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Attuning to gender issues

Girls must be taught to believe in themselves, and family members and teachers must be empathetic towards their problems

Attuning to gender issues
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For a class IX student, Seema (name changed), school was a place of learning, knowledge and unbridled fun with friends. But then something changed. A group of boys started harassing her on the way, passing lewd comments and making indecent gestures.

At first, Seema ignored them. Then, she protested politely. When matters got out of hand, she went to her father. The father decided that Seema needn't go to school any more.

The 15-year-old cried, and pleaded, but to no avail. A couple of months later, she was married off. After all, who would take the "responsibility" if anything "wrong" happened to her? Not her father, definitely!

This incident in a remote village in Samastipur, Bihar, is just one among many.

Ingrained social norms have created a restrictive divide among boys and girls, and men and women, chained their thought process and instilled in them a reluctance to question prescribed societal norms.

Seema's father did not think it necessary to act against the "eve-teasers". He instead found a 'safer' option.

Keep them 'safe', marry them young?

Researchers from the Institute for Employment Research, University of Warwick, UK; Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) and Child Rights and You (CRY) recently strung together a study that highlights, among other things, how the perception of violence against girls and women hampers their over-all development.

One of the papers cites data findings to establish a link between crime against women — as perceived by their families — and early marriages.

Normalisation of violence against women in patriarchal societies has serious impacts for girls' opportunities and freedom.

The responsibility for preventing violence too often falls to girls: "don't walk there", "you can't wear that", "don't go out at night", "you shouldn't be alone".

Restrictive advice like this often makes girls prisoner of the prevalent gender-construct.

The narrative of University of Warwick's senior research fellow Gabriel Atfield is stark but real. When parents (especially in marginalised families) hesitate to send their daughters to school, or let them pursue a career or job, it is actually an interplay of a gendered thought process and a few economic concerns as well.

Parents consider spending on their son's education a 'worthwhile investment for the future'. What is the point of 'wasting' money on girls' education?

Furthermore, families are extremely fearful of the sexual violence or abuse that their girls may face if they step out of their homes.

The embarrassment the family may be subjected to if young girls 'fall into trouble' and lose their worth in the 'marriage market' weigh heavily on their minds. It's not petty crimes like theft or robbery they are worried about, it's about protecting the girl's chastity.

As expected, this trend is more observed in families in northern India, where the gender construct is rigid.

Whatever be the reason at play, the result spells doom for young girls and women. This reduced access to schooling, higher education and public spaces changes their lives irrevocably.

Shilpa Phadke, professor in School of Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, feels there is no other solution than to bolster inclusivity of girls in public spaces.

When girls are kept away from schools, education or participation in public life, their ability to earn a living and become independent is drastically limited. Leading to wider income inequality and partial or full dependence on men keeps girls in a cycle of poverty.

Recent NFHS data on child marriage is a grim reminder of the bane that plagues our society.

Every fourth woman in the age-group of 20-24 was married before the age of 18, though in percentage terms, underage marriages came down from 26.8 per cent to 23.3 per cent in the last five years. The problem is much bigger in rural India, where 27 per cent of the total marriages are underage marriages.

Inequality, on the platter

If stopping girls from going to school or marrying them off young are go-to solutions for a section of families, giving them less to eat is yet another crude reminder of the gender construct in our society.

Drawing from primary data collected by a CRY study, 'Educating the Girl Child', researchers focused a paper on children and intra-household gender dynamics among educationally backward sections in four states.

According to the study findings highlighted by IIMB researcher Dipanwita Ghatak, 51.1 per cent among parents report that physical insecurity of girls is one reason that restricts them from sending girls to school.

Some 59.4 per cent parents agree that it is not safe for girls to travel to school alone and 78.2 per cent parents say that in their household, girls are not allowed to go out alone. Some 20.4 per cent girls report having experienced physical / sexual violence in the school for being a girl.

Boys (and men), obviously, are the 'privileged' ones, in every which way — even in the food they eat. It often comes down to women and girls "eating least, eating last and eating least nutritious food".

Undernourished mothers give birth to undernourished babies, leading to intergenerational cycles of undernourishment.

This systemic nutritional inequality entrenched in the social fabric leads to serious health issues.

NFHS-5 data finds that the percentage of anemic women in the country has risen to 57 per cent from 53.1 per cent over the last five years and that of teenage girls (15-19 years) has gone up alarmingly to 59.1 per cent from 54.1 per cent.

Looking ahead…

The question is, how can the tables turn? Let's accept the reality: Given that the gender construct in our society has been shaped up over centuries, a radical change is unlikely to come in a fortnight.

Addressing the issues on the surface with policies and schemes may not always yield the desired outcome, points out Soham Sahoo, assistant professor at Centre for Public Policy, IIMB.

Institutional policies and schemes need to focus more on manifold long-term engagements, complete with planned implementation, efficient monitoring system and periodical assessment of impact on beneficiaries.

And away from schemes and regulations, mindsets must be changed. The fear must be banished from the minds of girls and parents alike — Lakhi Das, child rights advocate, ASES, Jharkhand, couldn't have summed it up better.

A skewed thought process, dogged with gendered social norms, must be redefined through targeted and sustained interventions at various levels — individual, family, community and local governance.

Girls have to be taught to believe in themselves, feels CRY chief executive Puja Marwaha. Parents need to be counseled about how their daughters are as good as they can raise them to be.

Fathers, brothers and husbands need to be understanding and appreciative of their daughters / sisters / wives as individuals with equal rights.

Teachers, in schools and colleges, need their share of lessons too — they need to be empathetic and understanding towards the problems that the girls might face.

For girls and women to feel safe and comfortable in the world outside their homes, public infrastructure needs to be bolstered. Install road lights so that girls are not scared to walk the dark lanes alone.

Make schools safer so that they can attend classes without the worry of being harassed or attacked. Provide platforms where they can voice their opinions with confidence. Make workplaces safe and congenial.

As part of my work as a child rights advocate, I have had the opportunity to interact with several young girls from the marginalised sections of society.

A despondent, helpless girl in an impoverished slum many summers ago is now a member of a T20 cricket team. A girl, whose mother is a sex worker, is now pursuing higher studies with elan.

If there is a Seema fighting new battles of her own in some remote corner of the country, there is also a group of impoverished 12–15-year-olds who are conquering despair, fear and inhibition with renewed passion, confidence and vigour and winning hearts and medals at a national-level kickboxing event.

Planned interventions do work wonders. Just let THEM be. DTE

Views expressed are personal

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