Dr.Mushtaque
Ahmad
Principal
Marwari College
Darbhanga-846004
Contact:09431414586
Email:rm.meezan@gmail.com
Web:www.drmushtaqueahmad.in
In the present era where everyone is talking about women
empowerment be it political parties or feminist groups there still exists a big
question mark on the safety of women. Women empowerment can never touch the
grounds of reality in the absence of strict safety measures. Empowerment means
“to invest with power especially legal power or official authority” but no
power can empower a female if she faces the constant terror of being harassed
or killed on the streets or at her own home. The government and international
organizations may have managed to entitle women with rights be it of equality
or of seeking education but they have constantly failed in making a woman
equipped with safety measures. If we take an overview of our own country’s scenario,
from the stage of being a fetus till her death a woman lives her life as a
vulnerable creature. One group estimates more than 10 million fetuses have been
illegally aborted in India since 1990s and 500,000 girls were being lost
annually due to female foeticides.Mac pherson estimates that 100,000 abortions
continue to be performed every year in India solely because fetus is female.
This sad picture of our society really demands a strict action. Even after
being born, a girl lives in a society where her future is always hidden in the
clouds of fear of being molested someday by an unknown stranger or by her own
so called family members. Not only this , due to illiteracy and several social
dogmas many women become financially crippled once they are stranded by their family
or their husbands. This paper deals with the scenario of safety of women on
social,psychological as well as medical fronts along with the safety measures
that can be taken to make a woman safe in the light of Islam.
Women’s safety on
social and legal front: Man is a social animal and he lives in a society and so does a woman
but what if society itself becomes a prison for a woman. Women constitute
almost 40 %of the society and if they are thrown behind surely the whole
country and the whole world is going to suffer.
“Home is not just the place where
you happen to be born.
It’s the place where you become
yourself” –Pico Iyer1
Home is an abode of dreams where a child opens her eyes and
sees dreams of her future, a place where she is shaped to be a fighter in the
battle of life but what if her own creators become a demon and kill her before
she sees the world just because she is a female child. The Indian government
has passed Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and
Prevention of Misuse) (PCPNDT) Act in 2004 to ban and punish prenatal sex
screening and female feticides. It is currently illegal in India to determine
or disclose sex of the foetus to anyone .However, there are concerns that
PCPNDT Act has been poorly enforced by authorities.
Rape has become the burning question of the day with its
increasing pace causing humanity to be ashamed every second. In a shocking
revelation, police has informed Delhi High Court that 1,704 cases of rape were
registered in the capital in the first ten months of year 2014 ,215 of these
were cases of incestuous rape. The court was further informed that in 43 out of
these, fathers were the accused and in 27 such cases, brothers were the
culprit.
Indian government brought in a new Anti rape Law to combat
this heinous crime which recognized the structural and graded nature of sexual
crimes against women. The government has taken steps like improvements in the
public transport system by increasing the no of buses at night and installing
GPS on all public transport vehicles. Directions have been issued for setting
up of one stop centre for rape complainant at least one hospital in each
district of the national capital territory region. Provisions have been made in
the law, making it mandatory for hospitals to give treatment to victims of
sexual assault and other offences without waiting for the arrival of police. A
three no. helpline with phone no 181 has been set up for women in distress. The
Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 has been passed. All
these safety measure have surely reduced this crime but still there is a need
for more safety measures. A woman should herself take few safety measures like
avoiding moving alone in auto rickshaws at late hours or always keeping pepper
spray or knife as a weapon in emergency.
Our constitution also
empowers women through the 73rd and 74th constitutional
amendment act (1992). These amendment provide 33% reservation for woman in the
local self governing bodies
The most important battle that the whole country is fighting
is illiteracy especially the female section. It is said if you teach a male you
teach one person but if you teach a female you teach the whole family. Swami
Vivekananda rightly said “Educate your
women first and leave them to themselves, then they will tell you what reforms
are needed” 2 .Illiteracy among females is quite dominant. There
are parents who still don’t send their daughters to school sometimes due to
poverty or sometimes due to unawareness. It is really necessary for a country
to prosper that it’s all the sections are literate. Education is the most
important weapon for a woman’s safety on all grounds socially and financially.
Women’s safety on
psychological front:
Many survivors do not report violence for fear of further violence by the perpetrators,
their family, or the community and because of the harmful stigmas wrongfully
attached to experiences of violence. The justice sector should work to enhance
survivor safety at all stages through development f safety and confidentiality
protocols for formal and informal sector personnel ,use of risk-assessment guides,
design of secure spaces for women and girl survivors to report abuse and obtain
support , and provision of free legal assistance to survivors.
A girl should never be taught that she is below the other
gender. She should be psychologically made strong to lead her life in a
dignified manner and with a strong personality to call a spade a spade.
Women’s safety on
medical front: a new study reveals that an Indian girl child
aged 1 to 5 years is 75% more likely to die than an Indian boy making this the
worst gender differential in child mortality for any country in the world.
Both malnutrition and anemia have increased among women since
1998 to 99. 33% of married women are too thin according to BMI . 56.2%female
suffer from anemia according to National Family Health Survey
2005-2006.Government may have started the initiative of mid day meals in
schools to raise education and reduce malnutrition but still the percentage of
children especially girls dying due to malnutrition is quite high. Several
pregnant women lose their lives due to dearth of hospitals. In this situation
government needs to provide free medicines on a regular basis to females and
start a provision for free regular checkups. Hospitals should be built in the
remote areas. A nation can be built strong only when its female section is
strong and healthy.
If we take the example of Islam, Islam has always preached
equality for women and giving financial, social, emotional, medical,
psychological security to women. Islam whose first follower was Khadijah r.a. has always stood up for the rights of women
even at times when women were treated as slaves and animals. Islam gave a provision of remarriage for widows , Islam
encouraged female education and allowed women to come out of homes and do jobs
of teachers, nurses etc. In Islam, a girl child has a share in her father’s
property. All these tenets of Islam if practiced a woman can be nurture in the
best manner and the whole nation can develop with her development. Prophet
Mohammad said “Daughter is our eyes
luster” 3. This shows the importance of women in Islam. The holy
Quran also mentions the importance of women many times especially in the surah
nisha.4
Our
first President, Dr. Rajendra Prasad rightly said:
“Our women have a great part to play in the
progress of our country as the mental and physical contact of women with life
is much more lasting and comprehensive than that of men.” 5
Development of woman is necessary for the
development of country as Charles Fourier said “One could judge the degrees of civilizations of a country by the social
and political position of its women” 6. Even the French general
Napoleon acknowledged the women role in development of a country. He said “Give me good mothers and I will give you a
great nation”. 7
The notion of a
developed country without its women being empowered is utterly absurd. It is just
like notion of a bird flying only on one wing. But the women can’t be empowered
and take part in development if they are not safe at any front may it be
psychological, medical, legal or social.
I would like to end
my paper with these couplets from Sir Allama Iqbal:
“Wajooden jan se hai tasweerain kainaat main rang
Usi ke saaj se hai
zindagi ka sooze darun” 8
*(The world is meaningful only by the existence of women and
only because of them our life is fruitful).
Reference:
1.
Pico
Iyer- The complete collection of Pico Iyer Essays 2006.
2.
Selected
speeches of Swami Vivekananda- Pub:Oxford publication,1934
3.
Hadeeth(speeches
of prophet mohammad)
4.
Surah
nisha-The holy Quran
5.
Speeches
of Dr.Rajendra Prasad-Pub:Publication Div.Govt. Of India,1983.
6.
Charles
Fourier- The social destinies of men 1808
7.
Napoleon
Bonaparte- Addresses of Napoleon Bonaparte
8.
Zarbe
kalim- Sir Allama Iqbal. PUB: EPH Delhi,1990.
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