16 crore jobless women form India’s ‘Great Invisible Force’

Nearly 160 million women in India, 88% of which are of working age — that is between 15 to 59 years — just remain at home doing "household duties", according to Census data that has just been released.

Note that these are women who reported themselves as 'not working'. All the other women who work, whether full time or part time, also do domestic work. But these 16 crore are the Great Invisible Workforce, primarily involved in care work and rearing families.

The total number of women in the age group 15-59, according to Census data released earlier, is just under 355 million. What the latest data shows is that about 45% of them, or nearly half, are confined solely to domestic duties

The women confined to doing household duties has an interesting complement — men exclusively doing household duties. The ratio is, unsurprisingly, 28 to 1. That is, compared to 16 crore women doing only domestic duties, just 58 lakh men are exclusively involved in household duties.

The large proportion of working age group women who are confined to their home and hearth is partly because of social pressures, and partly the result of economic policies that have offered no opportunities to women. Either way, it is a shocking loss to the country, and to the women themselves.

INDIA: A Discordant Note on the Dowry Order

The Indian Supreme Court’s decision to disallow blind arrest of the accused in dowry cases seems baffling at first sight. After all, the same court has often turned down bail applications, usually granted in such cases by Sessions Courts and High Courts. InSamunder Singh v. Rajasthan (1987), the Rajasthan High Court granted anticipatory bail to the father-in-law of a girl who died soon after her marriage; the girl’s family had made an accusation of dowry murder. In that case, the Supreme Court had not only cancelled the anticipatory bail granted to the father-in-law of the deceased girl by the Rajasthan High Court. The Supreme Court had stated that the bail is evidence to the widely held belief that “dowry deaths are even now treated with some casualness at all levels”.

In this context, the Supreme Court’s order, prohibiting immediate arrest, and ensuring that the accused get arrested only after a 9-point checklist, seems to be a departure from its past stance. Interestingly, the order ensures that the accused will be detained only after the Magistrate is satisfied with the investigation officer’s justification of detention. The Magistrate, in turn, will put on record reasons for the same, and failing to do so will invite departmental action and amount to contempt of court for the investigating officer.  The Court had further added that the order stands not only for dowry cases but also for all cases where the offence is punishable with imprisonment for less than seven years or up to seven years with or without fine.

The judgment is not a standalone order of a bench breaking the norm. It falls in line with another recent order of Justices Vikramjit Sen and S.K. Singh that prohibits auto arrest on allegations of rape that follow live in relationships gone sour. The Bombay High Court and many other lower courts have regularly expressed similar concerns.

The judgment has, expectedly, unnerved feminists and certain sections of civil society. Some have even blamed the order as a reflection of the misogyny and patriarchy that defines Indian society. However, despite their legitimate concerns, the judgment is neither representative of a patriarchal or misogynist mindset. Yes, women are treated as lesser citizens in India. Yes, the statistics from the National Crime Records Bureau expose the endemic nature of violence against women in India.  The problem of dowry is widespread. And, the anti dowry act is not the only one that gets misused. Many other acts, aimed at protecting the marginalized, get misused too.

This is exactly where the Supreme Court judgment turns out to be a rather progressive one, which takes one problem of India’s criminal justice system head on. Consider the statistics quoted by the bench itself. A total of 1,97,762 persons were arrested in 2012 for the offence under Section 498-A of the India Penal Code and nearly a quarter of those arrested were women. These women, ranging from elderly and often sick grandmothers to young daughters, all belong to the family of dowry accused. What if a single one of them is innocent? Presumption of innocence, not guilt, is a basic tenet of the rule of law. But here there appears to be a mad rush to send people to jail. What will happen to these women when the courts release them? Will society be less patriarchal to them? But then, this judgment is not only about women.

Presumption of innocence, not guilt is what all systems using common law must practice. Barring those caught red-handed or to stop someone from committing a crime, bail not jail should be the norm. The bench, in this case, has merely reaffirmed the principle. It has asserted that arrest curtails freedom, brings humiliation and scars people forever, and no arrest should be made only because the offence is non-bailable and cognisable. Who can disagree with this?

The judgment has also brought the role of Magistracy to the fore. The idea of Magistracy was born to curtail the unlimited power of arrest vested in law enforcement agencies. It was borne to protect the citizens from unlawful confinement and to defend them against unjustified arrest. Can anyone question the fact that both the Indian lower judiciary and the Indian police are corrupt and that they often use cognizable offences as a bargaining tool for bribes? What else explains that over 90% charge sheets in dowry cases result in 15% conviction?

The power to arrest even the female members of the family of the accused, thusly becomes problematic, as it gives the police unlimited power of harassment. Even from a different perspective, in a country where more than 90% of marriages are ‘arranged’, the bride and bridegroom’s families are often of the same socioeconomic status. In the case of a failing marriage, patriarchal idea of avenging the ‘honour’ of the bride becomes reason enough for pressing dowry charges and to teach the family a lesson.

Indian jails are already overcrowded. Under-trials sometimes serve more years than offence for which they get booked. This judgment might help the situation a bit. And, after all it does not bar arrest. It just brings in magisterial scrutiny to the police’s decision to arrest a person. And, it does this in a time-bound manner. The police will have to explain their decision about arresting or not within 14 days. What is wrong with that?

Civil society has always fought against the arrest of countless innocent youth under charges of terrorism. They have been seen being exonerated after years, sometimes even decades, of confinement, which can be called nothing but illegal. This judgment will help, not harm, fighting such cases too.

Harsh and draconian laws are not going to resolve problems. They will merely embolden an already corrupt and inefficient police into harassing more innocents. They will be misused by the lower judiciary, which is acknowledged as corrupt by the Supreme Court.

Britain, where India’s legal system emanates from, does not have auto arrest provisions even for rape charges. Does it mean that it sees more violence against women? Have the women there broken free of the shackles of patriarchy? In both cases, no is the answer. Britain sees less crime against women because it has a more honest and efficient criminal justice system.

That is what India also needs, not harsher laws. Legitimate public anger over the 16 December gang rape and murder of a young girl has not resulted in reducing violence against women. The anger, however, was used by the system to add the draconian death sentence to rape cases. This positive judgment should be welcome, and not derided. A time bound investigation, under magisterial scrutiny, to decide the detention of those charged with offences carrying a sentence less than 7 years, is a step forward in the reforms that India’s criminal justice system needs.

Arrest is the last resort in all civilized countries. Criminal investigations do not begin with arrest in rule of law countries and they should not do so India as well. The judgment is progressive in that it has set the process aright.

That said, the real test would be in the enforcement of the ruling; it demands immediate reform in police capability of carrying out forensic and criminal investigations. The judgment may also curtail torture as a rampant tool of investigation, in times where the police arrests the accused and then tortures him/her into confession and providing evidence. In other words, the judgment restores the right to silence and not being forced into serving as a witness against oneself.

It may not look politically correct at the moment, but the judgment will be remembered as a step forward in reforming India’s criminal justice system.

Why Delhi is the most violent?

The national capital is known for many things like its unique culture, unique Mughal-era monuments like Humayun Tomb, Red fort, Qutub Minar, Jama Masjid, high population due to migrants from rest of the country, and also the street foods of chandni chowk but it brings us to shame when Delhi makes headlines all over the world of being the most violent place in India or a dangerous city for women. The question arises is it really the most violent place in India or the most dangerous place for women. If the answer is yes than what is that the city with over 9 million population is lacking? Is it the law and order situation, weak judicial system, back Government policies, or the mindset. According to the Government's 2009 Crime in India report, Delhi is by far India's most unsafe major metropolis for women and children. Though it accounted for only 13.2% of all crimes committed in 35 "mega cities" across India in 2009, nearly 24% of total rape cases and almost 40% of cases of reported kidnapping and abduction of women were committed in the national capital. Another shocking latest statistics of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reveals that 29 gruesome crimes cases were reported on an average daily in 2013. The heinous crimes included 3 robberies, rapes each, 17 incidents of abduction and a case of murder between January to December in 2013. India a dangerous place for women There has been not a single day in India and in Delhi particular when violence and crime against women like rape, sexual harassment, acid attack, dowry death have not been reported in the newspapers. According to a survey conducted by Thomson Reuters' Trustlaw Women, a hub of legal information and legal support for women's rights in 2011, India was placed as the fourth most dangerous place for women. Afghanistan was found to be the most dangerous place for women followed by Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, India and Somalia in the survey. 29 gruesome crimes cases were reported on an average daily in 2013 According to the survey, the high number of female foeticide, infanticide and human trafficking prevalent in India has placed it as the fourth most dangerous place for women in the world. "India ranked fourth primarily due to female foeticide, infanticide and human trafficking," the poll said. In the state of Haryana alone the crime against women was recorded very high due to lowest sex ratio in the country. Women trafficked from States like Bihar, Bengal and Assam are forced to marry at a very young age in the State. The CBI has estimated that in 2009 about 90 per cent of trafficking took place within the country and that there were three million prostitutes, of which 40 per cent were children. Other forms of exploitation include forced labour and forced marriage. "In India, upto 50 million girls were thought to be 'missing' over the past century due to female infanticide and foeticide," as per the UN Population Fund. Nirbhaya incident The December 2012 Nirbhaya incident brought the entire nation to a hault and was condemned by people all over the world. Serious questions were raised by the sociologist and people from different strata of society regarding the sexual violence against women to find out from where this kind of mindset originated in India. Unfortunately, India is still battling to curb such heinous crimes from our society. Post the December16 incident, there have been a shocking 1000 rape cases registered in the city in the last 8 months. The statistics come to light after a number of efforts were made to ensure women's safety in the city and even stringent rape laws were implemented. According to latest UN reports, one in four men in Asia have committed rape at least once. Hate crime incidents Hardly a year passed to the Nirbhaya incident when another brutal incident of hate crime was reported in the national capital. This time it was students from North-East. People from North-East are often subject to racial abuse in the city and the Nido Taniam incident proved that racism is subtle and deeply rooted in Delhi. For example - people with oriental features are looked down upon. The lynch mob attack of the young student is only a reaffirmation of the alienation meted out to the North-East people throughout the history of our country. North-East has always been segregated from the rest of the country and not enough steps have been taken to sensitise the mainland Indians with North-East and vice versa as a result crime against them in Delhi has been rising continuously. Many experts and sociologists believe that education is the need of the hour and can only help the Government and the society to curb such crimes. But in the past crimes like rape have been committed by people who have an educational background. Delhi has a bad history of violence Delhi has witnessed a violent history since the times of Mughals. Few who pass by the Khooni Darwaza on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg in Central Delhi, know of its bloody history. Apart from history, there are several other reasons for Delhi's violence. The language of the people is so rough which provokes much of the conflict. This can observed in most of our Bollywood movies. The high level of competition has created survival of the fittest like situation, apart from rising frustration, urban alienation and coveting of wealth. It can be observed only in Delhi where a man can kill a man over chicken tikka. According to newspaper reports few years back, a young software professional was allegedly shot dead by a 36-year-old man after he accidentally knocked off a plate of chicken tikka. Delhi already know for its violent nature have also higher rates of crime than Maoist prone States like Chhattishgarh, Jharkhand. All these datas show nothing but dark truth of the dazzling streets of Delhi.

Delhi records most rapes as crimes against women rise in India

Reports of crimes against women in India such as rape, dowry deaths, abduction and molestation increased by 26.7 percent in 2013 compared to the previous year, government statistics showed on Monday.

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) said there were 309,546 crimes against women reported to the police last year against 244,270 in 2012, with the highest number recorded in Andhra Pradesh.

Crimes included rape, kidnapping, sexual harassment, trafficking, molestation and cruelty by husbands and relatives. They also include crimes in which a woman was driven to suicide as a result of demands for a dowry from her husband or in-laws.

"The new government should enforce all laws, policies and programs to address violence against women. The government should also ensure that there is respect for women's rights to equality, freedom of movement and expression and that there is every effort to quell claims of 'women's safety' as a justification for curtailing such freedoms," said Meenakshi Ganguly from Human Rights Watch.

The NCRB said the number of rapes in the country rose by 35.2 percent to 33,707 in 2013 - with Delhi reporting 1,441 rapes in 2013 – making it the city with the highest number of rapes and confirming its reputation as India's "rape capital".

India's biggest city and business capital Mumbai, known for being more women-friendly, recorded 391 rapes last year, while IT hub Bangalore registered 80 rapes.

Police attribute the rise in reports to more women coming forward due to greater public awareness following the high profile gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman on a moving bus in December 2012.

The case sent shockwaves across much of urban India and led to thousands of people coming out onto the streets to protest over growing violence against women in the largely patriarchal and conservative nation.

It also forced the Indian parliament to enact stiffer penalties for crimes against women, including death for repeat rape offenders, criminalising stalking and making acid attacks and human trafficking specific offences.

Women's rights groups say the figures are still gross under-estimates of the reality on the ground – women are often too scared to come forward to report rapes or domestic violence for fear their families and communities will shun them.

Delhi to promote women's safety at IITF

The Delhi government will promote the issue of women's safety during this year's India International Trade Fair (IITF) to be held Nov 14-27 in the national capital, an official said Sunday. "This year's theme of IITF is women entrepreneurship. Focus should be given on women-specific programmes being undertaken including issues relating to women's safety," said Amit Yadav, CMD of Delhi State Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC) which will set up the 'Delhi Pavilion' at Pragati Maidan - the venue for the fair. "As a partner state, Delhi had to play a pivotal role in conceptualising and giving shape to Delhi pavilion befitting this year's theme," Yadav added. He further informed that Nov 19 would be celebrated as 'Delhi Day' at the fair, wherein various Delhi government departments would showcase their programmes, activities and achievements. He said that considering the IITF 2014's theme of women entrepreneurship, the various departments will "showcase their activities, policies and programmes leading to women's empowerment".

A gun designed for Indian women

India has launched a new handgun for women, named after a student who was gang-raped in Delhi in December 2012 and later died of her injuries. Officials say it will help women defend themselves, but critics say it's an insult to the victim's memory.

In his large office on Kanpur's Kalpi Road, Abdul Hameed, the general manager of the state-run Indian Ordnance Factory, shows me Nirbheek, the factory's tiniest gun.

"It's small, it's lightweight, it weighs only 500g [1.1lb], and it can easily fit into a lady's purse."

Hameed speaks enthusiastically about the .32-calibre revolver, praising the "special titanium alloy body, the pleasing-to-the-eye wooden handle".

"The six-shot gun is easy to handle and it can hit its target accurately up to 15m [50ft]," he explains, pointing out the word "Nirbheek" engraved on the barrel.

 “Start Quote

It is definitely a good idea - if you have a licensed weapon, it increases your self-confidence”

Ram Krishna ChaturvediKanpur chief of police

Although men can buy the gun too, Nirbheek is being pitched as India's "first gun for women" and to make it more attractive to them, it comes packaged in a deep maroon jewellery case.

"Indian women like their ornaments," Hameed says.

Nirbheek is a synonym of Nirbhaya - the nickname given by the Indian press to the Delhi rape victim, who could not be named under Indian laws. Both words mean fearless in Hindi.

"We generally ask our employees to suggest names for new products. We received a lot of suggestions and decided on 'Nirbheek'. We believe that women who carry this gun will feel fearless," Hameed says.

Although work to develop a lighter gun for women began before the Delhi rape, the project was fast-tracked after the crime, which sparked protests nationwide. The 23-year-old was raped, tortured with an iron bar and thrown from a moving bus.

 Women's rights activist Anita Dua (left) bought a gun about eight years ago but has never used it

Hameed says Nirbheek will deter attackers, because of the "surprise element". The factory began taking orders on 5 January and despite a steep price tag of 122,360 rupees ($1,990; £1,213), Hameed says the response has been good, with 10 guns sold and many more enquiries.

Guns in India

• Estimated total number of guns: 40 million

• Number of registered, legal guns: 6.3 million

• Estimated guns held illegally: 33.7 million

• Only 15% of privately owned guns are legal

• Firearms per 100 people: 3.36

• India is second only to US in the number of privately-held guns

Source: Gun Policy

The gun's launch has led Indians to debate whether carrying a gun makes a woman safer. Ram Krishna Chaturvedi, the chief of police for Kanpur and several nearby districts, thinks it does.

"It is definitely a good idea. If you have a licensed weapon, it increases your self-confidence and creates fear in the minds of criminals," she says.

Among those wanting to buy Nirbheek is Pratibha Gupta, a housewife and student in Kanpur. She says it is "too expensive" and the process of acquiring a licence is "cumbersome", but she believes that it will be empowering.

"If the person in front of me knows that I have a gun, he will hesitate to touch me, he will know that since she has a gun, she can use it too. The gun will be my supporter, my friend and my strength."

The handgun, marketed at Indian women, has been condemned by activists

Soon after the Delhi gang rape, large numbers of women in Indian cities began to look for ways to make themselves safer.

The Indian government introduced tougher new laws against rape, deployed more police on the streets and several cities introduced women's helplines.

But many frightened women had little faith in a largely corrupt and inefficient police force. Large numbers enrolled in self-defence classes and began stocking up on pepper spray cans. Some reports suggested there was a rise in the number of women seeking gun licences.

“Start Quote

In India, the annual income of most people is less than the cost of the gun”

Binalakshmi NepramWomen Gun Survivors' Network

Shocking stories are still making headlines though, such as the case involving a Danish tourist who was attacked by a group of men earlier this week. In Calcutta a girl was gang-raped twice and then set on fire - in three separate incidents. Crime figures from India's National Crime Records Bureau suggest the number of rapes is on the rise, and that one is committed about every 22 minutes.

Against this background, the makers of Nirbheek believe they have a valuable addition to the armoury of the scared Indian woman.

Anti-gun activists, however, are appalled at the idea.

"I am horrified, shocked and angered," says Binalakshmi Nepram, founder of the Women Gun Survivors Network in the north-eastern state of Manipur, who says it's the government's responsibility to ensure the security of its citizens.

"It's ridiculous that the state is talking about arming women... The authorities saying, 'Hey woman, come there's a new gun for you which will make you safer,' is an admission of failure on their part."

 Thousands remembered Nirbhaya on the anniversary of her death

Nepram, whose organisation has been studying gun violence in eight Indian states for a number of years, says having a gun doesn't "make you safer, it actually enhances your risk".

"Our research shows that a person is 12 times more likely to be shot dead if they are carrying a gun when attacked," she says.

She also says to name Nirbheek after the rape victim is an insult to the memory of Nirbhaya, because she wouldn't have been able to afford it.

"In India, the annual income of most people is less than the cost of the gun. So to suggest that this gun will make women safer is bizarre."

"In the last 10 years, we've seen maybe one or two women who've come to our shop for a gun. Women possess licences - in my home there are six women and they all have licences and they all have guns, but they have been bought by the men in the house."

Most public places in India do not allow guns - and many offices, malls, cinemas, theatres and markets are equipped with metal detectors to enforce this.

Even if the Delhi rape victim had owned a gun, he says, it would not have been much help, considering she was returning home after watching a film in a theatre in a mall where she wouldn't have been allowed to carry her weapon.

And if she had been armed, and she had shot any of her attackers the chances are she would have spent the rest of her life in jail on charges of murder, he says.

Anita Dua, a women's rights activist in Kanpur who acquired a gun about eight years ago, says she's never had a chance to use it.

"I work for women's issues and have been instrumental in sending many people to jail so I have made lots of enemies.

"I bought this revolver for personal safety, but I'm not allowed to carry it to most places, so it just remains, locked up in my house, gathering dust."

Challenges of Indian Women 2014

Being a modern Indian woman

It was a sunny morning, as the bell rang, everyone collected for the prayer and with closed eyes, folded hands, and Sanskrit shlokes filled the air with utmost devotion, respect and sincerity for the Goddess of education, Saraswati Devi.
It was a well disciplined rows of girls clad in blue shirt (kurta), white salwar and a dupatta to cover their chest. (If the dupatta was not drapped wide enough to cover your chest, you were sure to get punished). The morning prayer was followed by the speech of an elegant Rajput lady with her head clad with the sari paloo.The words were inspiring to all girls students, promoting them to make strides in all walks of life and learning the lessons with sincerity, but somewhere the hidden message was, you belong to a class that is going to be a wife, a mother in future, so protect the legacy of being a women.
You should raise your voice but not so loud that your neighbor can hear you (have to be polite always), you should wear good clothes but not so that your legs are uncovered, you can aspire to become Doctor, Engineer, CA but your ultimate job is being a home maker.
It was all girls’ school where you were taught not to go out alone, keep your voice low, be decent, obey your parents and always keep patience and ready for any sacrifice.
After routine dress check up, the girls walked into their classes, with a little hustle bustle, everything got settled with a pin drop silence as the History teacher stepped in. The story of brave warrior Laxmi bai was narrated in a such a perfection as we all were having a sword in our hand and riding a horse, with such a valour to defeat the enemy.
Anyways the class ended and we started little chatting, when one of my close friend was secretly showing some photographs to another friend of mine. The eyes were wide open with surprise, I couldn’t resist myself and also enquired about it, sooner the picture also reached me passing beneath the table.
I was bit surprised to see my friend in a new avatar, she was clad in red and yellow bandhej sari, looking very beautiful but her act surprised me. This was the photo of her ring ceremony, where a handsome boy stood near her and she was exchanging rings with him. Soon my friend was getting married, she was not even 18 years.
But the tradition of getting a girl married very soon is rampart in all parts of India. Soon she got married and got into motherhood .She was lucky enough that no health problems cropped up in her life. But there are many cases where during pregnancy or during child birth, the women does not survive due to poor health condition, poor medical facilities and infrastructure. She was very intelligent, talented girl who if continued her education could have learnt many laurels for our country. But this is not a single story of a girl child in India, the situation is more worse in rural India. Even today on a day of Akshay tritiya, many minor boys and girls in rural areas are forced to tie the nuptial knot, even when they are unaware of what they are going through. It’s just an act of wearning new clothes, having sweets and going through a religious ceremony for them. This leads to further problems in society.

In India, be it urban India or rural india, girl child is always taught to be a good homemaker that is her ultimate responsibility and career. Her professional career can be and has to be sacrificed for the sake of family, kids and above all husband, who is Parmeshwar for her. (Her personal God, whom she has to worship, and keep him happy at any cost).

The major challenges that Indian women face are not visible at a glance, women have hold high, prestigious political post of Prime Minister, President, Speaker, governors, IAS,IPS, Business and Corporate Women, but what about those millions of women who are confined to the four walls of their house.
The major problems can be jotted down under some Challenges as:
· Gender Discrimination
· Female Feoticide
· Poor Health
· Low Literacy
· Financial dependence
· Dowry
· Crime against women
In India, girl child faces discrimination even before she is born. The practice of sex determination for the desire of having a male child plunges her to go to check the sex of the child, illegally practicing it. There are laws in India but the bravery lies in breaking them. This practice forces her to go only for male child and the result is the Census of 2011, which shows the child sex ratio as 914 per 1000 which is lowest since independence.
The problems and challenges faced by Indian women are subject to her being a women, She is a woman so she has to drop her school ,participate in household chores and the parents have to use their hard earned lifelong saving for her marriage.This discrimination which starts in the womb, continues lifelong for her. Although the constitution of India provides equal rights and opportunities to women. But the problems that we have inherited from centuries are still haunting the social structure of our life.
Preference for a male child starts this discrimination even before a child is born. The daughter is always considered a burden on a family and that one day she has to leave the house after marriage. The only responsibility of a girl’s parents is to get her married. The son is the one who will stay with them and look after them in the old age. This dichotomy leads to differences in the upbringing of the girl child and she is neglected in every spheres.
In the present scenario in metros like Delhi, Mumbai who are adapting to western culture, many changes are taking place, girls are holding positions in every walk of life, She is an Entrepreneur, she is a corporate professional, she is a journalist, she is a teacher, a doctor, a politician, a bureaucrat and so on. Here we talk about giving equal opportunities to women in all spheres, but I think women are far more superior to men. “Women are the most untapped resource in the world.”
She has the caliber to be the epitome of sacrifice, patience and hard work. Women are designed to be emotional, creative, soulful and nurturing. This superhuman when neglected succumbs to the poor condition she is forced to live in. The untapped potential of women is lost due to inadequate health services, illiteracy, negligence of education, high dropout rates due to social pressure. This may me in the form of financial constraints, burden of household chores and also as women work in farms and also as labors in fields.
The male centric society never leaves an opportunity to use and misuse the feminine power. In India women have to face more challenges than anywhere else. The social structures are harder and the expectations are high. We donot have support structure in our society, there is a general acceptance that women has to be the primary caregiver in the family.
Women’s economic dependency on man is a fundamental phenomenon in Indian society. The division of labor in family gives primary responsibility to women to take care of kids and the family work while the major chunk of income has to be earned by the male. Although gender relations have changed in society but that is something on the surface, the fact that lies beneath is that despite changes in women’s income, man is the bread winner of the family and women is the homemaker. Time and again many incidents occur when marriage proves to be a social institution of female dependence, be it financial or social security.
In India women are not allowed to work after marriage and even if they go for work they have to compromise on issues of time, distance and salary so that their marital life is not disturbed. Later on they have no choice except to become stay at home Moms. Women have to compromise on their career aspirations and left with no opportunity and have to sacrifice their aspirations. They are left nowhere but only on the mercy of their husband and in laws. She is always dependent on the men in the family her husband for all her financial chores. Women are not even informed about the investment being made by their spouse, whether they are nominee in any financial investment, where the important documents are kept, this is very rampant in cases of non working women. In case of working women also they have to earn money and transfer it to their husbands account because he can multiply it with his financial nerves.
Another serious issue that is the main reason why Indian society feels sorry on the birth of a girl child is DOWRY. You have to take care of the girl child, educate her, give her the best value system and the day she is married she has to carry gifts in all forms whether financial or physical for her new home and family. It can be in the form of lavish marriage arrangements or other resources which she needs to begin her new life.
If her parents are unable to fulfill all these demands, she has to suffer whole life for not bringing enough money or car or a house for her husband and family. This begins the hell of her life where she is tortured mentally and humiliated at every step of her life. Why don’t the people understand that when a daughter is married, parents not only give their daughter, she is their pride, their hard earned relationship which they have cared and nurtured even before she was born, have given unconditional love to their daughter, they have given their sleepless nights when she was ill, waited outside the examination centre for her exams without caring for the heat and dust. They have given their heart and soul and how their dreams are shattered when their daughter is not happy in her new life after marriage. Her parents are abused and she has nowhere to go, she is at the mercy of her husband whom she has to live with till her last breath as there is going back. The social stigma of being a divorcee will bring a deadly stroke to her parents life and she has to suffer all kinds of humiliation and disrespect. And the height of all the stress is reflected that whenever a girl or her husband are in any kind of financial stress, it’s the girl’s parents who have to come forward and release them because whatever they are doing it; s for their daughter’s happiness.
Any major challenge that a Modern Indian women faces is crime and violence. It has many evil faces as rape, sexual harassment, eve teasing,honour killing, molestation, kidnapping, forced prostitution, gang rapes, murder and that too are taking fierce forms that in a recent case in Budaun Rape and murder case , UN intervened.The case when a 23 year girl was raped by 6 people in moving bus in The national Capitol was of Delhi, shocked everyone and forced the people to come out and stage demonstrations and candle march in the whole country. But has the crime rate dropped, still there are cases of rapes, minor rapes, gang rapes, everyday in the newspaper we find such horrifying stories, girls are not free and safe anywhere. Even if they go out to play we have to keep a vigil on them,have to be alert always, there are evil eyes everywhere. They are not safe in schools, in playground, in parks, in neighborhood. A female is always considered a piece of flesh and is used and misused in the same manner. There are many laws and regulations in our country, but the trial and judgment process is very slow and above all there are many escape routes available. The punishment of the culprit depends on the bravery of the victim, if she is brave enough to come forward and address the issue then the culprit may get punishment otherwise he is scot-free.
We have to come out from the age old mindset of barbaric age and give due respect and a scare free life to a girl in our society. She is not a burden, she is not secondary to man in any aspect, women today have climbed the top cliffs in the world, she is flying the fighter Jet, she is going to space, she is the mother of all scientific research and experiments, she is running the economy and above all remember she is the one who gives birth to MAN. Women themselves have to become stronger, self confident and break those social barriers that area hurdle in herself respect and dignity.