Recently the administration of Panjab University issued
quite a bizarre decree. To address the issue of rising suicides in the past few
years, it has decided to install grills in the balconies of Girls’ Hostels.
More weird is that the grills will be installed only in Girls’ Hostels, although
there have been cases of suicides in Boys’ Hostels as well.
Is grills installation a solution to suicides?
Perhaps the university authorities have gone insane!
What will they do if someone hangs himself/herself or touches a live wire? Take
off fans or cut off electricity supply...
Is grills installation a solution to suicides?
Perhaps the university authorities have gone insane!
What will they do if someone hangs himself/herself or touches a live wire? Take
off fans or cut off electricity supply...
Suicides
don’t happen because there are no grills in the balconies of the girls’ hostels.
The reasons are much more complex and are rooted in the socio-economic
conditions which compel an individual to take such decisions. Instead of
addressing these issues which affect the psychological situation of a person,
the authorities are trying to run away from it by taking such decisions, like
that of installing grills.
Moreover
the fact that the decision has been taken for girls’ hostels only brings forth
the discriminatory attitude of the authorities towards its girl students. The gender discrimination which is deep rooted in
our society is also visible in the campus, sometimes covertly and sometimes overtly.
It comes to the fore in varied forms be it in the form of eve-teasing and
harassment. In the name of security they are locked up in the hostels before
specified timings. Further there’s a
very limited space for girls in the university to assert themselves and hardly
do they influence the decision making in the university. And even to get their petty issues resolved, there is
dependency on their male counterparts. Due to the prevailing patriarchy in the institution
girls already have a very less scope for interaction. This decision is an
expression of the same gender bias. The decision to install grills will
serve to further isolate them and have a crippling effect on their psyche.
On
the contrary to installing grills, the need is to address the root cause
behind the issue. The discontent among youth is rising
due to problems like unemployment, job insecurities etc. A student has been delivered to increasing burden of
performance in academics, over busy academic schedules, cut-throat competition.
Not only this, once s/he has completed studies, s/he is to be subjected to unemployment. Further rising individualism has reduced the scope for interaction
and discourses between people, thus aggravating the situation. And when a
student is in distress there is no
active platform or body provided by the University for counselling.
We
appeal all the students to condemn and resist this irrational and anti-woman
decision of the authorities. To end the prevailing discrimination against women
we need to speak up against any such decisions. We need to come forward and
unite to fight against any kind of discrimination and all kinds of anti-women
ideologies and practices which prevail in our campus and our society.