March 8th every year seems to be a day of rhetoric by people of all shades; politicians, activists, journalists, students, teachers and the rest of the educated lot. They all swear to give equality in all sense of terms to women, promise to stand for their so-called legitimate rights, give themselves to oppose all attempts of stereotyping women, fight female infanticide, female foeticide, and most of all ending domestic violence and cruelty against women. The very next day, all the beautiful signs are wiped out from all the places. Even the traces are hard to find. Every year cases of violation of the body of women registered and recorded on March 8th are forgotten the next day. So, the International Women’s Day is an occasion of mere rhetoric.
Reading the Indian Express only a couple of days ago, I found a columnist bringing to notice the practice of bride abduction in many parts of the globe taking Kyrgyzstan as its epicentre. The narration goes like this, “Just imagine your daughter is coming home from college. A gang of men suddenly grabs her, forcibly tosses her into a car even as she screams, cries, throws about her hands and legs, tries to bite her abductors, but she's overpowered. There's a bridegroom at the other end waiting to marry her. Marriage (Wedding) preparations complete with ceremonial rituals are ready to be performed, family and friends invited to enjoy the wedding reception. Only the bride is missing. So a girl is kidnapped and brought to fit the role. It's a bona fide marriage where she'll become part of a respected family, but she's given no choice.”
This is a traditional ‘ritual’ in Kyrgyizstan, where it is called Ala Kachuu, which is illegal and punishable according to law. But, none are ever prosecuted and sentenced. “NGOs working there figure ala achuu is seen in 68-75 per cent of weddings.” The author goes on to ask, how does above story strike you? This Kyrgyz ritual certainly reminds me of ancient Indian practice glorified by DDLJsque Rukmini Haran (Abduction of Rukmini) by Krishna, emulated by his disciple Arujna and carried out by thousands of others. (Raavan was an exception for he abducted a woman but did not force her to cohabit or marry.)
This is still going on in India with unsuspecting brides being lured, threatened, abducted from Jharkhand, Orissa, Assam and other economically backward states and forced to marry female foeticidal, female infanticidal brethren from Haryana, Punjab and some other parts. The Indian Express columnist was exasperated, anguished, so am I (and so are probably few millions others from the billion plus nation).
According to the United Nations Organization and UN Women, 7 out of 10 women around the world are beaten, raped, abused or mutilated in their lifetimes. However, no woman perhaps can say that she was never violated. Violence against women is universal, prevalent in all countries and settings. According to the International Labour Organization women and girls comprise 98 percent of all people suffering ‘forcible exploitation’.
Shockingly, this state of women on the planet earth is despite ‘the best efforts of the member states of the UNO’. Today, 187 countries out of 193 UN members have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Besides, the United Nations Security Council now recognizes sexual violence as a deliberate tactic of war. Notwithstanding UN’s sensitivity, more than 60 crore women live in countries that do not recognize domestic violence as a crime at all.
So, on the rhetorical day in 2013, when the earth is striving to expand its sphere of influence beyond its own galaxy and when the question of gender equality and sense of gender sensitivity lie buried in the proverbial dark ages, I wish everyone a very happy International Women’s Day!
good piece on women's day....
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