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STATE OF HUMAN RIGHTS WITH REFERENCE TO WOMEN AND THE ISSUE OF RESERVATION
R.M. Pal

It is high time one looks at the question of reservation for women in legislative bodies and in jobs from the angle of human rights. The question that must be answered is: Why are women and girl-children deprived of their human rights? It is, therefore, necessary to have a look at the human rights situation in the country with special reference to women.

It is said that legislative measures have improved the situation of the marginalized in our country. I do not propose to get into a detailed examination of these measures and changes, if any, brought about by these measures, like, for example, the right to inherit property; abortion right; the right to equal wages; abolition of dowry; protection of women from torture and rape, and so on. Nor will it be profitable to get into a debate with those who maintain that since these affirmative actions have been and are being taken, or with those who maintain that women have always been “respected” in our society, no further measures need to taken. We may, however, pose a simple question: Yes, the Constitution and our laws have proclaimed gender equality. But has there been any effort made by our successive governments and our society to put an end to discrimination against women?

Human Rights Situation: Human rights violations caused by social practice, oppression and cruelty can be more heinous than those inflicted by state agencies. (In this context I may refer to a recent study by the police and an NGO which reveals , “that one in eight pre-teen and teenage girls have been raped or molested by someone in the family. And more than three-fourths fear being raped by a relative… Shockigly, the family prefers the shroud of silence. So, not surprisingly, more than a third of the girls said they would not confide in their mothers, for fear of disbelief, or worse, being blamed… Many girls do not find a safe environment within their families and are silent about their experiences.” Source, The Hindustan Times, April 2, 2006) In fact, the worst aspect of such violations in India is the cruelty to a section of the people by the dominant as manifested in the traditional socio-cultural values, the caste system, religious intolerance and torture and cruelties inflicted on women and children, on Dalits, on minorities. Any objective onlooker of the human rights situation in India should not fail to observe that the worst sufferers are women and children, Dalits, and the minorities. It is regrettable that our own human rights groups including the NHRC, and groups from abroad like the Amnesty International have not given as much attention to this aspect of human rights violations as they have given to violation by state agencies. In fact, the discussion on this issue have not been common among groups and people devoted to the cause of civil liberties and human rights. The significant fact is that cruelties, torture, custodial deaths, custodial rape by police and state agencies flow from age-old social practices and traditions which sanction violations of human rights. We cannot forget that if we want India to occupy her rightful place in the comity of nations, we must see that our social values and practices are reoriented, keeping in mind that the fundamental inspiration for human progress comes from the demand for freedom, equality, and respect for human rights and human dignity. In fact, these values are eternal and spiritual; without such values there can be no human heritage worth cherishing.

The three major religions of India – Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity – treat women as inferior to men – often on the authority of divine scriptures and sanctions. According to all socio-religious traditions women are required to find their fulfillment in motherhood and domesticity. Their duty is to render service to the husband, his family and to his children. In fact, some of the scriptures have warned that the society will break up if men and women forget the sacredness of marriage. The foundation of society would be shaken, we are warned day in and day out, not only by men but also by women (and such women’s number is not insignificant and most of them are English educated) if women expressed dissatisfaction at the treatment accorded to them. (One is reminded of the almost total opposition to the Hindu Code Bill by women parliamentarians in the ‘fifties’). How do we reconcile this outlook with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?

What is most disheartening is the effort of a significant section of our intellectuals to rationalize the irrational. They – both ancient and modern – have fabricated many fables about the exalted position of women in our society to convince us and the world portraying them as goddesses. They remain silent on the codes of Manu which have advised men to treat women as their property and slaves, brush aside the issue with the plea that our society is governed not by the codes of Manu, but by the Constitution. Then, there are others, including highly educated and sophisticated women, who maintain that we must not raise the question of equality between a man and a woman because that disturbs the natural balance.

Human rights violations: The general position of woman and the girl-child in India is most depressing. Crimes against women and the girl-child have been on the rise. According to available data, there has been considerable decline in sex ratio – less females than males. The 1991 Census figures indicate that the all-India sex ratio is 929 females per 1000 males. In some areas it is more dismal. For example in Gujarat it is as low as 901, in Haryana it is 874 and in some districts it is as low as 832.

The UN Report for Human Development 1996 has drawn our attention to very insignificant efforts made by India to improve women’s lot as compared to nations which got independence much later than India. That there is a definite gender bias in our country hardly needs any research. But why is it so? – that needs research.

Why is it, for example, that 25% of the girls die before they attain the age of  15? If it is malnutrition, then why in the case of girls only? Why is it, again, that in some parts of the country parents resort to most inhuman and cruel methods to kill girl babies? According to a study by the Indian Council of Child Welfare, in Madurai district of Tamil Nadu alone about 6000 baby girls were killed in the past decade, either by giving poisonous milk or by other means. This criminal practice is prevalent in about 600 villages in the district. One hospital record in Mumbai has revealed that out of 8000 foetuses aborted, 7099 were of females – cruel gift of amniocentesis. Have NGOs, research institutes devoted to women’s studies, the NHRC, and the Commission for Women ever tried to find out the reasons behind such crimes and violations of human rights?

Women illiteracy according to the 1991 census in about 60% of the total women population. In UP three-fifths of female children are illiterate. UP, Bihar, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh, apart from having higher number of illiterate women, have the highest birth rate, death rate of women, and infant mortality rate.

Do-gooders point to dowry and other economic factors responsible for the depressing and tragic situation. Not many, not even those women leaders who have been fighting for reservation, refer to our religious scriptures that have given rise to gender bias. For example, according to one scriptural sanction: “Let the bridegroom ask the bride to join him in sacred ritual with the prayer, ‘let our union beget sons only…’, there was also the tradition of Putreshti Yajana, praying for Putra (birth of a son), and so on. We do not hear women’s organizations demanding the burning of the ugly relics of our past. They are afraid of witch hunting.

While examining the question of reservation for women in legislatures, we have also to take note of the middle class mind-set – their attitudes to women, their concept of morality which often borders on character assassination. An account for this mind-set was given by Professor Nabaneeta Deb Sen of Jadavpura University in a Sahitya Academy Seminar in Delhi a couple of years ago in a forthright speech. She pointed out the attitude of the whole Bengali society to women writers. I give below a very brief summary of her speech:

There are men critics who hold on to the view that a woman who has slept with more than one man cannot know what real love is – it is only superficial love. While evaluating the writings of women writers, critics etc. assert that for a proper evaluation one must be familiar with the private life of the woman writer, but it is not necessary in the case of men writers! References to oral sex by a woman poet in her own poem was attacked in a vicious manner, and her life was made miserable. A man poet wrote a poem describing oral sex and published in the same magazine in which that woman’s poem was published, but not a word was said against him or about his poem. Aparna Sen’s film Paroma was attacked by most Bengali middle class men and women (perhaps, women were more vociferous in their attack) – it was said that Aparna Sen had portrayed her own adulterous life in the movie. The great Satyajit Ray also made a film depicting adultery, but none opened their lips to say that Ray was being autobiographical. Women writers do not have the right to artistic license, it’s only men’s prerogative in Bengal. In short, the Bengali society is the moral guardian of women writers writing in Bengali. But if the same women writers write about “objectionable” subjects like oral sex and women’s adultery in English, the women writers would not suffer at all!

The mind-set which dominates our life is totally against gender equality, or for the uplift of the woman. The greatest Renaissance man in the nineteenth century Bengal exclaimed in sheer exasperation, in the context of widow remarriage: “Oh, unfortunate women, what sin have you committed that you should have been born in this blessed country where men are so insensitive.” It is in the light of the foregoing account of human rights situation and what Vidyasagar said (the situation has not changed since Vidyasagar’s time), that one has to examine the question of reservation for women.

One argument that is often advanced not only by men but also by many articulate women, is that since independence a good number of women have occupied high public positions in India – the number has been declining steadily, though – and therefore there is no cause for any alarm. (In 1984 elections 44 women were elected to the Lok Sabha; in 19879, 36 and in 1996, 36). Well, we may not have any reason to be alarmed, but we have every reason to feel ashamed of ourselves that since the promulgation of the Constitution the number of women in Parliament and state legislatures has been declining instead of increasing. How, does one, therefore, persuade our people to believe that sexual equality, which should be reflected in our attitudes, relationships and behaviour, exists? (In fact, in only whatever provisions for sexual equality have been provided in our Constitution and laws got reflected in our daily life and thinking, we would have been different – for the better). Since the man’s world has not found it possible to make room for women in legislatures and decision-making bodies – it should have been done voluntarily – there is now a legitimate demand for making it possible legally.