Gendercide

An Islamic high court in northern Nigeria rejected an appeal yesterday by a single mother sentenced to be stoned to death for having sex out of wedlock.

Clutching her baby daughter, Amina Lawal burst into tears as the judge delivered the ruling.

– The Independent, 20 August 2002

In the 19th century, the paramount moral challenge was slavery. In the 20th century, it was totalitarianism. In this century, it is the brutality inflicted on so many women and girls around the globe: sex trafficking, acid attacks, bride burnings and mass rape.

70 percent of the world’s poor are women. In a large slice of the world, girls are uneducated and women marginalized, and it’s not an accident that those same countries are disproportionately mired in poverty and driven by fundamentalism and chaos. Many of them can neither read nor write. Deeply-rooted cultural and social traditions are largely to blame for the grim condition of women across the world. Education, income generation and healthcare for women are some of the central concerns of the United Nations Millennium Goals. There’s a growing recognition among everyone from the World Bank to aid organizations like CARE that focusing on women and girls is the most effective way to fight global poverty and extremism. But many complain these issues have not been sufficiently addressed.

Traditionally, the status of women was seen as a “soft” issue — worthy but marginal. The international press roared when the students were murdered at Tiananmen Square, however, no mention was found of the report published the next year stating that 39000 Chinese baby girls died annually as parents did not give them proper medical care and attention as boys received. Those Chinese girls never received any mention in the press, which makes us wonder if the journalistic endeavor of the media is skewed towards patriarchy?

In India, a bride is burnt every two hours to punish her due to inadequate dowry or to eliminate her so that her husband can remarry. When a terrorist is captured, media finds “Breaking News”, but when 100, 000 girls are deported to a brothel, it is not considered as news. 

Noble laureate Amartya Sen has calculated that 100 million women are missing from world today.  He argues that overall there are more women than men as women live longer than men. But in areas where there exist deep rooted gender inequality, the sex ratio is absolutely skewed.

More women are missing from world today. The reason is because they are women. one reason for this is that girls do not get adequate healthcare and food as boys. In India, girls within the age group of 1 to 5 years are 50% more likely to die than boys, and the reason is that girls are only taken for medical care when the illness is “serious”.

Statistics shows that in 20th century more girls and women have gone missing than men who died in all the battles of the century. Interestingly, the routine gendercide has killed more women than the number of people killed in the genocide of 20th century.

Gender  discrimination is one of the least important problem that women face today. Women are the modern slaves who are caught in brothels, and regularly beaten and sedated and fed just enough to live. ILO figures show, 12.3 million women are engaged in forced labor and usually in sexual servitude. India is one such country which has more modern slaves than any other country.

The question is what is more important – free trade, global warming, or the safety of women? What can be done to make the girls and women in our society safe? Discrimination, equality, wage differential etc. are utopian words for women who struggle for their basic physiological and safety needs. Its time that hollow words should be replaced by concrete action.

Discourse of Sexual Harassment

Recent events entailing the Ruchika and Bajaj-Gill case has become an eye opener for the popular discourse sexual harassment in India. The discourse is not only related to the feminist ideology and upholding honor of women, but also to the responsibilities that come with position of power. Both the cases – Ruchika as well as KPS Gill – were related to women being harassed sexually by men with power. Though no two sexual harassment cases can differ in degree of severity but the former required more support due because the age of the victim. Rupan Bajaj was a senior IAS officer and more capable of defending herself than a 13 year old minor. This is so because the former case power as a resource is unequally distributed between men and women (in this case between Ruchika and Rathore, but not so much in case of Rupan Bajaj and KPS Gill).

Sexuality has been continuously hushed up through the ages irrespective of geographic boundary. What is the root cause of harassment as observed in both the cases? Surely power is used as a tool for domination. But is it always true? Not entirely. As pointed out by Foucault, modern power subjects individuals, in both senses of the term; it simultaneously creates them as subjects by subjecting them to power. Though Foucault denies that power is essentially negative, in these cases power has been used as a negative force. It is the case when power is used to delineate the sexual desires of the patriarch on women and then suffocating them through the system and institution, and eventually killing her.

The recent events related to Ruchika is no surprise to me for the very reason of deprivation of women in the society. Power and position corrupts people and the more you have it, more shamelessly you flout the rules of society and the society lamely turns a blind eye and a deaf ear to it. The case of Ruchika is not a case related to female right, but to justice in society. It is not only the girl who has become the victim, it is her whole family and people who were close to her. It is not a female issue, it is an issue of human rights and child abuse for the girl was a minor when she was sexually abused. Voice must rise for hundreds of Ruchikas who are strangled by the wheel of (in)justice and thousands of Rathores must be punished for the hideous (mis)use of power.

Purdah Among Hindu Women

Married in a conservative family, I have always wondered at the numerous rules that a woman has to follow in my husband’s family. Here I must confess, though to my taste, his family is more conservative than the society that I come from, but they are one of the most radical families in their society. Please do not misunderstand me, I am not criticizing anyone. You see, first time I saw my mother-in-law, otherwise an independent woman who brought up three children singlehandedly, to do purdah in from of someone, I felt aghast. My head spun and said, "This is twenty-first century man!” Well I had no right to react that way, even if it was confined in my head. I must have realized that my mother-in-law was bound by custom she was brought up with, something she has been discoursed to do.

Yes, purdah is still followed in Hindu families in northern parts of India. Though it was not originally a Hindu rule, but was adopted by the Hindu middle and upper class during the Mughal and British rule, in order to upgrade their position in the social hierarchy. The purdah (veil) system amongst Hindu women in some parts of Northern India originated during Mughal rule, to protect local women from Mughal invaders and now that India is a free country women should abandon the veil and get educated. So many classes amongst the Hindus adopted an Islamic tradition of purdah and Victorian tradition of chastity of women, to elevate their social position.

The origin of the purdah is not actually relevant. The point is that the purdah system exists only in parts of north India today, not in the west, south or the east. Even if some ‘medieval’ practices such as these did exist in these parts, it is clear that time diluted them … except in north India. Why? Obviously it is north India which bore the brunt of the attacks of various invaders throughout history and it is an indisputable fact that during war and foreign rule, women are often raped and kidnapped. That is why the system did not vanish in parts of north India, in fact it has become ingrained in some communities. Women are kept cloistered and denied an education.

Certainly, in the north-eastern parts of India and say Kerala, which were areas far far away from the invading armies, the status of women continued to improve. So really, it is a historical fact that the invading armies of the Turks, Arabs, the Mughals and the Victorian values the British brought in had something to do with the purdah system in north India.

But the question that is relevant today is why do women today still follow such custom? Evidently this is a very demeaning custom for women where their movement and expression are restricted due to the very use of a veil. From what I saw in my husband’s village and society, it is more of a custom that women want other women to follow. You see I was actually asked to do purdah in front of older men of the household as a sign of respect, whereas I do not have to follow the custom while I’m in front of my father-in-law. My sister-in-law must have a scarf or dupatta over her head when in front of her in-laws. My mother-in-law does purdah from elders from her village. this is so because they have been brought up to do it and have been constructed to do it. I, on the other hand, though not constructed to do it, was asked to do it, and did it out of respect for my mother-in-law. This is a custom perpetrated on women by other women and the cycle continues.

Though the severity of the tradition has reduced greatly, still there are instances where incidents like honor killing, female infanticide,  and sati still catch media attention. Women are subjugated and still they want to climb up. But social change works at a snail’s pace, and therefore, the observers must be patient.

All things said and done, one must not forget that this custom is a foreign custom that had crept into the Indian or rather Hindu society and the concept of Victorian chastity has been imbibed from the British themselves. Though we gained independence six decades ago, we are still chained to the ideologies the firangis brought to the country.

Rape Legalized

In the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, I found 17-year-old Saida who was on the run from her husband. Her father had died when she was little and her brothers had claimed her as their property. They sold her off, at the age of 9, to a 60-year-old man. "If he saw a shoe or a stick, anything – he would beat me with it," Saida said, "I had four miscarriages because of the beating and the stress". Then her husband took his child bride on the road to places where they were not known and sold her to other men, forcing her to have sex with them. Finally, Saida confided in a woman at a shrine in Mazar-i-Sharif, the police were alerted and Saida was taken to a women’s shelter.                                               

BBC News, 16 August 2009

Many young women have taken to streets of Afghanistan to protest against the new law passed by the Krzai government which restricts a woman’s right to leave her home and demands she submit to her husband’s sexual desires. Afghanistan is a lawless place – the government is not able to implement its own laws to keep women safe or to protect them from a resurgent Taliban.  However, some women are standing up to the extremists. but they are labeled as infidels or un-Islamic as they go against Islam, their nation, and their honor. the continuous effort of these men are to control the minds and thoughts of women and to subjugate them.

The politicisation of women’s rights is not unique to Afghanistan. However, it is especially acute, with women’s rights and women’s virtue forming the tipping point for escalated violent conflict – within personal relationships and across international borders – for decades. Ismail Khan led the first violent uprising against the Soviet Union in March 1979 in response to a Soviet-led decree granting all girls universal and free education. The 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan has been internationally justified under the rhetoric of freeing Afghan women from Taliban rule.

In this highly charged environment, women calling for change and equality – calling for their enshrined human rights – are increasingly targets of violence and intimidation. Death of the nation’s most prominent women’s activist Before Mrs. Achakzai and the assassination of the country’s most senior female police officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Malalai Kakar, and Safia Amajan, the head of Kandahar’s women’s affairs department shows the degree of lawlessness in the country. These deaths bear witness to a growing public acceptance of violence against women and do not bode well as an indicator of the status of women’s human rights in Afghanistan.

Violence replaces debate and dialogue, and silences a powerful majority of the country through fear. People who believe that human rights are not a Western imposition, but central to their understanding of Islam, and to their beliefs and cultures are suffocated to death.

The remaining few people who continue to bravely speak out in defense of human rights are crucial to the future of Afghanistan. Brave women and men willing to stand up must be supported and protected. Violence with impunity must not be allowed to continue, and the Afghan government and the international community must join in holding the nation accountable to this standard.

To Veil or Not to Veil

Egypt’s most famous university, Al-Azhar University, has banned female students from veiling their faces on its premises and affiliated educational establishments. However there has been demonstrations by women students in Cairo after a leading cleric backed moves to ban the niqab, a full women’s veils, in classrooms or dormitories. Surprised? So was I. Why are Muslim women opposed to de-veiling their existence? 

I always thought that Muslim women are coerced by their parents and society to remain in veil. Alas! I fail to realize that my beliefs are constructions of popular books like Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia (Jane Sasson). Personally, I’ve seen my classmates wearing a niqab, but they used to take it off in classrooms. But I never asked if they wore it out of compulsion for I presumed that they are.

This particular event is an eye opener. Women themselves want to wear the niqab, as they feel safe from prying eyes. It reminds me of the news an incident I read about in newspaper a year ago. A pro-niqab spam campaign that circulated by email last year:

A veil to protect or eyes will molest!

A translation from the Quran regarding the issue runs like this:

O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks all over their bodies.

Does this provide a clear explanation, or is it open to interpretation? I feel the latter applies.

According to the libertines of Egypt,  that niqab is not an Islamic religious requirement. It is a phenomenon that has started to spread from the Middle East and Taliban rule and has caught women’s fancy.

The explanation appears absolutely inadequate and simplistic. Are these libertines freeing women or do they feel women are ignorant nincompoops? The reason must be deeper ingrained in the belief structure of these women.

Feminist arguments against the veil is manifold. One, and the most well known, is the pop cultural feminist ideology which views veil as the sign of oppression of women by Islamic fundamentalists. A second group who are willing to hear to the reasons put forward by the women behind veils, however, are not willing to sanction it. They consider the veil to be a de-liberating factor of women in the patriarchal religion. However, many women consider it to be a liberating factor. According to these women a niqab is to:

give back women ultimate control of their own body. (Katherine Bullock, 180)

According to the belief of these women they are happy to be covered. To quote Naheed Mustafa, a 17 year old Canadian born Muslim  (who wrote an article My Body is My Own):

Women are not going to achieve equality with the right to bear their breasts in public, as some people would like to have you believe. That would only make us party to our own objectification. True equality will be had only when women don’t need to display themselves to get attention and won’t need to defend their decision to keep their bodies to themselves. 

So the question is to veil or not to veil? Who is correct and who is wrong? Frankly, isn’t it a matter of personal choice?

Death of Pregnant Women

70,000 women die in India due to unsafe abortions in India according to a report by Guttmacher Institute, Reuters. Human Rights Watch report shows that despite government aided maternal health programs, pregnant women are dying and most of them are in the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) where 2300 women die during childbirth everyday. Here most women die of preventable causes. The state is among the most backward in India with abysmal health care systems.

In 2005, the last year for which international data is available, India’s maternal mortality ratio was 16 times that of Russia, 10 times that of China, and 4 times higher than in Brazil. Of every 70 Indian girls who reach reproductive age, one will eventually die because of pregnancy, childbirth, or unsafe abortion, compared to one in 7,300 in the developed world. More will suffer preventable injuries, infections, and disabilities, often serious and lasting a lifetime, due to failures in maternal care.

Report by Human Rights Watch identified four important reasons for the continuing high maternal mortality rate in Uttar Pradesh:

• barriers to emergency care,
• poor referral practices,
• gaps in continuity of care, and
• improper demands for payment as a condition for delivery of healthcare services.

They also found serious shortcomings in the tools used by authorities to monitor healthcare system performance, identify flaws, and intervene in time to make a difference. While accountability measures may seem dry or abstract, they literally can be a matter of life and death.

As detailed below, they believe that failures in two key areas of accountability are an important reason that many women and girls in states like Uttar Pradesh are needlessly dying or suffering serious harm during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postnatal period:

• Failures to gather the necessary information at the district level on where, when, and why deaths and injuries are occurring so that appropriate remedies can be devised; and
• Failures of grievance and redress mechanisms, including emergency response systems.

UP is not the only state. Other states where death of pregnant women has been high which are Punjab and Haryana. The report provided the study findings from the public health point of view, however the social point of view has not been dealt with. the real reason I feel is sex selective abortion in India.

Female infanticide is common in India. India is also the heartland of sex-selective abortion. Amniocentesis was introduced in 1974 to ascertain birth defects in a sample population, but was quickly appropriated by medical entrepreneurs. A spate of sex-selective abortions followed. Those women who undergo sex determination tests and abort on knowing that the foetus is female are actively taking a decision against equality and the right to life for girls. In many cases, of course, the women are not independent agents but merely victims of a dominant family ideology based on preference for male children.

However this anti-female bias is by no means limited to poor families. Much of the discrimination is to do with cultural beliefs and social norms. These norms themselves must be challenged if this practice is to stop.

Diagnostic teams with ultrasound scanners which detect the sex of a child advertise with catch lines such as spend 600 rupees now and save 50,000 rupees later.

The implication is that by avoiding a girl, a family will avoid paying a large dowry on the marriage of her daughter. According to UNICEF, the problem is getting worse as scientific methods of detecting the sex of a baby and of performing abortions are improving.

These methods are becoming increasing available in rural areas of India, fuelling fears that the trend towards the abortion of female foetuses is on the increase.