Women safety in India

It is very true that women in India are given a place of Goddess Lakshmi in the Indian society however we also cannot ignore the negative aspect of women position in India. Every day and every minute some women of all walks of life (a mother, a sister, a wife, young girls, and girl baby children) are getting harassed, molested, assaulted, and violated at various places all over the country. Areas like streets, public spaces, public transport, etc have been the territory of women hunters. Girl students studying in the schools or colleges have to shield themselves through books or bags or they have to wear clothes which can cover them completely. In some cases a girl child is sale by her parents just to earn some money. Girls generally face acid attacks on the streets and kidnapping for the sex purpose by strangers. According to the statistics, it is found that a woman is raped in India every 20 minutes.

In the rural areas, women are still being raped by a family member, beaten by husbands or parents-in-law, burned for dowry, and so many cases. Nirbhaya gang-rape in the national capital of India was a dreadful event which can never be forgotten. Woman covers almost half population of the country so they are half participants in the growth and development of India. We are running in the 21st century, an advanced era however it is very shame to say about the doubtful safety of woman in India.

Some Tips Regarding Women Safety

• Self defence techniques are the first and foremost thing to which each and every woman must be aware of and get proper self-defense training for their safety. They must be aware of some effective defence techniques such as kicks to groin, blocking punches, etc.
• Generally most of the women are gifted with sixth sense which they must use whenever they become in some problem. They should at once avoid any situation which they feel bad for them.
• Escape and run is also a good way to reduce some risks of women whenever they become in problem. They should never go with any unknown person alone at some unknown places.
• Women must understand and feel their physical power and use accordingly. They never feel themselves weak than men and take some self defence training.
• They should be careful while communicating with someone on internet in the cyberspace.
• Pepper spray can also be proved as a useful self-defence tool however it has a drawback that some people cannot be harmed through it even after full-face spray. It may not stop the attacker so women should not depend on it completely and use other techniques also.
• They must have all the emergency numbers with them and whatsapp also if possible so that they can immediately tell to their family members and police.
• Women should be very conscious while driving the car and going to any trip. They must lock all the doors of car while travelling with own or private car.

Save Girl Child

Save the girl child

‘How sad, many girls missing from our country are found buried in some graveyard….

India is growing dynamically in every fields. Today, the boom in economy, innovative technologies and improved infrastructure has become nation’s pride. The country has witnessed advancements in all fields but bias against a girl child is still prevailing in the country.

This social evil is deep rooted in Indian ethos and the most shocking fact is that the innovative and hard high end technologies are brutally killing the Indian girl child. Innovative techniques, like biopsy, ultrasound, scan tests and amniocentesis, devised to detect genetic abnormalities, are highly misused by number of families to detect gender of the unborn child. These clinical tests are highly contributing to the rise in genocide of the unborn girl child.

In today’s day and age most couples prefer the process known as a planned pregnancy, because of various factors; prime amongst them being the financial well being to support the birth and nurturing of a child. In such cases, the first prenatal visit actually happens prior to actual pregnancy, to see whether one is ready to go off the contraception pills and conceive a baby.

However, in maximum conceptions, one is unaware of the pregnancy until actual realization dawns after one skips the first menstrual cycle. Normally doctors except ladies to pay their first visit anywhere between the sixth and twelfth week after conception.

Amniocentesis started in India in 1974 to detect fetal abnormalities. These tests were used to detect gender for the first time in 1979 in Amritsar, Punjab. Later the test was stopped by the Indian Council of Medical Research but it was too late. The benefits of these tests were leaked out and people started using it as an instrument for killing an innocent and unborn girl child.  Many of the traditional women organizations also took up cudgels to stop this illegal practice but all failed and with the passage of time these tests became a major contributor to bias against a girl child.

Female feticide and infanticide is not the only issues with a girl child in India. At every stage of life she is discriminated and neglected for basic nutrition, education and living standard. When she was in the womb, she was forced to miss the moment when she was supposed to enter the world. At the time of birth her relatives pulled her back and wrung her neck. After killing her she was thrown into a trash can.

During childhood, her brother was loaded with new shoes, dresses and books to learn while she was gifted a broom, a wiper and lots of tears. In her teenage, she missed tasty delicious food to eat and got only the crumbs. During her college days, she was forced to get married, a stage where illiteracy, lack of education resulted in high fertility rate, aggravating the condition of females in the country. Again if this female gives birth to a girl child, the journey begins once again. She missed all roses of life and was finally fitted to a graveyard. That’s where she got peace of mind.

The nation of mothers still follows a culture where people idolizes son and mourns daughters. UN figures out that about 750,000 girls are aborted every year in India. Abortion rates are increasing in almost 80% of the India states, mainly Punjab and Haryana. These two states have the highest number of abortions every year. If the practice continues, then no longer a day will come when Mother India will have no mothers, potentially, no life.

We all are proud citizens of India. The need of hour is to realize our responsibilities and give a halt to this evil crime. What can we do to curb the brutal and undesirable practice of mass killing girls? A determined drive can initiate a spark to light the lamp and show the world that we all are part of the great Mother India..

Gender discrimination in India

In India, discriminatory attitude towards men and women have existed for generations and effect the lives of both genders. Although the constitution of India has granted men and women equal rights, gender disparity still remains. Gender discrimination violates human rights. These are mostly seen in family land sharing among sisters and brothers.

There is specific research on gender discrimination mostly in favour of men over women.^[1] Women are perceived to be disadvantaged at work.^[2] Indian laws on Rape, Dowry and Adultery have women's safety at heart, but these highly discriminatory practices are still taking place at an alarming rate.

BirthEdit

The cultural construct of Indian society which reinforces gender bias against men and women, with varying degrees and variable contexts against the opposite sex,^[3] has led to the continuation of India’s strong preference for male children. Female infanticide and sex-selective abortion is adopted and strongly reflects the low status of Indian women. Census 2011 shows decline of girl population (as a percentage to total population) under the age of seven, with activists estimating that eight million female fetuses may have been aborted in the past decade.^[4] The 2005 census shows infant mortality figures for females and males are 61 and 56, respectively, out of 1000 live births,^[5] with females more likely to be aborted than males due to biased attitudes.

A decline in the child sex ratio(0–6 years) was observed with India’s 2011 census reporting that it stands at 914 females against 1,000 males, dropping from 927 in 2001 - the lowest since India’s independence.^[6]

The demand for sons among wealthy parents is being satisfied by the medical community through the provision of illegal service of fetal sex-determination and sex-selective abortion. The financial incentive for physicians to undertake this illegal activity seems to be far greater than the penalties associated with breaking the law.^[7]

Child marriage in India

Child Marriage India by SDRC

Child marriage in India, according to the Indian law, is a marriage where either the woman is below age 18 or the man is below age 21. Most child marriages involve underage women, many of whom are in poor socio-economic conditions.

Child marriages were prevalent inIndia. Estimates vary widely between sources as to the extent and scale of child marriages. The International Center for Research on Women-UNICEF publications have estimated India's child marriage rate to be 47% from small sample surveys of 1998,^[1]while the United Nations reports it to be 30% in 2005.^[2] The Census of Indiahas counted and reported married women by age, with proportion of females in child marriage falling in each 10 year census period since 1981. In its 2001 census report, India stated zero married girls below age 10, 1.4 million married girls out of 59.2 million girls aged 10–14, and 11.3 million married girls out of 46.3 million girls aged 15–19.^[3] Since 2001, child marriage rates in India have fallen another 46%, reaching an overall nationwide average 7% child marriage rates by 2009.^[4] Jharkhand is the state with highest child marriage rates in India (14.1%), while Kerala is the only state where child marriage rates have increased in recent years.^[4][5] Rural rates of child marriages were three times higher than urban India rates in 2009.^[4]

Child marriage was outlawed in 1929, under Indian law. However, in the British colonial times, the legal minimum age of marriage was set at 15 for girls and 18 for boys. Under protests from Muslim organizations in the undivided British India, a personal law Shariat Act was passed in 1937 that allowed child marriages with consent from girl's guardian.^[6] After independence and adoption of Indian constitution in 1950, the child marriage act has undergone several revisions. The minimum legal age for marriage, since 1978, has been 18 for women and 21 for men.^[7] The child marriage prevention laws have been challenged in Indian courts,^[6] with some Muslim Indian organizations seeking no minimum age and that the age matter be left to their personal law.^[8][9] Child marriage is an active political subject as well as a subject of continuing cases under review in the highest courts of India.^[8]

Several states of India have introduced incentives to delay marriages. For example, the state of Haryanaintroduced the so-called Apni Beti, Apna Dhan program in 1994, which translates to "My daughter, My wealth". It is a conditional cash transferprogram dedicated to delaying young marriages by providing a government paid bond in her name, payable to her parents, in the amount of 25,000(US$370), after her 18th birthday if she is not married.^[10]

How to attain gender equity in science classroom

Though the problem of science disparity may be said to have its most profound effects on students at the university level, addressing the issue requires a mix of approaches at every stage of education. Younger students must be introduced to the subjects of math and science in a way that makes it clear that they can, and should, strive to attain excellence. In high school, a greater range of scientific electives, along with a broader range of related requirements for all students and higher availability of after-school tutoring, will help to eliminate the stigma of math and science as being too difficult or irrelevant. At the college level, a well-crafted curriculum with emphasis on the scientific components of a general education will help students of all backgrounds to explore their interests in the scientific world at the stage of life most likely to kindle a new career.

Impact of gender in equality in education

Gender inequality in education has a variety of negative consequences for the women affected and for the scientific community at large. At the most basic level, the gender gap threatens to turn research science into a “closed club” where consensus thinking and the absence of new perspectives may hinder advances. Women who lack the opportunity to discover their scientific aptitudes may end up in careers to which they are less suited, and even female students with no scientific aspirations might suffer without the rounded educational experience granted to their male peers. On a larger level, excluding women from science in the classroom sets the stage for a huge decline in scientific literacy for the whole society. This makes the public less savvy consumers of scientific information, and more likely to be exploited, deceived, or simply confused by pseudo-scientific claims.

Gender equality in science  education 


One of the clearest signs of a society’s intellectual health is the strength of its science and math education. Science and math help to spur developments in scientific research and industrial technology, and ultimately lead to a more diverse, robust economy. But in the United States, and even in countries where a greater emphasis is placed on math and science, there is one segment of the population that does not always benefit from the best science and math education the community has to offer: girls and women. It has long been known that there is a “gender gap” in the sciences, which affects the quality and type of education offered to women even up to the advanced college level.

Evidence of a science gender gap

Evidence of a science gender gap has been provided by research evaluating the population of professionals in the academic fields of science and engineering, as well as surveys and polls focusing on students’ perceptions of these subjects. Research has generally supported the conclusion that there are no biological, neurological, or genetic factors at work in the creation of scientific gender disparity. Rather, a combination of elements combine to make it more difficult for women to train for and maintain a high-achieving scientific career. These factors include social stigma of the sciences as “masculine”, institutional bias in the scientific community, and pressures related to starting a family.