Not seeing the wood for the trees

Women continue finding it hard to take public transport or walk down a street without fear of being molested, teased, or insulted in some manner. Representational pic

We know what ‘manels' are - those all-male panels of so-called experts or participants at events who pretend that women with opinions don't exist. They are mocked on social media routinely, but don't seem to faze organisers of these conferences who cheerfully continue to publicise more of them every other month. For some reason, they come to my mind whenever a significant crime against any woman starts to generate headlines.

It happened a few weeks ago, with a case I don't want to give more life to by describing. It was horrific even by the appalling standards we have all grown used to, and the only thing that a great many people had to say in response involved societal norms, the right kind of behaviour, and what religious beliefs the perpetrator subscribed to.

I have given up trying to convince people that India is no country for women. There is never an attempt to engage with this accusation (because that is what it is inadvertently treated as), and it is almost always met with howls of disapproval. There is an unwritten rule among a significant number of us, that the obvious cannot be spoken out loud. To criticise any aspect of the self-proclaimed world's most amazing country is to be anti-national; an outlier who wilfully refuses to toe the official line.

And yet, time and again, this statement is backed by data for anyone who chooses to scratch the surface. In 2021, India ranked 148 out of 170 countries in the Women, Peace And Security Index for very good reasons. Two years before that report, a survey conducted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation labelled India more dangerous for women than Afghanistan, Syria and Saudi Arabia, prompting an army of countrymen to scream at their mobile devices in anger. Naturally, our National Commission for Women rejected the survey outright.

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We should all look a little more closely at what the National Commission for Women really does. We should look at statements made by ministers reportedly tasked with making sure women feel safe and ask ourselves why they are silent as often as they are. We should reconsider how we react to statements by the Ministry of Women and Child Development that refer to such surveys as efforts ‘to malign the nation and draw attention away from real improvements seen in recent years'. They reveal a significant departure from reality, and an inability to understand what women in India go through on a regular basis.

There comes a point in every nation's history where citizens sit back and realise they have reached a point of crisis. For most women in India, that point was reached a long time ago, when they realised they couldn't walk down most streets in the cities, towns, or villages they live in, after sunset. This isn't normal, despite what the many patriots who now allegedly walk among us may say on WhatsApp. This isn't something that can be swept under the rug just because it makes Indian men look like degenerate, sexually repressed beings. It is a problem with no hope of real solutions because it isn't being acknowledged.

A crime that ought to have shocked us into re-assessing domestic violence was ignored because it was easier for so many of us to attack aspects of the criminal's life that had no bearing on the real issue. It's why we ask women to choose what they wear carefully, instead of asking men to respect the choices women make for themselves. That is why we have men controlling every aspect of women's bodies, much as they have since the dawn of time, and men laying down rules that do nothing to solve the problem. It's why our mothers, sisters, and daughters will continue finding it hard to take public transport, walk down a street, or jog in a park without fear of being molested, teased, or insulted in some manner.

I have little hope that things will change, if reactions to these crimes are anything to go by. What I do look forward to is the possibility of more female voices being brought to the fore, even if suggesting this makes a few men risk being labelled ‘woke'. There's nothing ‘woke' about recognising that half this country comprises women and they deserve the right to live without fear in a society that refuses to acknowledge the danger they experience. It's not feminism, or virtue-signalling, or anything else that can make these ‘manels' redundant. It's just common sense.

When he isn't ranting about all things Mumbai, Lindsay Pereira can be almost sweet. He tweets @lindsaypereira

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The views expressed in this column are the individual's and don't represent those of the paper