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International
Women's Day - March 8, 2004
Towards Freedom From
Fear
 Washington-based
Dr Geeta Rao Gupta is President of the International Centre for Research
on Women (ICRW), an international NGO supporting gender-relevant research.
ICRW is now famous for the domestic violence study that claimed that at
least 45 per cent of Indian women are slapped, kicked or beaten by their
husbands. A PhD in social psychology from Bangalore University, Gupta has
worked extensively on women's health issues in South Asia and Africa. She
is also Coordinator, Task Force on Education and Gender for the Millennium
Project established by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Recently in India as part of an American team of experts studying India's
response to HIV/AIDS, Gupta spoke about some of the challenges women face
today.
Q. ICRW has been working on women's
empowerment for over 27 years. How would you define empowerment?
A. Although there are several definitions, my personal one comes from a
question: what gives an individual power in society? I think there are six
sources/resources - information and education, marketable skills, economic
assets and income, social support, political voice and access to services,
and technology. It is not the sum of these that empowers women. It is only
when women participate in accessing these resources and improve their
lives in using them that they get empowered.
Q. What are the key contributions of
ICRW on gender issues?
A. We are not an ideology-based but evidence-based organization, offering
insights into the realities of poor people's lives. We have always placed
a lot of value on evidence. Our research has contributed to the shift from
the welfare model approach to the economic development approach - where
women are seen not as beneficiaries but as lead actors in the process of
change. We were the first to document how women's vulnerability prevents
them from taking sound decisions on issues like reproductive health and
how violence against women is proving to be a huge barrier against HIV
protection.
Our countrywide survey on domestic violence in India, covering 10,000
households, was the first documentation of its kind. Some of our projects
(in India) are exclusively focused on adolescents, a group that is an
asset for today and the future.
Q. Both in India and abroad there has
been a surge in violence against women, even as awareness about women's
rights and sensitivity to gender issues has increased. Do you agree?
A. I think it is the rapidity of economic changes - globally - that has
instilled a lot of insecurity and fear in the minds of people. The fear
has made them move towards fundamentalism, so as to hang on to old
structures... And when society resists change, the leaders always try to
control women's sexuality and independence. In the US it is the abortion
issue, in India it is dowry and domestic violence - women have always paid
a huge price for rapid change. Violence is the consequence of this change.
Although we have freedom from hunger, freedom from disease as development
goals, it's time we had freedom from violence and fear as development
goals too. Fear has been a big motivator for women to make wrong
decisions.
Q. ICRW has been focusing a lot on
women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. Aren't men equally vulnerable?
A. As victims of violence, women cannot protect themselves from unsafe
sex. However, it is not that men are not vulnerable to AIDS. Norms of
masculinity and femininity affect both. Women are expected to be docile,
sacrificing and conditioned to accept violence. Men are expected to be
more knowledgeable and adventurous, they are the sex teachers - expected
to have multiple partners. This 'hydraulic model' of masculinity - of men
always wanting to release themselves - goes against the AIDS prevention
program.
Even the use of condoms as a strategy to combat AIDS emanates from
stereotypical masculine norms. Condom use in the short term may imply
relative safety to men and women but look at the long term impact - you
fail to encourage satisfying, responsible and consensual sex - you are not
encouraging people to have respectful, adult relationships.
Q. AIDS prevention programs are now
focusing more on quality of relationships. How do you tell people to be
more responsible in their sex life? Relationships are a private matter...
A. Sure, sex is a private matter. We shouldn't be discussing it but we
have to. When you have an epidemic like AIDS, nothing should be taboo. Our
hypocrisy is allowing the virus to thrive. It's feeding on the culture of
silence. It has fed on the fault lines of traditional inequalities.
Religious or cultural values should not be protected at the risk of lives.
Every society has gone through a period of denial before taking action
against AIDS, be it the US or Africa. Discussion should begin before
deaths occur, not after.
Q. How prepared is India to tackle the
epidemic?
A. During my two-week visit to India, I met several politicians, activists
and even members from the CII and FICCI. I did notice the sophistication
in the discourse. Everyone is more informed and is seriously thinking
about
prevention. Some years ago, this sense of urgency was missing.
Q. Experts often comment on the paradox
of Indian women: many are victims of violence, discrimination and abuse
and yet some turn out to be very strong women. How do you see this?
A. I greatly admire the women's movement in India. It is unique. Despite
the inequalities, we have had such strong women who have stepped out and
achieved a lot. Unlike the West, women leaders and feminists here have
focused on poverty. Indian feminism has been grounded in the anti-poverty
struggle. Poverty has not been a reality for most of the West. But in
India, the high rate of mortality, abortion deaths, and vulnerability to
disease, inequality due to caste - all are related to poverty and women
are at the bottom of it all.
– Malvaika Kaul
March 8, 2004
International Women's Day -
March 8, 2004
Articles
Females: Superior by Choice, Design and Default
by Gaurang Bhatt, MD
Getting Behind Abuse by Linda Light
It's All About Women by Elayne Clift
New Enemy Threatens Baby Girls by Manipadma
Jena
No Turning Back by Kalyani Menon-Sen
Single Moms by Choice by V. Radhika
Towards Freedom From Fear by Malvika Kaul
Poetry
Beacon of Hope by Neria
Harish Hebbar, MD
Mothers Never Die by Michael Levy
Woman by Pavalamani Pragasam
Women Empowerment: Today's Vision for
Tomorrow's Mission by Hillol Ray
International Women's
Day - March 2001
Ah! Women by Roberta Lee Wilcox
Ahilya - A poem by Manisha Bansal
And the International Women's Day was Born by Meera
Chowdhry
Being A Woman by Manisha Kulshreshtha
How to be a Woman, though a Human by Sangeeta Goel
March 8th - International Women's Day by Pavalamani
Pragasam
Most Beautiful Things
about Women by Smitha V
Mother Teresa: Woman of
the Century by Bijal Dwivedi
Musings of a Lady - A poem by Maria Reed-Shore
Nari 2001 by Lavanya Shah
Nevertheless - A poem by Manisha Bansal
Thoughts on Women's Day by Gargi Chaudhuri
What you can Never
Understand about Women by Smitha V
Women: Symbols of Sacrifice or Sacrificial Lambs? by
Meenakshi Madhur
By arrangement with
Womens Feature Service
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