Discrimination from

Womb to Tomb
World on Empowerment
• World Bank 2002 : Gender equality is an issue of development
effectiveness, not just a matter of political correctness or
kindness to women.

• United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized

Crime, Protocol on Trafficking“…the purchasing, transfer,
harbouring or receiving of persons by threatening, use of force,
fraud, abuse of power or position for the purpose of
exploitation…”
Violence against women in India
• Though the top most position of India
(President) a woman is occupying but it
is it mean that women society is empowered
now as being claimed by most of the
political parties?

• We can only hope that Mrs. President

will do something for empowering or
making women society to live with dignity.
Before this let’s see past record…
Alas..!! Violence throughout life!!
Pre - Natal Childhood
• Female Foeticide * Child marriage,
• Physical, sexual, * Child prostitution,
Emotional abuse. * Physical, sexual, emotional
abuse by parents, relatives,
* Marginal access to schools,

education, food & many other

things.
Alas..!! Violence throughout life!!
Adolescence During Adult age
• Rapes, * Dowry,
• Sexually harassment, * Family violence & abuse,
• Murders, * Murders & rapes,
• Trafficking & Prostitution. * Emotional, physical abuse.
Violence against women in India
• India a young democratic nation of
world also land of missing girls & sadly
where the sex ratio is steadily decreasing
40 to 50 million girls have gone ‘missing’
in India since 1901 – missing because
they were not allowed to be born, or if
born, murdered immediately thereafter.
-- Report by UNICEF
Violence against women in India
• 1 out of every 6 girls does not live to see her 15th birthday.
• Of the 12 million girls born in India, 1 million do not see their first birthday.
• Of the 12 million girls born in India,
3 million do not see their fifteenth birthday,
and a million of them are unable to survive
even their first birthday.
• Every sixth girl child's death is due to
gender discrimination.
• 1 out of every 10 women reported some kind of child sexual abuse during
childhood, chiefly by known persons.
Violence against women in India
• 1 out of 4 girls is sexually abused before the age of 4.
• 19% are abused between the ages of 4 & 8.
• 28% are abused between the ages of 8 & 12.
• 35% are abused between the ages of 12 & 16.
• 3 lakh more girls than boys die every year.
• Female mortality exceeds male mortality in 224 out of 402 districts in
India.
• Death rate among girls below the age of 4 years is higher than that of
boys. Even if she escapes infanticide or feticide, a girl child is less likely to
receive immunization, nutrition or medical treatment compared to a male
child.
Violence against women in India
• 53% of girls in the age group of 5 to 9 years are illiterate.
• Every year 27,06,000 children under 5 years die in India. And the
deaths of girl children are higher than those of male children.
• A survey showed that the female fetus abortion rate is twice as high
among educated mothers compared with those who are illiterate.
Poverty and social pressure are said to be responsible for the problem.
Main among these two is the SOCIAL PRESSURE, the fear that they
would be thrown out of home, made women to abort female children.

--Facts from reports of UNICEF & CRY

Violence against women in India
• Recent census data shows that close to 3 million girls are not
only married by the age of 15 years, but have borne children
atleast once.
• The dowry deaths alone totalled at 6787 with 3204 other cases
registered under the Dowry prohibition Act.
• There were 58319 cases of cruelty by husband or relative
against the married women.
• 37.2% of married women reported experiencing spousal
violence in India (NFHS-3).
Violence against women in India
• There are approximately 2 million child commercial sex
workers between the age of 5 and 15 years and about 3.3
million between 15 and 18 years.
• They form 40% of the total population of commercial sex
workers in India.
• 80% of these are found in the 5 metros.
• 71% of them are illiterate.
• 500,000 children are forced into this
trade every year.
Recent News!!
• State AP tops minor girl marriage charts (March 28th, 2008 Indian
Express)
• Not one, but 2 youths raped 3-yr-old (March 28th, 2008 Tribune News
Service )
• 7-yr-old gang-raped, strangled (April 7th 2008 TOI)
• Woman set on fire for dowry in Delhi (March 30th, 2008 Thaindian News)
• Child marriages continue in 21st-century India (Info Change India)
• 92-yr-old beaten, thrown out of home (April 6th 2008 TOI)
• 14 girls rescued from a brothel (April 4th 2008 TOI)
• Dalit women forced to swallow excreta (April 7th 2008 TOI)

List would be endless!!!

Violence against women in India

• The 1989 UN Charter, to which India is a signatory, guarantees

every child the following rights
• - Right to Survival - To life, health, nutrition, name, nationality
- Right to Protection - From exploitation, abuse, neglect
- Right to Development - To education, care, leisure, recreation,
cultural activities
- Right to Participation - To expression, information, thought,
religion
• No-one in India is interested in giving them education, basic health
facilities. How many here in India follows the above child rights?
Problem of child labor continues despite of “Child Labor Act(s)”.
Provisions under Indian Penal Code (IPC)
• Rape - Sec. 376 IPC
• Kidnapping - Sec. 363-373 IPC
• Dowry death or torture for dowry –
Sec. 302/304-B IPC
• Molestation - Sec. 354 IPC
• Sexual Harassment - Sec. 509 IPC
• Domestic Violence - Sec. 498-A IPC

• (Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961; The Child Marriage

Restraint (Amendment) Act,1979;Commission of Sati Prevention) Act,1987)
Violence against women in India
• Despite all these laws & Acts.
Its harder to digest all the above
facts. Isn’t it?
• Main Culprits:-
• Media,
• Policies makers & those implement
• Political Leaders,
• Religious Leaders & Practices,
• Unawareness & Illiterate,
• Socio-economic condition,
Media…
• Women speaking to women :- T.V., radio, newspapers should
show their struggle against poverty, marginalisation.

• T.V. & Radio programmes should be based on the everyday

life of the community and deal with women's concerns,
providing advice on health, childcare, nutrition, improved
agricultural methods, vocational training, literacy, job
opportunities, etc..
Leaders…
• All leaders (religious & political leaders), especially men at the
highest levels of policy and decision making, should speak out
in support of gender equality, the empowerment of women and
the protection of the girl child.

• Budgets too often ignore women’s social and economic

contribution. Review, adopt and maintain macroeconomic
policies and development strategies that address the needs and
efforts of women in poverty.
Mother’s Education-Impact…
• A study of 45 developing countries found that the average mortality rate
for children under 5 was 144 per 1000 live births when their mothers
had no education, 106 per 1000 when they had primary education only,
and 68 per 1000 when they had some secondary education.
-- World Development Report 1998
• In order to iron out the unevenness
in society, the women must be
educated and they should learn to
assert their rights and shun the
injustices heaped on them.
Challenge…
“The goal of achieving equality between women and men is based
on principles of human rights and social justice. Empowerment
of women is more over a prerequisite for achieving people
centered development…..The abolition of poverty can not be
achieved until men and women have equal access to the
resources and services necessary to achieve their individual
potential and fulfill their obligations to household, community
and, more broadly society……..’’

--- UK White Paper on International Development, 1997

Man’s psyche must change!!
• Respect for a woman, her needs and aspirations is essential
because only then can she give her best to society

• The real change will be when man’s psyche undergoes a

transformation and both men and women meet mid-way rather
than the girl always making all the adjustments.
“I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress
which women have achieved.”
Dr B R Ambedkar
“Vision without action is dream, action without vision is time-pass
and vision and action makes radical change i.e. revolution.”
Nelson Mandela
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Martin Luther King Jr.
Thank You