Have you checked out the new feminist blog -- Ultra Violet? I learnt about it through Anindita Sengupta, who is one of the bloggers at Ultra Violet. Here's an excerpt from the most recent post by Anita Ratnam:
... A nationwide study by Sakshi conducted a decade ago revealed that judges carry leanings, sensitivities, as well as prejudice and bias about women’s identities and roles. Through interviews of judges, lawyers, litigants and witnesses, as well as rigorous analysis of the texts of several judgments from five states (including Karnataka) the extent of judicial gender blindness came to light.
Husbands emerged as protectors and bread winners and wives as home makers in judges’ world views, with 79% of judges attributing this to Indian culture. With regard to domestic violence as well as sexual assault, 64% of judges felt that women must share the blame for violence committed against them with 27% of judges attributing domestic violence to a wife’s provocation (husbands never provoke wives!) and 40% of judges attributing it to alcohol. Only 27% of judges were able to see domestic violence as a result of unequal power relations in the family and 51% of judges felt that a slap to his wife by a husband on one occasion in the course of their marriage, does NOT amount to cruelty.
4 Comments:
The stats make me sick..thanks for sharing Abi.
The stats make me sick too. But looking at facts selectively is even sicker.
At the other end of the spectrum is section 497 and 498a of IPC, which views wives as the victim - always. A google search, especially on 498a will show you the extent of misuse/more importantly the potential for misuse of this law.
There is no doubt that a lot needs to be done to uplift the lot of women in this country, but, sometimes, the surveys conducted by the feminists can be as blind as justice itself.
May or may not be informative: but I am also curious about the genders and ages of the people interviewed. I couldn't find those statistics, and if anyone finds it, I'll be grateful.
Seriously anonymous dude. Have some potency. Let us discuss the real stats. You are asking people to google and find about the misuse of section 497 and 498a. Any Tom, Dick and Harry will know how people game Google to promote their agenda. If you don't know about it, I pity you. If you have conscience, please take a moment and think about how many thousands of women have been killed by the prevalent male chauvinism in the society. We have how women folks were beaten up for giving birth to a girl child. First they don't realize that girl child is no different from a boy child. Second, and more importantly, they don't even realize that it is the husband's chromosome that is ultimately responsible for the birth of a girl instead of a boy. Our society is messed up. If you can't accept it and condemn it, you are even worse compared to those members of the judiciary. I don't expect you to reveal your true identity but I expect you to, at least, not reveal your true hypocrisy through such shameful statements. As long as such attitude is prevalent in the society, even laws as potent as POTA cannot stop discrimination against women. I don't expect every person to be an activist but I expect the educated persons not to be blind to reality.
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