![]() |
Channels | ![]() |
In Focus |
Cartoons |
Education |
Environment |
Opinion |
Photo Essays |
Columns |
Business |
Random Thoughts |
Our Heritage |
Astrology |
Ayurveda |
Buddhism |
Cinema |
Culture |
Festivals |
Hinduism |
History |
People |
Places |
Sikhism |
Spirituality |
Society & Lifestyle |
Parenting |
Perspective |
Recipes |
Society |
Teens |
Women |
Creative Writings |
Computing |
Humor |
Individuality |
Literary Shelf |
Memoirs |
Quotes |
Stories |
Travelogues |
Workshop |
Society | Share This Page | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rape: Enraged India Seeks Change |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
by Rajender Krishan |
![]() |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
If one peeps into the farthest reaches of history, one finds that rape has been around for a very long time. Predominantly it is the male who is the aggressor with tendencies to dominate and force the women to do something against their will. The idea of power and anger work as the motivating forces behind sexual violence. Yet, it is ironical that such cases of sexual assault, rape and abuse to the women are the least reported.
The Gender Imbalance A biased mindset has been created and perpetuated over the millennia by the patriarchal structure of the Indian society favoring male children over the girl child that has brought about the gender imbalance or sex ratio.
This cultural pressure on the women to give birth to sons is imposed with a preconceived notion that a male child is an “asset” since he can supposedly earn and support the family. On the other hand a daughter is considered as a “liability” since she will eventually be married off to another family, and so will not contribute financially to her parents. The notion is further underscored by the burden of raising a dowry – although legally banned in India – for a daughter's marriage. The widespread sex-determination technology available today is being grossly abused leading to selectively aborting female fetuses as a social custom. The familial abuse and violence persists in brutalizing the mother for bearing girls and disobeying the family’s decision to abort the child. In case the mothers disobey the husband’s family decision to abort the female fetus and report it to the authorities, there seems to be none or negligible support. The FIRs are not encouraged and when they do get filed, the judicial system delays the justice or gives a light sentence. It is also ironic that the mother-in-laws who themselves are women are either found a party to such tragedies or totally helpless under the bullying diktats of the patriarchal structure.
Thus, the preference of a male child becomes the precursor of discrimination and parents tend to neglect the girl child. Crudely, the boy will get food first, the girl last; the boy will go to school, the girl not; etc. What does all this mean?
It means that today there are approximately 15 million “surplus” males in India in the age group of 15 to 35. This number of 15 million “surplus” or “wifeless” males is projected to rise to 30 million before the end of this decade. Now this is large scary number of potentially sex-starved, frustrated and angry monsters! The recent gang rape of Nirbhaya is a case in point. And, it is also important to understand that Nirbhaya's case is not an isolated one. Due to the gender imbalance and the sex-starved, maddened maniacs roaming around in every nook and corner of the country, the scenerio of similar criminal acts involving abduction, gang rapes, terrorizing and suppression of women at large, will only get worse by the day.
In conclusion, if one goes by the diktats of the Khaps and the dominance imposed by the patriarchal society, the role of woman in India is supposedly to merely stay home, do house chores, sacrifice herself into assisting her husband and raising children, sparing no time for self-development. Particularly in the rural areas, therefore, she is given hardly any education and forbidden to work in the society independently. Ironically though, the same rural woman is put to strenuous work of bringing drinking water from miles away, gathering wood for domestic fuel or help the family in the fields while the men are seen lounging on their khats smoking hookah.
Images (c) Gettyimages.com
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Share This: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
24-Dec-2012 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
More by : Rajender Krishan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Views: 3062 Comments: 15 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Comments on this Article
p c katoch 04/09/2013 23:33 PM
eva juan 01/18/2013 06:45 AM
Varanasi Ramabrahmam 01/16/2013 08:27 AM
T.S.Chandra Mouli 12/29/2012 13:44 PM
Prof. Shubha Tiwari 12/28/2012 00:19 AM
Julia Dutta 12/25/2012 09:18 AM
V.K. Joshi 12/25/2012 01:26 AM
Usha Rana 12/25/2012 00:43 AM
drgopalsingh 12/24/2012 22:59 PM
sunilsharma 12/24/2012 22:28 PM
DR. SHOMA A CHATTERJI 12/24/2012 22:19 PM
KAMAL JOSHI 12/24/2012 21:56 PM
Prema 12/24/2012 21:51 PM
My Word 12/24/2012 21:35 PM
Thommy 12/24/2012 21:27 PM |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Top | Society |
|