For India's women, rape and slavery are 'tip of the iceberg'

In a global survey of threats against women, India ranked fourth from the bottom.

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NEW DELHI // India is one of the world's most dangerous countries for women, a study has revealed, detailing issues such as slavery, trafficking and sexual violence.
In a global survey of threats against women, which included factors such as culture, religion, economic discrimination and health, India ranked fourth from the bottom. TrustLaw, a legal news service run by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, determined that only Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Pakistan had worse societal threats to women than India. The report, a result of a poll of gender-rights experts, named South Asia as the world's most dangerous region for women.
India ranked fourth primarily due to female foeticide, infanticide and human trafficking, said the report.
Crimes such as domestic violence, rape, sexual harassment, incest, acid attacks and dowry deaths are "just the tip of the iceberg", the report claims.
"There is a tradition of violence here where the women are treated as objects," said Bulbul Das, a lawyer who runs a state-subsidised 24-hour crisis hotline for women in Delhi. "It is accepted in society that a man has the right and the woman deserved it."
Ms Das said she was not surprised by findings of the study. She said her work in Delhi puts her in close contact with the increasing violence and discrimination that women face throughout the country.
By her count, the helpline fields at least a dozen calls each day. The related crisis centre has processed 6,000 cases in the state of Dlahi alone since the helpline opened two years ago.
"This is only the women who reach out," said Ms Das. "It is so difficult for a woman to call. She hesitates a thousand times before picking up the phone."
At least 50 per cent of the women who call in are illiterate, Ms Das said. She claimed that educated women often hesitate to seek help due to societal pressures they face. She believes many fear the dissolution of their marriage or the threat of being separated from their children.
"It is almost worse with [educated women]," she said. "They are more inhibited. They almost don't want to take any action."
Indian women also face a lack of access to finances, land, inheritance rights, education, employment, justice, health care and nutrition, the report said.
Tradition and culture play a major role in how a woman is perceived in Indian society and how she acts at home, Ms Das said.
In most traditional Indian homes, women eat after the men and children have finished their meal. According to Ms Das, women are left to contend with what's left over, diminishing the value of their nutritional intake.
To reach its conclusions, the report asked 213 experts from five continents to rank countries by overall perceptions of danger and risks to women. The ranking was based on health threats, sexual violence, non-sexual violence, cultural or religious factors, lack of access to resources and trafficking.
When asked which country the women faced the greatest danger from trafficking, 12 per cent of experts responded with India. The Democratic Republic of Congo and Afghanistan tied for the second spot at three per cent.
Citing a 2009 report by India's Central Bureau of Investigation, the TrustLaw report noted that 90 per cent of trafficking took place within the country. India has at least three million prostitutes, of which 40 per cent were children under the age of 18.
They findings of the study are no surprise to Neerja Ahlawat, a professor of sociology at the Maharshi Dayanand College. The north Indian state of Haryana, where she works, has the lowest female-to-male ratio in the country at 830 women for every 1,000 men.
India's national ratio averages out to 941 women for per every 1,000. This disparity has led to trafficking of women from poorer parts of India, including Assam and West Bengal. Ms Ahlawat estimates at least 40 per cent of the men in Haryana are unable to wed because of the difference in gender ratio.
Ms Ahlawat said many of these women are trafficked within the country.
"They are promised better futures, but most of the time they have no idea where they are going," she said. "Often times, they never reach their destinations because somewhere in the middle they are sold."
In spite of India's economic growth that has afforded women better education and employment, many say they now face a criticism and discrimination from men who prefer India's male-dominated traditions.
"The more they seek to empower themselves, the greater the backlash. They fight over the newly created space that women want to occupy in the new economy," said Ms Ahlawat, who is also the deputy director of the women studies centre at Maharshi Dayanand College.
Ms Ahlawat said socio-economic factors will continue to dominate the mistreatment of women.
"Many Indians value a buffalo more than a woman," said Ms Ahlawat. "Even though a woman works harder, they believe a buffalo brings more money."
 
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