The extension
of women’s rights is the basic principle of all social progress. -Charles
Fourier
Women make up half of the world but it is hard fact of human
history that this half has been suppressed and exploited over thousands of
years. We all are well aware about the male dominance, patriarchal prejudices
and atrocities over women prevailing in social, cultural, political and
economic spheres. And it becomes more shameful for us that this violence and
oppression still exist in this so-called modern era. Cases of rapes, sexual
harassment, and physical violence against women are widespread daily episodes. Female foeticide have become a
significant social phenomenon in almost every parts of India. In 2001 the
national sex ratio was 933 girls to 1,000 boys, while in the worst-affected
northern state of Punjab; it was 798 girls to 1,000 boys. And it is more
surprising that so developed Punjab also tops the list of female foeticide.
As per our Constitution, women enjoy ‘equal status’ and also has
the right to life and liberty as equal citizen. But unfortunately the actual
development of socio-economic system, its inter-relation with people’s
consciousness and value system of any country at a given historical point,
determine the way of life of individuals in that society. Women on account
of patriarchal ideology have been suffering from several social barriers and
impediments therefore, been victims of tyranny at the hands of men with whom
they are formally equal. Hence mere a right to vote doesn’t ensure the honour,
dignity and equality of women. This
patriarchal ideology operates both in cultural and economic aspects of social
dynamics which are interconnected together in most complicated manners. It
is must to understand how this suppression and oppression predominate over the
identity of women as “being” and reduced her status to servitude. With what
reasons ruling class perpetuates such patriarchal institution which ignores
their equal existence, contribution to make society prudent and healthy. It
also reflects through functioning and implementation of laws and state-policies
with more offensive and reactionary manner. Why government schemes and five
year’s plans for the women’s empowerment have been proved to be an impious joke
to Indian people. This violence against women takes different form according to
involvement of people in various social production efforts in rural and urban
regions.
FORMS OF EXPLOITATION
Casteism and Honour
killings -Caste along
with monogamous family facilitates the process of transfer of
property from one generation to the next. Although with the reform like
reservation to lower castes, we see some distortion in classical form of
casteism but still it is deep rooted in land based economic relations in rural
areas. It also obstructs the right to free choice of “life-partner” to women. Generally
the men of the upper castes are allowed to have sexual relations with women of
the oppressed castes. But if women of the upper castes marry with men of the
oppressed castes, this is treated as outrageous act and woman is either killed
or socially boycotted. Hence it is glorified as ‘honour’ killings. This violence against women is carried out
so that the children that she will deliver would not get any property. Of
all the oppressed women dalit women are the most oppressed among all sections.
We all have heard of reactionary activities of ‘Maha Khap Panchyat’ or ‘Maha
Jaat Sabha’ in Haryana to assault the so called democracy by executing honour
killings of innocent couples.
The rape of a
Dalit girl in Jhabbar village in Mansa district in 2000 is an example of feudal
expression of our society. She was raped by a son of upper caste sarpanch of
the village. Police failed to act in the matter. After a long struggle by her
father, Bant Jhabbar, ‘justice’ was delivered, but at a cost. The sarpanch’s
son and his hired goons cut off Bant’s two arms and one leg to show that Dalits
have no right to rise against the might of upper castes.
Countless incidents of rape or harassment of lower caste Dalit
women in rural areas are suppressed in mainstream media by the strong
land-owning class.
Culture and
Media - The mass media is an apparatus, which is
controlled by the ruling class to manufacture public opinion. The visual media
and graphics in the print media are clearly chauvinist . The themes that are
churned out in the TV serials act as a powerful means to reinforce ideas of
male hegemony. The degeneration in the culture and media can be clearly seen in
the literature and lyrics, which project women as a commodity. Women’s thought
is controlled in such a way that she herself will just think about a happy home
where she will just cook and take care of her family and nothing else.
In the wake of globalisation, the spread of
imperialist exploitation in the Third World in cahoots with the media has led
to the rise in pornography. The advertising agencies have spread consumerism;
they have disseminated an illusory upper class lifestyle and in doing so they
have used women’s body to sell products in a market. In the entire world, the
mass media is monopolised by the urban and rural rich. It never tried to
portray the life and problems of peasant women or that of the female working class.
The feudal
culture is offensive to women, of which even landlord class women are mute
witnesses. The condition
of married women within an Indian family is at the bottom rung. Besides them,
condition of widows, spinsters and single women is worst and reduced to ‘alive
sati’ by reactionary feudal culture.
Prostitution has been institutionalised by imperialism and made it into highly profitable global industry by capitalism.
Ethical values
and Religion- It is an
ideological weapon of ruling class, which has emerged in the course of rise of
private property and monogamous society. These values not only approve the
exploitative system, but also sanctify oppressive patriarchal relations.
In Hinduism, women are required to remain
within the confines of a house. She must worship her husband like a god and
take care of her children- this is supposed to be her world. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad has formed many
organistions such as Durgavahini and Bharatiya Mahila Morcha, which led many
anti-women, anti-people campaigns under the garb of ‘Hindu religion’ and ‘Hindu
rashtra’.
Similarly, Muslim fundamentalism is also
reactionary in content. They imprison women in the backyard of homes and
commoditise them as sensual things instigating lust. They also oppose their right
to property, divorce and even shamelessly impose dress codes on her.
Fundamentalist Muslim groups that claim to be fighting for the Muslim world are
also anti-women in nature.
Sikhism,
which emerged in opposition to the feudal system, challenged the contemporary
value system. Guru Nanak talked of equality for women– “So kyon manda aakhiye,
jit jamein raajan”. But this has remained in form. The content is diametrically
opposite. The practice of self-proclaimed religious leaders defies the basic
principles of Sikhism. At the highest religious place of Sikhs - the Golden
Temple – women are not allowed to perform “kirtan”. Former
president of the SGPC, Bibi Jagir Kaur, got her daughter allegedly murdered, as
she married as per her choice.
Economic basis - Any socio-economic formation manifests itself in the ideas that
prevail in society. Ever since the emergence of private property, man has treated
woman as his property. In
today’s society, many women have come out in large numbers and participate in
social production. It imparts a sense of independence to them. This has been a
progressive step in the course of humankind. Frederick Engels in The Origin
of Family has said: “…to emancipate women and make her the equal of man is
and remains impossibility so long as the woman is shut out from social
productive labour. The emancipation of women will only be possible when women
can take part in production on a large, social scale, and domestic work no
longer claims anything but an insignificant part of her time.”
Capitalism
has objectively played this role in bringing about this transformation in
women. But the continuation of patriarchal ideology, concepts such as the male
“bread winner” and the female “housewife”, discrimination along the gender
lines in the realm of social production have contributed to the patriarchal
oppression in the sphere of the social production.
In
agriculture, division along the gender lines is starkly visible. Women perform
particular labour operations while men perform certain others. Agricultural
activities involving the use of machinery are generally performed by men
leading to general erosion of manual labour in particular, from a good number
of agricultural operations.
Another
feature of patriarchy in social production is the surrender of wages that women
receive to the male head of the family. Hence there is double oppression that
women experience. Firstly, as agricultural labourers and industrial workers
they do not get full remuneration for their labour. Then their wages are taken
away from the male head of the family.
Another
important aspect concerning the social production is that women are not allowed
the right of owning property. Under feudalism, all means of production were
owned by men of the influential family. Women from such families shared the
fruits of toil of the peasantry, but were generally not allowed to enjoy rights
over property. There have been legislations granting women right to property,
but it has remained on paper.
BARBARITY ON WOMEN THROUGH PRISM OF INCIDENTS
In a recent
incident, Soni Sori, a school teacher in Chhattisgarh, was tortured and
sexually assaulted by the Chhattisgarh police while in custody in October 2011.
A criminal court in Chhattisgarh handed her over to police custody for
interrogation despite her pleas that she feared for her safety and life. Sori
alleged that Ankit Garg, the-then superintendent of police, ordered the torture
and sexual assault. According to
her lawyers, a medical examination found two stones in Soni's genital tract and
another in her rectum. Instead of
investigating the case, President of India Pratibha Patil presented Garg with a
police gallantry award on this Republic Day. It
raises a serious question that why our dear ‘Republican Indian State’ is so
curious to redefine republic which is full of such insult and insolence for women?
In Manipur, Thangjam Manorama was picked up by
soldiers of the paramilitary Assam
Rifles from her home on alleged charges of links with separatist rebels in
2004. She was raped, tortured and murdered. For the dignity of the women
community, hundreds of women had stormed the Assam Rifles headquarters in
Imphal, with at least 40 parading naked and holding a banner that read: “Indian Army rape us” and “Indian Army
takes our flesh”.
Kashmir is another witness of such kind of
brutal activities by armed forces on civilians, especially women, in the name
of curbing insurgency.
In the Ruchika Girhotra molestation
case, where 14-year-old
Ruchika Girhotra was molested in 1990 by Inspector General of Police Shambhu Pratap Singh Rathore in Haryana. After she made a complaint, the victim, her family, and
her friends were systematically harassed by the police leading to her eventual
suicide.
All these incidents of the Indian state are
challenging the respect, dignity and honour of women.
EVOLUTION OF PATRIACHY IN INDIA
In the
primitive tribal society, men and women together used to go for hunting,
fishing, and food gathering. There was no such thing as domestic work
separately. Women had to stay at home for some period of time for rearing
children.
During this time they engaged themselves in food gathering from
surrounding areas and later discovered agriculture and cattle rearing by
learning the skill of domestication of animals.
Women were
regarded in high esteem by society since reproduction was considered as a
necessary and important part for community’s growth and expansion. Thus it was matrilineal clan-based primitive
society with considerable involvement of women in social production.
The discovery
of agriculture and animal husbandry brought about a gradual change in the way
of life. Consequently, nomadic life put to end and led to fixed settlements.
Hence food requirement began to be fulfilled by cattle and food production.
Rig-Veda tells
us that young men and women had the freedom to find a suitable life partner at
fairs called ‘Samanas’. Its most striking feature was that it had parental
encouragement and social sanction.
With the
emergence of private property, the primitive society broke up into classes.
Hence women’s oppression started when matrilineal society got transformed into
patrilineal one. It was a gradual process that took thousands of years. Simultaneously, patriarchal oppression
stared and woman was confined to domestic domain. The family became an
instrument for consolidation and transfer of private property.
Patriarchy was institutionalised at the emergence of feudal period around 4thcentury
AD in India.
Feudalism was a
system constituting of landlord’s class and tenants or bonded labourers. Women
were denied the right to own property or the means of production and the women
of the upper classes were confined within the house. On contrary, women of tenants took part in social production to
accompany her husband. But her
labour was never recognised as it was not paid. Besides, women of toiling
peasantry masses and artisan class had to perform domestic work. There was no
sharp demarcation between domestic work and social production. The sphere
of domestic work was overlapped with agriculture a large part of women’s labour
was spent in it. Women were treated
equivalent to the cattle. She had no independent existence. She came to be
identified either through her father or her husband or her son.
An offensive
and reactionary ‘Manusmriti’ had institutionalised the patriarchy as well as
the caste system. The development of capitalism in the West countries brought
certain drastic changes in the lives of women. The rise of capitalism roused
the democratic aspirations among women, kindled ideas of equality and freedom,
and led to movements for the assertion of their democratic rights — something
unheard of in the feudal society. It also brought some degree of freedom such
as liberty to choose partners and the right to divorce. But capitalism did not
eliminate the institution of patriarchy, only modified the forms of patriarchal
oppression.
The most
important of economic changes that capitalism introduced was that it drew women into social production on a
large scale. Women no more worked as adjuncts to their husbands. The
capitalists drew them into wage labour relations as independent individuals.
Only participation of women in social production in itself cannot emancipate
them. Patriarchal ideology relegates women’s labour as unskilled and semi-skilled,
justifying the low wages that are paid to her. It does not take into account
the domestic work of women, considered worthless by men.
Scenario on Educational Campuses
Today women
have started going out of their homes to contribute to their respective
households and society but this scenario of the contemporary times is being
challenged by men through eve-teasing. It can be defined as public sexual harassment,
in which malafide intentions such as sexual advances are expressed by opposite
sex towards women. The mindset of women is conditioned in such a way that they
don’t raise their voice against it, even if they want to. Numerous cases of
professors, involved in sexually harassing their students, have been reported. They
take advantage of their position as a ‘guru’.
There is a dire
need for women cells in the educational institutions. On most of the campuses, women
cells have not been constituted, and if there are any they are defunct.
Many a times, women find themselves alone and without any support
system. It is in this situation, we encourage women to stand and speak up. They should become aware of their rights and
shake off any psychological handicap to reclaim their dignity.
We
call upon the students of this university to a general meeting on February 16,
2012, to put forward their views on this pamphlet.
Time: 2:30 PM
Venue: UBS
Canteen, PU
Contact us @: Raminder Singh 9463154024, Amandeep Singh
9779026124
