Grammar of gender relations in India

At the end of the 150th anniversary celebrations of Swami Vivekananda, dancer Padma
Subrahmanyam asks Indian women to take a cue from the monk and redefine their
agenda not only for themselves, but also for the entire world
he contem!orary discourse credits the modern world e"clusively with im!roving the status of
women# $ut thousands of years ago, Indian women had en%oyed high status# &argi, 'aitreyi
and other women of Vedic lore illustrate the high status Indian women en%oyed in ancient
times# he &argi tradition in Vedic times was no e"ce!tion as Avvaiyar of the amil Sangam
!eriod would testify# Several Vedic rishis were women# he tradition of ($rahmavadinis),
women celibates !ursuing intellectual studies for life, e"isted in ancient India# hough less
universal, the women intellectual stream did not dry u! with &argi and Avvaiyar but continued
with the *araikkal Ammaiyars, Andals, Akka 'ahadevis, 'eeras# Indian women, who have
!layed a big role in moulding our culture, civilisation, arts, religion, have also handled statecraft
from the time of +rau!adi to ,hola -oyal women, from -ani Padmini, -ani .hansi and many
others, to Indira &andhi / something which no other society in the world can !ossibly boast#
hat is why I could !roudly !resent my dance !rogramme (Stree *avi -atna), based on
literature, from &argi to 'eera, at the 0orld S!iritual 0omen1s ,onference organised by the
2nited 3ations in &eneva in 4004#
5eminist scholars abroad, not Indians, have recently begun studying how traditions have
enabled women in India to !artici!ate in the !ublic domain, contrary to the traditions in the
0est# .ane 5reedman hy!othesised that the 0estern !olitical culture, drawn from its
traditions ,which does not offer women any !ositive model of female !ower, e"cluded women
from the !olitical field# aking the hy!othesis further, in her essay (he 6indu &oddess and
0omen1s Political -e!resentation in South Asia7 Symbolic -esource or 5eminine 'ysti8ue9),
Ste!hanie awa :ama studied the im!act of the 6indu &oddess / a uni8uely !o!ular, !ositive
figure of feminine !ower / on the !olitical role of women in India#
;bserving that the Indian freedom movement was driven by the symbol of 'other India and
devotion to her in the song <Vande 'ataram1, which singularly ins!ired the freedom fighters to
undertake high sacrifices, she underscored the subterranean influence of feminine !ower in
Indian !olitical life# She connected it to how Indira &andhi, who became the Prime 'inister of
India in 1=>>, was com!ared to &oddess +urga when she won the 1=?1 0ar and how amil
3adu ,hief 'inister .ayalalithaa was !ortrayed as <'ahishasuramardini1 @slayer of the demon
'ahishaA#
's# awa :ama says that in the 0est, tradition, which had classified women as the weaker
se", influenced the modern 0estern !olitics with their !re%udice# $ut India1s was a contrast# In
1=5=, the Swiss had denied voting rights to their women in the national referendum# $ut in
1=>B 2ttar Pradesh, India1s largest State which had less than a third of its women literate at
the time, had no difficulty in electing Sucheta *ri!alani as its ,hief 'inister#
Gender hostility
5inally, the Swiss women got voting rights in 1=?4 / after Indira &andhi had already ruled
India for a full si" years as its most !owerful Prime 'inisterC American women got franchise
rights only in 1=40 and the $ritish women eight years later, centuries after the e"clusively
masculine $ritish democracy came into being# hus, gender conflicts inhered in the 0estern
traditions# $ut such gender hostility has no !hiloso!hic source or traditional roots in India#
Correction: Women got the right to vote in the U.S. in 1920 and in the U.K. in 1928. U.K.
achieved womens suffrage in 1928 women over !0 were enfranchised in 1918 "ut the
#e$resentation of the %eo$&e 'ct was $assed on (u&) 2* 1928+ and the ,ineteenth
'mendment was $assed in the U.S. on 'ugust 18* 1920.
In India, from ancient times, 5emale +ivinity has e8uated women with !ower# And, &od as
confluence of man and woman @ArdhanareeswaraA symbolised gender harmony# he ultimate
-eality D$rahmanE which transcended all forms / man, woman and all s!ecies / is genderF
neutral# $ut unfortunately, contem!orary Indian women intellectualism does not internalise
these !rofound ideas# It tends to co!y the 0estern thoughts that have no !hiloso!hic or social
com!arability or com!atibility with the Indian#
Indian traditions have struggled to foster a higher sense of res!ect for women# herefore, the
grammar of gender relations in India is universal res!ect for women# his automatically im!lied
unasserted but wellFrecognised rights# herefore, des!ite all the intellectual confusion and
conflict, Indian 0omanhood !ractices have !reserved the uni8ueness of Indian women and
res!ect for them# he !aradigm of res!ect for women in India transcended and avoided the
conflictF!rone gender rights !aradigm# $ut the 0estern women, denied res!ect by tradition,
re!eatedly rebelled and fought for rights# his has resulted in the modern !aradigm of rights
without a sense of filial duties in the 0est and caused social disorientation# 6ere is its fallout7
over G4H of the babies in the 2nited States, G?H in the 2nited *ingdom and almost >0H in
Scandinavia are born to unwed mothersI almost half of them teenagersI more than half the
marriages end in divorce in 10 years, as do twoFthirds of the second and threeFfourths of the
third marriagesI most families are run by a single !arent#
Paradox of freedom
he <rights sans traditional duties1 !aradigm scuttled the family system# $ut has freeing women
from families made women ha!!y9 A 400= study concluded that after three decades of
feminism and develo!ment, women of Juro!e and the 2#S# are less ha!!y now than before
and men, incidentally, are more ha!!y than they were#
In the 0est, mental illnesses are on the rise among men, women and children# 0ay back in
1=54, when my father, +irector *# Subrahmanyam was honoured by the 6ollywood 5ilm
+irectors &uild in the 2#S#, the !ress asked him7 (0hy India does not have enough
!sychiatrists)9 Pat came the re!ly that the %oint family system had ke!t Indian society sane#
he -harma Sastra or .hiru//ura& or any other ancient te"t is unanimous on the householder1s
res!onsibility to elders, the infirm, the unem!loyed and even unsu!!orted strangers# $ut in the
2#S#, with the traditional families colla!sing, their whole burden has fallen on the government#
According to economist and columnist S# &urumurthy, the !resent social security cost of care
of elders, infirm and unem!loyed is estimated at over si" times the &+P of the 2#S# / a totally
unsustainable situation# 6e says that this has led to the cor!oratisation of the family kitchen
and government takeover of !arental obligations / as the 2#S# 3ational $ureau of Jconomic
-esearch warned in 1=K0# India1s cultural and s!iritual values stabilise the national economy#
he Indian value system, which constitutes the country1s culturallyFdevised social security
system is the result of the carefullyFnurtured continuum of Indian womanhood# his is the
biggest Indian intellectual and cultural idea for e"!ort to the 0est# ime has come for India to
intros!ect on what it needs to im!ort from the 0est and what it need not# 6ere comes the
relevance of Swami Vivekananda, the young 6indu monk who told the 0orld Parliament of
-eligions what the world did not know, namely, that there e"ists in India the s!iritual common
denominator of mutual res!ect for all religions#
6e therefore asserted that there need be no hostility among religions and a!!ealed for
harmony among faiths# In the same vein he a!!ealed e8ually for gender harmony founded on
the Indian idea of res!ect for women# 0hen the 0est was learning the basic lessons of
e8uality of humans, including women, Swami Vivekananda !roclaimed that (the barometer to
the !rogress of a nation is its treatment of its women)# As the nation gets set to celebrate the
150th anniversary of the monk1s birth and even as India is set to emerge, according to the 2#S#
3ational Intelligence ,ouncil, as one of the three world !owers, it is necessary that Indian
women redefine their agenda not only for themselves but also the world at large# An effort has
been undertaken under the aegis of the Swami Vivekananda 150 0omenLs Initiative to hold a
women1s convention in ,hennai on the occasion on the theme, (Indian 0omen as the guide for
the world at a crossroads)# It is a bold initiative# 6o!efully such initiatives will set off the
intros!ection and dialogue which is overdue in India#
A woman-shaped gap in the Indian workforce
A mix of social constraints and dearth of employment opportunities has kept women
out of the labour market, leading to a huge opportunity cost to the nation
0omen in India face enormous challenges for their !artici!ation in the economy / in a way
that mirrors the many in%ustices they suffer in the society at large# he labour !artici!ation rate
of women / that is, the number of women in the labour force as a !ro!ortion of the total
female !o!ulation / !rovides an indicator of some of these challenges# In 400K, the labour
!artici!ation rate in India was only BB !er cent for females as com!ared to K1 !er cent for
males# $y way of com!arison, it was >K !er cent for females in ,hina# Among Indian States,
the female labour !artici!ation rate is one of the lowest in +elhi, a region also known for its
harsh treatment of women#
he labour force includes not only the em!loyed but also unem!loyed !ersons who are
actively seeking %obs# In India, substantial numbers of women who are not counted in the
labour force are, as described in the official statistics, <attending to domestic duties1 in their own
households# 3ational Sam!le Survey re!orts tell us that, in 400=F10, out of every 1,000
females @all agesA in India1s rural areas, BG? were attending to domestic duties# In the case of
urban females, this number was even bigger7 G>5 !er 1000# ,om!are this to the number of
rural and urban men who were attending to domestic duties7 only 5 !er 1,000 and G !er 1,000
res!ectively#
0hy is India1s female labour !artici!ation rate so low9 Part of the answer lies in the methods
em!loyed to measure women1s work#
A woman1s work in her own household is not counted as an economic activity, and does not
get re!orted in the national income statistics# his is unlike the case of services by a !aid
domestic hel!, which is considered an economic activity and is counted in the national income#
As is well known, women1s domestic duties include childbirth, caring for the young and old,
cooking, and a range of other activities that are crucial for the u!kee! of the family#
6owever, society undervalues these immense contributions made by women# And, to some
e"tent, official statistics re!roduces the !re%udices in the society#
In rural areas, women !eriodically enter and e"it from agricultural work# Muite often, women1s
!artici!ation in agricultural activities as selfFem!loyed workers is to su!!lement the falling
incomes of their families during times of agrarian distress# his is what seemed to have
ha!!ened in India between 1===F4000 and 400GF05# +uring this fiveFyear !eriod, the growth of
agricultural incomes in the country was stagnant, yet the number of selfFem!loyed female
workers engaged in agriculture and related activities increased by 1? million, !ossibly
indicating <distress em!loyment1#
;n the other hand, between 400GF05 and 400=F10, the number of selfFem!loyed female
workers engaged in agriculture and related activities decreased by 1= million in India#
his decline in em!loyment could be attributed to a modest revival in the growth of agricultural
incomes and to the !ositive im!act on rural em!loyment and wages created by the '&3-J&A
@'ahatma &andhi 3ational -ural Jm!loyment &uarantee ActA# hus, it a!!ears that in India,
during the 4000s, female em!loyment in agriculture was not driven by any real o!!ortunities
for income generation, but was !art of a lastFditch effort to esca!e im!overishment#
Urban, Educated omen
In India, social factors !lay a significant role in reducing women1s labour !artici!ation#
6usbands and inFlaws often discourage women from working, while, in many !arts of the
country, restrictions are im!osed even on their movements outside the household#
In this conte"t, it is notable that labour !artici!ation is !articularly low in India among urban,
educated women / the section of the female society that is, in fact, less likely to be
constrained by social factors# In 400=F10, the !ro!ortion of those attending to domestic duties
@and therefore out of the labour forceA was 5? !er cent among urban females with graduate
degrees or higher, com!ared to %ust B1 !er cent among rural females with !rimary or middle
school education#
0hat are the reasons for such a massive withdrawal of educated women from the work force9
:ower wages than men could be one reason# $ut then femaleFmale wage dis!arities e"ist in
.a!an and South *orea as well, but female labour !artici!ation has been high in these
countries#
It a!!ears that the factor that !ushes female labour !artici!ation in India to !articularly low
de!ths is the sheer absence of suitable em!loyment o!!ortunities# he slow generation of
em!loyment is, in turn, linked to a s!ecific feature of India1s economic transition# his is the
relatively small contribution made by the manufacturing sector to India1s &+P @gross domestic
!roductA and em!loyment#
0ithin Indian manufacturing, women1s em!loyment is increasingly in the lowF!aid, vulnerable
sectors# $etween 1===F4000 and 400GF05, women accounted for B#? million of the =#? million
new manufacturing %obs created in the country# A large !ro!ortion of these women were
em!loyed in the e"!ortForiented sectors such as garmentFmaking#
6owever, by 400=F10, India1s manufacturing sector was suffering from a variety of !roblems,
including !ower shortage and a slowdown in e"!ort demand from western countries# $etween
400GF05 and 400=F10, B#? million manufacturing %obs were lost in the country, and more than
K0 !er cent of those who lost their %obs were women#
+uring the !ostF1==0 years, the ma%or source of em!loyment for women has been in the
services sector, mainly in lowF!aid services such as domestic hel!# At the same time, females
accounted for only a small share of the relatively high 8uality %obs generated in India in recent
years7 for instance, only 40 !er cent of the new %obs created in financing, real estate and
business services during the 4000s, and 10 !er cent of the new %obs generated in com!uter
and related activities during the second half of the 4000s#
Amartya Sen has written about the <missing women1 in India, highlighting the low femaleFmale
ratio in the country1s !o!ulation# Sen argues that this issue !oints to the severe disadvantages
faced by the female child in India# he issue of the missing women in India1s !o!ulation has a
!arallel in the !roblem relating to the missing women in India1s workforce# hat is, the
staggering numbers of women who have withdrawn from the labour force and attend to
domestic duties#
In 400=F10, the total number of women attending to domestic duties in India was 41> million,
which was larger than the entire !o!ulation of $raNil# ;f these, women with graduate degrees
or higher numbered 14#? million, which was more than twice the !o!ulation of Singa!ore#
,learly, the largeFscale withdrawal of women from the labour force involves enormous wastage
of talent and causes a huge o!!ortunity cost to the nation#
,reating more %obs and ensuring better working conditions for women will encourage greater
female !artici!ation in the economy#
As more women %oin the workforce, the voices against genderFbased ine8ualities will grow
louder# J8ually im!ortantly, there will also be more hands and brains to take the Indian
economy forward#
!reaking the rules of the gender game
I1m a whistlerI I1ve been one for a long time now# $ut the deciding moment, when I knew that it
had to become an inse!arable !art of my everFshifting identity, was at the age of ten when a
teacher at the <alternative1 school I went to commanded me to cease my e"alted e"halations#
(6ow unladylikeC) she said, and all at once I was introduced to this alien conce!t# here was
a!!arently a world in which <ladies1 didn1t whistle and unless I learnt the rules of this strange
!lace soon, there was a distinct !ossibility of my being left in an unladylike lurch# 3ot knowing
any better, I decided to take my chances and went my whistlesome way#
In retros!ect it seems 8uite a!t that I should1ve had my first genderFminder in school, for
gender is something that we are schooled into# 3ot because the !rocess ha!!ens in school
alone, but because it is a deliberate and systematic drawing u! of boundaries and definitions
within which the genderless child must learn to bo" itself into, much like the rest of formal
education# ;nce we1re at home in the construct !rovided to us, we1re given our gender roles,
taught our !laces and instructed not to cross the line# Soon it becomes an un8uestioned !art of
us and we acce!t that the world is divided into masculine and feminine, with some even
claiming the two belong to altogether different !lanets#
0e see these messages all around us, whether it1s in !olitics, s!ort, entertainment,
advertising, media, religion, you name it# 0e1re constantly being told how to be <a man1s man1
or <a woman of substance1 O but have you ever wondered why everyone seems to feel the
need to constantly tell us how it1s done9 If it was so natural, shouldn1t it be more selfF
e"!lanatory9 0hy does our gender come with so many <Instructions for use19 5eminists across
the world have been asking us these 8uestions for over si"ty years but their voices have often
been drowned out in a sea of submissiveness# he 8uestions though kee! coming#
In a thoughtF!rovoking talk on the notion of masculinity to the 'innesota 'en1s Action
3etwork, -obert .ensen, .ournalism !rofessor at the 2niversity of e"as and a feminist, set
out a sim!le e"ercise for !eo!le to try# If a small boy came u! to you and asked what it means
to be a man, what 8ualities would you list9 he audience res!onded with words like
affectionate, res!ectful, inde!endent, sensitive, su!!ortive, and hel!ful# hese he !ointed out
were the idealised definitions of masculinity, while the dominant culture, which re!resents the
established and !rescribed forms of behaviour, customs and communication in society,
answers the 8uestion in a very different way# In its scheme of things, men must be assertive,
aggressive, com!etitive, unemotional and born with a sense of entitlement# It is this disconnect
that lays bare the !rocess of socialisation and the ga! we must bridge if we are to move
towards a genderF%ust society#
0hen the e"ercise is taken to its logical conclusion, we find that all the 8ualities listed as
idealised definitions of masculinity are actually our understanding of what it means to be a
decent human being# ,an we therefore, confidently state there are certain 8ualities e"clusive
to men and others e"clusive only to women9 his isn1t to say there are no differences between
the se"es, but to 8uestion whether these differences are so fundamental as to divide us#
In many ways it is the war!ed notion of manhood, or mardangi, which lies at the heart of the
matter# he one that !eddles se"ist ideas such as testicles e8uals courage or s!outs dialogues
like <0ard hai to di/ha1 @If you1re a man !rove itCA or believes that control over others is a way
of life# his is what social theorists refer to as <to"ic masculinity1, a !atriarchal mindset, whose
central tenet is domination, whether it is over human beings, nature, nations or %ust a !arking
s!ot# +on 'cPherson, a former s!orts!erson and now an outs!oken feminist, believes that
today (0e don1t raise boys to be men# 0e raise them not to be women or gay men#)
;ne of the ways in which this mindset is created is through language# 5or years now linguists
concerned with issues of gender have been !ointing to the massive male bias in our daily
conversations# he deFfacto use of the male !ronoun and as linguist +ale S!ender !uts it the
<maleFasFnorm1 structure of the idiom, may seem to be %ust a matter of convenience, but it is
more than that# It !romotes the notion of men being the sole sub%ect of language while
everything else is %ust a suffi", an addFon, of no value to the words themselves# In her
remarkable book <'an 'ade :anguage1, S!ender observes that words that degrade and insult
women far outnumber those that diminish men# In fact the ultimate insults that can be hurled at
men who are not stereoty!ically male are all either femaleFcoded or homo!hobic words#
his sort of violence in language and ideas is not re!resentative of all men and is harmful to
them as well# It is in acknowledgment of this that an increasing number of men @and womenA
are now coming together to create counterFnarratives to the dominant view of masculinity by
acce!ting, discussing and creating new ideas on manhood, gender and se"uality# he <Skirt
the Issue1 cam!aign in $angalore this .anuary, where a grou! of young men took to the streets
in skirts to counter the notion that ra!e is tied to a woman1s choice of a!!arel, was one such
conscious and creative action# Interestingly, !arts of the media and academia seem to be
lagging behind in this !luralistic initiative with theories on <'asculinity in crisis1 abounding, as if
it were an endangered monument in need of state su!!ort# 0hy isn1t <femininity1 ever in crisis9
Surely, <!uberty1 would be a more likely candidate for something that sounds so hormonal and
fullFblown9
5urther, the !eo!le doing the work of rethinking our gender relations and consciously resisting
se"ist stereoty!es o!enly admit their indebtedness to the feminist struggle, with many more
!eo!le, es!ecially men, now calling themselves feminists# Peo!le are beginning to see that the
!ortrayal of women, who advocate gender %ustice, as ugly, manFhating, braFburners, is a
deliberate attem!t to kee! things as they are# hose whose interests are served by sustaining
a maleFdominated, une8ual society see any 8uestioning of their selfFa!!ointed authority as a
threat# hey welcome more laws, !olicing, armies and wea!ons, since it gives them more
o!!ortunities for muscleFfle"ing and a false sense of security, but are less o!en to structural
changes that re8uire dialogue and com!assion, which they know would ultimately lead to them
losing !ower and control#
$ut the voices of change are gradually getting louder and louder# An ins!iring instance of this is
the <0ho 3eeds 5eminism91 cam!aign that began at ;"ford 2niversity in the 2nited *ingdom,
but has since caught on in many other !laces, including some close to home, like :ahore# A
studentFled initiative, the cam!aign consists 8uite sim!ly of a series of !hotogra!hs of !eo!le
holding u! signs stating their reasons for su!!orting feminism# he range of res!onses is
fascinating with some re%ecting the ob%ectification of human beings, being %udged on the basis
of a!!earances instead of intelligence, or living with the constant fear of se"ual assault, while
others talk of needing to confront their own !rivileges, 8uestioning the !resent !ower
structures and striving for e8uality# he one that sums things u! 8uite neatly, !ara!hrasing
activist :illa 0atson1s words, is by a male student# It reads7 <I need feminism because my
liberation is bound u! with yours1# his s!irit of coming together is what is evident around us
todayI the understanding that the fight is no longer about women alone, but for a collective
future in which no one has !ower over another#
Gender "ustice, interrupted
#eath or longer prison terms for rape under a new law will not empower women$ what
they need is the safety to walk on the streets free from the fear of sexual %iolence
he ado!tion of the ,riminal :aw Amendment Act 401B by the Indian Parliament is a moment
to be neither celebrated nor mourned# It is a moment to !ause and reflect over what e"actly
has been achieved ever since the +elhi gang ra!e and murder of the 4BFyearFold student, and
what has been lost# he Act converges with the recent global s!otlighting of violence against
women, including the ado!tion of a declaration on the elimination and !revention of violence
against women and girls at the recently concluded 2#3# ,ommission on the Status of 0omen
in 3ew Pork# $oth these interventions highlight how the safety and security of women and girls
around the world remains an elusive goal#
&wo formulas
he s!ecific 8uestion that arises is %ust e"actly how state and nonFstate actors achieve this
goal# here are at least two dominant formulas that have emerged in this arena over the
decades# he first is a rights agenda, where the rights of women and others o!!ressed by
se"ual violence are s!ecifically recognised and then a legal and !olicy agenda for !rotecting
these rights formulated# he rights to e8uality, bodily integrity and se"ual autonomy, freedom of
s!eech, including se"ual s!eech, and safe mobility, would be amongst those rights to be
foregrounded and secured# he Verma committee, mandated with the task of recommending
legal reforms to ensure women1s safety, in !art ado!ted this a!!roach# he right to consensual
adult se"ual relations was the key area to be !rotected from discrimination and infringement
through the ado!tion of a broad array of legal, !olicy, and educational initiatives#
he second a!!roach is to foreground the state1s role in ensuring the safety of its citiNens by
strengthening its security a!!aratus, including border controls, intensifying the se"ual
surveillance of citiNens, disci!lining the se"ual behaviour of individuals and regulating and
monitoring se"ual conduct through law enforcement agencies# 0hile autocratic states already
!ursue this route, there is a worrying trend of liberal democracies also ado!ting such an
a!!roach, including India# he move towards e8uating %ustice with the im!osition of the death
!enalty or stringent !rison sentences constitutes the lynch!in of this a!!roach#
At least two factors have facilitated this a!!roach towards security# Jver since the global war
on terror, states have been accorded a %ustification for curbing human rights in the interests of
the security of the nation and its citiNens# -endition, water boarding, incarceration without due
!rocess, have all been %ustified on this ground# A second factor is that nonFgovernmental
organisations, including those women1s grou!s with a Nealous focus on the issue of se"ual
violence against women, have not !aid sufficient attention to the !romotion of women1s se"ual
rights, e"ce!t for some forays into the area of re!roductive rights# his focus on violence
against women has been warmly welcomed by dominant !layers in the international legal
arena# &lobal violence against women has been recognised as a human rights violationI ra!e
has been incor!orated as a war crime in the -ome StatuteI and se"ual violence in conflict and
!ostFconflict has been s!ecifically addressed by Security ,ouncil resolutions# 0hile the focus
on violence is im!ortant, the mechanism through which it has been addressed has not
necessarily been em!owering for women# hese interventions have not destabilised the
dominant understanding of women as victims and female se"uality as !assiveI nor have they
to!!led the gender stereoty!es that inform all of these initiatives#
he constant %ustification for a focus on the criminal law to address violence against women
has been that !revention will take time# 6owever, criminal law initiatives that further entrench a
se"ually sanitised regime fail to distinguish between se"ual s!eech and unwelcome remarks,
and target all se"ual behaviour that does not conform to a se"ually conservative scri!t as
re!rehensible, make the battle to centre rights all that much harder# he new law in India
retains the language and !rovisions dealing with the (outraging of the modesty) and chastity of
a woman and then sim!ly e"!ands the range of activities that threaten or blemish this
anti8uated understanding of female se"uality# his a!!roach cannot be a reci!e for
em!owerment nor foster !rogressive change in thinking on matters of se" and se"uality#
Perha!s the most significant and !ervasive issue left unaddressed by the new law is the
everyday se"ism that !ervades the work!lace, the !ublic arena, the media and the educational
system# 3o amount of censorshi! of se"ual images can address the !roblem of se"ism, the
!erformance of which was on full dis!lay in the Indian Parliament during the debates on the
new law# 0hile se"ual harassment, including unwelcome se"ually coloured remarks, is
criminalised, a focus on deterrence does not eradicate se"ism nor !roduce res!ect for women#
It merely em!owers the state and the criminal law#
Unchallenged stereotypes
:eaving se"ism and gender stereoty!es unchallenged is likely to have a boomerang effect#
he new laws will be used to go after individuals and communities who transgress or challenge
established norms, or are already se"ually stigmatised, marginalised, and viewed with
sus!icion# Se" workers may continue to be regarded !er se as trafficked under the Lse"ual
e"!loitationL !rovisions# 'erely e"tending the tentacles of the criminal law into their everyday
lives without affording them rights with which to fight the violence and the e"!loitation they
e"!erience will force these women into more clandestine and e"!loitative situations and,
ironically, increase their vulnerability to being trafficked# Similarly, gay men might be left with
little !rotection from the se"ual violence they e"!erience as they have not been accorded the
right to consensual se"ual relationshi!s# In fact, the new se"ual regime will leave them more
vulnerable to allegations of criminality, !erversion and continued stigma# 'uslim men might
continue to be targeted as being more ra!acious and lascivious es!ecially in the States ruled
by the 6indu -ight# 5emale migrants will be targeted as trafficked victims and continue to be
incarcerated in the name of !rotectionI and young !eo!le will continue to have (!reFmarital)
se", clandestinely, and often under unsafe conditions, now that the age of statutory ra!e has
been retained at 1K#
he e"clusion of marital ra!e from the !urview of the new law reinforces the se"ual !rerogative
of husbands, leaving some women wondering why they should get married if it means they
would en%oy fewer rights# And the fundamental 8uestion remains whether this e"!anded legal
edifice will be able to sto! the kind of attack that occurred on the +elhi bus last +ecember#
he reactions to the 2#3# +eclaration and debates on the new criminal law in India furnish
telling insights on the e"traordinary levels of resistance to the very idea of the right to se"ual
autonomy and gender %ustice on the !art of dominant grou!s, and the subse8uent scramble to
reinforce the rights of an already over!rotected male elite# In 3ew Pork this was evident in the
debate on the declaration# he 'uslim $rotherhood claimed that the declaration would lead to
a (com!lete disintegration of society) and decried the !ossibilities of allowing women to
!rosecute husbands for ra!e or se"ual harassment# ;thers such as the Vatican were
concerned over references to access to emergency abortion, and se"ually transmitted
diseases#
In India, the new law re!resents a trend in South Asia to e8uate %ustice with the death !enalty
and stringent im!risonment terms# Pet em!owerment for women cannot lie in merely attaching
a death sentence on to the crime of ra!e, or increasing the mandatory minimum sentences for
ra!e# 6ow will these measures act as deterrents when indeed such changes will see the
already low conviction rate for ra!e !lummet even further9 Jm!owerment rests in the ability of
women, se"ual minorities, and religious minorities to be able to walk on the streets free from
the fear of se"ual violence, se"ual harassment and ra!e#
he young women and men born in the crucible of globalisation and neoFliberal economic
reforms are unlikely to be discouraged from demanding a genderFfriendly and egalitarian
works!ace# And there is still a !ossibility that the new law in India will be challenged in the
Su!reme ,ourt for violating women1s right to e8uality as well as e"cluding se"ual minorities
from its !rotection# he !rotests after the +elhi ra!e were demanding %ustice in the form of
more freedom not autocracy, res!ect not fear, and a more egalitarian society, not a
reaffirmation of the established gender and se"ual hierarchies of !ower# he old order has
definitely been shaken, and its values based on e"clusion and !re%udice have undoubtedly
!assed their e"!iry date#