It was a fitting tribute to the indomitable spirit of the girl who endured the unendurable that 2013 was ushered in on a sombre note in her memory. The nameless victim of the heinous crime of gangrape has stirred a nation into acting with overdue vigour in tackling the menace of treatment of women in our society. Though legally women acquired equal status decades ago, in reality they are still considered chattel.
Legislators have uniformly sprung into action proposing various stringent measures to make such despicable offences a major crime to be equated with murder. Considering the nation rates even below Somalia in the scale of ill-treatment of women, we cannot afford to stop at simply trying to scare men into submitting to acceptable norms of behaviour vis-à-vis women although instilling that fear is of utmost importance.
The effort should start with educating children right from the time they start school that both sexes are equal. It is by instilling the idea of true equality at an impressionable age that such stereotypes as boys treating women as sex objects can be banished. As a country we have very far to go in allowing women to enjoy the same privileges as men, as seen in Western societies. It’s as much a matter of mindset as it is of enacting legislation. Towards achieving the ideal, we need pointed early education as well as an atmosphere in homes that would promote such equality. This calls for a major national effort, which must begin now when the worst kind of warning has been served.
With regard to acting quickly to stem the rot, Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa has unfolded an action plan that is as admirable in intent as it is timely. Her 13-point charter distils the various thoughts expressed in the wake of the gangrape of the Delhi girl in a moving bus into a cohesive programme featuring various safeguards, like 24-hour call centres for women in distress, women judges to preside over fast-track courts and a bar on bail being granted to offenders who may be booked under the Goondas Act.
States must act not only in instilling fear in potential rapists but, since states are responsible for policing their territories, they must take the lead in enforcement, besides all other measures, like educating the young. The task of galvanising society must begin at the base because the sense of outrage over the gangrape will dissipate with the passage of time. Ms Jayalalithaa has shown the way.