"Daughters are neither Safe Inside the Womb nor Outside"

A poster that was widely circulated on Face book saying "A nation where daughters are neither safe inside the womb nor outside" very aptly highlights how badly women are treated in "Shining", "Incredible", and "Developing" India.   

 

Right to Equality: The Constitution of India prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth. But even after more than 60 years, the Gender Equality & Empowerment of Women continues to remain in Millennium Goals of Govt. of India. The disparity is evident from the fact that percentage of Women in Parliament is hardly 10%, while the employed women in non-agriculture sector (2005) is around 18%.

If the political leaders shedding the crocodile tears and making right noises over the reprehensible crime in New Delhi on 16 th December, are serious and sincere about empowerment of women, they should immediately pass the 'Women's Reservation Bill" so that at least 180 Female MPs can be present in the next Lok Sabha.

The 23 year old brave daughter of India, as one research scholar has rightly put it, did not die of multiorgan failure, but it was the multiorgan failure of this Society and the State which killed her.

What is the accountability of Senior Politicians and Officials presiding over malfunctioning of the State Administration? It is not as if  there are  no laws dealing with rape and sexual assault, but it is the monumental apathy and failure of the insensitive and unresponsive  Police, Judiciary and Neta/Babu Nexus, made them ineffective and non functional.

As a society and individual, we are equally responsible and accountable, because of our apathy, lack of compassion and not raising our voices against incidents of this nature happening around us. Every one of us can make a difference by our attitudinal and behavioral change, to raise our voice and make it heard in the right quarters against atrocities of this nature.