Gender-based violence – Germany versus India

By M L Satyan

Bengaluru, July 25, 2022: “Severely abused by husband,” “Beaten and choked by her partner,” “She wanted to leave him, he shot her” – these are just some recent headlines in German newspapers. Violence against women is on the rise in Germany.

German authorities report a high number of violent incidents against women committed by their partner or ex-partner. The most recent figures from 2020 found an increase of 4.9 percent on the previous year. Women are disproportionately more likely to become victims of violence, accounting for four out of five cases.

In the capital Berlin alone, hundreds of homophobic and transphobic incidents are recorded every year including insults, coercion and threats as well as simple, dangerous and attempted assaults. Now Justice Minister Marco Buschmann wants to reform and expand Germany’s Penal Code to allow harsher punishments.

“No woman ‘belongs’ to her partner,” Justice Minister Buschmann said, rejecting the notion of a man’s patriarchal claim to ownership of a woman. “No man should presume the right to determine the life of a woman,” he said.

Justice for victims of gender-based violence entails more than criminal justice, the experts say, suggesting that those suffering from gender-based violence need protection, assistance and support. The minister is hoping to amend the Penal Code this year.

Let us now look at our own country. Dinakaran, a Tamil newspaper published a news item on July 25 about Droupadi Murmu assuming her responsibility as the 15th President of India. Just below that ‘great news’ was a very ‘disturbing news’ about the rape of a fourth grade girl in a government school toilet near Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Shockingly, the husband of a housekeeping maid in that school committed this crime.

Here is another case. A 30-year-old woman was gang-raped by two railway employees in a train lighting hut meant for railway electrical maintenance staff while two others guarded the room at New Delhi railway station premises in the wee hours of July 22. Rape in India has become a ‘never-ending’ incident and it occurs every nook and corner of the country. As per a reliable survey 75 percent of rape cases are buried and are not known to the public.

One of the disconcerting facts of India is that, gender discrimination is at its highest peak. Gender discrimination or sexual discrimination is a social evil that breathes in almost all the corners of India. Gender discrimination simply means unequal rights and unequal treatment between male and female. It is a menace which is deeply-rooted in our society.

Even though the Constitution of India protects and provides equal rights to men and women and provides equal measures to enhance the position of women in society, yet there are many women who are not able to enjoy the rights which are pledged to them. The major causes of gender discrimination are:

Illiteracy: There are roughly 960 million uneducated adults; out of which two thirds are women. Lack of education of the girls has been a major cause of gender discrimination. The female literacy rate differs from 35 percent in Bihar to 88 percent in Kerala. States like Rajasthan, Assam, Bihar, the female literacy rate is below than 50 percent. Growth towards the education by the girls is very sedate. Illiteracy contributes to poor health conditions, lower living status and increase in number of crimes.

Poverty: Poverty is the principal cause of gender inequality in the male dominated Indian society. In most of the families, males are the sole bread earners of the family, which increases the financial dependency on the male counterpart of the family; which down the line is the cause of gender inequality.

Societal norms, rules and customs: Women are trapped in the societal norms, its rules and customs. The orthodox traditional patriarchal family system has always constricted the role of women mostly to the domestic world. In India, from ages men have dominated women. As a consequence, women have lower status in the family and in the society.

This conservative thinking of the society is still prevalent in this modern era, leading to ‘testing the gender of the fetuses’ and termination of pregnancy in an illegal way. Mindset like, teaching the kitchen work to the girl child is more important as compared to sending her to the school is horrible. Many families feel that sending a girl child to the school is a redundant economic burden as later on in life she will be married and will be sent to another family. This pessimistic thinking of parents and society is the cause of gender disparity in India.

Lack of awareness: Lack of awareness among the genders, especially women; for their rights and opportunities is still there in India. Because of their ignorance women accept to tolerate the violence and trauma of the family.

According to World Health Organisation (WHO), nearly 30 percent of all women who have ever lived in a relationship have experienced physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner which further resulted in violence from family. Number of schemes were launched by the government to reduce gender inequality in India. But they were not effective.

Sangita Singh, an HR professional says, “Women in our society are bearing the burnt in some or the other form such as Physical Violence leading to injury, impairment, damage; Sexual Violence involving rape, molestation, forced marriage, abortion etc.; Emotional Violence containing threats, harassment, acid attacks; Economic Violence leading to limiting the access to basic needs, lack of health facility, withholding monetary support etc.

G.C. Chaturvedi, director, National Rural Health Mission says “Controlling infanticide, ensuring better education for girls, good sanitation facilities in schools, financial aid for education, aid for household business, security at local level, law abiding officials to oversee welfare programs in small towns and villages, awareness programs for women at all levels, check on workplace dominance, better and safe transport and health facilities, easy availability of resources, quick and respected trials for victims, better law enforcement, assistance to social organizations to work effectively are the ways to empower women.”

Like Germany, the Ministry of Law and Justice in India must take serious steps to reduce and prevent gender-based discriminations and violence.