Can you believe that there was another case of a gang rape and murder near Delhi when the whole country is protesting against the bus murder and rape case? It makes me so angry. How do we continue to live with this injustice and a violation of human rights? Do we really know how serious this is??
This has triggered so much reaction across the world and in India, but this is really just a tip of the iceberg. Women and girls live in a constant fear of sexual harassment at work and in a public space, domestic violence, sexual violence and so many other forms of gender based violence, whether it is a forced marriage or acid attack. You name it. It is so pervasive to the extent that it is normalized. For example, in this country, there are more women who say it is acceptable to hit a wife if she burns food, refuses to have sex etc than men (routine question in health surveys). There is not even a single day without a stare or comments from men on a street. Even in my life of 36 years, I was sexually harassed twice (in a long distance overnight bus and in a public library in Canada), and had an emotionally abusive boyfriend. Recently, I had a stalker incident (nothing serious happened but he sort of broke into my apartment while I was inside- he was arrested but now released). Now, I have to move to another apartment for ensuring my security! I just looked up stats. In Japan, they had over 14,000 reported stalking cases two years ago, and the majority of the victims are women.
There has been a series of sexual violence and child sexual abuse reported lately in this country. It also gives some people an opportunity to say "Women and girls should be protected. They should stay home and should not go out alone." It goes without saying that this is hardly a solution. Home could be one of the most dangerous places as far as GBV is concerned, and it is the society, culture and attitude that need to be changed and not other way around.
This is part of my job, but it can be so depressing.
