“When being raped, she shouldn't fight back, she should just be silent and allow the rape, then they’d have dropped her off after doing her......”
“A decent girl won’t roam around 9o’clock at night”
“A girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy. Boy and girl are not equal. Housework and housekeeping is for girls, not roaming in discos and bars at night doing wrong, wearing wrong clothes.”
Yes, It has come to this!
Though these statements came from a rapist, they are from the same society which we live in.
As the world observes Women’s Day on 8 March, there is a lot that is being written and talked about the significance of this day. But what one really needs to think as an Indian citizen is what is the stature of women in India?
Since the ancient times, women has been treated as inferior to men and nothing has really changed in the modern times as well. In India,Women have always been fighting for liberty and equality and the situation even worsens when they give birth to girls. They also had to sacrifice their education.
Though, women in India have freedom of expression and equality, the right to be educated in modern times, the sacrifices seem to be too far to be ended.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadela once said, “ Women should not ask for raises.”
Women have certainly achieved the social status today by participating in the areas like education, politics, Science, technology and many more.
But the participation of women in society seems to be having a direct relationship with the crimes against women. Crimes against women have increased drastically in last few years. Women have been harassed, stalked, raped and trafficked for lustfulness.
According to figures released by the National Crime Records Bureau ( NCRB) in September 2014, 92 women were raped on an average every day in India and the national capital recorded 1,636 rape cases which is the highest number of such crimes among all the cities. The total number of rape cases in the country went up to 33, 707 in 2013 from 24, 923 in 2012.
To add, the national representatives of the country have even made statements, showing what mindset they have towards the women.
While talking about rapes, Samajwadi party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav once made a statement saying boys make mistakes and that does not mean you hang them.”
The Maharashtra chief of Samajwadi party said that wearing short clothes around boys who are not girl’s relatives should be banned. Not only this, but he made another statement saying that unmarried women should not be allowed to have sex, consensual or otherwise.
BJP MLA from Alwar, Banwari lal Singh said that sexual harassment arises because of girls wearing short skirts.
Puducherry Education Minister once suggested that school girls should be asked to wear overcoats to prevent men from lusting after them.
While Asaram Bapu once said Instead of resisting rape, the girl should simply invoke God and religion and refer to the molester as her brother.
Even women of the country have made controversial statements.
TMC leader Mamta Banerjee called the rapists as “naughty boys”.
“Rape cases are on a rise in the country, as men and women interact more freely now. Earlier if parents caught men and women holding hands together, they were reprimanded by them. But now, things have opened up. It’s like an open market with open options.” she said.
Though, women safety was one of the key agendas mentioned in the manifesto of the current NDA government, few such comments were made recently.
Though the subject was religion, recently BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj made a statement saying “ Every woman should have at least four children”. For few of them, women is merely a machine to produce children.
According to some, if a woman is a housewife, she is not working. “She does not work, she is a housewife”, these statements are often used by people when they address a woman.
What needs to be understood is that they are considered to be the perfect home makers in the world.
Media is no lesser as one of the leading news paper of the nation recently created controversy by posting cleavage video of a well known Bollywood actress on their web portal.
Today, we talk about empowerment of women, and the growth of their social position in the society but the question arises as to where that growth is? The fundamental right of women, being safe is still not fulfilled. Is safety not included in the factors that affect the growth of their social position? Is Women’s Day really worth celebrating in India......?