"SPEECH
Women's in
lockdown"
Answers
Answer:
After spending ten days in lockdown, today morning I ventured out of my society’s gates to buy some vegetables. As I approached the lone ‘Kisan Mandi’, I was shocked to see hordes of women with small children in tow, standing outside that vegetable shop pestering the shopkeeper and buyers alike. I had a tough time navigating my way out of my car as they surrounded me from all sides begging for food. The shop’s staff had an equally arduous task at hand stopping them from forcefully entering the shop and pilfering food stuff kept in the open. None of them was wearing masks or gloves, and social distancing was obviously an alien term for them. I was taken aback when the shopkeeper told me that it’s the women and children who beg, their menfolk don’t come out as they are scared of police who routinely come for patrol and drive them away.
While coming back I witnessed an even more disturbing sight. A car came and stopped near them, rolled down the windows, a middle aged man did some talking and minutes later a girl got into the car that drove off. I would like to believe that the man was known to her or had some honorable reasons for picking her up. Anything but not the obvious, please.
Spending days together on Whats app and Facebook playing out innumerable saree and picture challenges, forwarding memes and enjoying my paid vacations while relaxing at home I was abstracted from the grim situation being faced by millions of women. I had lulled myself into a false sense of security that things were headed in the right direction and soon things would be back to normal. But, the sights that I encountered during my foray in the world outside the safety of my guarded society jolted me out of my reverie that all was well and the lockdown was a success. This was about the women coming from the economically lower strata who have been perilously exposed to all sorts of dangers. These are the women who work and procure rations for the family. Their menfolk are a grumbling lot with their jobs gone, movements restricted, brothels closed and alcohol shops shut. Its women who bear the brunt of their frustration.
In general, the lockdown has increased the burden of household chores for women. Offices and schools have closed due to which husband and kids are at home full time. Helping staff such as maids and dhobi have left for their home towns. Elderly are at greater risk of infection so they need greater care and attention. For working women, the situation is worse. Work from home has doubled their workload. It’s not a holiday for her. She needs to cook, clean, wash, feed, teach and also attend to her workplace requirements at the same time. Lucky few have helping spouses and children which reduce the workload but by and large patriarchy has conditioned her and all those around her into believing that household work is primarily a woman’s responsibility.
‘There is no place like home’ this doesn’t hold true for all women. For many, it is a place of abuse. Violence for women comes in various forms. Women in abusive relationships suffer physical, emotional, psychological, sexual and economic violence at the hands of those very people whom she trusts with her safety. The perpetrator could be her spouse, intimate partner, father, uncle, brother, nephew, son or any other family member or relative. As per latest NCRB data, rapes are committed in 94 per cent of the cases by offenders who are known to the victims. For such women contrary to being a safe haven, a home is a place of fear.
While domestic violence poses the greatest threat to any woman’s physical as well as mental wellbeing, the fact is that it’s largely invisible because it is considered normal, acceptable and thus underreported. Society refuses to acknowledge it as something that merits State intervention. Despite having a Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, the law is seldom invoked by the parties concerned who seek to settle it among themselves.
As the world grapples with a health crisis of unparalleled magnitude, women are facing an existential crisis. The situation is grave and needs urgent considered attention of the authorities before it is too late. Strategies have to be devised for protecting women from being subjected to dehumanizing conditions during times of lockdown. We have been using odd-even schemes to deal with pollution. Countries such as Peru and Panama have systematically devised a lockdown in which men and women are allowed to leave home on alternate days. This step will contain the spread of Covid-19 by reducing the number of people on the streets on any given day and also reduce the incidences of domestic violence against women. We need to emulate them. The state has to ensure women their safety and provide them shelter as well as relief during these tumultuous times. This is not an issue that can be postponed until normalcy returns.
Explanation:
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Answer:
The National Commission for Women (NCW) received over 13,000 complaints of domestic violence during the Covid-induced lockdown (March to September). Of these, 53 per cent cases were from Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. Uttar Pradesh women reported the highest number of complaints (5,470) followed by Delhi (1,697). Interestingly, complaints from North-East States are less compared to other States in the country.
Along with Uttar Pradesh and Delhi other three States including Maharashtra, Haryana and Bihar make 70 per cent of the complains registered by women during the lockdown. Not even one per cent of cases have been registered by women in North-East States.
The number of complaints have increased since June, recording a peak in July of 2,914 cases, as economic distress and job losses could have led to more domestic violence.
This data presented by Ministry of Women and Child Development to the Lok Sabha is in consonance with the data in National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) when it comes to Uttar Pradesh.
In the NCRB report-2019, Uttar Pradesh tops in crime against women. The data shows that 1,75,309 cases of crime against women were reported from Uttar Pradesh in three years (2017 to 2019). This number accounts for about 15 per cent of the total number of cases reported during this period. Maharashtra along with Rajasthan, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh also feature among top States in the NCRB data.
Experts say that the cases reported during lockdown are just a tip of the iceberg as many women, especially in rural India have no reporting mechanism available.
Key factors
The combination of economic and social stresses brought on by the pandemic, as well as restrictions on movement, have dramatically increased the numbers of women and girls facing abuse, according to the United Nations. The domestic violence cases are emerging across the world.
According to UN women, since the outbreak of Co.vid-19, emerging data and reports from those on the front lines have shown that all types of violence against women and girls, particularly domestic violence, has intensified.
“This is the shadow pandemic growing amidst the Co.vid-19 crisis and we need a global collective effort to stop it. As Co.vid-19 cases continue to strain health services, essential services, such as domestic violence shelters and helplines, have reached capacity. More needs to be done to prioritise addressing violence against women in Co.vid-19 response and recovery efforts,” UN women note mentioned.
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