The biggest issue of the current society and how can we contribute to it: Women’s Safety.

Women’s safety in India is discussed widely yet there is no decrease in the crimes and violence against women in the past few years. In fact, these crimes have been increased largely even after reforming the laws and safety measures taken by the government and women themselves. Rape, Sexual molestation, Domestic violence, Child marriage, and mental harassment are just some of the problems faced by women in India.

These problems continue to exist due to several factors that attached to the Indian societal mindset such as:

Patriarchal mindset: Humans are social beings, we tend to follow a systematic approach towards everything, which is not necessarily always a good thing. Patriarchy is a social system in which men hold primary power and predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege, and control of the property. Patriarchy has conditioned us to believe in the supremacy of one gender over others and this mindset leads to unfair measures taken by patriarchal advocates to keep things the way they have been leading to violence against women.

Lack of awareness: There is an obvious lack of awareness in our society about the issues women face on a daily basis. Awareness about sex and consent needs to be taught to everyone at a young age, Feminism and gender equality should be included in every mode of study to help everyone understand these very real problems faced by women. Many women don’t come ahead and complain about the harassment they face because of the internalized shame and guilt which shouldn’t be something to feel in the first place, and that should be conveyed to young girls and women.

Delayed punishment: Many women don’t complain about the harassment they face also because of the delayed actions taken by the authorities. The cases go for far too long and the punishment isn’t always appropriate to the crime. Smart and effective policing must be done in order to decrease the number of crimes against women in India. Authorities should take action as soon as the complaint is lodged, The police personnel must monitor the criminal activities, must prepare an area-wise database of hooligans, criminals.

To make the county women safe, we need to take women into consideration when making decisions for them. A few contributions that can be done towards making women feel safe:

Sex education: Sex education must be imparted to students, youths must be sensitized on sex, and sex-related crimes about rape too.

Amendment of acts: Our law should be strict about sexual offenses, domestic violence, and other gender-based crimes. It is the need of the hour to ensure that rapists get the maximum to maximum punishment.

Safe Commute options: Most acts of harassment towards women occur during their travels involving public transports. Public transport can be made safe for the night travels of working women as well as daily travel of young girls, this can be done by using technology or by just appointing more women staff which can pick up and drop women in late hours even.

Changing mindsets and spaces is necessary if a more rounded goal of positive as well as negative liberty is to be aimed at India’s women. Technology can provide a certain degree of negative liberty and perhaps some feeling of safety. While this sense of safety can be seen as a part of empowerment, it should not be mistaken for empowerment itself.

Thank you!