It is difficult to draw parallels between the education systems of any two economies, more so between a developed and a developing one. Nonetheless, there are always certain values and beliefs which resonate quite closely even amongst people with widely diverse religious convictions. The education of women is one such subject which shows a lot more similarities in terms of its evolution, patronage and challenges across the continents.
It is learnt from the past events that women’s education had remained time insensitive for long across different civilisations. People from across England, America and India looked a lot alike in early times as they considered women’s education unnecessary and dangerous. It did not receive any reasonable attention until some women themselves joined the crusade against their repression across all the three nation states. It is heartening to note that their efforts have born admirable fruits. Interestingly, the level of women’s participation in higher education across these countries has now surpassed their counterparts. Apart from this shared evolutionary history, women’s education is now marred by another type of common crisis caused due to sexual harassment across the campuses of institutions of higher learning.
Education of women has been a matter of great concern for the society since the time of its formalisation through schools and colleges. The roots of formalisation of education in the Western world could be traced from the Churches. They were the primary sources of education where the monks and nuns were teaching only the sons of the nobles and some wealthy persons. Only the girls of those families which would arrange home teaching had the privilege of education. Their education was valued from the point of view of managing the household affairs and the rearing of children. The girls were not allowed to go to even local schools let alone the boarding schools for reasons of their safety and security.
It was only after the efforts of some women activists and the implementation of the 1880 Education Act when women literacy rates started showing some upward trends in England. While the women were given the right to vote in England in 1918, Oxford continued to discriminate between men and women until 1920 by not giving equivalent awards to women. Cambridge took far longer to follow Oxford. The noticeable shift took place with the enactment of the Sex Discrimination Act in 1975. Since then things have changed in favour of women in terms of enrolment, academic attainments and employment. Currently, the number of women students has surpassed men both at first degree level and postgraduate level by a margin of about 200,000 and 103,000 respectively.
America was also in no way different from England. There was little appreciation for the education of women in America during the seventeenth century as most considered it both needless and unsafe, like in England. It took a turn in 1687 when some schools were thrown open for both boys and girls in Farmington and Connecticut. Women education in America speeded up in the beginning of the nineteenth century with the hard work of some women rights activists like Emma Hart Willard and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The later part of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries witnessed an incremental increase in the education of women. So much so that the number of women graduating with Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees not only started surpassing men since 1990 but also steadily registering an incremental increase in their attainments.
The record of women’s education in India was also as awful as in the Western world during the early times. Most of the people like the Westerners were not in favour of women’s education for almost similar reasons of safety and security. However, some of the Indian rulers like Rani Lakshmibai and Parbatibai of Travancore supported the education of women during the early days. There were several other like Savitri Bai Phule, Fatima Sheikh, Ramabai Ranade, Chandraprabha Saikiani, Anutai Wagh and Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar who had made seminal contribution for the education of women during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Despite these initial efforts, the women’s literacy rate rose from 0.2% in 1822 to 6% in 1947-48. Since then the successive governments have made concerted efforts to improve the education of women at all levels. Keeping in view the reservations of certain sections of the society, the government and the private service providers have set up a number of schools, colleges and universities exclusively for women’s education. Owing to the impressive increase in enrolment and transition rates of girls at school stage, the number of women’s colleges and women’s universities has risen to 5,000 and 16 respectively. It is interesting to note that women, who now constitute 48.6% of the total enrolment in higher education, have steadily surpassed men in terms of Gross Enrolment Ratio—26.4% to 26.3%.
It is noticeable that there is an upward trend insofar as women’s participation in higher education across America, England and India is concerned. It is, indeed, a laudable accomplishment. But there is another emerging trend across these countries, which is quite worrisome and that is an upward trend of sexual harassment. As more and more students from diverse backgrounds are joining higher education with the hope of fulfilling their socio-economic aspirations, the diversification of campuses in terms of student population is leading to sexual harassment of women students regardless of the places of institutions. Ironically, institutions keep claiming that their campuses are free from all kinds of violent crimes. In fact, most of them remain in the denial mode about the prevalent instances of sexual harassment on their campuses. But that is far from the truth.
There are a number of research studies conducted both in America and England which reveal that sexual harassment of women in its variegated form is quite prevalent across the campuses of institutions of higher learning and that it has got adverse impact on their overall academic attainments. Though the issue of sexual harassment on campuses of institutions is taken seriously both in America and England, it is not taken up equally prominently in India. Perhaps it is because of Indian youth inclined to conservatism. America seemed to have more number of women’s campus centres and women’s studies programmes than England and India, where they seem to have witnessed a significant decline.
Another factor appears to be the activism of the American courts which have exhorted institutions to take reasonable steps to ensure safety and security of women students and staff on their campuses. India has far fewer studies on the subject than America and England. The data for the year 2019-20 reveal that the cases of sexual harassment are prevalent only in a few states like Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana and none in others like West Bengal, Odisha and Delhi. This, however, blinds the ethical dimension and certainly does not pass the smell test.
The safety and security of women on the campus of institutions of higher education should be as much a matter of concern for the authorities as for the parents and the students themselves. Similarly, gender sensitisation is not a matter of students alone but a matter of all the members of the faculty and staff. Higher education institutions have a special role to play in combating culture of silence and culture of impunity that sustain such practices.
Universities are not merely the places where faculty and non-teaching staff are employed, but places where students come to learn and be trained for their professional careers, and to realise their fullest potential as individuals. It is, therefore, imperative that all students and especially the women students are provided with a safe and dignified environment.
It was realised by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in 2013 that most of the institutions were not clear about how to deal with issues of sexual harassment and gender sensitisation on the campuses. Thus the UGC set up a Task Force. The Task Force followed a two-pronged approach. It carried out an extensive survey and explored the prevailing situations about the safety and security of women on the campuses across the country and based on that it had suggested a number of measures to ensure gender equality, gender sensitisation and safety and security of women on the campuses.
The Task Force had brought out a course module on gender sensitisation which provides basic information about sexual harassment and knowledge of law and rights. It had suggested in its “SAKSHAM” report that the guiding principle of the harassment policy must be educational, preventive and corrective and that all the complaints must be followed with sensitive rigour and zero tolerance. In addition, it had suggested a number of other measures like setting up of internal complaint committees, organisation of awareness programmes, guidance and counselling, sufficient lighting in and around campuses, reliable public transport, female security personnel and speedy disposal of cases.
Seven years have gone by since the “SAKSHAM” report was brought out by the UGC and circulated amongst universities and colleges in 2013 with the hope of bringing about gender sensitisation, gender equality, attitudinal change and following the policy of zero tolerance. Notwithstanding the UGC regulations and its continuous monitoring, the situation on the ground leaves much to be desired, leading to anger, frustration and helplessness. Measures suggested by the “SAKSHAM” report can surely provide remediation of the underlying harm caused by sexual harassment provided its recommendations are implemented in letter and spirit. It can surely bring about attitudinal change which can make a substantial difference in improving the overall ambience and ethos of individual institutions.
It is to be understood that in matters like this, apart from good upbringing, it is the attitudinal change that would promote empathy and make perpetrators to think how they would feel or act if their own family members were in the same situation.
The writer is former Chairman, UGC. The views expressed are personal.