“India is ranked as the most dangerous country for women in the Thomson Reuters Foundation survey of about 550 experts on women’s issues. The results find India to be the most dangerous nation for sexual violence against women-rape, marital rapes, sexual assault, sexual slavery, and harassment, as well as human trafficking for domestic work and forced labour.
It was also the most dangerous country in the world for cultural traditions that impact women, the survey found, citing acid attacks, female genital mutilation, child marriage and physical abuse. India was the fourth most dangerous country for women in the same survey seven years ago.
War-torn Afghanistan and Syria ranked second and third in the Thomson Reuters Foundation survey, followed by Somalia and Saudi Arabia. The only western nation in the top 10 was the United States.”
This is the news that the media has been flashing from yesterday. Is that third paragraph really important for us to discuss? Is it the time to find out who made into the top 10 list and who did not? How come the US listed out in the top 10 list a matter of concern or rather a relief for us? What really matters is the first 2 paragraphs and the measures we need to take to make our country(not only our country but the entire universe) a safe haven for women.
India is a country famous for it’s rich and varied culture and traditions. In all these cultures the woman is considered as mother, goddess and the most respected. Then, how come our country is ranked the most dangerous place on earth for women? It’s because ‘the woman is a goddess and mother’ only in art forms and literary works and we have failed to inculcate this concept in our daily life. We have failed our women.
We still teach our girl children that they can avoid mishappenings if they stay under ‘limits’- limit your dreams, limit your words and actions, limit your desires and ambitions. We ask them to adjust until its really intolerable- adjust with verbal, physical and sexual abuses, harassments and if possible rapes too!! We teach them to keep their mouth shut if something happens as they are the victims and if they want to lead a normal life they need to cover up and live as if nothing happened. They are treated as victims until their last breath and we have pledged ourselves not to make them survivors. When we can’t tolerate the disrespect towards our culture and heritage, why are we remaining tolerant about violence towards women? Is their life worthless?
It’s high time we taught our children that men and women are literally the 2 facets of a coin. It’s not just a philosophical sentence or phrase. Teach our children that they are neither superior nor inferior. We need to teach our girl children that they need to dream, speak out, express themselves and achieve. It’s ok to speak out and seek help if they are abused, harassed or even raped. Teach them that their life is worthy and they need to defend, fight and survive. Educate them to understand what is a physical and sexual abuse, harassment and violence and how to defend and overcome such situations.
Teach our boys that girls are their counterpart and not a ‘thing or an item to be possessed. Teach them that both are same other than the physical difference and how to respect and understand the physical differences. That the differences are not for differentiating but for acknowledging. Don’t teach them “boys don’t cry” instead teach them “boys don’t make others cry”.
