Top Reasons: Why are women still unsafe? An Analysis

16th December 2012 to 22^nd ofAugust 2013, a full 249 days that has been wasted without learning lessons that needed to be learned. As usual finger pointing has started, BJP is blaming the Congress, Congress is pulling up files to prove rape happens in BJP ruled states too, people at police, police at lawmakers, lawmakers at… Finally I can’t stand it anymore… I finally feel like get up and shouting-“Stop, what the hell is going on? Why can’t anyone see the Elephant in the room?” Obviously, I can’t do that here because everyone will think I lost my mind, so here I am shouting my voice on this beloved forum I have only to myself.

A few days ago, I explicitly stated my views on an Indonesian Government official who proposed virginity tests on high school entering girls. (Read it here- Pedophile in the Ranks? IndonesianOfficial proposes Virginity Tests) A reader distinctly pointed out in comments and I would like to share it here. The comment posted by anonymous states- “These tests are sure an assault on human values and women right. I wonder where the girls go when such things come by. Where is women empowerment on the agenda now?” I couldn't help myself but agree with the point. I seldom see girls, who protested so vehemently after 16^th December, take it up as seriously as the days after 16^th December. Why does it have to go off the boil? Without sustained pressure, do you think a rapid change is possible?

As romantic as this feels, it is not going to work. The real mouth has to open.

I distinctly remember going on a train some time ago to Kolkata, where an animated set of people were talking about one of the many rape cases happening in India. What shocked me is it veered off to the fact that the girls must have been obscene or something like that and that her background should be checked too. This is exactly what conversations veer off to. Men blame the women, women blame the men. There is absolutely no meaning when you fight off- ‘Don’t Get Raped’ by ‘Don’t Rape’ because this is not solving the problem. Not only this, some very high thinking people floated theories to explain the depravity of Indian men – from greater access to pornography (that would have made Holland very unsafe for women) to a growing inclination towards noodles (think Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong).

Let me point out the elephant in the room. The truth remains that at the root of it all lies a culture built around hierarchies, of gender, faith, color, caste, region. Boys when growing up are not taught to respect girls. They are allowed to form an independent opinion by seeing television (Read Big Brother), movies (Read American Pie) and internet (Read Pornography). The outcome comes out that girls are objects for sexual desire and nothing more. The appreciation for more subtle things is forgotten, and that is when things get from bad to worse.

A localized problem?? Am afraid not.

It isn't only India, but the world which is suffering from the same complex. What is important to understand is very well pointed in one of the leading dailies in the world- “A lot of how the world will be in the future, how one half of the population will treat the other half, will depend on the lessons from parents and teachers. GPS and CCTVs, after all, cannot track what goes inside homes and the minds of men; they can only make our streets a bit safer. The violence to women within families is many times deadlier. And often it is this violence, the mentality and justification of it, which spirals away and gets carried out in cinema halls, moving auto-rickshaws and crowded malls.”

A humble request, check out the elephant standing in the room. Don’t pretend that it doesn't exist. I am still looking for a day when I can post about "Concrete actions that made the world safer for women" just like I did "Photographs that changed the world around you"

If you want to see the next blog as soon as it comes, follow me on Google+ or subscribe to my blogs. You can also like the Facebook page Worthy Words to remain connected. To recommend this to others, your click on the +1 button would be great.