Underlying causes of atrocities against women in India

Biplab Kumar Sharma

(Former Judge, Gauhati High Court)

“If you are the greatest sinner, you will be free from all evil effects of sin and crime provided you behave in an enlightened manner and with a moral insight.” – Geeta

The historical background of Indian society reveals that in Vedic times a woman was given a high status. It is an old saying, “Where women are honoured, gods reside there.” She was known as Ardhangini – one half of her husband’s body. At the time of marriage, she as a bride was entitled to procure certain solemn vows from the bridegroom before the ritual fire. No religious ceremony by the husband could bear fruit without her participation. As a mother, wife and sister, she occupied an honoured place. She is the epitome of courage and boldness, love and affection, sacrifice and suffering. The wife is also regarded as Ardhangini (half of man). In Hindu Dharmashastras, husband and wife are referred to by several names. A husband is known as Bhartri, because he is to support his wife. He is also known as Pati because he is to protect her. On the other hand, the wife is known as Jaya, because one’s own self is begotten on her.

Side by side with the above great ideas about wives, there are some other texts eulogising the supremacy of the husband, holding that the husband is the lord and master of his wife and that she must be adorned and obey, remaining faithful to him even after his death. Narada for the first time recognised second marriage for women on the grounds of (i) the husband being missing; (ii) him being dead; (iii) him having become ascetic; (iv) When he is impotent; and (v) When he is an outcaste.

However, during the course of history women lost their honoured place due to social, economic and political factors. Evil customs like sati, purdah, child marriage, the enforced widowhood and the dowry system crept into the society, and this led to a decline in women’s status inside and outside the home. During the last few years, sexual harassment at the workplace, eve teasing, abduction and female foeticide have given an inclination of the horrible behaviour patterns prevailing in the society. The majority of women live a life of dependency that does not possess any self-identity. The struggle for equality, justice, and parity between women and men continues, with more and more literature appearing on the subject of women’s empowerment.

Women form about half of the population of the country, but their situation has been grim. For centuries, they have been deliberately denied opportunities of growth in the name of religion and socio-cultural practices. Before independence, women were prey to many abhorrent customs, traditional rigidities and vices, due to which their status in the society touched its nadir and their situation was all round bleak. They were victims of widespread illiteracy, segregation in the dark and dingy rooms in the name of purdah, forced child marriage of widows turning many of them into prostitutes, polygamy, female infanticide, violence and force to follow sati, and the complete denial of individuality. Besides, the economic dependence, early tutelage of husbands and in-laws, heavy domestic workload which remained unpaid and unrecognised, absence of career and mobility, non-recognition of their economic contribution, poor work conditions and wages, and monotonous jobs which men generally refused to do were also responsible for their pitiable conditions. At the socio-political level, women suffered from the denial of freedom even in their homes, repression and unnatural indoctrination, unequal and inferior status, rigid caste hierarchy and untouchability. Consequently, most women were reduced to dumb cattle and led an inhuman, beastly life.

On the world level, women and girls together carry two-thirds of the burden of the world’s work but receive only a tenth of the world’s income. They form 40 per cent of the paid labour force. Though women constitute half of the world’s population, they own less than one per cent of the world’s property. According to a UN report (2005), “Women perform nearly two-thirds of their work hours, receive one-tenth of the world’s income, and own less than one-hundredth of the world’s property.”

The condition of women in India is more miserable in every field of social life. According to a recent study, India has the world’s second largest workforce, at 478 million people. And yet the proportion of women in the workforce is only 24 per cent. The number of senior-level female employees sits at 5 per percent, compared with a global average of about 20 per cent. The 2011 United Nations Gender Inequality Index ranked India a depressing 134th of 187 countries in consideration of factors like labour force participation, reproductive health and education, etc.

Women are also at a disadvantage when it comes to inheriting property. Although the Hindu Succession Act of 1956 gave women the right to own property, it wasn’t until 2005 that the law was amended to give daughters the same inheritance rights as sons. But the Act does not apply to the women of other communities like Muslims, Christians or Parsis.

In India, a battle is going on between two cultures: traditional Indian culture, which suppresses the women, and Western culture, which gives freedom to women. The battle against male domination in India is also a battle against caste domination. This battle is not for power, wealth or name and fame but to bring humanity to the world. Ambedkar called for a battle for humanity. This battle is not with weapons to harm the opponent but to demand humanity. Ambedkar says, “Ours is the battle not for wealth or for power. It is a battle for freedom. It is a battle for the reclamation of human personality.”

Over the years, laws have been framed to curb the menace of atrocities against women. However, there is a growing feeling among the people that the present systems are ineffective in dealing with the same, and they hope that the legislature and judiciary will make a difference. Also here lies the importance of ethical and legal principles woven into their fabric. During the days of Smritis, no distinction existed between the efficacy of various duties. The rules of law and rules of religion and morality were dealt with at one and the same place. Emphasis on the ethical and moral values well known to Hindu jurisprudence highlights that law, preventive measures, and vigilance are insufficient to eliminate atrocities against women unless the moral and ethical values preached by our ancestors are perceived and practised. Perhaps, it would not be out of place to quote Geeta (Chapter 4, Sloka 26) – “If you are the greatest sinner, you will be free from all evil effects of sin and crime provided you behave in an enlightened manner and with a moral insight.”

Needless to say, the laws are framed for the protection of society. Such laws must protect the institutions and the community of ideas, political and moral, without which people cannot live together. Our religious scriptures lay stress on the universal dictum: “Truth, not falsehood, always triumphs.” Truthfulness is the soul of morality. Dharma means essentially the fulfilment of the true nature of a thing. Thus, the Dharma of a man is to be human, to be true to the dignity and worth of the human person, and to shower reverence for life, love, compassion and equal regard for fellow beings.