Equality for women has undergone many changes over the decades. There are surely more women working today than in the time of our grandmothers and mothers. There is an argument today that women form the majority of the workforce. One can only scoff at this statement as the data shows that only 21% of women in India get paid for work. The face of the workforce is still mainly men. There is progress, but there remains a long way off from what we may call the ideal situation.
Equality, for now, is mostly at an ideation level. Companies talk of inclusion, but it has been only recently that they have started actively working in the queer space. Lately, change has begun to take place. However, cisgender women still battle for space in a male-dominated environment. Many are under tremendous pressure to retain their jobs post pregnancy, as many offices still do not have a crèche as a mandatory part of office architecture. The only division that has been adhered to is separate toilets for men and women. This leaves some women who lack the support of in-laws or family with no choice but to quit post-having a child.
Everyone is aware that for society to progress, we need more women CEOs, CFOs, and political leaders. We need women with the power to implement decisions at the grassroots level. In urban India, the professional world is dominated by men even today.
According to the seventh edition of Deloitte Global’s “Women in the Boardroom” report, women held 17.1% of the board seats in India in 2021. Although the number of women in boardrooms has gone up, the number of women as chairpersons has come down to only 3.6% in 2021, as compared to 4.5% in 2018.
The current President of India, Droupadi Murmu, who belongs to a backward tribe, has surely and definitely defined the new path of progress. Hopefully, this upward trajectory will continue and more women from smaller towns and cities will be given equal opportunities in senior positions in work as well as in the political realm.
Girls growing up in rural areas of India still struggle to have access to education. They are deprived of basic human needs. They still defecate in the open with no access to proper sanitation. They are expected to live in conditions that are inhumane and degrading. In India, we have mothers dying during delivery and from gynecological issues that have not been treated. The maternal mortality rate in India stands at 113.
Looking deeper into the problem, it is found that no one wishes to address the magnitude of inequality among women.
Gender roles remain skewed for household chores. We have 160 million housewives in India who work as unpaid domestic workers for their entire lives. Men in the family who come forward to help their wives at home are often ridiculed and teased as being “henpecked” husbands. So they shy away from social discrimination. According to the 2019 NSS report on time use, women in India spend 299 minutes a day on unpaid domestic services for household members while men spend 97 minutes.
It is high time we not only redefine gender roles but also examine what it means to be a woman in the 21st century. The 2012 gang rape in Delhi of 22-year-old Nirbhaya shook the nation. Justice was delivered. But immediately after that, another rape took place in our country. Girls struggle to walk free on the streets at night. They need to rethink time and again to board any public transport or walk alone in a deserted street. Often the shame attached to being raped is another factor as to why crimes of this nature to go unreported.
Therefore, as a society, we must work towards actually achieving equality rather than marking just one day as Women’s Equality Day.
According to Saritha Hegde, Founder of ‘Not Just Hot’, “Women’s Equality Day was the day of celebration of women who fought before us in the US for women’s rights. From voting to equal wages. From safety to no harassment in the workplace. It’s a continuous movement and hopefully inching towards a future where gender is truly not used as a tool to subjugate.”
Equality differs in our country from cities and villages. In cities, women and girls struggle with the gender pay gap, plus they are expected to earn, cook, and clean. But in villages, it is far worse. There is a systematic crime against the lower castes. The panchayats decide the fate of the girls in villages.
There are districts in Madhya Pradesh where girls as young as 10 years old are sold to the highest bidder by their family members. These little girls are the earning members of the family. They are expected to serve 10 customers each day for a measly sum of Rs 100. This is accepted and continues even today.
According to Akash Chouhan, who runs his own NGO in MP, “There are villages where girls as young as 10-12 years of age are forced into prostitution. Even if the girl isn’t willing to go into this trade, other girls forcefully send her with a customer, who then rapes her. This continues till the girl accepts to be a prostitute. Secondly, if they ever raise a voice against this practice, it is not heard as their parents and authorities work in tandem. I have rescued many girls from Neemuch, Mandsaur, and Ratlam, but at present, if you see, several minor girls stand on highways and sell their bodies for a meagre sum of Rs. 100-150. There are around 2000 minor girls in Neemuch, Mandsaur, Ratlam.”
Crime against women is a subject of social shame for families. Girls who get molested or raped are reprimanded by their elders. It is often observed that the girl is made to feel guilty for the crime committed towards her.
Hopefully, we mature as a society and stop inculcating and enforcing this shame culture on women. We need to up the ante on men to learn that no means no. Only then would we truly mark Women’s Equality Day.
Mohua Chinappa is an author and a podcaster of a show called The Mohua Show.