CHENNAI: Every day, about 200 girls/women in the country enter prostitution and 80 per cent of them are forced against their will, according to a statstics in “Gender Violence in India: A Prajnya Report” released here on Monday.
According to the report, rape is the fastest growing crime in India with 678 per cent increase in reported cases since 1971.
It had some shocking statistics to share: At least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex or abused in their lifetime. Eighty-five per cent of the women have experienced sexual violence, but have never told anyone about it.
The report highlighted how different kinds of violence persist, despite the cosmetic changes outside. It goes on to point out 16 forms of gender-based violence, and gives an inclusive definition of gender-based violence.
The report was released by Prajnya, a non-profit think-tank based in Chennai, which is getting ready to kick start the 16-day campaign against gender violence from November 25 to December 10. Sixteen different programmes will be held at different locations across the city to create awareness and engage a diverse audience in a dialogue.
Each programme will address a different audience, all under the common platform of creating awareness on different aspects of gender violence.
This campaign is the second one in a row, and this year they emphasise the ‘process’ over ‘outcome’ by facilitating interactions between professionals with a focus to open up space for a debate in gender violence. Swarna Rajagopalan, Managing Trustee of Prajnya said, “When we told people we are doing a campaign against gender violence, the shocking response we heard from the people is that do these crimes really happen. We want the public to participate and break the culture of silence.”
Anupama Srinivasan, Campaign Coordinator of Prajnya said, “The campaign focuses on violence that is directed at an individual based on her or his specific gender role in a society. It is inclusive of men, woman and also transgenders.”
As a part of their campaign,Prajnya had come up with this concept of tying a white ribbon on plants as a token empathy for the victim of gender violence. People can participate in the ‘ribbon plants’ at the Amethyst, the Eco Café at Chamiers, Kipling Café and Ode Gallery Café. For more details log on to http://prajnya16days.blogspot.com