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Pratyasha Nithin
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(This article was published in UDAY INDIA weekly on December 1st, 2012 in both internet and print editions)
Recently, a news report was published in The
Telegraph (July 18, 2013) about Tourism Ministry wanting to promote “I Respect
Women” badges across the hospitality industry to assure the women tourists
(especially the foreigners tourists) that it is safe to travel in India. The
report said that the badges would be printed in 10 languages- Hindi, Arabic,
Chinese, French, Spanish, Italian, Korean, Russian, German and Japanese. The
badges are planned to be distributed to the auto-rickshaw and taxi drivers,
guides, coolies, travel agents and all personnel likely to interact with
tourists. Further, the tourism minister K.Chiranjeevi was quoted as saying- “Anyone
wearing this badge is standing up and declaring that he will always respect
women. That he cannot be counted among the people who assault women". This
may turn out to be a good start, but how are we going to make sure that the
people who will wear these badges will actually mean those words?
It’s easy to wear a badge and it will surely help
raise confidence in women to travel fearlessly. But what if a man wearing this
badge actually does not implement the words printed on it and instead mistreats
the woman who had believed in him? Will the woman be able to trust a man ever?
I believe, this kind of incident will fill her heart with anger and hatred for
the whole man-kind. Hence, as a first step these badges are a good idea but it
should be followed with comprehensive measures to make sure that, the people
who wear those badges also implement the words “I respect women”. .
In India, there are a large number of men who
do not consider women as an equally important part of the society. Some of them
think that women are only to do the household works and to raise kids. Many
others may allow their women to work and do what they wish for, but the very
fact that women are being “allowed” to do something, work or otherwise shows
that, there is no freedom and personal space for women in such households. A
marriage is supposed to be one of commitment and not compromise, one of
liberty, personal space and understanding and not of restrictions and
compromises where the women are made to take permission before doing anything. The
reason forwarded for such restrictions are that those men care for their women
and want them to be secure. But the question is who is making the life of women
insecure? Is it not men themselves?
The society is so corrupt that it is unable
to see the hypocrisy hidden within it. The men may visit Vaishno Devi every
year but in many of their houses the women are treated as nothing more than a
servant. Some women raise their voices but most do not because of the typical
mentality that it is the right of a man to have his way around woman. And it is
this attitude which should change.
In another news report, a retired government
employee was arrested for allegedly raping his five daughters for twenty years
(Business Standard, July 17, 2013). This case came to light only when the
accused man tried to misbehave with his three year old granddaughter due to
which his daughter, the mother of the child, lodged the complaint against him.
The five sisters remained silent all those years of sexual abuse. If the eldest
sister had raised her voice when she was abused, the abuse of her younger
sisters could have been averted. It has come to light that, even the wife of
the accused was aware of her husband’s activities and supported him.
These kinds of men, who treat their women
badly, could be anywhere. He may be a company head or an auto-rickshaw driver
on the road. Now if these men cannot respect the women of their own family, can
we expect them to respect the women of other families? The answer is a simple
“No”. Similarly, those men, who cannot respect the women of their own country,
how can we expect them to respect the women of other countries? Do we have a
mechanism to know how the taxi drivers, travel agents and all the personnel
likely to interact with tourists treat their women in their houses? If not,
then can we really expect that by making these people wear badges, the women
touring the country will be safe? I don’t think so.
The root of all these problems faced by women
lies in the mentality and thinking of the society, both men and women, who
always hold a woman responsible for every abuse, violence or any other crimes
that are committed against women. Whenever an incidence of rape or sexual
assault comes to news, it is often heard both from the ‘representatives’ of
society and from the common folks in the neighborhood about how women who visit
pubs or make acquaintance with men are asking to be abused and raped. The
character of a woman is always the first thing that is questioned. Why do we,
the members of this society always indulge in this blame game? Can we not just
introspect ourselves and recognize that the only fault that exists in the
society is in its mindset that does not respect women, that does not recognize
women as being as much human beings as men. No matter what a woman is asking
for, can the society not respect them and stop doubting the character of women?
Even if a woman is a prostitute or stands naked in front of a man, the man does
not get the right to mistreat or rape her. Yet, abuse of women- verbal,
physical, mental and sexual happen every other day at the hands of both men and
women of society. And each time, it is the victimized woman who is blamed.
The only solution I see is a drastic change
in the mentality and thinking of people happening on a large range. The people
of India who were once famous for holding the best moral values, needs to learn
the lesson of morality again. They need to understand that their one act of
misbehavior could be the worst memory of somebody’s life. We must realize how
the Indian society has failed as a whole, that today we need to put on badges
like “I respect Women” to let the women know that they are safe and respected. Is
it not shameful that the people of other countries will have to judge us not by
our attitude and behavior but by the badges on our shirts?
It is high time, that we the people of India
decide what we want to do. It is our choice, it’s in our hands. Do we want
India to be safe for every woman (Indian or Western)? Or do we want India to be
branded world-wide as a country of women exploiters unsafe for female tourists?
Burning of fire-cracks at every Indian victory in a cricket match is not
patriotism. If anybody really cares about India and its people, one must first
learn to treat women with respect and as an inseparable and equally important
part of the society. The Government, need to implement an elaborate education
and awareness campaigns and workshops if it really means to imprint in the
minds of the people the words “I respect Women” that are supposed to be printed
on badges. People should also be made aware of their legal rights and about the
punishments that are handed over to people who commit these crimes. Men and
women must take initiative and volunteer to carry forward such social awareness
programs on a large scale so that it reaches one and all. Schools should come
forward with programs to train young girls in self-defense. It was reported
some time ago (Indian Express, January 10, 213) about Maharashtra government’s
proposals to open a special wing of Mumbai Crime Branch, specifically to
investigate crimes against women. It was also proposed that some of the
fast-track courts would be specifically used for dealing with crimes against
women. Such proposals must be implemented throughout the country in all cities
and towns. Every police station, especially in the cities must have a separate
division to register and promptly take action against crimes committed on
women. A patrolling squad consisting of people from the immediate neighborhood
must be formed everywhere in the cities to monitor and prevent any untoward
incidents against women. The people who volunteer for such patrolling duties
must be adequately trained by the Police. Unless and until the government takes
some positive initiatives regarding the education of the masses about the need
to change the social outlook towards women that currently has nothing but
contempt for them and also implement measures to check and prevent the crimes
that are committed on women, the present decision to print badges with taglines
“I respect women” printed on them would be nothing more than a political
posturing.
