The Internet: Helping Us Dream Up a Better World for Women: Guest Post by Vani Vishwanathan

About our guest contributor: Vani Viswanathan is a student of M.A. in Development Studies in Mumbai. She is especially passionate about women’s issues, and her M.A. dissertation explores the influence of Tamil cinema in college students’ perceptions of sexual harassment. She is also an avid writer, and co-edits an online literary magazine Spark (www.sparkthemagazine.com). She can be contacted at vani.viswanathan@gmail.com.

When was the last time you clicked ‘Like’ on a Facebook post by a page whose cause you associated with? Or shared an article whose content you agreed or disagreed with? Or signed a petition for a cause you wholeheartedly support?

Welcome to the world of online activism. The internet has been such a big leap forward for many of us in terms of helping us know more and connect with often unknown people on shared ideas, thoughts, passions and – as this blog does – shared forms of oppression. It has especially been powerful in giving the oppressed, often silenced communities a voice. The sheer volume of information from across the world exposes our minds to things we might never have thought of before.

I personally consider the internet as having given shape to my nascent feminist ideas. I strongly believe online activism is very much a force to reckon with. I think it has especially given a boost to the Indian women’s movement, taking it to a different level by letting passionate individuals – in addition to organisations – lead causes of their own. Take, for instance, the Blank Noise project, started by Jasmeen Patheja in 2003 as a college final year project, or the Pink Chaddi campaign, started by Nisha Susan, a freelance editor/writer. While the Pink Chaddi campaign raised a lot of attention during its short life, the Blank Noise project has today grown into a national-level movement raising awareness on street sexual harassment – and all this was possible because of the internet. Additionally, it has helped spread the bases further – into the hinterlands, for causes in the hinterlands. Finally, a very positive development is that the internet has helped extend the cause to cover all aspects of gender, not just women – it now embraces the transgenders, intersex too.

One such movement that especially intrigued me was SlutWalk in Kolkata. Led by an enthusiastic group of college-going students, they survived nation-level dissent against the SlutWalk movement in general, targeting its relevance in a place like India, where arguing for the ‘right to walk dressed any way they wanted’ belied the ‘more basic’ issues of dowry deaths, female foeticide, etc. and was irrelevant in rural areas. Others argued that the word ‘slut’ was hardly used among the larger Indian populace, and therefore the movement was restricting itself to the small upper/upper-middle class aware of the word. A few wondered why Indian women, who have earlier fought against objectification, now want to be ‘called sluts.’

These concerns are beside the point: sexual harassment is as much as an urban problem as it is rural; it has nothing to do with the clothing the harassed survivor wore, and SlutWalk movements across the world have given participants the freedom to dress the way they liked, not only as ‘sluts.’ Finally, using the name ‘slut’ was a reflection of the patriarchal ascriptions to a woman’s behaviour: that she dress a particular way, behave a particular way, be out only at particular times – any transgression made her a bad woman, a ‘slut.’ One of the organisers, Shreya Sen, said that ‘slut’ pretty much captures the essence of victim-blaming, for it almost justifies sexual assault on someone. The Kolkata movement therefore wished to retain the name ‘SlutWalk,’ giving the movement a shock value, and a possibility of reclaiming the word for a positive use, such as was done with the word ‘queer’ and ‘gay.’ Indeed, the movement also had queer and transgender participants.

To me, this movement exemplifies the changing nature of the Indian women’s movement, and the way the internet is supporting it. The SlutWalk Kolkata movement was pretty much led online, with their Facebook group being the medium that helped form the organising team, the vehicle to mobilise participants, the primary information resource, but most importantly, the platform for discussion. Hundreds of discussion threads on a diverse range of topics around dressing, Indian ‘culture,’ sexual harassment, saw many, many participants, and hundreds of comments (sometimes going up to 700!), which continues to this day. While posters were pasted in college campuses across the city, and pamphlets distributed at busy junctions, the Facebook page essentially mobilised and helped conducted the actual walk, held in May 2012.

One may wonder just how much the internet is useful in raising awareness in a country like India, where barely 10% of the population is online. Statistics show that over 50% of the online population goes online using their mobile phones; with mobile connectivity growing in India by the day, it’s not simplistic to say that the number of internet users will increase, and will come from the hinterlands too. Additionally, organiser Sen says that urban users are just as important a target for such movements because equipped with communication and technological skills, it is very easy for them to spread their misogynistic views further. Some very disturbing comments on the Facebook page come from urban, well-educated users – why should they be any less of an important target in tackling sexual assault?

Julie Zeilinger, a popular feminist blogger in her early 20s, argues that the web has allowed feminists across the world to unite, see what ‘sisters’ in other countries are doing and support them, give access to real stories from people going through situations one has only heard of. I can’t help but agree. Thanks to the internet, we are opened up to a world of possibilities and a host of ideas from distant geographies, which make us question the status quo. Online activism may not change the world, but it enables us to dream of a society that respects individuals for who they are, and try to move towards such a society.

16 Days Campaign/ Women’s History Roundtable: 8-12-12: Sheila Jayaprakash on law, gender violence and society

Law, Gender based violence and Indian Society

This month’s Round Table seminar was a special one. In keeping with the theme of Prajnya’s 16-Day campaign against gender violence, Madras High Court lawyer Sheila Jayaprakash spoke about the laws relating to gender violence.

From statistics, we can see that crime a

gainst women is on the rise in spite of an increasing number of legal remedies and deterrents which exist today. Ms Jayaprakash divided crimes against women into two categories: those committed within the home, and those c

ommitted outside the home. The former fall under the ambit of civil law; while the latter are subject to criminal law proceedings.

Ms Jayaprakash raised questio

ns about the effectiveness of laws relating to crime against women. Have they actually been helpful, or do they j

ust look good on paper? She took us through the various laws which are intended t

Even those legislations that are intended to protect women are based on extremely unequal assumptions. For example, in a case of adultery, only the “other man” can be prosecuted if a married woman is having an affair. Implicit in this system is the assumption that the man is at fault, even though the woman is a willing participant. In effect, this system of prosecution controls the sexuality of a woman. Therefore, these so-called protective measures actually handicap rather than empower women.o empower women in India, starting with the Constitution, which affirms that all citizens (regardless of sex) have a right to equality. There is a qualifier which comes with this: the Constitution states that special laws can be enacted for the protection of women and children (historically marginalized and oppressed groups). Additionally, the Constitution states that customs that are derogatory to women should be dismantled. However, in a contradictory move, India has failed to ratify the section in CEDAW (Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women), which calls for the dismantling of such cultural customs! The explanation given by the heads of state for this failure is that it would be insensitive to impose this on religious minorities, and their customs should be respected. Thus, Ms Jayaprakash concluded that while there is formal equality for women, it remains just that: formal.

Ms Jayaprakash believes that the way forward lies in positive equality rather than formal equality or protective equality. For example, in a workplace, the onus should be on the employer to ensure the safety on women. Thus, while formal equality is all very well, there need to be ways for women to access this equality.

With reference to crimes outside the home, there have always been laws relating to them. However outdated the terminology of these laws is (a prime example being “outrage to modesty”), the fact remains that there are ways to seek legal redress for those crimes which are euphemistically referred to as “eve-teasing” as well as rape. We learned that the Social Welfare Board has a policy of offering monetary compensation to rape victims. Ms Jayaprakash pointed out that it isn’t compensation or even enhancement of punishment (from imprisonment to death) that will help eliminate the incidence of rape. What is likely to work better is the surety of conviction and also a time-bound investigation. The latter is particularly important, as Ms Jayaprakash illustrated with a story of a rapist who was convicted 17 years after his crime, and escaped punishment because the Judge said that he was too old and frail to be a menace to society anymore!

One of the major problems while prosecuting a case involving rape is the slow processing of physical evidence such as sample analysis, which can take upto 3 years! Additionally, much of the physical evidence is destroyed because most women are simply not aware that their clothing and their bodies and the only tangible evidence of rape.

Ms Jayaprakash also spoke about the importance of sensitizing the police force. When a woman comes to report a rape, it is important that the officer recording the report does so in a sensitive manner. It is important that policemen recognize that the victim is in a state of emotional distress. Ms Jayaprakash has held many workshops in police stations to sensitize policemen.

Law relating to crimes against women within the home starts and ends with the Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961.

The way the law perceives cases of dowry death or rape by an individual in a position of power (e.g. in a hospital or a mental asylum) is very different from the way a criminal offence is perceived. In the case of the former, the accused is seen as guilty until proven innocent. However, judges often have trouble adjusting to this mindset when they are used to looking at a case the other way around i.e., innocent until proven guilty.

Civil laws dealing with domestic violence all relate to remedies within the home, namely, divorce. However, there are multiple problems associated with this. The concept of equal division of assets is nearly unknown in Indian courts, and the woman often leaves the marriage with nothing. As a result, most women prefer not to recourse to divorce.

The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act addresses the all-important issue of Right to Shelter. This requires a drastic change in the mindset of judges, because it implies that the abuser (usually the husband) has to leave the marital home. This goes against the grain for many judges, and is especially confusing in the case of a joint family.

The definition of abuse has also been expanded to include economic abuse as well as sexual abuse. Economic abuse includes not allowing the wife to seek employment outside the home, or have her own funds. The inclusion of sexual abuse in the category of domestic violence is an important step forward as it implies that marital rape is a punishable offense. However, in practice, this section is not used frequently as reporting marital rape or sexual deviance usually carries a significant amount of psychological trauma with it.

Thus, domestic violence is a crossover between civil and criminal law – while it comes under the ambit of civil law, it is punishable under the Criminal Code.

The discussion which followed Ms Jayaprakash’s presentation was prolonged and covered many aspects of the law and domestic violence.

Rapporteur: Archana Venkatesh