Most feminists in India have tended to see men as adversaries. They have fought with passion for women’s rights. NGOs have reached out to women in rural areas and slums. These efforts have resulted in greater awareness of women’s rights. There are now stringent laws and policies in place. But violence against women continues and so does preference for a male child.
The solution seems to be in having more men involved in achieving gender equality. Globally, male feminism is on the rise. An indication of this trend was the second MenEngage international conference that took place at Delhi’s India Habitat Centre over 10-13 November. Delegates from all over the world discussed strategies to involve men in birthing, fathering, household duties and in being equal partners in marriage. There were also sessions on changing the way men think of masculinity.
A report was released, “Masculinity, Intimate Partner Violence and Son Preference in India”. The study, by the International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW) and UNFPA, covered a sample of 10,000 men across seven states in India – Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
It revealed that 60 per cent of men admitted to violence against their wives. Fifty-two per cent of women reported experiencing violence. Men who experienced economic stress were more likely to be violent with their partners. Only 15 per cent of men involved the wife in making decisions concerning the family.
A majority of men (67 per cent) and women (47 per cent) wanted an equal number of male and female children. More women (81 per cent) than men (76 per cent) considered it very important to have at least one son.
Men who were educated and had higher incomes were more likely to value gender equality and tended to exercise less control over their partners.
Kamla Bhasin, a feminist from the NGO sector, is the founder of Jagori, a women’s rights group. She spoke to Civil Society about the significance of the UNFPA-ICRW report and why, despite the feminist movement, gender rights remain on paper.
What are the implications of this report?
Our Constitution states clearly that men and women are equal and discrimination is not allowed. So you see the gap between the values in the Constitution and the values of the society we live in. The 60 per cent of men in the study who admit to violence against women are violating the Constitution.
The other finding was that only 52 per cent of women said that violence is done to them. Women seem to be ashamed of living with violence. The men are, perhaps, unashamed to admit that they inflict violence. What is tragic is that, until now, government figures stated that 40 per cent of husbands beat their wives. This study was undertaken in six states where masculinity and patriarchy are much stronger and it revealed that 60 per cent of men beat their wives.
We keep talking about Asian values, Indian values. Now this is the Indian family.
So the study is a mirror of the Indian family?
Absolutely. Maybe the figure can vary by, say, 5 per cent but even the Government of India accepted the 40 per cent figure a long time ago.
The corresponding worrying figure is the child sex ratio. It is continuously going down. Now that is an extreme form where you go to the extent of murdering your daughter in the womb. How can that family be together after that murder? For the sake of a few thousand rupees a doctor and his team commit this crime. According to data, 35 million girls are missing in India because they have been killed by patriarchy.
You have more people in the middle class. Statistically, more people are being educated. But you say the increase in violence and the sex ratio have only got worse. Why?
The reason is that this paradigm of economic development values only profit, unlimited profit and greed. Once profit becomes your goal then there is no other value, of non-violence, of love. You want what represents strength, like boys. We are still patriarchal.
But the Indian state has implemented so many laws, schemes and policies for women’s empowerment. So, according to you, why has nothing worked?
This is all due to neoliberal globalisation and our economic policies. China wanted to control its population. They had a one-child policy and that one child had to be a boy. Here we don’t have a one-child policy but the middle class doesn’t want more than two children. So how can you have two girls? You can have two boys, though.
So how do you get the men involved in gender rights, then?
The only way we can do that is by doing what we are doing: organising, starting NGOs, going to communities. Our tragedy has been that we have been to villages, to slums, basically to the poor. We have done no work with the middle class. How do we work with them, they are the most individualistic. They are never going to listen to us. All the work Jagori has done for the past 30 years is with the working class. If a woman in a slum is beaten, she will shout openly. But a middle class woman will want to keep things quiet, within the family.
But the middle class becomes a role model for the poor.
Yes, but look where they are headed.
What is the kind of activism you would like to see by the state and by NGOs?
All political parties, the BJP, the Congress and the Communist parties, follow the same economic paradigm of neoliberalism when they come to power. We can’t remove patriarchy unless economic policies change.
So, is male feminism a growing movement?
Definitely.
What are the good examples at this conference of men getting involved in gender rights?
There are many. I, for instance, have been doing workshops in South Asia, in Bangladesh with NGOs, in the Maldives with Members of Parliament and with police officers.
In Himachal Pradesh, Jagori is working in over 150 villages, with adolescent girls and boys, talking about these issues. Two weeks ago we sent a dancer to Chandigarh to denigrate masculinity through a performance. Tomorrow, a troupe of male dancers from Punjab will do a sensitive dance at the closing ceremony of the conference.
Why would men get involved if, as you say, they have all the power in Indian society?
If there were only patriarchy, then all men would be powerful. But there is class and caste. So 50 per cent of men are powerless. Dalits are about 40 per cent of the population. They are also powerless.
Men who work as drivers, domestic workers, waiters and in other low-paid jobs realise how painful it is to be without power, to be insulted. I joined Manas, a mental health organisation, in training 100,000 auto-rickshaw drivers in Delhi. We have finished training 40,000.
What is this training about?
The auto-rickshaw drivers have to come (to the licence office) once a year for renewal of their certificates. We requested them to give us one hour of their time. They eventually agreed. During that time we spoke to their sense of humanness. We said rape is increasing in Delhi and you people are the ones mostly on the road. Around 50 per cent of them had migrated to Delhi to earn a living. I told them, Delhi is giving you mobility, you are giving Delhi mobility. So please save the girls. If things continue like this, tourism will suffer and so will your business. If girls don’t come out, your earnings will decline.
Then I am part of the One Billion Rising campaign. This is the biggest campaign in the world with 207countries and I am the South Asian coordinator.
In Western countries because of male insensitivity, 50 per cent of marriages end in divorce. So if we want to save the family, the marriage, the community, and male humanness, we have to remove violence. Once men understand that they are also messed up by patriarchy, it will mean freedom for all. Equal rights in the family means four capable people rather than two.
Are men seeing the benefit of what you are saying?
Definitely. Yesterday an American professor presented research on families where men are doing household work. What is the impact? Those men are happier because they are spending more time with their children. Their children are doing better in class. Their children are happier because there is no violence. The wives are happier.
But liberation is never individual. It is related to structure. So you have to deal with structures of caste, class, corporate globalisation and neoliberalism, if you want meaningful change. http://www.civilsocietyonline.com/pages/Details.aspx?626
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