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India: Dark ages not yet over for women

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India advances, but many women still trapped in dark ages


http://www.thenews.com.pk/article-54285-Some-women,-in-G20-state-India,-still-snared-in-dark-ages

India advances, but many women still trapped in dark ages | Reuters

By Nita Bhalla

Wed Jun 13, 2012 5:04am EDT

6-14-2012_54285_l.jpg


NEW DELHI, June 13 (TrustLaw) - The birth of a girl, so goes a popular Hindu saying, is akin to the arrival of Lakshmi - the four-armed goddess of wealth, often depicted holding lotus flowers and an overflowing pot of gold.

That should assure pride of place for women in Indian society, especially now the country is growing both in global influence and affluence.

In reality, India's women are discriminated against, abused and even killed on a scale unparalleled in the top 19 economies of the world, according to a new poll by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The survey, polling 370 gender specialists, found Canada to be the best place to be a woman amongst G20 nations, excluding the European Union economic grouping. Saudi Arabia was the second worst, after India.

"It's a miracle a woman survives in India. Even before she is born, she is at risk of being aborted due to our obsession for sons," said Shemeer Padinzjharedil, who runs Maps4aid.com, a website which maps and documents crimes against women.

"As a child, she faces abuse, rape and early marriage and even when she marries, she is killed for dowry. If she survives all of this, as a widow she is discriminated against and given no rights over inheritance or property."

Many of the crimes against women are in India's heavily populated northern plains, where, in parts, there is a deep-rooted mindset that women are inferior and must be restricted to being homemakers and childbearers.

In addition, age-old customs such as payment of hefty dowries at the time of marriage and beliefs linking a female's sexual behavior to family honor have made girls seem a burden.

The poll results - based on parameters such as quality of health services, threat of physical and sexual violence, level of political voice, and access to property and land rights - jars with the modern-day image of India.

India had a female prime minister, or head of government, as long ago as 1966. Well-dressed women in Western attire driving scooters or cars to work is now an everyday sight in cities. Women doctors, lawyers, police officers and bureaucrats are common.

MILLIONS ABORTED

But scratch under the surface and the threats in India are manifold - from female feticide, child marriage, dowry and honor killings to discrimination in health and education and crimes such as rape, domestic violence and human trafficking.

Indeed, a girl's fight for survival begins in the womb due to an overwhelming desire for sons and fear of dowry, which has resulted in 12 million girls being aborted over the last three decades, according to a 2011 study by The Lancet.

This has led to a decline in the number of women in proportion to men in many areas, resulting in a rise in rapes, human trafficking and, in certain cases, practices such as "wife-sharing" amongst brothers.

In fact, the curse of dowry continues even after marriage.

One bride was murdered every hour over dowry demands in 2010, says the National Crime Records Bureau. Some are "stove burnings" where in-laws pour kerosene, the commonly-used cooking fuel of poorer homes, over women and set them alight, making it appear accidental.

"The courts are flooded with cases of gender-related crimes," said retired Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju. He said honor and dowry murders should be punished with death.

"These are not normal crimes. These are social crimes because they disrupt the entire social fabric of the community. When you commit crimes against women, it has a lasting impact."

Experts say child marriage remains among the biggest hurdles to women's development in India and has a domino effect. Almost 45 percent of Indian girls are married before they turn 18, says the International Center for Research on Women.

A child bride will drop out of school and is more likely to have complications during child birth. One in five Indian women, many child mothers, die during pregnancy or child birth, the United Nations says.

Their babies, if they survive, are more likely to be underweight and suffer stunting due to poor nourishment. Many will be lucky to survive beyond the age of five.

In the narrow, crowded alleyways of Sapara slum on the outskirts of Delhi, 15-year-old newly married Aarti has never been to school and says she was married off because her father has tuberculosis and couldn't work or afford to look after her.

"I said no, but my mother said my father was sick, so I had no choice," Aarti said, wearing the traditional bright red bangles of new Hindu brides.

"I spent my time doing domestic chores. I like to play with dolls ... but my grandmother has taken them away now. She says I don't need them any more."

TWO INDIAS

Indian authorities have also struggled to combat rising crimes against women, including domestic violence, molestation, trafficking and rape.

Reports of women being snatched from the streets and gang-raped in moving cars are frequent in Delhi and its surrounding areas. Newspaper reports are full of stories of trafficking and sexual exploitation.

In many cases, violence against women has a level of social acceptability. A government survey found 51 percent of Indian men and 54 percent of women justified wife beating.

India has robust gender laws, but they are hardly enforced, partly because a feudal mindset is as prevalent among bureaucrats, magistrates and the police as it is elsewhere. Politicians are also unwilling to crack down on customary biases against women for fear of losing conservative votes.

"The inheritance law was reformed in 2005, bringing women's legal equality in agricultural land. In reality, however, less than 10 percent women own some kind of land," said Govind Kelkar from land rights group, Landesa India.

"This is more stark as 84 percent of rural women are engaged in agricultural production. There is policy silence on the implementation of laws for women's rights."

Some gains are being made, primarily by instituting gender-sensitive laws and social schemes as well as boosting the number of girls in primary schools, the workforce and village politics, experts say.

More than two decades of economic liberalization has also helped empower women, and as India has opened up, Western ideas of equality have permeated towns and cities.

The country's top political positions are held by women, including the head of the main ruling party, Sonia Gandhi, and the country's outgoing president, Pratibha Patil.

"There are two Indias: one where we can see more equality and prosperity for women, but another where the vast majority of women are living with no choice, voice or rights," said Sushma Kapoor, South Asia deputy director for U.N. Women.

Gender experts say the challenges are immense, given India's vast population of 1.2 billion, its diversity, and geographical spread. But they add they are not insurmountable.

Tiny pockets show positive change by giving women opportunities such as access to higher education, vocational training [ID:nL3E8CG1HO] and finance - tools that should transform the perception of women as burdens to assets.

A new Oprah Winfrey-style television talk show called "Satyamev Jayate" (Truth alone prevails), hosted by popular Bollywood actor Aamir Khan, has in recent weeks focused on issues such as feticide, and dowry and honor killings.

The shows have won wide acclaim and stirred debate in the media, but experts say the efforts to increase awareness in Indian society as a whole need to be sustained.

"Laws alone can only play 20 percent of the role in empowering women in this country," said judge Katju.

"Eighty percent of the role will be played by education, by changing the mindset, the mentality of men who are still to a large extent feudal-minded which means they regard women as inferior."

(For full coverage of the poll visit g20women.trust.org)

(TrustLaw is a free legal news site run by Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters. Visit trust.org/trustlaw)

(Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Sonya Hepinstall)
 
Women are abused the world over to a lesser or greater extent. Even in countries like UK where great advances have been made in recent years one in four women is a victim of domestic violence according to Amnesty International. Society and communities especially in the Asian sub continent need to take affirmative action with some priority. How we treat the weaker in society is a true measure of our humanity
 
Guys give it a rest....even pakistani posters are against such threads. We all know it will turn into mud slinging competition. See, it has started already.
 
Bangladeshis and Pakistanis share quite a lot of other things along with religion......

They share the unique ability to laugh at others when their own house is burning.....

And guess what burns in both Bangladesh and Pakistan.......women's faces......
They share the unique ability to burn women's faces with acids if they don't give in to their sexual demands....

HUMAN FEMALES HAVE NO RIGHT TO EXIST IN BANGLADESH
 
"Almost half of Bangladeshi women with young children experience violence from their husbands, and their children appear to have a higher risk of recent respiratory infections and diarrhea, according to a report in the August issue of"

Violence Against Mothers In Bangladesh Associated With Health Problems In Young Children

Ignoring one's own problems to malign others indeed indicates the darkest age in human history we are in.....

Dude dude dude.... just to let you know ... Bangladesh tops in terms of gender equality in south asia... India is no where near to Bangladesh. Accept the fact and this is a reality.

UNBconnect... - Bangladesh on top in gender equity ranking in S Asia

This is such a big shame that in India females are treated so badly as described in the article. Shame on all the Indians too for promoting such bigoted policy for the Indian womans killing , abuse, rape, torturing, beating, aborting female child and what not is happening in India.

This is such a disgrace for the biggest democracy in the world.
 
^^^^I've shown you facts.......and I knew you would choose to ignore it........after-all, there is India to bash........

you can continue to ignore.....and we'll continue to provide real facts.....let's continue........
 
^^^^I've shown you facts.......and I knew you would choose to ignore it........after-all, there is India to bash........

you can continue to ignore.....and we'll continue to provide real facts.....let's continue........

Real facts has been published by reuters... no need to publish any by you...
 
Agreed with OP,

Watch at your own risk ! This guy is just crazy.

********.com - Iranian Kicks the crao out of his Wife for Interrupting Him
 
I think the abuse of women goes on around the world as I stated earlier is something we should condemn but I think something which is incredulous and funny is what the Saudi academics turned up with. Talk about keeping women locked up. Not only do their leaders (tin pot despots) marry dozens of young girls but now their academics are saying that if you allow women to drive all women will lose their virginity and men will become gay. That would mean in all countries where women are allowed to drive all the men are gay. I mean do they think that of us lot lol

Why is no one protecting Saudi Arabia's child brides? | Ali al-Ahmed | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Saudis fear there will be ¿no more virgins¿ and people will turn gay if female drive ban is lifted | Mail Online


So when you say dark ages not over in India what about dark ages in other countries for women
 
Agreed with OP,

Watch at your own risk ! This guy is just crazy.

********.com - Iranian Kicks the crao out of his Wife for Interrupting Him
First of all, prove the guy in the video is Iranian, cuz I don't know why he is Iranian. Second of all, you shut up please Salman.
You live in one of the worst places on the planet, namely Saudi Arabia. You don't even let women drive, in your opinion driving a car causes loss of virginity. It was not until recently that you found there is another specie of humans among you that differ from you sexually.

About Iran, around one-third of the labor force are women, more than two thirds of the university students are women, 3 positions in Iranian government are held by women ministers, the literacy rate of women in Iran is very close to men and for the children born after 1996, the literacy of women is higher than men in Iran, the life expectancy for women in Iran stands 3 years higher than men, the average age of marriage for girls in Iran is close to 24, and many other facts. Now let's not talk about Saudi Arabia, or with due respect to Pakistanis, Pakistan also ranks very low when it comes to women issues.
Also wife beating by no means is justified in the Iranian society, not even the rural areas.
 
About Iran, around one-third of the labor force are women, more than two thirds of the university students are women, 3 positions in Iranian government are held by women ministers, the literacy rate of women in Iran is very close to men and for the children born after 1996, the literacy of women is higher than men in Iran, the life expectancy for women in Iran stands 3 years higher than men, the average age of marriage for girls in Iran is close to 24, and many other facts. Now let's not talk about Saudi Arabia, or with due respect to Pakistanis, Pakistan also ranks very low when it comes to women issues.
Also wife beating by no means is justified in the Iranian society, not even the rural areas.

Same in China actually. :tup:

And we just sent a female astronaut into space as well. :woot:

20120616052736388.jpg
 
Agreed with OP,

Watch at your own risk ! This guy is just crazy.

********.com - Iranian Kicks the crao out of his Wife for Interrupting Him

Wtf man?

That was horrible, but you did warn me.
 
Pakistan also ranks very low when it comes to women issues.

We are the only Muslim country to have had a female Prime Minister we are also the Muslim]country that has the most female politician spots, Pakistan ranks top in thr Muslim world when it comes to giving female rights
 
Same in China actually. :tup:

And we just sent a female astronaut into space as well. :woot:

20120616052736388.jpg

Yes. they showed her on Iranian TV. I follow the Chinese developments, friend.

Also, the world's first female space tourist is an Iranian woman called Anoushe Ansari:

anousheh_ansari.jpg


Also, Iran has the world's highest female to male ratio of university students in the world as far as I know.
 

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