Target-Oriented Population Control during the Emergency Period (1975-1977)

A major breakthrough in the population control process took place when then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi announced a nationwide emergency in 1975 and rigorously enforced mass sterilization programmes to bring down the population growth rate. About 6.2 million Indian men were sterilised in just a year which, according to a 2014 BBC news report, was 15 times the number of people sterilized by the Nazis. Vasectomy was a safer procedure than tubectomy, especially at that time, as it required less recovery time and follow-up hence poor men became the main targets of this gruesome campaign. The campaign to sterilise men involved many levels of harassment. There were even reports of police dragging the men to mass vasectomy camps. Men were considered easier targets for threats like job loss or fines, since they were more likely to be employed outside the home, to take public transportation and to go out or pick up government food rations.

Incentives and disincentives were given on a large scale for acts such as getting oneself sterilized or convincing other citizens to get sterilized. From offering plots of land in return for sterilization to threatening the loss of a government job for those who refused the procedure. While both men and women could be sterilized, the medical system was equipped to do many more vasectomies than tubectomies. Records have shown that the sterilization process mostly targeted the poor citizens and that wealthier Indians were able to buy their way out of the system. The coercive measures and the sterilizations caused a great deal of anger among the people. This unrest caused in the country is also considered as one of the reasons why Indira Gandhi’s government was voted out in the 1977 elections.

Voluntary Period since 1997

The next major breakthrough happened after the emergency period where the Indian government took a 180° turn and began to turn its family planning policy towards women. Female sterilizations became by far the most popular method of contraception. Family planning programmes further extended to rural areas through the network of primary health centres. The most fundamental change of the Indian population policy since 1977 was that family planning became mostly voluntary. The Indian government now put more emphasis on incentives to attract people to accept family planning voluntarily instead of forceful measures. During the Seventh Five Year Plan period between 1986 and 1991, the Indian government’s population control policy extended to including both long term and short term as well as specific goals. The long-term goal was to fix the net reproduction rate to be achieved by 2001 and the short-term goal focused on the female minimum age of marriage and the practice of contraception. The specific goal was to promote a two-child norm by increasing awareness among the people about family planning and responsible parenthood. The government efforts in population control now also extended to increase the literacy rate of the population and especially women.

Formation of the ICPD (1994)

The year 1994 is considered to be a noteworthy one in the history of family planning programmes in the world since the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) convened under the United Nations at Cairo in 1994 made some recommendations that were accepted by many developing countries including India that changed the direction of family planning programmes. The conference recommended that family planning programmes should not be driven by demographic goals but instead, they should be based on women’s reproductive rights and reproductive health, keeping in mind the well-being of everyone (International Institute for Population Sciences, 2016).

Adoption of NPP in the year 2000

India adopted the National Population Policy (NPP) in the year 2000 which decentralized the decision making to local government and improved the coordination between the government and the local and non-government organizations. Stress was given to improve the status of mothers and children. The programme focuses on the improvement of health care infrastructure and services and the empowerment of women. It also gives more emphasis to use of contraceptive methods like IUCDs, promotes delayed marriage for girls, provides a policy framework for imparting free and compulsory education up to 14 years of age, seeks to achieve universal immunization of children against all vaccine preventable diseases and to reduce infant mortality rate to below 30 per 1000 live births. Insurance is provided for the deaths, complications and failures caused by sterilization; compensating those who accept sterilizations and increasing male participation in family planning. Family welfare is now promoted as a people-centered program.

Endnote

Overpopulation is the root cause of numerous problems like low per capita income, unemployment and overburdened natural resources among many others. Therefore, the need of the hour today is a more effective measure to reduce the population growth in Indian society. Importance has to be given to population education, achievement of equal status for women and lower caste people, development of economy, urbanization, and modernization of the whole society. When socioeconomic conditions improve, the birth rate will be lower and the overpopulation problem will be reduced (Population Control Policies and Implementations in India, 2019).

References

• Biswas, S. (2014). India’s dark history of sterilisation. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-30040790
• Srinivasan, K. (2016). “India’s Population Issues and Policies: Professionals’ Perceptions”, Working Paper No. 11, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai. https://www.iipsindia.ac.in/sites/default/files/IIPS_Working_Paper11.pdf
• Wang, G. T. Population Control Policies and Implementations in India. https://doi.org/10.15640/jssw.v7n2a14

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Lack of Women Identity and Agency in Bollywood

The female protagonists in Bollywood films often lack a voice and agency. The story narrated is always that of the male hero and the female protagonist is a mere appendage. According to psychoanalytic theory, this could be termed as phallocentrism. Laura Mulvey in her essay ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ states that “the paradox of phallocentrism in all its manifestations is that it depends on the image of the castrated woman to give order and meaning to its world”.

The only role of the female characters is to further the plot of the story and to aid the hero in the process of identity-formation. Women, be it the sister, the mother or the love interest of the hero, are always secondary characters. Bollywood films like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Pardes and the recent ones like Dabangg, Zero are a great example of this. It is always the hero who is shown in Bollywood movies to go through a journey and the women either are a cause of that journey or help him on his way. Rarely do we see independent women characters with well carved out identities.

Kareena Kapoor’s character in Chameli is one of such few examples of a well written, round female character. In the film, she emerges as a strong female character who does not need a male figure to rush to her rescue, every time she is in a problem. In fact, the film subverts the expectations of the audience in a scene where it is actually the street smart prostitute who rescues the hero.

In a more recent film, Thappad, the issue of domestic violence, which has been plaguing our society since centuries, is addressed. Taapsee Punnu’s character stands against physical abuse. She refuses to bow down to the patriarchal ideas and in her journey, challenges the ‘sacred’ institutions of marriage and family. The film charts her growth from a dependent, almost subservient house-wife to an independent woman and a single mother. The film also breaks the stereotype that domestic violence is an issue only for the lower sections of society. In Thappad, we see how physical and mental abuse is as prevalent in urban, educated and rich families as among the poor, rural society.

Male Gaze

In most of our films, the gaze of the camera is also predominantly male and to a large extent, determines how we perceive the female characters. The male gaze of the camera is probably the result of the fact that the majority of the films are written, directed and shot by men. The male gaze of the camera, combined with the male gaze of the hero, commodifies and fetishises female characters. John Berger in Ways of Seeing points out that in the films, “Men act, women appear. Men look at women, women watch themselves being looked at.” The sexist and selective male gaze of the camera is focused on selective parts of the female body. Bindu Nair in her essay- “Female Bodies and the Male Gaze” explains how women are turned into a ‘spectacle’-

“The gaze is invited to certain parts of the body selectively considered sexual – the eyes, the lips, the breasts, the navel, the buttocks and the legs…All these add up in objectifying and sexualising the body of the woman for the benefit of the (male) viewer.”

Nair, 2009

The famous “item songs” in our films are a great example of the male gaze at play.  The songs like ‘Tip Tip Barsa’ or ‘Fevicol Se’ show how the camera angles, the costumes, the makeup and even the actions of the female characters in these songs fetishise female body and cater to male pleasure, i.e. the pleasure of the hero and the male audience.

Conclusion

This problematic depiction of women in Bollywood films translates to real life as well. The impressionable minds of youth accept this sexist and misogynistic portrayal as the norm. This could be an important reason why women in our society face a lot of backlashes if they stray from the stereotypical idea of femininity and try to assert their voice and freedom. Films borrow from reality but they also influence our reality. Therefore, in a society where films largely shape our way of thinking, we need more films with strong and independent female characters. The need of the hour is good films which tackle the rampant misogyny in our society, and not increase it by projecting stereotypical and regressive ideas of femininity. We are definitely on the path of change and progress, but we are not there yet. The Hindi Film industry is waking up to the importance of this issue, but there is still a long way to go.

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Origin and Trend Setting of Colour Sexism

It must be noted that gender-colour stereotype and assigning a colour to gender isn’t an ancient concept but a twentieth-century trait. After World War II, blue was used extensively for men’s uniforms. Therefore, blue was identified as more of a masculine colour. Since 1940, pink was promoted as a woman’s colour. “Think Pink” was the marketing slogan to convince women to embrace their femininity. It grew massively in the 1970s and by the 1980s it was a full-fledged concept where markets were captured by brands selling gender-specific merchandise to parents indoctrinating a stark contrast in their minds. Also, the introduction of clinical tests that were capable of revealing the gender of an unborn baby, in different countries, played a major role as parents had the opportunity to preplan shopping for their children and stock up on everything that would speak loud and clear for the gender. Scrolling up and down social media apps I came across a trending concept of ‘Gender Reveal’ which was first started by Jenna Karnuvidis in the year 2008. She baked a cake full of pink icing to celebrate a baby girl they were expecting. After 10 years of this viral phenomenon, she realized how the trend picked up and someone’s potential and talent should not be compartmentalized depending solely on what’s between their legs. 

Sexism in Toys: Not a Child’s Play

With sexism being the primary focus while growing up, most children face a huge dilemma about peculiar universally accepted, gender-specific presents. Girls get a lot of Barbie dolls, kitchen sets, jewellery sets, anything and everything that’s ‘pinkified’. Boys are assumed to fancy GI Joes, Hotwheels, toy guns, for god’s sake the society loves gifting their sons a lot of weapons! It’s not just the gift that needs to be focused on but the dull mindset behind it. Gifting a kitchen set is the most suitable way to glorify what the society actually thinks of women, trying best to nurture their homely instincts because clearly, society would rather assign specific gender roles than let women dream of being bold, independent, and sore high with a mind of their own. I’ve seen parents often discouraging their boys who dare to show even the slightest of an inclination towards so-called ‘girly’ toys or makeup. This discrimination affects their thinking and behavioural pattern tremendously. The trauma of not being able to open up to your own birth givers about personal preferences, toys or choice of colours is claustrophobic in itself.

Second Home

We call schools our second homes and now I know why! There’s an uncanny significance between the two. A divide between girls and boys surprisingly exist in schools and educational institutions even today. We choose to ignore red flags of clear cut segregation that children commonly face on a day to day basis. For instance, boys who don’t like being a certain way and aren’t necessarily rough, rugged, crass and ‘manly’ if I must use the word are commonly subjected to a lot of bullying and are vulnerable to great deals of trauma that follows. This not only creates a problem for the child but also breaks their self-esteem. Yes, schools are very thoughtful and progressive about holding menstrual awareness workshops. Sadly these are strictly girl-specific and therefore boys are not just unaware of how a woman’s body functions but also made negligent about menstruation in general. Which is why the role of men in menstruation is still vague and sanitary pads continue to be sold wrapped in newspapers or black plastics. Girls are also taught to not speak about menstruation openly or involve the opposite gender because it doesn’t speak well of how ‘cultured’ they are. Sensitizing children about natural, biological phenomenon like these is a necessity and we need to acknowledge it as a society that’s concerned for the future generation.

‘Gender’ or ‘Sex’

Biology also teaches us the difference between a boy and a girl but what we’re often not taught is the concept of behaviour. Sexism forces one to behave in a set way. When we get behaviour into the picture let me tell you ‘Gender’ and ‘Sex’ are two very different terms. However, we end up using them interchangeably. During the second year of under-graduation, I took up Educational Psychology as an elective. While exploring certain topics I happened to come across a study which explained how humans are born as male or female biologically but socially, culturally and personally they might associate themselves as more masculine or feminine by nature. This masculinity or femininity is controlled by the society and anything that doesn’t seem to fit into their social construct is termed as abnormal and looked down upon. When a boy or a man places himself on the pink side of the spectrum we associate his gender or sexual identity with that of a woman and assume they’re homosexual. A lot of homophobics repel men who wear pink. Pink, thus in this scenario is seen as a badge of shame because it’s socially unacceptable for men to be inclined towards a colour like Pink because it’s assumed to be a colour for those who are soft, weak and feminine and men don’t gain social acceptance if they fall under such categories.

Fun fact, during 1930-1940, Nazi concentration camp badges included a pink triangle for gay men, while lesbians were lumped into an ‘asocial elements’ group with a black triangle. This shows the relevance of pink to femininity. However, in the late 60s, with the articulation of the LGBT rights movement, the significance of pink began a shift from shame to pride. The ‘Queer’ Community still struggles for acceptance because these factors are so deep-rooted. 

Live and Let Live

I’m sure if you’re a boy you must be able to relate to sentences like ‘don’t cry like a girl’ or ‘boys don’t cry because crying is for the weak’ and if you’re a girl you might’ve come across sentences like ‘sit like a girl, talk softly like a girl’ a zillion times! We need to get our basics right and realise that it is every human’s right to choose what they feel is best for themselves, associate or dissociate with people, colours, art forms or ideologies. Especially babies shouldn’t be pushed towards something purposely, taking advantage of their age and their inability to form an opinion or even understand what likes and dislikes are. This cycle of unnecessary pressure and dominance also has to stop. There should be absolute freedom in order to keep diversity alive. Diversity nowadays is probably best defined in an LGBTQ rainbow flag which is symbolic of an all-inclusive society. We should learn to live and let live instead of assigning particular colours and laying expectations on toddlers to stay true to them. There should be absolute freedom of picking any colour at any age, making it your own, and possessing the liberty to change it too because let’s face it, we’re much more than the X and Y chromosomes that we limit ourselves to!

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“It is very difficult for a woman to make up her mind to enter politics. Once she makes up her own mind then she has to prepare her husband and her children and her family. Once she has overcome all these obstacles and applies for the ticket then the male aspirants against whom she is applying makeup all sorts of stories about her. And after all, this when her name goes to the party bosses, they do not select her name because they fear losing that seat”

The above quote of late Sushma Swaraj gives a glimpse of reality that how women have to face so many problems and criticisms while entering politics.

Since pre-independence to till now it has been seen that women are always marginalized in the mainstream of politics and in decision making as well as in getting an important position in the political organization and also in our society. But it has been seen that men and women also played an equal role for the development of the nation, they have worked shoulder to shoulder in pre-independent as well as in post-independent India.

Indian constitution is one of the strongest law that provides equal opportunity to both men and women in socio-economic and political aspects. But our societal norms, customs and patriarchal set up treated them as subordinate to men. Their financial dependency upon men also keeps them away from political activities or affiliations. United Nation’s 2008 survey shows that India marked the lowest number of women’s participation in parliament i.e. 9.1%. Even a country like UAE marked better than India in the perspective of women’s participation in parliament i.e. 22.5%. It was seen that the 15th Lok Sabha election has recorded 59 women as a member of parliament highest since independence. India ranked 148 out of the 193 nations with 11.48 percent women in the lower house and 11 percent in the upper house.

Government Initiatives and Constitutional Provisions

The Women’s Reservation Bill which allows 33% of reservation for women in the elected bodies but the bill is still reserved in the Lok Sabha after it was passed from the Rajya Sabha. As it has been already stated that the constitution provides equal opportunity to all citizens of India, the constitution also called the state to take measure to neutralize the socio-economic, political, educational and political disadvantages faced by women.

• Article 14 – It guarantees equality before the law and equal protection of law within the territory of India.
• Article 39(b) – has provision for equal pay for equal work for both men and women.
• Article 325 and 326 – They guarantee political equality equal right to participation in political activity and right to vote respectively.

Success Stories of Indian Women in Politics

There are many stories of success of Indian women in ancient, medieval as well as in the modern period. It is believed that administration and politics both are the arenas of men. However, in India, we have seen that many women have played and are still playing an important role in both the above-mentioned areas. Late Indira Gandhi has served the nation as the first PM of India and her daughter in law Mrs Sonia Gandhi is the present president of Indian National Congress and was the former chairperson of UPA. The first Indian to serve as the President of the United Nations General Assembly was a woman, Vijay Lakshmi Pandit. States like West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir have had women as a chief minister in past. The highest decision making of CPI(M) i.e. Polit Bureau has two women representative out of its thirteen members body.

If we compare between two foremost national parties INC and BJP in respect of giving the nomination to female candidates, it shows that INC nominates more female candidates than BJP. It was in 2009 co-incidentally when both the parties gave the nomination to an equal number of female candidates i.e. 43.

Obstacles to Women Participation in Politics and the Role of Media in Changing the Societal Mindset

One of the main obstacles is the societal obstacle. It is mainly believed that the main work of a female is to do household chores and child care and keep herself within the boundary of the house. Managing the outside world is the work of a male. It is also believed that women have a lack of ability in case of giving leadership.

Due to the advancement of news media, print media and social media are playing an important role in changing the mindset of society. Women participating in mainstream politics not just of political awareness but also the role of media in breaking the stereotyped image of women. Undoubtedly media has played a vital role in creating awareness among women and in empowering them up to some extent. Media helps women in identifying and adopting the ways of self-actualization. Women are also becoming active in the journalism profession previously they were seen rarely in journalism. It is also criticized to sensationalize the issues and use women as a commodity for seeking the attention of viewers. Women’s image is seen as submissive to men. Women’s issues rarely got space in the leading stories of front pages.

Conclusion

From the above discussion, we can come to the conclusion that in spite of facing obstacles women in India is coming in the forefront and started demanding their own rights in various fields and many political and apolitical women organizations are acting as their agent in upholding their demands. One of the key thing that acts as an obstacle for women’s political participation in India is the lack of education. Women will come to know about their rights and privileges when they will get the proper education. With the objective of gender empowerment Government of India in 2014 formed a commission named National Mission of Empowerment of Women, but this project was not up to the mark.

Side by side governmental help is for the uprising of women empowerment. As discussed earlier there are my constitutional provisions which provide equality between men and women. Recently in Kerala, the Sabarimala case is an example of governmental help that provided to the women. For many decades women were not allowed to enter into the Sabarimala temple but the LDF government protested against this and provide the equal right to women as like men to enter into the temple.

Media has to some extent plays an important for women empowerment and truly highlighting their status in society. Establishment of women panchayat and 33% reservation of women into the local bodies is acting as an encouragement to women for taking part in politics and in the decision making process.                  

Reference

Alam Shah, January 2015, International journal of advanced in management and social sciences, Volume 4, no.1, page 78.

Nisha M.Ameen, Vezhaventhan. D,2018, International journal of pure and applied mathematics, volume 120 no. 5, page no. 4726.

Nisha M Ameen, Vezhaventhan.D 2018, International journal of pure and applied mathematics, volume 120 no. 5, page no.4728.

Kumar Amit, Dhamiya Somesh, Dhamiya Arun, December 2016, SIBM Pune research journal, volume XII, Page no. 6,

Alam Shah, January 2015, International journal of advanced research in management and social sciences, Volume 4 no.1, Page no. 81-82.

Nisha M.Ameen, Vezhaventhan.D, 2018, International journal of pure and applied mathematics, volume 120 no.5, page no. 4721.

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Women’s ability to access safe and legal abortion is prohibited in many countries. Countries that do allow it have poor facilities that hinder women’s health. Apart from this, abortion is not accepted by society and it makes a woman wary of making that choice. Feminists believe that women should be allowed the right to abort because in many cases the pregnancy is a result of rape. They argue that women have the right to decide independently in such matters. They consider the right to abort a human right. It is saddening that 13% of maternal deaths worldwide are due to unsafe abortion. Many women are oftentimes forced to carry a child which further leads to health issues in the mother. In many nations, the act of abortion is has been criminalized by the nation runners and thereby, denied.

State of Right to Abortion in India

The nation of India has always seen the concept of abortion as a shameful act, culturally speaking. Despite the societal notions, India seems to have a largely progressive regime for abortion, on paper. There have been many instances where abortion has been denied to people. Women in India have had to resort to unsafe abortions which ultimately ruin their health and lead to infertility or death in many cases. Most women in India are hardly aware of the concept of abortion and where it is offered. Around 2-4% of women are forced to get abortions in India due to the preference of sons over daughters. In a country like India, the awareness and the act of it has been more like a privilege. Abortion centres are not well-maintained and it reflects the ideals people have about abortion.

The National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW),  which is a small nonprofit group leading the research and defence of such cases, tabulates that some eight hundred “arrests and equivalent deprivations of liberty” of pregnant women have been made since 2005, for crimes including murder, manslaughter, and foeticide.

State of Right to Abortion in Poland

Recently, the Constitution in Poland has ruled that an existing law allowing abortion of malformed foetuses unconstitutional. This has provoked an outcry from women and pro-choice activists. The tribunal’s president Julia Przylebska said that permitting abortions in the case of fetal deformities legalized “eugenic practices concerning an unborn child, thus denying it the respect and protection of human dignity.” Since the Polish constitution assures a right to life, Przylebska argued that an abortion based on a fetal malfunction was “a directly forbidden form of discrimination.”

Before the ruling, Poland had permitted abortion in three scenarios: for fetal abnormalities, in the case of a threat to a woman’s health, and the case of incest or rape. But, the latest court rulings argued that abortion due to abnormal fetal abnormalities is unconstitutional, which stirred up unrest among the people. Since the ruling, protesters have gathered around demanding a reversal of the ruling.

State of Right to Abortion in the USA

In the first months of this year, nearly 30 states in the United States introduced an abortion ban. Fifteen of these states have been working to pass bills that will ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. Earlier in May, Alabama lawmakers passed a bill to ban abortion entirely and Missouri’s sole abortion clinic remains engrossed in a legal battle to keep its operating license from the state health department. If they lose, Missouri will become the only US state without an abortion clinic.

The US movement against abortion has been raging since the 1800s.  It has largely been led by Catholics and conservative religious groups. Ever since the abortion ban was introduced, many people, especially women have protested against this decision. Celebrities have been seen taking to social media to express their anger. Many celebrities have decided to stop working in the states which have completely banned abortion. Disney has decided to quit Georgia over abortion law and “Netflix” has decided to rethink its operations in Georgia.

The Fight for the Right to Abortion Continues

Most believe that the right to abort is a human right and the decision to abort should be solely given to women who are the child-bearers. Throughout this fight, we have seen the various governments picking out specific parts of the concept of abortion and creating opinions but what they fail to understand is that, at the end of the day, women are the ones bearing the child and they are on the receiving end of the consequences stemming out from unwanted pregnancies. Banning abortion entirely or allowing it only for specific reasons which may be acceptable to only a group of law-makers is only another way to oppress women.

The fight for abortion has been an age-old fight. Many generations of women have led movements against any government banning abortion. Even in the 21^st century, when women are being told what to do, how to use their body and whether or not to carry children in their wombs, it largely feels like women are losing the long-fought battle against the ban of abortion. The importance of the right to abortion and the need for proper clinics that follow all medical protocols are not yet known to the people. The way people look at it gives us a peek at the devastating condition of women in the world and makes the fight difficult every day.

Featured Image: Reuters (Jakub Wlodek/Agencja Gazeta)

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It has been brought to notice terms related to female genital mutilation have been used interchangeably in the past and one such term was “female circumcision” that was used because the surgery bore some resemblance to male circumcision. This not only raised questions about the term but also the misleading comparison made with male circumcision. Male circumcision involves removing only part of the foreskin of the penis without impairing sexual function. Male circumcision was carried out to avoid infections and make men superior to women, even with regard to having sexual intercourse. On the other hand, women were forced to undergo such surgery for curbing sexual desires, not keeping in mind the infections and the consequences. This practice experienced by girls is called ‘Clitorectomy’ or ‘Clitoridectomy’ where partial or complete clitoris or even parts of the labia are removed surgically with lifelong side effects, and significant health and sexual impairment. 

The Origin of Female Genital Mutilation

When we look back and try to trace the origin of female genital mutilation, a lot of researches that were held clearly denote that it existed before Islam and Christianity came into being. Some researchers have traced it back to Egypt (5^th Century BC) on the west coast of the Red Sea. There were a few more dots that could be joined to be more assertive about this statement like the Greek papyrus in the British Museum (163 BC) which clearly showed signs of Egyptian mummies of women who went through such surgeries. Strabo, a Greek geographer, on his visit to Egypt in 25 BC reported that circumcision of girls was a tradition widely followed amongst Egyptians. They even gave it an identity of its own by calling it the “Egyptian style”. Curiously, today FGM is referred to as “Pharaonic circumcisions” in Sudan and “Sudanese circumcision” in Egypt!

Four Broad Categories of Female Genital Mutilation

With the establishment of its internationally accepted definition came the differentiation. Hence WHO classified female genital mutilation into four broad categories in 1995 and again in 2007.

• First: Partial or total removal of the clitoris.
• Second: Partial or total removal of the clitoris and labia minora, with or without excision of the labia majora.
• Third: Narrowing of the vaginal orifice by cutting and creating a seal, with or without excision of the clitoris.
• Fourth: Every other harmful procedure of the female genitalia for non-medical purposes like pricking, piercing, and scraping.

Today’s Scenario

Even today as we speak of female genital mutilation we try coming in terms with reality and how gruesome the nature of this ancient practice can be that is still being carried out largely. Looking at the brighter side of the story we find many groups and organizations that have come together to work and eradicate this practice. They purposely made it a point to not refer to it as “Female genital cutting” out of respect for women who have undergone the ritual and do not wish to consider themselves mutilated. It is a highly sensitive issue and no woman wants to feel worse about it than it already is.

Female genital cutting is still prevalent in about 28 African countries, and among a few minority groups in Asia, affecting from 1% of women in countries like Uganda and Cameroon to about 98% of women in other countries such as Sudan. These practices might differ from country to country but the sole motive remains the same, some face limited or controlled forms of cutting in countries like Sierra Leone and others face extreme forms of surgery like Somali regions.

Female genital cutting is illegal in at least 26 of the 28 African countries in which it is practiced, and it has also been made illegal in several industrialized countries where immigrants or refugees from Africa may reside. FGM has no positive health values attached to it but its prevalence proves the value of women being closely intertwined with this tradition. A large number of girls drop out of schools after this procedure as education and schooling is not seen as a necessary part of their lives.

Female genital mutilation laws by country map

India’s Dawoodi Bohra Community

Right when we think India is not one of those countries that we look down upon for practicing female genital mutilation we realise it very much is! Such cruel practices happen not only in tribal societies or distant places like Africa but also by the Dawoodi Bohra community right here in our country. Young girls aged six and seven are regularly having to go through the unbearable pain of such surgeries without realising the impact that it leaves on women, both physically as well as mentally. About two million people belong to India’s Bohra community and between 75-80% of Bohra women are subject to female genital mutilation. The colloquial word for female genital mutilation inflicted on girls is ‘khafz’. The practice is kept secret and hidden from the public eye and media to keep it away from debates, disagreements, and criticisms. The mothers and grandmothers are usually at the epicentre of it to ensure that this practice continues decade after decade.

India does not as yet have a specific set of laws that criminalize FGM, mainly because the government still denies the existence of the practice knowing quite well about what goes on behind closed doors. Despite provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences(PoCSO), the tradition has prevailed for decades together.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, myth-busting or a new law would not mean that all girls are safe. Almost all graphs and surveys fail to capture the real number of women who are subject to gruesome experiences as most of them are not allowed to even have an opinion about it and speak openly about it either. Changing a law alone cannot end the deeply entrenched practices, neither can it tackle questions about whether it can really legislate changes or not. It is often warned that any attempt to challenge such social and religious norms could incite a backlash or outlawing the practice would only drive it underground. As societies become more urban and industrialized, changes take place and bring in new pressures, pressures that require individuals and such communities to re-examine age-old beliefs, question traditional roles and reconsider established priorities with the view to make this world a better place.

Reference(s)

Murray, A., 2013. From Outrage To Courage. Monroe, Me.: Common Courage Press.

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The trans community, owing to their difference in nature, have been seen as a threat to the core foundation of gender in society. Members of the trans community are collectively called hijras. Most people do not understand the meaning of the term hijra and use it in a derogatory sense. They do not get significant jobs because of the perception that they are unable to perform any. Being a parent of a transgender child is considered shameful and members of trans community are not allowed to marry and bear children.

Since most people in the Indian society and the global arena fail to understand the heterogeneity of gender, they see such trans persons as a threat to the traditions and culture and try to remove them from the society. Shunned, these people are not provided with any basic human, political, and civil rights and do not have any access to the necessities. They also have no access to education or healthcare.

The main issue with the Indian Education System is that they don’t facilitate skill acquisition. While moving further up, many students drop out, which creates a learning gap. Trans persons fall under this category. Many trans students are subject to a lot of bullying owing to their nature, which leads them to drop out of schools and colleges or committing suicide. In India, schools and colleges are not sensitive to trans people. The University Grants Commission and the Central and State Education Boards have to make more policies inclusive of them and make sure that these policies are implemented and that the bullying of the trans students is stopped immediately to facilitate their education.

Another benefit that is not accessible to trans people is healthcare. Trans people are often refused care from various health services. They also face harassment and physical attacks in the hospitals which in turn makes them skeptical to take the help of hospitals and doctors. Many are admitted to hospitals and left untreated. This kind of behavior has scared them and forces them to stay away from healthcare institutions. Apart from this, since they are also derived from education, they are unaware of a lot of important health care benefits and treatments that should be accessible to people in general and them.

Besides these, they are constantly ridiculed and discriminated against, which results in identity issues. They also go through a lifetime of poverty and are subject to human trafficking. They are subject to unemployment and homelessness.

Through time, the trans community, after being an integral part of the LGBTQ community, has protested against this injustice and discrimination. This had made the government create some policies and laws for the trans community.

• The Supreme Court of India recognized the third gender along with the primary genders of ‘male’ and ‘female’. This decision has successfully shattered the dual-gender structure of “male” and “female” that is usually recognized by society.
• The Supreme Court has given certain directions for the protection of the rights of the trans persons by including them in documents like the election card, passport, driving license and ration card, and for admission in educational institutions, hospitals, amongst others.
• Articles 15, 16, and 21, do not allow the violation of discrimination on the grounds of gender.
• The Court recognized the right of an individual to choose how to behave in private and allowed them the means needed to reach their full potential. The Court noted that a person will not realize his abilities and interests if he is forced to accept a gender assigned to him at birth. He should thereby be given the freedom to choose for himself to reach his full potential.
• The Court also protects an individual’s gender expression invoked by Article 19 (1) (a). It upholds that “no restriction can be placed on one’s appearance or choice of dressing subject to the restrictions contained in article 19(2) of the Constitution”.
• Human rights were awarded to them which includes the right to life, liberty, equality, dignity, and freedom of thought and expression.
• The decriminalization of Section 377 of IPC is also a colossal step for solving transgender issues.

The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019 was passed on November 26, 2019, by the Parliament. It is the revised version of the Bill that was passed in 2016 and 2018. The previous Bills were heavily criticized for various reasons, one being that they were not at par with the Supreme Court judgment in National Legal Services Authority. The 2019 Bill attempted to define someone whose gender does not match the one assigned at birth. This bill included transgender persons in the Constitution, thereby including them in our society and providing them with legal human rights. It also prohibited any kind of discrimination and harassment based on an individual’s gender.

The provisions of this bill are:

• It recognizes the 3rd gender after the Supreme Court ruled in the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) judgment that the third gender should be legally recognized.
• It defines a transgender as someone who is partly female or male or a combination of female and male or neither female nor male. It advocates that the person’s gender must not match the gender assigned at birth. It includes trans-men, trans-women, persons with intersex variations, and gender-queers.
• The government must provide the necessary support, like rehabilitation, self-employment, and healthcare.
• The bill prohibits discrimination and harassment against members of trans community and protects them from any kind of violence.
• A strict penalty has been assigned against discrimination, either in public or in private.
• It holds that the members of the trans community must obtain identity proof which is provided by the district magistrate (DM) on the recommendations of medical experts, government officials, and one other transgender.
• A National Council for transgenders is to be set up to protect their interests.

In time, many states have taken certain measures to make the lives of transgenders easy. Some of them are:

• Odisha categorized transgenders under the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category which now enables the community to avail of socio-economic benefits, which might otherwise be out of their reach.
• Tamil Nadu constituted the Aravanis Welfare Board in 2008 for providing a pension for the community.
• Kerala came out with a Transgender Policy to help transgenders.

This bill too has been criticized by many and has been a topic of debate and discussion.

The reason why the Transgender Protection Bill was due to the efforts of the LGBTQ Community whose aim was to ensure equality in our society. Yes, this monumental change of the Supreme Court acknowledging the transgenders as any other human is celebratory but we cannot forget that in a world of trillions, some people who do not understand or accept anything other than the binary ideals of gender still walk the earth and attempt to make the lives of such people difficult. Even though the Constitution has passed the Protection of Rights Bill, many civil servants refuse to help transgenders and indulge in violent activities because they do not accept the bill or the existence of such persons. Members of the trans community are still subject to the same amount of harassment as before, if not more. 

Members of the transgender community such as Revathi and Lakshmi Narayan Tripathi have openly spoken about their struggles in their autobiographies to show the world the kind of harassment that every transgender person has to face in today’s world. While many succumb to these inhuman challenges, people like Lakshmi and Revathi have not only fought their battles but are now helping millions of other transgender’s fight as well. Many non-profit organizations have also dedicated themselves to help such people. The usage of terms such as “coming out” or using the term as a hijra only for insults, shows the deep-rooted hatred for such people among us and while many transgenders are moving up in society, the social issues that they face since birth are still probable in society. While the mindset of people is slowly changing, whether a complete change will ever be possible is a point of debate among scholars today. As citizens of India, we should all accept this natural entity even if we fail to understand the mechanisms of it.

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According to the World Bank, women make up 49.5 percent of the world’s population, however, there are only 3 countries (Rwanda, Bolivia and Cuba) in the world that have 50 percent or more women in Parliament in single or lower houses. It is important to identify why women don’t get into politics to combat these reasons and lead to the betterment of the whole society. 

Social Barriers

Firstly, the underrepresentation of women is caused by social barriers before their entry into politics. The general populace’s ideas of traditionally feminine characteristics are incompatible with the characteristics that people in positions of powers need to have. This does two things – from their childhood, girls are not encouraged to be leaders as much as boys are. They are instead taught to be docile and homely and puts them at a disadvantage from the very beginning. Parents, even today, bring up their daughters and sons in different ways. Since women are never made to believe that they can suit leadership roles, as well as men, can, they become less likely to enter politics. Moreover, this gender stereotyping leads to another phenomenon – when we eventually do see women in power, it causes people “discomfort” due to the mixture of two supposedly incompatible set of characteristics. This sentiment can be summed up by Alexandra Ocasio Cortez’s quote – “The idea that a woman can be as powerful as a man is something that our society can’t deal with.”

Unequal Starting Points

The traditional differences in the way that men and women are brought up also leads to a difference in their professions. Men are much more likely to have better careers and be in more positions of power. For example, there are less than 5 percent of women who head Fortune 500 companies.  This inequality can be a huge hindrance to entry in politics. Resources and money are important to become potential candidates for parties. There is not just a disparity in material resources, but also immaterial resources, such as time (women have to take on the burden of household responsibilities more), self-confidence (due to the earlier mentioned different upbringing for women which doesn’t help build their image as a leader) and networks. 

Often times political parties recruit their candidates from the corporate world. However, this is a field dominated by men which means that they have the upper hand in forming the right networks. This obviously makes it more likely that more men, rather than women enter politics. Moreover, political gatekeepers tend to be most often men who tend to recruit political candidates via their male-dominated networks.  Therefore, the fact that people who are into politics are mostly men kind of creates a cycle that prohibits women from getting into politics. 

Removal of men from political photographs shows the dire need for more women in politics.

Continuation in the Political Field

The gender stereotyping and the way we differently bring up men and women means that even if, despite these hindrances, a woman does get into politics, continuation is difficult. The discomfort that the voter base has with women in power means that they are held to a different standard to those of men. Female leaders are held more accountable than their male counterparts and the media is much harsher on them.

This uneven punishment is because the media and the people involved subconsciously do not think that women are cut out for politics, which makes them tougher on women in case they fail. The media especially can continue to treat female politicians poorly. The way the media presents female politicians shows us that they are not as worthy to be in power as men are, or that their priorities are supposed to be different – they are asked more questions about their families and personal relationships than male politicians are, and have their personal lives invaded. Their appearances are also given more importance than their substance. Despite all of these, some women still rise to enter politics.

Conclusion

Therefore, it is important for us to promote the representation of women in politics. But simply doing this is not enough – it is also important to promote it in the correct way. When we do commend women in politics, we tend to do it through a narrow scope – we view these achievements as individual efforts of exceptional women, whereas the truth is that there are also numerous parties at play here – women in political party backrooms, riding associations and women’s organizations.  Recognizing the efforts of everyone in promoting women’s participation is the first step to make sure we have more women and a better democracy.

Moreover, the discussion of female representation cannot end here. Caste, economic status, sexual orientation are all factors that affect the experiences of women in politics. Women from lower castes or lower economic strata will have a much harder time becoming politically successful. Similarly, the experience of a trans woman or a non-heterosexual woman is bound to be tougher due to ingrained biases. Representation of women in politics does not only help better women’s issues but leads to a betterment of society as a whole – in areas where Indian panchayats are headed by women, the number of drinking water projects was 62 percent higher than in areas with men-led panchayats. This is why it’s crucial to encourage women in politics and facilitate discourse related to this.

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“Feminism isn’t about making women stronger. Women are already strong; it’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength”

– G.D. Anderson 

Women and Islam

In Islam, men and women are moral equals in God’s sight and are expected to fulfil the same duties of worship, prayer, faith, almsgiving, fasting, and pilgrimage to Mecca. Islam by and large improved the status of ladies contrasted with before Arab societies, restricting female child murder and perceiving ladies’ full personhood. Islamic law stresses the authoritative idea of marriage, necessitating that a dowry is paid to the woman and not her family, and ensuring women’s rights of inheritance and to claim and oversee the property. Women were additionally allowed the option to live in the marital home and get monetary maintenance during marriage and a holding up period following demise and separation. 

Historical records show that Muhammad counselled ladies and gauged their opinions seriously. Umm Waraqah was selected imam over the family unit by Muhammad. Women contributed altogether to the canonization of the Quran. A lady is known to have adjusted the definitive decision of Caliph Umar on the endowment. Women prayed in mosques unsegregated from men, were involved in hadith transmission, gave sanctuary to men, engaged in commercial transactions were encouraged to seek knowledge, and were both instructors and pupils in the early Islamic period. Muhammad’s last wife, Aishah, was a well-known authority in medicine, history, and rhetoric. Caliph Umar named ladies to fill in as authorities in the market of Medina. Life stories of recognized ladies, particularly in Muhammad’s family unit, show that ladies acted moderately independently in early Islam. In Sufi circles, ladies were perceived as educators, followers, “otherworldly moms,” and even inheritors of the profound privileged insights of their fathers. 

No woman held religious titles in Islam, but many women held political power, some jointly with their husbands, others independently. The best-known women rulers in the premodern era include Khayzuran, who governed the Muslim Empire under three Abbasid caliphs in the eighth century; Malika Asma bint Shihab al-Sulayhiyya and Malika Arwa bint Ahmad al-Sulayhiyya, who both held power in Yemen in the eleventh century; Sitt al-Mulk, a Fatimid queen of Egypt in the eleventh century; the Berber queen Zaynab al-Nafzawiyah (r. 1061 – 1107 ); two thirteenth-century Mamluk queens, Shajar al-Durr in Cairo and Radiyyah in Delhi; six Mongol queens, including Kutlugh Khatun (thirteenth century) and her daughter Padishah Khatun of the Kutlugh-Khanid dynasty; the fifteenth-century Andalusian queen Aishah al-Hurra, known by the Spaniards as Sultana Madre de Boabdil; Sayyida al-Hurra, governor of Tetouán in Morocco (r. 1510 – 1542 ); and four seventeenth-century Indonesian queens.

Nevertheless, the status of women in premodern Islam all in all adjusted not to Quranic beliefs however to prevailing patriarchal cultural norms. Thus, improvement of the status of ladies turned into a significant issue in the present day, reformist Islam.

The rights to education and employment plus women’s activism make a big difference in women’s rights.

In “Myths About Women’s Rights: How, Where and Why Rights Advance,” Feryal Cherif, analyses two hypotheses for why cultures advance gender equality. 

The first is the thing that we call “centre rights”: that women’s rights to education and employment are the structure hinders with which to begin political organizing for equality, developing a group sense of fairness (or the lack thereof), and building public support for women’s equal socioeconomic standing. This gives government officials, and other residential elites motivations to help ladies’ privileges. 

The subsequent hypothesis is that ladies’ privileges backing cultivates change as local and worldwide activists advance new standards of uniformity by publicizing countries’ practices — both those that treat ladies similarly and those that slack — and constraining governments to adjust to worldwide norms. Research shows that these hypotheses are steady with the ongoing advances in gender equality in Saudi Arabia and the region at large. Looking at ladies’ property rights in 41 Muslim-larger part nations, I believe that women are probably going to appreciate safer property rights in nations where, first, women have more prominent admittance to education and second, where there are thick systems of women rights activists. Where ladies are more mindful of their privileges, better situated to challenge male family, and have the socioeconomic power to hold politicians accountable, their property rights are stronger. That is valid also for the Saudi Arabian development of women’s rights, including the right to drive. It is presumably not a happenstance that, throughout the long term, the hole between Saudi Arabian boys’ and girls’ education has considerably limited. Furthermore, it’s actually in numerous other Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) nations, where young ladies beat young men in school and enrol in universities at higher rates than boys. Besides, an expanding number of Arab ladies have joined the work power — though not yet at levels as high as worldwide midpoints. Indeed, even in Saudi Arabia, with its extraordinary forms of gender segregation, ladies are working in an ever-increasing number of fields. Also, with the right to drive, more women will be able to seek employment. 

In addition to core rights, women rights activism has additionally considerably expanded in the Middle East and North Africa in the previous decades. During 1980 and 2015, the number of women rights groups operating in the region nearly tripled. Some scholars and reporters have argued that advocacy campaigns and global pressure have helped push MENA nations toward gender equality. 

Indeed, even in conservative states like Saudi Arabia, the government may think that it’s hard to contain women’s expectations once they’ve been educated and entered the work power — even while more traditionalist pieces of their country push back.

Political Participation

Political revolutions and instability in the Middle East have mobilized women in new ways. Despite political turmoil and express dangers to their privileges, numerous ladies are expanding their activism to make their voices heard. Because of this flood of political commitment from ladies, however, fundamentalist and traditionalist pioneers and governments are pushing back, increasing their assaults on women’s human rights with an end goal to keep up their power. 

Even though, when women do win rights, they aren’t able to execute them since they are sabotaged by solid accepted practices and conventions. For instance, although women in Egypt have cast ballot rights, the Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement (which conducts customary political race checking) has discovered that in provincial towns, spouses, fathers, or siblings will advise women how to cast a ballot—or even just take a women’s polling form from her and round it out however they see fit. 

Laws in the area, including both old laws and ongoing ones, confine ladies’ common freedoms and fill in as unequivocal proof that people with significant influence don’t consider women equals. For instance, in 2014 the Iraqi parliament introduced a draft law that endeavoured to make it lawful to wed a young girl as young as nine years of age, granting conjugal assault, and allowing polygamy. A long-standing law in Lebanon doesn’t permit women to pass on their citizenship, implying that if a Lebanese lady weds a non-Lebanese man, her children wouldn’t have Lebanese citizenship. Also, fundamentalist gatherings are a ground-breaking and developing danger, with systems that straightforwardly target women, including the abduction and forced sexual slavery of Yazidi ladies in Iraq by the alleged Islamic State gathering (ISIS). With so many powerful forces opposing women’s human rights in the Middle East, many in the region feel that international support has been far too weak. Leaders of women’s groups across the region stress the need for international support and solidarity. Past budgetary help, women likewise call for worldwide solidarity and expressions of help, referring to the two sorts of help as basic to opposing fundamentalism. Women’s gatherings keep up that while fundamentalist dangers against women’s rights are at the moment most powerful in the Middle East, the issue is, in fact, a global problem. 

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  “I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own”

This is 2020 and a 12-year-old Meera peeps outside her window for hours day after another. She sat through the morning sun and waited for the moon to set in and oh! She sighed as the autumn leaves fell on her window as she flipped through the pages of a book of Bengali poems, yesterday it was ‘Abhilash’ by Rabindranath Tagore and today it was ‘The fruit of the tree of knowledge’ by Kamini Roy. She wrote, “ The Male desire to rule is the primary, if not the only, stumbling block to women’s enlightenment. They are extremely suspicious of women’s emancipation. Why? The same old fear- the lest they become like us”

Meera thought to herself, what is enlightenment?

Women of Yesterday 

Enlightenment in 16^th-century Europe was one of many outcomes of 30 years war from 1618 to 1648, as a result, many authors like Hugo and John Comenius went ahead against tradition to question some of the most rational questions of time. However, there’s not much reference to the role of women in the period of enlightenment. The status of women during the period of enlightenment is highly debated in academia and many of their works remain rather unpublished to date, which makes it difficult to understand 16^th century Europe from the eyes of a woman. Enlightenment brought with itself ideals of tolerance, liberty and progress, but these ideals remained rather secluded to middle and upper-class women who were able to discuss issues like politics, equality and sexuality in salons, coffee houses and debating societies. Among enlightened philosophers was John Locke who believed that the notion of male superiority was created by men and on the contrary Rousseau believed that women were subordinate to men and women must obey men. It is surprising to note such contrasting belief systems, that also highlight the fact that maybe, we’ve come far from where we were centuries ago but often we see more of Rousseau than Locke even in 21^st century. 

Tracing The Legacy Of Women Issues In Mid-19th Century India

Modern Europe saw the rise of some of the most renowned feminists, however, we see flashes of feminism in India primarily beginning from the mid-19^th century, this was the time of reform movement centred around Indian freedom struggle when social reformers like Savitribai Phule, Kamini Roy, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Behramji Malabari among others talked of issues surrounding rights of women and social injustice. There was much hue and cry over the abolition of Sati but reformers like Ram Mohan Roy held their ground and even went ahead and said that “Sati was murder according to every shastra”.Issues like age of consent were debated in middle and upper-middle-class quarters, but such regulations did not reach the masses, it is astonishing to know that the practice of child marriage and crime against minor girls and children are on a rise even after over a hundred years of increasing the age of consent. Where did we go wrong? Before we try and analyse the answer let us look at some revolutionary women who changed the course of history for all women.

Mary Wollstonecraft 

Late 18^th century saw the first feminist philosopher in history, Mary Wollstonecraft, she was among the first women to openly publish under her name, she is widely known for the book, A vindication of the rights of women, it was a philosophical text for the education of women. She famously said “I do not wish women to have power over men; but over themselves” what she meant by this was that seeking the rights for women does not in any regard mean taking away rights of men, the essential purpose of all rights of women is not to control men, rather have the right over herself, her soul, her being, the very right that women over the world are still fighting for. For years altogether she wrote about how systematic patriarchy blinds women in the garb of obedience and how important it is for a woman to be strengthening their minds to become rational human beings. 

Kamini Roy 

Kamini Roy was born at a time when national freedom struggle was gaining ground but there was rather a lack of women participation in public life, born in a small village in present-day Bangladesh, Roy spearheaded the suffragette movement in India, after a long struggle, the Bengal legislative granted limited suffragette to women in 1925, she was among the first girls to attend school in British India. As a young woman she enjoyed writing and poetry, she quotes  “why should a woman be confined to the home and denied her rightful place in society?”  This was a revolutionary message for the time as it portrayed the zeal within young women who actively wished to participate in public life, who wanted nothing less than emancipation. 

20th-Century Position Of Women

20^th century was a period of decolonisation and formation of national boundaries. Ideas of sovereignty, republic, democracy were gaining ground, but rights of women remained at the periphery of nation-building. Hence, it is not surprising to know that most countries over the world, more or less, have ensured political rights but despite that remain the second gender, in the light of growing crimes against women it is natural to remember words said by Dr Ambedkar, he said “ political rights mean nothing in the absence of socio-economic rights” perhaps what he meant this was that political rights will only take an individual so far but real emancipation comes from social and economic rights. The example of this can very well be understood in the context of India. Even after over 70 years of independence women membership in the lower house remains at 12%, whereas Rwanda, a small country in Africa has 62% of women representatives. We will now look at how Rwanda achieved these feet.  

Women of Impact – Rwanda 

It is imperative to ignore how a small country like Rwanda can increase its women participation in a world where three nations; Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, and Vanuatu have no women in their central legislation. A country like the U.S; the world biggest superpower has just 23% representation of women in the lower house. Whereas countries where there have been improvements in numbers of female legislators, they have had a long history of women’s inclusion in public life. One of the reasons for the high number of women legislators is rooted in the re-constitution of the Rwandan constitution post-genocide in 2003. The new constitution allowed leaders to include progressive measures like gender equality, mandating a minimum 30% quota for women in parliament. It is now documented that countries where there is a significant reservation of seats for women in parliament, there has been a jump in numbers, Nepal has 33% quota whereas Djibouti has over 15% women parliamentarians. Another reason for a growing women representation lies in the fact that Rwanda has a proportional electoral system where a percentage of government seats held by a party is roughly equal to the percentage of voters who support the party. Women’s caucus in Rwanda developed a strategy to increase participation of women, they had veteran lawmakers run for open seats whereas reserved seats were ushered by newcomers. The passing of the anti-violence legislation is among one of their biggest achievements. 

Status of Women in the 21^st Century 

Women form almost 50% of the world population, any significant growth cannot be realised without the participation of women as a global citizen but before we focus on that, the world needs to give the status of a human being to a woman. The moment women are considered human beings and not just a commodity, probably half the race will be won. The other has to be won by working on multiple levels, ranging from strong legislation for crimes towards women to gender sensitisation in primary, secondary and high schools. The concept of consent is gaining ground and ever more important, especially in a world where most crimes against women are committed by a known entity. This only strengthens the notion that sensitisation at school might be the first step in the right direction but there has to be ensured gender sensitisation of parents right after the birth of a child. State and non-state actors, media, celebrities across the world and people like us who are part of society must do our bit in ensuring that women are given their due status in society not because they are women but rather because they are human beings. 

What Will The Woman Of Tomorrow Want?

For every 1000 baby boys, we have 940 girls. For starters, women of tomorrow must want to bridge this ratio. Women of tomorrow will want to not only be born and be granted the rights that already exist for them but also occupy more and more public spaces, women of tomorrow will want to be writers, a politician, scientist, musician, painter, journalist, a homemaker, teacher, work in an MNC but all by her choice, and not by compulsion. She will want to occupy not just public space but also live a life without the fear of harassment, she will want to take a sanitary napkin to the washroom without the fear of a male guardian knowing that she is on her period. Women of tomorrow will always be like the woman of today and yesterday, their demands might change over time but at the heart of it, she just wants to live a life of dignity, she only wishes to a life she chose for herself. 

As for Meera, let’s just hope she gains the true meaning of enlightenment in a few years, and let us make sure it remains only a few. 

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