Does God have any gender? If no, then why should the humans created by God make significant, but abysmal demarcations on the basis of gender in the society? The society functions through an implied set of rules which are established from the customs, traditions, the culture, the religion and the mental framework developed from the ancestral times. All such distinctions are targeted towards the oppression of women which has become a universal phenomenon. Despite the urban India, delivering a blooming picture , with claims of equal treatment to both sexes, a booming 60% of the Indian population , residing in the rural areas, surviving on agriculture are presenting an appalling account of their impartiality, and impalement towards the fairer sex.
The excruciating pain and torture of the women has lead to a struggle towards their emancipation.
Article 14, which pronounces the equality of one and all and protection of their interests before law, and Article21, which entitles that no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty, are only left to be debris, to be mocked at. Despite such laws, women are facing social prejudices and are demeaned when compared to their male counterparts. The social stigmas are agonizing and harrowing. The estrapade at all levels from the lowest and initial stages of female infanticide to the highest, i.e. the Parliament, the judicial system claiming equality of law for one and all, irrespective of gender differences, is itself giving an example of impartial treatment to females, where males are given superiority and despite reservations set for women, a very meager number is contesting for the same.
The women are molested and raped at every nook and corner of the street. The society which initially boasts of treating the women at par with the men, is the same, which turns it’s back to the rape victims, when they are in hapless, traumatic situation and are most in need of mental support and assurance. And the very few cases, where she does report to the system for assistance in order to secure justice, she faces public humiliation and her character is kept at stake. Questions over morality arise in the court which further rages an already shocked mind. Myriad examples can be seen where the rape victim is ostracized from the society and treated like a pariah. She ends up with a distressed mind and a suicide.
They very rightly say there are two rapes first the actual one, the second at the time of the trial when the victim is asked all sorts of questions.
In a recent case, in Boregaon village, Madhya Pradesh, India, a married woman of a low caste (Gomad caste), was raped by a young member of an affluent OBC caste. When she managed to flee from the acute, unbearable torment, and returned home, with a ray of hope in her heart that she may possibly try to recuperate from the mental turmoil and physical harassment, she was greeted with frosty eyes and forced out of her home. Situations aggravated to a lamentable and repugnant form, when the entire village declared her to be immoral character, and decided to take the law in their hands. They wanted to teach her a lesson for getting raped, and set an example for the rest of the women folk. With her hands tied behind her back and garland of shoes strung around her neck , she was stripped and made to parade naked through the streets of the village by the members of her own community for being raped and bringing a blot of shame and stigma to her family .
This is the merciful fate of innumerable women, suffering from pecuniary situations in deplorable state, all over the country. Other forms are dowry deaths, marital rape and the list goes on.
However, this can be modified into a society, where equal status is given to both the genders, through the knowledge and awareness spread over all levels. Knowledge is the only way to make the society realize it’s ignorance towards the weaker sections. It is the essence of an organized and civilized existence.
