Kota Neelima - No one can save Padmaavat(i)
NB: The author if this excellent and timely article, has been threatened by the very same people who claim to defend the honour of women. Their brutish behaviour only proves the point she is making. These strong men are actually a disgrace. Let them investigate the figures for female foeticide in Rajasthan and tell us why they never thought to agitate to protect babies from being murdered. DS
Women in India are in
a constant state of war. Women are attacked on roads, in public transport, at
homes, offices, classrooms, on social media and even in religious places. They
are killed as children, and even as foetuses. Acid is thrown at women’s faces
when they reject men, and they are beaten and even burnt to death if they don’t
pay dowry to their husbands and their families. Women do not get the
same education, opportunities and even the same food as men. Women are
neglected, discriminated, assaulted and killed because they are women. That, is
the actual state of women in India.
Now, women can also be
made to commit suicide; the Karni Sena has threatened that women will commit
‘jauhar’ or self-immolation if the movie, Padmaavat, is released. The protest
is not against the death of Padmavati herself in the story, but against a
creative interpretation of her exposure to the public gaze. Karni Sena has
protested in the past against movies to safeguard the notion of women as
symbols of ‘honour’ of a caste or a religious community. Questions arise; why
doesn’t Karni Sena protest against demeaning ‘item numbers’ done by women in
movies? Why doesn’t Karni Sena threaten violence to stop the use of sexual
assault as a weapon in Indian cinema? Has Karni Sena protested against
depiction of women as submissive and men in dominant roles?
The list of crimes against
women is long. In 2016, according to the National Crime Records Bureau, the
total crimes against women were 3,38,954. Of which, reported cases in the
category of cruelty by husband or his relatives were 1,10,378; assault cases
were 84,746; and, rape cases were 38,947. In 2015, 67 per cent of the
investigated cases of crimes against women were disposed of by the police,
according to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. The
Ministry also reveals that only 2.3 per cent of cases of crimes against women
were convicted in courts in 2015.
Not all crimes are
overt. Social and patriarchal traditions fix a woman’s reproductive role as her
only identity and contribution. According to the
Ministry, the literacy rate among girls over 15 years of age was 59.3 per cent
as against among boys of the same age at 78.8 per cent. Adult literacy of women
was 50.6 per cent in rural areas, while that of men was 74.1 per cent. Women
are pulled out of schools mainly for marriage at an early age. A study by
ActionAid in 2016 revealed that out of total 10.3 crore child marriages as per
Census 2011, 8.5 crore are underage girls, constituting 83 per cent. The
National Family and Health Survey 4 (NFHS 4) for 2015-16 states that among
women of 20-24 years of age, 26.8 per cent were married before they turned 18.
Women do not get to
eat well, taking a toll on their health. According to the NFHS 4, more than
half or 53 per cent of women between 15-49 years, were anaemic. Out of these,
54.2 per cent lived in rural areas, while 50.8 per cent were in urban areas.
Over 26 per cent of rural women had a Body Mass Index (BMI) below normal. When
was the last time Karni Sena demanded better nutrition or compulsory education
for girls? When was the last time such protestors threatened violence to stop
girl children from being married off? What are the views of the Karni Sena on
employment rights of women? We are in the dark about such matters.
Ironically, some women
have lent their voices in favour of the threats and protests of Karni Sena,
reminding one of the women who support regressive practices of fundamentalist
Islam. In this, perhaps, there is no difference between religious communities;
women are slaves everywhere. Often when women survive, it is not because they
revolt but because they surrender. Women are aware that their submission
jeopardises their own chances of equality and freedom. They also know that they
accept honour as a precondition to the protection and security of patriarchy,
and become subjects of men’s interpretation of such honour. But what option do
they have without the support from the state and the community, except to give
in to the need for survival? That is why a married woman puts up with domestic
violence. That is why sexual assault cases are not taken to the police, leading
to low reportage, especially in rural areas.
The state reinforces
patriarchy by making it difficult for women to make their voices heard. The
government application forms that demand the male suffix to a woman’s name,
necessitate the woman’s loyalty to the notions of patriarchy. The schemes that
deal with women as dependents, underline the role of the male as the provider
in their lives. The rules that stop short of ensuring rights over property and
land, ensure that the women are at the mercy of men.
Signs of improvement
in education for women, rights, empowerment, etc., are better expedited when
supported by progressive thinking among men. The assertive among women,
however, face not only extraordinary hurdles in their path but also
discrimination at every level of personal and professional advancement. That is
the central reason why progress on gender lines is sporadic, and uneven across
the country. The ills that afflict the darkest corners of India can also be
seen in the brightest cities. An urban, educated, and working woman may have to
remain silent about the abuses and injustices as a rural, uneducated and
unemployed woman. What is common in such scenarios is the Indian man, whether
he is educated, uneducated, rural, urban, poor, rich, traditional, or modern.
No wonder, then, that Karni Sena can get away by threatening to mutilate the
face of a woman if a movie is released. There is no one who can protect
Padmavati.
http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column-no-one-can-save-padmaavati-2576569