Democratic countries have constitutions that speak comprehensively about the rights of the people of that country. However, when we look at the history of the devolution of rights of the people, we find that even in the developed world, the women were not treated on even keel with men in terms of general rights. In many European societies, women did not enjoy many rights which the men folks enjoyed and this was true till as late as the 18th or 19th centuries.
This was the reason that from time to time, developed and developing countries had to bring in legislation exclusively for promoting and protecting the rights of the women in their respective societies. For too long a time, women remained deprived of many rights.
The primary reason for denying women their rights at par with the men has been the psychology of male dominance over the females. On that premise, customs and traditions were formulated which remained in place for centuries and became part of the social system.
The psychology of male dominance has been dealt with adequately by social scientists and psychologists. Perhaps the physical, psychological and social construct of the females has been exploited by the males to make a woman behave more like a slave rather than an active and influential partner of man’s life. In order to legitimize male dominance for centuries, in the end, a clever way was devised of misinterpreting the scriptures that would lend credence to male egotism. It is interesting to know that male egotism has remained entrenched so deep that even in developed societies, giving equal rights to women was considered a taboo.
In the orient, the condition was worse owing to illiteracy and the dominance of the ecclesiastical chapter. Scriptures are interpreted in a way that segregation of women and denial of rights to them has been projected as the word of God.
The traditions of Sati among the Hindus and honour killing among the Muslims have been in place. Rights activists consider both as an infringement of the right to life in accordance with the Human Rights Charter. The matters become complicated when supporters of traditions like these tried to invoke scriptures to legitimize the authorization of abuse of the right to life. Sati was abolished through legislation passed during the British Indian rule. However, ‘honour killing’ remains embedded in the traditions and practices of some social groups in the sub-continent.
A big change in behaviour towards women and recognition of their role as an essential component of vibrant civil society became visible only when science and technology made big strides in contemporary times. The age of reason dawned only after the Renaissance of the 15th century.
It opened the vast vista of progress that had the potential of changing the old order. The two World Wars of the 20th century had two very important consequences. The enormous loss of male population in these wars adversely impacted the demographic complexion of European societies.
It brought forth the necessity of making use of women as an important workforce to mitigate the adverse consequences of demographic change. Secondly, by inducting women as the workforce along with men, the question of devolution of the right of women surfaced as a social necessity. Thus began an era of legislating formally for the empowerment of women which, in other words, meant giving them the same rights as men enjoyed.
The United Nations focused on the issue and the UN Charter for Rights of Women was adopted. Nearly two hundred countries of the world became signatories to this charter. It laid down the road map for the empowerment of women and safeguarding their special rights.
As the Charter came into force, it naturally made many countries introduce special legislation and amendments to their constitutions to become compatible with the universal law of protecting the right of the women. Thus if the women in contemporary times are gifted with equal rights, it has happened after a strenuous struggle. It did not happen by itself.
This all said an embarrassing question that haunts societies of the developed nation or developing nations both is this: Do the women find real freedom from discrimination despite the plethora of rights formally conceded to them by societies and regimes including the judicial support available? It is a baffling question and stems from a slew of factors that are very much visible.
Gender discrimination has become so strident that the UN Human Rights Council had to include it in its items for general debate. The insecurity of life and honour of women even in developing countries and ancient cultures has become a distressing fact that calls for the immediate attention of law enforcement agencies.
Physical torture and harassment of women and especially domestic violence have not gone down with the advancement of science and technology. Not only that even the mechanism of registering cases of domestic violence against women leading to psychological depression and bitter sense of humiliation heaped on women has not become possible.
The result is that a vast majority of women live and die their whole lives under the pal of frustration, depression, and despair. A victimized woman would not necessarily and at all times want to take recourse to the law. She would prefer social institutions to play their role in mitigating the psychological dejection consuming her very spirit. This has not yet left the traditional Asiatic societies of which ours is a component.
In the final analysis, a lot more besides necessary legislation is needed to pull the females of the sub-continent out of the morass of gender discrimination, psychological trauma, harassment and above from being treated as a slave.
It is wrong for a society to draw a list of dos and no dos for its women segment and nothing of the sort for the male segment. It is true that women are passing through a phase that may be considered as the pre-requisite to the attainment of full rights with men but the unknown and unspoken pain and deprivation secretly suffered by women have also to be explored and remedied.
Dr Tabasum Firdous is Coordinator Center of Women’s Studies and Research, University of Kashmir