Women'S Rights and Social Change
TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 Human Rights and Women ................................................................ 1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 1 Emergence of Civil Liberties Movements ................................................. 1 Women’s Movement .................................................................................. 1 Public Interest Litigationm ........................................................................ 2 Struggle against Pervasive Discrimination ................................................ 3 Resisting Displacement Induced By ‘Development’ Projects ................... 3 Communalism ............................................................................................ 3 New Movements and Campaigns .............................................................. 4 The Study ................................................................................................... 5 A Mapping of Human Rights Issues .......................................................... 6 Custodial Violence ..................................................................................... 6 Project Displacement ................................................................................. 7 The Internally Displaced due to Conflicts ................................................. 7 Refugees .................................................................................................... 7 Land Alienation ......................................................................................... 8 Right Over Resources ................................................................................ 9 Urban Shelter and Demolition ................................................................. 10 Livelihood ................................................................................................ 11 Sexual Harassment at the Workplace ...................................................... 12 Rape ......................................................................................................... 13 Death Penalty ........................................................................................... 14 Fake Encounters ...................................................................................... 14 Preface xi Involuntary Disappearances .................................................................... 15 Extraordinary Laws ................................................................................. 16 Preventive Detention ............................................................................... 17 Detention ................................................................................................. 18 Missing Women ....................................................................................... 21 Homicide in the Matrimonial Home ........................................................ 21 Domestic Violence ................................................................................... 22 Sati .......................................................................................................... 23 Child Marriage ......................................................................................... 23 Child Labour ............................................................................................ 23 The ‘Neglected’ Child ............................................................................. 24 Child Abuse ............................................................................................. 25 The ‘Unwanted’ Girl Child ...................................................................... 25 Prostitution .............................................................................................. 26 Prisons ..................................................................................................... 27 Wages to Prisoners ................................................................................... 28 Sexuality .................................................................................................. 29 Freedom of Expression ............................................................................ 29 Dalits ........................................................................................................ 29 Medical Research .................................................................................... 31 Population Policies .................................................................................. 31 Organ Transplant ..................................................................................... 32 Trafficking ............................................................................................... 32 Bonded Labour ........................................................................................ 33 Anti-liquor Movements ........................................................................... 33 HIV and AIDS ......................................................................................... 34 Denotified Tribes ..................................................................................... 34 Tourism .................................................................................................... 35 Right to Information ................................................................................ 35 Political Violence by Non-State Actors ................................................... 36 Conflict among Rights ............................................................................. 37 A more just Deal for Women and Fair Trial Standards ............................ 38 HIV, AIDS and Disclosure ....................................................................... 39 AIDS and High Risk Groups ................................................................... 40 Abortion in the Context of Women’s Health and Sex Selective Abortion40 Sexual Harassment in the Workplace ...................................................... 40 Freedom of Expression, Privacy and Censorship .................................... 41 Prostitution .............................................................................................. 41 Strategies and Responses ......................................................................... 43 Organising People .................................................................................... 43 Working on the Right to Information ...................................................... 43 Iconisation ............................................................................................... 43 vi Bringing in the Media .............................................................................. 44 Fact-finding, People’s Tribunals and People’s Commissions .................. 44 Visiting Zones of Conflict and Violence ................................................. 45 People to People Dialogue ....................................................................... 45 Negotiating Conflict ................................................................................ 45 Truth Commission ................................................................................... 45 Dissemination .......................................................................................... 46 Peace Committees .................................................................................... 46 Census ...................................................................................................... 46 Setting the non-negotiable ....................................................................... 46 Legislation ............................................................................................... 46 Campaigns ............................................................................................... 47 Resistance and Protest ............................................................................. 47 Help lines ................................................................................................. 48 Trial Observers ........................................................................................ 48 Courts ...................................................................................................... 49 Compensation .......................................................................................... 50 Extraordinary Laws ................................................................................. 50 Other Laws .............................................................................................. 50 Counselling .............................................................................................. 51 National Commission for Women ........................................................... 51 Chapter 2 Human Rights Violations against Sexuality Minorities ................ 52 Introduction ............................................................................................. 52 Human Rights and Sexuality Minorities ................................................. 52 The Status of Sexuality Minorities in India ............................................. 53 Context and Methodology ....................................................................... 54 Focus of the Report ................................................................................. 55 Discrimination by the State ..................................................................... 56 The Law ................................................................................................... 56 The Police ................................................................................................ 58 Societal Discrimination ........................................................................... 63 The Family ............................................................................................... 63 The Medical Establishment ..................................................................... 64 Popular Culture ........................................................................................ 68 Public Spaces ........................................................................................... 70 Workspaces .............................................................................................. 71 Household Spaces .................................................................................... 71 Impact of Discrimination on the Self ...................................................... 71 Issues of Further Marginalization ............................................................ 72 Lesbians ................................................................................................... 72 Bisexuals .................................................................................................. 74 vii Hijras ....................................................................................................... 75 Low-income Groups and/or Non-English Background ........................... 78 Conclusions and Recommendations ........................................................ 79 Legal Measures ........................................................................................ 79 Police Reforms ........................................................................................ 79 Reforming the Medical Establishment .................................................... 80 Interventions by Civil Society ................................................................. 80 Chapter 3 Implementing Land Rights for Women .......................................... 81 Case Study and Background .................................................................... 81 Background .............................................................................................. 81 Initial Diagnostic of the Problem ............................................................ 83 Gender-Just Agrarian Reform .................................................................. 83 Land Reform: Distributive Justice for Sustainable Livelihoods or the Market Mechanism? ................................................................................ 84 The Social and Political Context ............................................................. 86 Concrete Modality of the Intervention Carried Out ................................ 89 Legal and Policy Context ........................................................................ 89 Building on Lessons from Positive Cases ............................................... 89 Long Term Leases to Empower at Least Two Generations of Women ... 91 Land to the Women Tiller ........................................................................ 91 Climate of Co-operation: Recent Pro-Women Reform ........................... 91 Possibilities for Future Cooperation ........................................................ 94 Possibilities for Future Cooperation ........................................................ 94 Participatory Information Collection on Land and Resources and its Equitable Distribution ............................................................................. 98 Chapter 4 Rights of Women in Relation to Marriage ................................... 103 Introduction ........................................................................................... 103 Issue: Rights in Relation to Marriage .................................................... 103 Rationale ................................................................................................ 107 Objectives .............................................................................................. 109 Scope ..................................................................................................... 109 Chapter Divisions .................................................................................. 110 Baseline Study ....................................................................................... 112 Methodology: Process Report of the Baseline Study ............................ 112 Status of Available Data ........................................................................ 113 Primary Data .......................................................................................... 113 Rights on Entry ...................................................................................... 113 Evidence of Disadvantage ..................................................................... 114 Contributing Factors .............................................................................. 115 Effects on Women .................................................................................. 116 viii Government Initiatives .......................................................................... 118 Rights during Marriage .......................................................................... 123 Evidence of Disadvantage ..................................................................... 123 Contributory Factors .............................................................................. 124 Effect on Women ................................................................................... 127 Government Initiatives .......................................................................... 128 Rights at Dissolution of Marriage ......................................................... 131 Divorce .................................................................................................. 131 Widowhood ........................................................................................... 137 Conclusion ............................................................................................. 142 General Concerns .................................................................................. 142 National Programmes ............................................................................ 144 Social Movements ................................................................................. 147 Recommendations ................................................................................. 150 Chapter 5 Rights and Social Work for Women .............................................. 153 Women’s Rights in India and its Obstacles ........................................... 153 The Constitutional Position ................................................................... 153 Personal Laws ........................................................................................ 156 Domestic Violence as an Issue .............................................................. 169 Narrow Reading of International Human Rights Law .......................... 169 Political Motivation ............................................................................... 170 Chapter 6 Patrarchy and the Subordination of Women ............................... 181 Women’s Commission ........................................................................... 181 Composition .......................................................................................... 181 Functions ............................................................................................... 181 Activities ................................................................................................ 182 Meetings/Workshops/Consultations/Public Hearing ............................. 183 Studies Sponsored by the NCW ............................................................ 184 Social Equity System ............................................................................. 184 Macroeconomic, Demographic and Labour Market Trends .................. 185 The Social Security System in India: An Overview .............................. 187 Select Components of India’s Social Security System .......................... 187 Schemes for the Unorganized Sector ..................................................... 191 Health Schemes ..................................................................................... 193 Reform Themes ..................................................................................... 193 Patriarchy and the Subordination of Women ......................................... 196 What is Patriarchy? ................................................................................ 197 Feminism ............................................................................................... 199 Approaches to Understand Patriarchy ................................................... 202 Liberal Feminism ................................................................................... 202 ix Marxist Feminism .................................................................................. 203 Socialist Feminism ................................................................................ 203 Radical Feminism .................................................................................. 207 Structures of Patriarchy ......................................................................... 211 Chapter 7 Social Change—Population, Urbanization, and Social Movements....................................................................................... 214 Gender and Gender Inequality............................................................... 214 Understanding Sex and Gender ............................................................. 214 Feminism and Sexism ............................................................................ 225 Gender Inequality .................................................................................. 230 Violence against Women ....................................................................... 235 The Benefits and Costs of Being Male .................................................. 242 Important Points .................................................................................... 243 Health and Medicine .............................................................................. 244 Understanding Health, Medicine, and Society ...................................... 244 Health and Medicine in International Perspective ................................. 250 Theories of Health and Illness in India .................................................. 252 Social Change: Population, Urbanization, and Social Movements ....... 254 Population .............................................................................................. 254 Urbanization .......................................................................................... 263 Social Movements ................................................................................. 268 Important Points .................................................................................... 274 Bibliography ..................................................................................... 277 Index ................................................................................................. 281