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| Image source: www.blogs.independent.co.uk |
The horrifying brutality of the recent Delhi gang rape that has shaken India is a wakeup call to the country’s authorities. A wakeup call for stricter laws against sexual assault of women that serve as a strong enough deterrent for potential offenders. But while there is no denying the need for an immediate tackling of the issue, there are larger socio-economic factors at play here that need addressing.
Declining urban sex ratios on
account of rapid urbanisation, which attracts mass migration into the capital
and son preference, growing income inequalities and rising cultural clashes are
also contributing factors. As a result, Delhi is the rape capital of the
country today, followed by Mumbai. As
per a report by the Times of India, while Delhi reported 568 rape cases in
2011, Mumbai recorded 218.
It is perhaps no coincidence that
as per the latest census numbers, the sex ratio in urban areas in the country
is lower than that in the rural areas by a margin (though credence needs to be
given to the fact that women are far more likely to report rape in urban areas
than in rural ones). While there are 947 women per 1,000 men in rural areas,
the number is at 926 in urban areas. Given that rural areas account for around
70% of India’s total population, this essentially means that, statistically,
urban areas fall far below total Indian sex ratio at 940.
The sex ratio in Delhi, is even
lower than the average in urban areas at 866 as per Census 2011 data. In an article
for FirstPost, last year, I had pointed out the potential relationship between
urbanisation and gender discrimination. While a subdued child sex ratio points
to discrimination against women from even before birth, which can be higher in
urban areas given the access to sex-determination techniques, higher migration
of men in comparison with women is also a contributing factor to overall lower sex
ratio.
In Delhi, which has the maximum
numbers of migrants in the country, the ratio of male migrant population to
total male population was at over 11% in 2001 as per a study by the Institute
of Developing Economies, as opposed to a little over 9% for women. In other words,
higher proportional migration by men ensured an increasing skew in the gender
balance. It has been pointed out that a poor gender balance can result in a ‘criminalisation
of society’.
This adds to the relative lack of
social power women possess in a patriarchal setup, where son preference is
widespread. Female social power remains
relatively restricted given the lower proportion of women in employment and
lower wage rates in comparison with men. This puts them at a further disadvantage.
Added to this the fact that
income inequality in India has been on
the rise, which is a recipe for class conflicts. As per an OECD study,
India has performed the worst among emerging countries with respect to
inequality. It points out that inequality in India has actually doubled over
the past 20 years. Further, there are rising cultural conflicts, as a section
of society has a disturbing perspective on what it sees as “liberated women”;
including the desire to handle such social ‘anomalies’. In a fast paced and
growing economy and country it reflects a need to hold women back to outmoded
patterns of behaviour by restricting freedom in the most bizarre of ways (read:
disallowing single women from carrying cell phones).
It could be a long time before a
balance is struck, and needless to say there is no going back on development, but while we recognise the rising conflicts, the least that can
be done is to address them through appropriate regulations.
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