On the third anniversary of Nirbhaya; The question which still on everyone's mind : Is India safe for its women and girl children??
We still find many headlines reporting cases of sexual assault, molestation, sexual harassment, rapes, trafficking, ill treatment of women in houses, violence against women in remote areas etc.
In most of part of the country, girls in villages are at risk of sexual assault. And India's cities aren't any safer for women and girls.From the streets to bus stops, to crowded market places, women surveyed told that they don't feel safe in public, and half of men surveyed told that they, at some point, have engaged in sexual aggression, with many respondents saying that women are ultimately responsible if they are sexually harassed or assaulted.
Research shows that both fear and actual experience of sexual violence in the public realm have a profound impact on women and girls' daily routines, lifestyle and their emotional and physical health.
We generally use to play the blame game for any such incidence and hence have not succeeded to reach to the root of the problem. For a better understanding we can say that any problem has definitely two approaches of solution, the first is short term or immediate solution and the second one is long term solution. These may be visualized as preventive or curative in nature.
As good citizens, we have a fundamental duty to contribute towards bringing an order to ensure dignity and respect for women so that she can also enjoy her human rights and fundamental rights with sense of pride, freedom and confidence. To ensure this at every level the society must work together to give an edge to the solution.
We saw lots of ad campaign’s featured by prominent actors on how to create awareness, starting from educating our male children on their treatment towards the opposite gender. Ours is a land which follows various social customs, traditions and certain sets of religious beliefs. These customs has a deep rooted place in the core of our minds and hearts of every people of India which has defined our lifestyle, our thoughts, our expressions and our beliefs be it man or a woman. This has given to the males, the feeling of masculinity in every aspect of their acts and thoughts. They thus are perceived themselves as physically, mentally superior than their counterparts. Indian women also have accepted to treat their males as superior. So any kind of ill treatment towards them by the masculine gender is not considered as violence but more or less considered as a birth right of their dominance towards the weaker sex.
Other instance can be seen in parents preferring male child over female. In every aspect of the life, women are denied or given less preference over male whether it is for giving education or access to health care. They are always required to be within their limitations and the male counterparts have freedom in this regard. This system thus gives a feeling in male that they are superior and hence dominate over women. This instills in male a sense of hatred against women if they see a woman crossing their limitations.
This core mentality would take time to change and requires quite a lot of awareness which needs to be generated. This can be brought through measures such as real education emphasizing on the quality of education, through enhanced moral and spiritual teachings so that the seed of enmity which is sown through these customs and traditions gets deeply uprooted.
Other area of interest would be reform in police system. Allocation of women police in every area and their continuous monitoring which also requires participatory attitudes of govt. Such interventions can also be a preventive solution. This also requires installation of CCTV cameras at strategic places, beefing up the police security systems and closely monitoring them. Also reforms in our legal system is required such as stringent punishment which are non bailable in nature. This could act as friction to those who perpetrate crime.
We need to take action not by force but by will to make our country more secure and safe for the woman to enjoy their rights and freedom because a nation where half the population is discriminated against can never fully grow and reap its potential.