“I raise up my voice—not so I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard…we cannot succeed when half of us are held back.” ~Malala Yousafzai
According to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources, the population of female (% of total) in India was reported at 48.18% in 2017. Jawaharlal Nehru once said, “You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of its women”. With almost half of the population constituting of women, it becomes imperative for our country to cater to the demands, needs, rights, and freedom of women in order to bring them at par with the men of our society.
The constitution of India holds the men and women on an equal footing (for instance, Article 14 and 15). In fact, Article 15(3) empowers the state to even make special provisions for women and children (protective discrimination). There is no denial of the fact that the status of women in India has shown advancement when compared with the status that existed during the independence of our country or even before that. But the real question revolves around the extent of their upliftment.
Is there any woman who goes out of her house without the fear of being raped or molested? Do all the women in our country have easy access to education and proper health care? Do all the women in our country get equally paid as men for the same quality of work? Do all the women in our society have the freedom to do whatever they want to do, without being targeted by the patriarchal setup? If the answer to these above questions is “NO”, then we must seriously find solutions to remove these hurdles that are coming in the way of the development and empowerment of, not just the women of India, but India itself.
When we talk about the domestic sphere in our Indian society, we generally see a similar trend in almost all households-the women are often dominated by the male members of the family and are expected to remain within the four walls of their home. The husbands are considered as the head of the family and all the decisions are taken by them. Women’s voice often goes unheard because of deep-rooted patriarchal mindset, where they are generally considered as the second class citizens.
In order to ensure that the women in a nation get all their rights and freedom, and have a voice of their own, we need to empower them and education has a very substantial role to play in this regard. As with proper education, they can become independent and self-reliant. Equal participation of women in the economy is also very important for a nation’s growth and prosperity.
Although women are now coming up and standing shoulder to shoulder with men in almost all sectors, still the majority, especially those belonging to the rural areas are unable to get easy access to conditions conducive for their socio-economic upliftment.
According to Karl Marx, political participation by the masses is at once a process of education and of building up of a capacity for governing the new society. He was in favor of mass involvement in political participation. Through his idea, we can deduce the principle that more the participation, stronger will be the political system and thus, stronger will be the democracy of the nation. Therefore, women’s participation in the political arena becomes important for our country. But in a democracy with a male-dominated political system, a women’s voice is rarely heard.
However, after the policy of reservation for women in the local level of governance, their participation in politics has risen, as it has given them a platform, to raise their demands and concerns. But if we look at the national level, the number of women representatives in the legislative bodies is still very low. The challenges that come in the way of women’s participation in the politics are mainly an emanation of cultural, economic and societal barriers in the form of violence, discrimination, illiteracy, and lack of awareness.
India urgently needs to deal with the rising issue of violence and crime against women. The latest National Crime Records Bureau data shows that the increase in incidents of rapes have gone up by 12-15% while other crimes against women have increased by 3-5%. Crimes against women include rape, domestic violence, forced abortion, female infanticide, dowry killings, forced prostitution, acid attack. Many of these crimes go unreported due to the social stigma attached to it. However, cases of rape being reported have shown a steady rise in the past few years, because of media-related awareness and mass protests that took place after the Nirbhaya rape case in Delhi.
Although cases are now being reported relatively more than before, the pace of judicial trials is very slow and cumbersome. The mass movement or the protest which we all witnessed a few years back during the Nirbhaya case did give a boost in creating awareness and raising concerns among people, against such issues, but this was not the first mass protest. India has been witnessed mass movements led by women for decades. The Chipko movement in Uttarakhand, the anti-arrack movement in Andhra Pradesh, and the naked protest of Manipur’s mothers are some of the famous women-led protests which gave them a platform for raising their voices. The recent PinjraTod movement and the ongoing #MeToo movement have given the women of today a platform to raise their voice against the violence they have gone through or are still going through.
A number of schemes, towards women empowerment, have been launched by the government such as the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Mahila E-haat, One Stop Centre scheme, working women hostels, Swadhar Greh, Nari Sakti Puruskars. Recent incidents such as the #MeToo movement, the Sabarimala temple verdict, and the verdict declaring that Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code — the adultery law as unconstitutional, have turned the tide in favor of women to some extent. Still, there is a long way to go.
The need of the hour is to create awareness in order to establish a promotive environment, in which women are encouraged to come at par with the men. Only then, India will be able to accomplish its social, political and economic goals, to become a developed country.