Gender: About women safety, we are behaving like ostriches, says Vrinda Grover

Thomson Reuters report is a perception report—it is only saying what people feel; it is not based on data. But then perceptions are formed on the basis of real, not imaginary factors. I don’t agree with the proposition that India is the most dangerous place for women; but let us face it, it is being perceived as most dangerous.

The report is giving us a signal. As an Indian citizen and a woman, what I see is that the report is signalling to us that India is widely perceived to be the most dangerous place for women. This is possibly because of the indiscriminate and rampant nature of sexual violence. Reports appear daily about little girls getting raped, older women getting raped, Dalit women getting raped, foreign tourists getting raped…and we have not even started talking about rape within the family, by relatives and within marriages. Our approach should be that yes, we are aware that there is a perception about India and as they say, there cannot be smoke without fire. If this is the perception then something must be wrong, which needs to be addressed.

The political class as a whole is not taking this issue seriously. We are in the middle of a national emergency—so far as violence against women is concerned. We need to acknowledge that half the population of this country is at the risk of violence. If you have crisis of this nature, can you just say that I don’t like this report and dismiss it? The messaging has to come from the political class at the top.

All political parties must have zero tolerance for violence against women. But people accused of violence against women, even sexual violence and rape, seem to enjoy enjoy impunity. BJP MLA from Unnao Kuldeep Singh Sengar continues to enjoy his place in his party and in the Assembly and the party does not take action against him even after he is arrested on a rape charge. What is the message that goes out—that it doesn’t matter if you commit rapes, it doesn’t matter if you have allegations of rape against you. Messaging from the political and social leadership is crucial because it is not just about the law, but it is about changing the culture of our society. And we have to accept that culture of our society and our systems are based on perpetrating violence against women. So, it doesn’t help to claim that we had a great civilisation and we worship women.

Gurus and Godmen have been caught running dens of vice and of committing crime against women. They need to be exposed and also those political leaders who prostate before them, take their blessings. These leaders give these Godmen legitimacy—this nexus needs to be exposed.

I will start with education. No one is addressing this issue in schools. There is so much unnecessary clamour about nationalism. Sex education and gender equality education should be mandatory. This is important because culturally our homes don’t teach us gender equality. Our homes teach us patriarchal values, our homes teach us that is okay to inflict violence on women and our homes teach us that women have a lower rank than men. This is what is being taught to us in all our homes, be it rural, urban, anywhere. Patriarchal mindset is all over.

Though more can be done in terms of the laws, the enforcement of the law is in absolute shambles. Even today, an FIR is not registered. The bias in the police, the very very corrupt and shoddy investigation, the prosecution being indifferent, bias against women in the entire legal system - all these will take time to change. But the point is that when we get to know that police officer or police station refused to register an FIR in sexual crime against women, the law states that the police officer should face a criminal case. There is a provision in law. But so far it has not happened. We don’t find this provision being implemented.

Because of the culture of impunity and the institutional bias is so deep rooted that it will not disappear on their own. Everyone is fine with the culture. If a policeman has not registered a case of rape on Adivasi, Dalit or Muslim women, it is never a big issue. Now there is political patronage added to it. We have to create accountability in the system but the Government is indifferent because votes are not dependent on it.

Yes, it’s true women are voting in large numbers. But they have to be seen as a political constituency. Today women cannot exercise equal citizenship and the government alone is responsible for it. And I want to make it very clear that governments don’t have the right to exist if half of the population cannot walk on the road at any time of the day or night.

There is complete breakdown in society. Our society is facing a high level of rural distress, high level of migration, urbanisation is taking place at a fast pace but without any kind of social-economic security net. We are also in a different era in terms of technology, your exposure to internet is on a different scale…all kinds of pornographic material are easily accessible. It is a global phenomenon, children are becoming sexually active at a younger age, but for us it is taboo. It is just not talked about. We don’t discuss sexuality. You have a sexually segregated society in which there is no opportunity to interact with persons of the other sex, there is no space for normal relationsips or friendship. This needs to be developed. But instead we have politically motivated anti-Romeo squads — which make out love to be a crime.