of Gujarat riots, a shocking case that came to the fore was that of Bilkis Bano. She was a pregnant woman whose family members were killed; she was raped in her condition. Such acts forced me to think, if our civilization is really civilized!
• Caste conflicts are other phenomena that have women suffering even though they are not a part of the conflict. Whenever upwardly mobile backward classes/castes become more assertive, a conflict arises between upper castes and lower castes. Stripping, rape and other forms of humiliation are inflicted on Dalit women during caste wars.
• Political violence against women also takes place during political protests. Both men and women are engaged in such protests, but case of violence is especially severe on women. Around a year back, a tribal women who was protesting for reservation in Assam was stripped; she was stark naked in front of the public and the media. Many cases of violation against women engaged in political struggle have come from the North-East and Jammu and Kashmir.

Like other social issues, the issue of gender inequality crops from factors within the society. As long as these basic anomalies in society and social norms are not changed, it will be extremely difficult to better the lot of women. Further, violent behaviour directed against women is a result of such anomalies in social institutions and social norms.

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