A global survey in the Guardian on Wednesday reported that India was the 4th worst country for women to be born into. A country rapidly developing into an economic superpower is deemed to be one of the most dangerous countries in the world due to the high levels of female infanticide and sex trafficking.
The survey was conducted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation to mark the launch of Trust Law, a website providing free legal advice to women’s groups across the world. Afghanistan was polled as the worst, with The Congo, Somalia and Pakistan all in the top 5.
Crimes against women included rape, domestic violence, female infanticide, sex trafficking, dowry deaths, child and forced marriages and honour killings. An endemic of acid attacks are prominent in Pakistan. Congo is the rape capital of the world and women in Afghanistan resort to self-immolation.
I read this survey and its articles with absolute horror and sadness. I am so lucky that I, an Asian female, was born in England. I may grumble and moan, write and share the misgivings of being a female and an Asian one at that, but never once have I lived in fear of being an Asian female.
How has India, a country who has female leaders, worships female deities and reveres motherhood, has the majority of women live with the threat of violence and without basic human rights? Surely economic development should include social development and the protection of women from violent abuse should be paramount.
A comment by Meenakshi Ganguly, Human Rights Watch’s (HRW) South Asia director has put the treatment of women into perspective. ” It is true that South Asians don’t, in general, value their daughters, which for instance is apparent in the dwindling gender ratio in India”.
Whilst India’s polling in this survey was a surprise to world politicians, clearly, modernity has masked the plight of women in South Asia.
Bunty
