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Making roads safer
Girls outshine boys |
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Convergence of regional leaders
Quirky shades of grey
Of growing self-assertion and defiance
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Girls outshine boys Girls
outdoing boys in high school and senior secondary examinations has become a norm. Their better academic record is reflected in the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education. Girls constitute 44.4 per cent of the total enrolment in higher education, which is encouraging for women in a developing country. Not only this, Indian women are found to be twice as ambitious as their American counterparts. But they fail to sustain their ambition due to many hurdles in this otherwise rosy picture of success. Beyond education, what happens to their career graph is an altogether different story. A study conducted by the Center for Talent Innovation (CTI), a non-profit think tank based in New York, has found India's working women to be on a par with those in many developed countries except that their rise in the career ladder is stalled by a cultural burden. The study reveals a uniquely Indian phenomenon that is absent in many other countries — the daughter/daughter-in-law guilt. About 80 per cent women who quit jobs do so to look after their parents or parents-in-law, which is 5 per cent higher than quitting the job for raising children. Two major reasons work to stall their career mid-way. One, the perception that stay-at-home mothers are better, and two, about 63 per cent of the women surveyed had a difficulty in finding a reliable domestic help. The absence of quality institutions for old age care and child care has adversely affected women's career growth. At a time when their male counterparts climb the ladder of success, they take a break to raise a family. Even though about 90 per cent women want to get back to work, only 58 per cent manage to get a full-time job, that too at much lower levels than their male counterparts. This affects their motivation level. Though the private sector prefers hiring female personnel, women CEOs account for only 11 per cent in Indian companies. The glass ceiling persists.
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It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well. — Rene Descartes
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The Englishman on the India Council Bill IN theory India is ruled in the interest of Indians. But the smallest concession to Indian sentiment is resented by the organs of Indian bureaucracy. For a typical Anglo-Indian protest against Lord Crewe's shadowy concession to popular requests we must turn to the Calcutta Englishman. That paper says: "Within these apparently temperate and harmless lines of the Congress view there is hidden a dangerous and pernicious proposal….The Secretary of State proposes to divest himself of the power to nominate his own Indian councillors, except from a limited list which will be drawn up not from the Government of India but by the non-official members of the Imperial Council." For unreasoning obstinacy and perversity it would be impossible to beat the Englishman. On its own admission the Congress view is both "temperate" and "harmless". Still it says there is "hidden" in it a "dangerous and pernicious proposal". The Queen and the women's movement QUEEN Mary lately consented to become a patron of the English Council of the International Women's Congress. In announcing this fact at the last meeting of the Congress at Rome in mail week, Mrs. Creighton added that the union stood for suffrage but that the militants stood in an insignificant minority. This was too much for the Times and it explained that it was in the period of neutrality that Her Majesty granted her patronage. The period of neutrality was in 1910. But in 1912 the advocates of the suffrage "profoundly altered" even as the Times admits the character of the union urging members of Parliament to vote so as to ensure the passage of no Franchise Bill which did not secure some measure of Parliamentary suffrage for women.
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Convergence of regional leaders
The
presence of the leaders of India's South Asian neighbours and Mauritius at the swearing-in of Mr. Narendra Modi as India’s Prime Minister was a landmark event in South Asia’s quest for regional amity and cooperation. It provided an opportunity for India to reassert its primacy in the region, despite its economic downturn and eroding influence in the face of significant Chinese inroads. In the absence of Sheikh Hasina, the stage was dominated by Mr. Modi's meetings with Presidents Hamid Karzai and Rajapakse and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Nepal would do so much better in Indian perceptions if it set its domestic politics in order and adopted, like Bhutan, an enlightened approach to mutually beneficial energy cooperation. The meetings of the new Prime Minister were set rolling with his interaction with the charismatic and outgoing Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The two leaders had spoken earlier, when Lashkar e Taiba terrorists laid siege to our consulate in Herat. This was the eighth attack on Indian missions and mission personnel in Afghanistan, which have included three attacks each in Kabul and Jalalabad and one each in Kandahar and Herat. All these attacks have been executed by terrorists from the Taliban, Haqqani Network or Lashkar e Taiba with clear evidence in at least three cases of ISI involvement. With President Obama having set a firm schedule for a total withdrawal of the American combat forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2016, the stage is now set for new dynamics to developments in Afghanistan. The Pakistan military establishment will now put strategies in place for progressive takeover of the Afghanistan by its Taliban and Haqqani proxies. India's predominantly economic role in Afghanistan will accordingly have to be augmented by imaginative regional diplomacy involving Iran, Afghanistan's Central Asian neighbours, China and Russia. At the same time, the US, its NATO allies and Japan have to be approached to keep funds flowing for Afghanistan’s national security and economic development. While in Delhi, President Karzai again alluded to his disappointment at India's response to his requests for military assistance. This can be remedied, in consultation with Russia, given the huge surpluses we have in Soviet-era equipment ranging from tanks to fighter aircraft. Given Pakistan's stated concerns about the Indian involvement in Afghanistan, New Delhi should propose a regular trilateral India-Pakistan-Afghanistan dialogue. A mere India-Pakistan dialogue on this issue would be like staging Hamlet without the King of Denmark! Strategically, an effective India-Iran-Afghanistan dialogue is also essential, for the development of Iran's Chah Bahar port providing India guaranteed and easy access to Afghanistan and Central Asia. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif showed statesmanship in overcoming domestic opposition from the army and others by attending Mr. Modi’s inauguration. He, more than others in Pakistan, recognises the perilous state of Pakistan’s economy and the role of protégés of the ISI in promoting religious extremism and sectarian violence within Pakistan. At the same time, his effectiveness to deal with terrorism by acting against his protégés like Lashkar e Taiba and the sectarian protégés of his Muslim League Party like Lashkar e Jhangvi and Sipah e Sahiba is inherently limited. While Sharif was in Delhi, he told a senior Indian journalist privately that while he would not insist on continuation of the composite dialogue process, he would be agreeable to a high-level back-channel dialogue on Jammu and Kashmir and terrorism. Interestingly, by harking back to the Lahore Declaration of February 1999, Sharif has given the clear impression that he will be unwilling to reiterate President Musharraf’s assurance of January 2004 that “territory under Pakistan's control” will not be used for terrorism against India. Does Mr. Sharif still intend to use terrorism as an instrument of state policy till the issue of J&K is settled to the satisfaction of his government and his country’s insubordinate military establishment? The new government will also have to take a view on how it is going to act on the framework for a settlement on Jammu and Kashmir reached in 2007 through “back-channel negotiations” between the Special Envoys of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Musharraf. Discussions on the framework were resumed last year in Dubai. This negotiated framework was largely based on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s speech in Amritsar on March 24, 2006, averring that while borders cannot be redrawn, we can work towards making them “irrelevant,” or “just lines on a map”. He had also stated that people on both sides of the LoC could then move freely across the Line and cross-LoC economic cooperation and trade could be promoted. All this was premised on respect for the “sanctity” of the Line of Control, as Mr. Sharif had solemnly assured President Clinton on July 4, 1999. Implementation of the framework on J &K agreed to in back-channel talks is said to have required no legislative or Constitution amendment. With the Himalayan snow melting, it remains to be seen whether the Pakistan army adheres to Mr. Sharif's pledge on July 4, 1999, to respect the “sanctity” of the Line of Control. During his discussions in New Delhi, President Rajapakse was told that India expected him to abide by the assurances he had given of moving beyond the 13th amendment in the devolution of powers to the provincial government in Jaffna. Sadly, Colombo has not done itself a service by continuing the suffocating army presence in the northern province and by curbing and undermining the powers and authority of Chief Minister Wigneswaran. India has allocated an estimated Rs 8,000 crore for relief and rehabilitation of Tamils in Sri Lanka. This crucial programme cannot be implemented effectively unless maturity and restraint are observed by all concerned in dealing with the democratically elected government in Sri Lanka, by eschewing rhetoric, whipped up by Sri Lankan Tamil expatriates. One cannot but recall the positive role played by former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MGR in striking a delicate balance between local political imperatives and larger national interests.
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Quirky shades of grey The greying of hair, I tried to console myself, could well be attributed to other factors also, just like chlorinated water, exposure to radiations etc. I even sought solace in myths that existed in our society like having rubbed salt on the head during childhood. Nothing worked. I found myself being drawn to the nostalgic fantasies of youth when my dark hair complimented my smart looks. Was it all over? My chain of depressive thoughts was broken when my barber friend grabbed my chin and rotated it a few degrees with a jerk. I readjusted myself and looked around from the corner of my eye that two more customers had showed up in the waiting chairs with one's face being blocked from me by a glossy magazine he held. Before the bouts of depression could invade my conscience further, what held my attention was the cover of the magazine which carried, as if, a chapter of hope for the pessimists. It was a picture of a gray-headed Hollywood celebrity, well past 50, getting some award and the people plus paparazzi dying to reach him. A spark of optimism ran through my body. Be it any matter of life, positivity works wonders. Age ought to be counted by accomplishments, the picture taught me. So, with my head caught mercilessly between the two swift hands of an agile barber, I vowed to philosophise on the brighter side of ageing. By the time my barber friend finished the onslaught on my head, I had sensed the potential of positive thinking. This time, I did not wish the pearls of optimism to shatter, so I requested the barber to give me a good and prolonged head massage. Taking it to be a compliment from a satisfied customer who wished to be caressed by his hands for some extra minutes, he took to my head like a "tabla" and a cool sensation ran through my spine. Positive vibes flowed generously now. The massage got pleasant sending boosting notes to my conscience… Many Hollywood men were OK being photographed with flowing gray tresses, let alone a few specks... but the number of swan birds swooning in their arms never dwindled. The large mirror in front of me revealed a glint in my eyes. Even some female celebs have openly admitted they find gray-haired males sexier. Thrilled, I crossed legs out of excitement with the massage on my head at its vigorous best. Like honeymoon, fantasies don't last long. My friend was soon exhausted and the zigzag movement on my head came to a halt. But I had found a new me. The stars in my lap were twinkling now. The barber pulled the black gown off me. I combed my black and white hair with a boosted morale and smiled. With a pleasant sense of maturity and an air of sexiness, I started walking out gingerly as if on the red carpet, leaving my barber friend embarrassed for having to remind his regular client that he had forgotten to pay for the first time in his life.
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Of growing self-assertion and defiance
In the face of marital violence the self–assertion of women has assumed the form of counter- violence. They attribute their strong reaction to the growing alcoholism among men. This assertion is turning into violent defiance among the women of rural Haryana
Deeds of resistance
There are other examples of her resistance though not so well recognised. It can be witnessed in women’s successful resistance to male objections and dictates in their songs and dances during various festivals and weddings, which celebrate the sexuality of women in no uncertain terms. Declared as ashleel geet or behuda gaane (vulgar songs), by reformers and caste panchayats ever since the colonial period, these have sought to be curbed and replaced by "decent songs". All these attempts have failed as most rural women across different castes and classes justify the songs as part of their dehati (rural) culture which they refuse to give up. This is one of the interesting instances when women have appropriated the male logic of keeping the dehati "culture" or "custom" alive in order to justify retention of this space for themselves. Claiming cultural space
To these may be added the quiet-but- determined defiance by women of men’s dictates, regarding the exercise of their voting rights in Vidhan Sabha and Lok Sabha elections in Haryana. I am a personal witness to this phenomenon from 1960 to 1997. My observation also stands amply evidenced by the 1996-97 Haryana Vidhan Sabha elections, which returned Bansi Lal as the Chief Minister. He had contested and won against heavy odds on the plank of women’s popular demand of imposing prohibition of liquor in the state. Women of Haryana voted almost en block in favour of Bansi Lal, despite strict instructions and threats of violence made by their family male members. Counter-violence In the face of marital
violence the self–assertion of women has assumed the form of
counter-violence. Many women stated that they do not take violence lying
down and they hit back. Many maintained, "It all depends on the
woman, some women retaliate physically some do not". They attribute
their strong reaction to the growing alcoholism among men, as alcohol is
stated to make men violent. The field work throws up the fact that the
women are able to use the weapon of counter-violence especially when the
man is under the influence of alcohol. Women stated that only in such a
‘state’ can he be ‘easily restrained’ by them. The recent
National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 2005-2006 figures however show only
insignificant numbers i.e., 0.2 per cent of women who have ever
"initiated" violence against the husband. But here I am
talking of ‘retaliatory violence’ from wives, not ‘initiatory’
violence of wives on their husbands. The use of counter-violence by
women, although not physical but verbal has been reported in certain
instances from other regions as well.
Resistance as counter-violence from women needs some explanation. In a situation where violence on wife is accepted as normal and dismissed as a fact of life, women can hardly expect any help from the outside to stem it. In their conjugal home they are not given any help by the husband’s family members, who generally stand and watch or even instigate in certain cases; friends and neighbors refuse to intervene. The 2005-2006 NFHS figures show that seven out of 10 married women have not sought help from any one. However, some of them do approach the local thana (police station). The police does not heed them or take them seriously; they are generally dismissed. In certain cases the policemen brutally tell them to "behave themselves". Complaining to the police is also construed as resistance to violence and condemned as "unwarranted behaviour" in popular opinion. Pretentious subservience In this given situation it is entirely understandable that some of the women take the matters in their own hands and confront the man in their own way. It is their way of refusing to be a victim of violence. On the whole, this form of resistance by wives is an extremely sensitive issue and people—both victims and perpetrators —are not willing to acknowledge that it exists and is increasing. The men especially never admit such a reaction or retaliatory behaviour of their wives. The slur cast on them — especially on their masculinity — is too horrendous, which they may never be able to live down. A cultural system which considers `lugai admi ki juti ho sai' (woman is no better than a man's shoe), and that she is inferior to him in physique, morality, knowledge and wisdom will certainly be given to ridiculing the reversal of these known values. For a man, the right to beat his wife shows wielding of power and authority and assertion of his superiority; a role reversal makes him, in the local parlance, a weakling and a coward "like a woman". This is perceived to lead to `aurat ka raj', (a household ruled by a woman). This impression is enough to damn that house forever. Explaining this, local male opinion maintains that ‘jis ghar main aurton ki chalti hai us main rishta bhi nahin karte hain, kahten hain ki us main mard ki moonchh nahin hoti’ (no one wants to enter into a marriage alliance in a family where the woman dominates and the husband is henpecked). Perhaps it is because of these hard realities and public censure that women ‘appear’ most subservient in public in Haryana. For example, they continue to conform to the "submissive -woman" stereotype that in ghunghat (veil) walks three paces behind her husband and carries the heavier load. A woman, therefore, is not really forthcoming on her assertive behaviour and use of this form of resistance. She generally maintains silence, because it is the husband who would be declared "weak". But unofficially it is stated to exist fairly widely and is said to have major impact in containing spousal violence in Haryana. For example, men agree privately that if such a thing were to happen, and they insist ‘if at all’, a man will never ‘touch’ (meaning beat) his wife again. The field study shows this to be by and large true. Self-destruction The above observations do not mean that everything is rosy for women in this state. The reverse face of retaliatory violence by women is infliction of violence upon themselves. There is evidence that many women when faced with daily trauma of marital violence think of ending their lives. Such a woman reportedly "feels isolated" in bearing up the stress of daily violence with no one to support her and when her patience reaches a saturation point; when the taunts and her own feeling of "tu to khoonti se bandhi gai hai kit jaagi" (you are a cow tied to the a peg) becomes overwhelming, she revolts; but this time in an attempt to destroy herself. Some actually do; others may refrain from taking such a drastic step or reportedly the thought of children stops them. All is not lost as the agency and self-assertion of women in Haryana is on the upward swing. Education and employment, declared to be the most effective prompters of this change by women themselves, along with their claiming their legal rights and property will go a long way in sustaining and even furthering this change taking place rather quietly. In fact, Haryana with its 27 per cent of all married women having experienced physical, emotional and sexual violence, is much lower in the category of inflicting spousal violence calculated for all the states of India. It holds the twelfth position in ascending order. According to the NFHS data, the dubious "top honours" in this category go to states like Bihar with 59 per cent retaliating violence and to Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh with 46 per cent each; lowest is Himachal Pradesh with 6 per cent. It will be safe to say that the growing self-assertion of women in the state has had its effect at least on infliction of spousal violence in Haryana, if not on other forms of violence like eliminating female foetus in the womb itself, leading to a highly skewed male-female sex ratio, or inflicting mindless violence as seen in the so called "crimes of honour". A well-known scholar of gender studies, the writer has authored several books including The Veiled Women: Shifting Gender Equations In Rural Haryana and Gender Discrimination in Land Ownership.
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T
A
fact rarely commented upon or even
acknowledged is women’s resistance to marital violence, which gives
some indication to the changing times that we are living in. This is
amply evidenced in Haryana — a state with a strong patriarchal/patrilineal
system, where women are not known to enjoy any worthwhile status.
However, women here, like other subordinate/subaltern groups, have
only seemingly acquiesced to their being dominated in public. In
private, they have shown enough resistance in their own subtle and
not-so-subtle ways, and have not consented to the wielding of
patriarchal authority. In academia it is a well- argued case that in
public, those that are oppressed accept their domination, but in
private they do question their domination. James Scott, for example,
argues that the everyday resistance of subalterns shows that they have
not consented to dominance. In Haryana, there is a high level of
resistance among women, which may have been responsible in varying
degrees, for lessening the daily infliction of physical violence on
them. This, however, cannot be said of other forms of violence, which
continue. Women’s resistance and standing up for themselves does
have the potential to change the power-relationship within the family.
Women’s stand against
domestic violence cannot be understood in isolation. Historically, far
from being mute victims, they have exercised a great deal of enterprise
to thwart the unnecessary and unequal demands of the patriarchal system.
This is amply demonstrated in the response of women to such constraints
in their capacity as daughters, wives and widows. For example, the
instances of women eloping to get married to persons of their own
choice, whether in the past or present, are all too well known; so also
women claiming inheritance as per their legal entitlement, much against
the dictates of the male members of their natal families; or the widows
resisting the custom of levirate in which she is expected and sometimes
even forced to remarry her brother-in-law. Widow’s resistance
underlines not only her claims to an independent status, both economic
and sexual, but also her refusal to get sucked once more into the fold
of a potentially violent marital relationship.
Another cultural/customary
practice which is on its way to be severely compromised is the
observance of ghunghat (veil). New technology has, in fact,
prompted this move. The fact that many marriages in Haryana are now
being increasingly video-taped has meant that a newly-wed woman’s face
is visible to all who view the recording — young, old, males and
females. Testified by a lot of women, this fact has led many bahus
to discard the ghunghat at home though not in the village or in
public. Despite opposition, such a move is likely to grow. The working
women, like teachers, contend that they have overcome this opposition
successfully and are discarding their ghungaht even publicly once
they are out of the village periphery.