Gender bias exists in the Indian society owing to deep rooted cultural beliefs and social norms. Owing to this, girls and women in our society face different forms of violence in their every day lives. Few people realize that violence against women goes beyond wife-beating and rape – that it acts to ensure that disparities and inequalities between men and women continue and increase from generation to generation. Violence against women begins before birth and continues throughout life, in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. Most instances of violence and violations of women’s human rights go unrecognized, unrecorded and unredressed. We are still daily faced with attempts to push the issue back into the seclusion of the ‘private’ domain. The larger perception of violence against women continues to be that it is an individual problem.
Common Forms of Violence aganist Girls and Women in India
The commonalities of women’s vulnerability to violence across countries and cultures are striking, with sexual assault being its most visible and least condemned expression. Other forms of violence faced by girls and women in India are female infanticide, child sexual abuse, domestic violence, dowry harrassment or death.
Female infanticide is not uncommon in Indian society, and is still prevalent in certain parts of the country. With the advancement of modern technology its practice, however, has taken a different shape. Now it is possible to detect the sex of the baby when it is still in the womb of the mother. This has made it possible to abort the female foetus, if it is unwanted. The most commonly used sex determination test is amniocentesis. Discovered primarily for the detection of foetal malformations, it has, over the years, been used to determine the sex of the foetus. In India, since 1978, the test is being used as a sex determination or sex preselection test. Since then, the test has become extremely popular and has led to a mushrooming of private clinics, which perform the test, all over the country. The seriousness and social implications of this practice were realised only in 1986.
Sexual abuse of children remains the most under-reported crime in the country. Child abuse is a crime that cuts across caste and class divides, and results in lifelong physical and psychological damage to the child. In the majority of cases, the offender is a member of the child’s family or someone known to the child. Since the abuser has relatively easy access to the child, abuse can be continual and can range from fondling and molestation to rape over a long period of time. In most cases, families are extremely reluctant to report the offence, since it involves “family honour”. When they do gather the courage and resolve to take up the case, the child is exposed to a humiliating and traumatic process with no guarantee of justice at the end of it.
Domestic violence refers to violence, perpetrated within the home and the family. Far from being a haven of safety and security, the family can be a ‘cradle of violence’. Much of the violence within a home is directed against female members. One form of domestic violence is ‘wife battering’ -here, violence, is inflicted by the husband on the wife. Domestic violence is generally associated with very obvious physical, sexual and psychological abuse and torture of the woman. However, the scope of domestic violence extends further. It includes all such acts of intimidation and cruelty which force women to seek the help of outside agencies, other than the family or kin group.
Sexual harassment was defined as “unwelcome sexually-determined behaviour (whether directly or by implication) including physical contact or advances, demands or requests for sexual favours, sexually coloured remarks, showing of pornography, and any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of a sexual nature.”
Dowry has often been defined as the ‘money, goods or estate that a woman brings to her husband at marriage’. It is also known as the ‘property, which a woman brings to her husband at marriage’.
Intervention Strategies
Official statistics show a clear trend over the last decade – there has been a dramatic increase in the number of reported crimes against women – 164% more cases were reported in 1994 than in 1980. The National Crime Records Bureau reported in 1998 that the growth rate of crimes against women would be higher than the population growth rate by 2010. This is sometimes interpreted as a positive indicator, showing that more and more women are “breaking the silence” and an increasingly gender-sensitive police force is recording their complaints with sympathy and efficiency.
The Government of India along with women’s groups have initiated efforts to sensitize people on gender issues.They undertake various gender training programmes,issue based campaigns and formualte legislations to address the root cause.We have the The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, Certain injunctions under the Code of Civil Procedure, the Specific Relief Act and Common Law for Domestic Violence,Sexual Harrassment at Workplace Bill and others.
Miss Hendi LINGIAH
Clinical Psychologist
Clinical Psychologist