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webExclusive Report --> ‘അവള് പോക്ക് കേസാണ്’ എന്ന് മുദ്രകുത്തും മുൻപ് ചിന്തിക്കാൻ

യാസിര്‍ എരുമപ്പെട്ടി

Published: July 16 , 2020 08:30 PM IST

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‘‘കുറച്ചു ദിവസം ഞാനെന്റെ വീട്ടില്‍ പോയി നിന്നോട്ടെ’’

ഭാര്യ തന്റെ ഭര്‍ത്താവിനോടോ, ഭര്‍ത്താവിന്റെ അമ്മയോടോ ചോദിക്കുന്നൊരു ചോദ്യമാണത്...

ഒന്നോര്‍ത്ത് നോക്കണേ... നമ്മള് ആണുങ്ങള് എന്തൊരു കംഫേര്‍ട്ട് സോണിലാണ് ഇരിക്കുന്നത് എന്ന്... അതിന് അവള് കേട്ട മറുപടിയെന്താണ്‌..

‘‘നീ ഒരു മാസം മുൻപല്ലേ പോയി വന്നത്.’’

എങ്ങനെയുണ്ട്!

ചെറുപ്പം തൊട്ട് കളിച്ചും പഠിച്ചും വളര്‍ന്ന പെണ്‍കുട്ടിയേ വിവാഹത്തോടെ സ്വന്തം വീട് വിരുന്നുകാരിയായി കണ്ടുതുടങ്ങുക....

പെങ്ങളെ ഒരു ദിവസം പെട്ടന്ന് വീട്ടിൽ കണ്ടാല്‍ പടി കടന്ന് വരുന്ന ആങ്ങള ചോദിക്കുന്ന ആദ്യ ചോദ്യം എന്തായിരുന്നു...

‘‘ആഹ് നീയോ... എപ്പോഴാ വന്നേ... എന്തേ വന്നേ...’’ എന്തൊരു മനോഹരമായ ചോദ്യമാണത്...

അവളപ്പോള്‍ ചുരുങ്ങി, ചൂളി... ചങ്കിലാരോ പിടിച്ചപോലെ മനസ്സുകൊണ്ടോന്ന് പിടഞ്ഞിട്ടുണ്ടാകും.

‘‘എന്റെയും വീടല്ലേ... എനിക്ക് കാരണങ്ങള്‍ ഒന്നുമില്ലാതെ ഇവിടെ വന്നൂടെ’’ എന്നൊരു ചോദ്യം തിരിച്ച് ചിലരെങ്കിലും ചോദിക്കാന്‍ മുതിരും... കൂടപ്പിറപ്പല്ലേ... അവനത് അങ്ങനെ ചോദിച്ചതാകില്ല എന്ന് ചിലര് ഉള്ളിലുള്ള പെണ്ണിനോട് സമാധാനം പറയും..!

മീന്‍ പൊരിച്ചത് എല്ലാര്‍ക്കും ഒരുപോലെ കിട്ടാത്തതില്‍ നിന്നാണ് സ്ത്രീകളെക്കുറിച്ച് മാത്രം പറയാന്‍ തുടങ്ങിയത് എന്ന് പറയുമ്പോള്‍ നമ്മളൊക്കെ അതിലെ തമാശ ചൂഴ്ന്ന് എവിടംവരെ എത്തിയെന്ന് ഓര്‍ത്തുനോക്കൂ... അതൊന്ന് മനസ്സിലിട്ട് വാചകം വലുതാക്കി നമ്മുടെ തീന്മേശയിലെക് വ്യാപിപ്പിച്ചു നോക്കൂ...

വിവേചനം തീരെ അനുഭവിക്കാതെയാണോ നിങ്ങടെ അനിയത്തിയോ ജേഷ്ടത്തിയോ വളര്‍ന്നത്... അല്ലാ എന്ന് ചിലപ്പോഴെങ്കിലും ഓര്‍മ്മയുടെ ചിത്രത്തിൽ ഓളുടെ പ്ലയ്റ്റ് തെളിയുമ്പോള്‍ നിങ്ങള് പറഞ്ഞുപോകും...!

എന്‍റെ ഉമ്മ, ഉമ്മാടെ വീട്ടില് പോയി തിരികേ പോരുമ്പോള്‍ തൊടിയിലെ ചീരയും മുളകിന്റെ ഇലയും ചേമ്പിന്റെ തണ്ടും തുടങ്ങി എല്ലാം കയ്യില് കാണും... ഉമ്മയാണ് അത് പിടിച്ച് M.R ബസ്സ്‌ കയറാന്‍ ബസ്സ് സ്റ്റോപ്പിലേക്ക് നടക്കുക... അതൊന്ന് വാങ്ങി കയ്യില്‍ പിടിക്കാന്‍ മനസ്സ് തോന്നില്ല... കവറിന് പുറത്തേക്ക് ഉന്തി നില്‍ക്കുന്ന ചേമ്പിന്റെ തണ്ടും പാതി എത്തിച്ചു നോക്കുന്ന തേങ്ങയും ഒക്കെ പിടിച്ചു നടക്കുന്നൊരു കുറച്ചില് മീശ മുളക്കുന്ന കാലം മുന്‍പേ ആണ്‍കുട്ടിയുടെ മനസ്സിലുണ്ട് എന്ന് സാരം...

എന്നാല്‍ വീട്ടില് വന്നാലോ അതൊക്കെ ഏറ്റവും കൂടുതല്‍ വിഭവമായി കാണുന്നതും ആണുങ്ങളുടെ പ്ലയ്റ്റിലാണ്...

അങ്ങനെ നീളുന്നൊരു ആണ്‍ മേല്‍കോയ്മയുള്ള സമൂഹത്തേ ആദ്യം വാര്‍ത്തെടുക്കുന്നത് സ്വന്തം വീടുകളാണ്... ആണെന്നപോലെ പെണ്ണിനേയും നമ്മളവിടെ പരിഗണിക്കുന്നില്ല എന്ന സത്യം ശബ്ദമില്ലാതെ കരയുക അപ്പോഴല്ല. പിന്നീടാണ്....

പീഡനം നേരിട്ട സ്ത്രീയുടെ നേര്‍ക്ക് നീണ്ട ആദ്യ ചോദ്യം അവളിട്ട വസ്ത്രത്തെപറ്റിയാകുമ്പോള്‍...

നാല് വര്‍ഷമായാലും നാല്‍പ്പത് ദിവസമായാലും വിശേഷം വന്നില്ലെങ്കില്‍ മച്ചിയാകുമ്പോള്‍.... 

ആണിന്റെ  പ്രശ്നത്തിന് ഒരു ‘‘മച്ചന്‍’’ ഇല്ലാത്ത അവസ്ഥയാകുമ്പോള്‍....

ലേശം തന്റേടവും,.. കാര്യപ്രാപ്തിയും കൈവരുന്ന നേരം... അവള് പോക്ക് കേസാണ് എന്ന് പൊതുബോധം ഒച്ചവെക്കുമ്പോള്‍.....

മകനോ മകളോ മോശമായാല് അമ്മയുടെ വളര്‍ത്തുദോഷമായി ചാപ്പ കുത്തുമ്പോള്‍,....

തന്റെ  സ്വപ്നത്തേക്കുറിച്ച് മനോഹരമായി പറഞ്ഞാലും എഴുതിയാലും ‘‘എന്തൊക്കെയോ ഉടായിപ്പുള്ളവളായി’’ നമ്മുടെയൊക്കെ നോട്ടങ്ങളില്‍ മാര്‍ക്കിടപ്പെടുമ്പോള്‍.....

വിവാഹത്തോടെ അവള്‍ ഭര്‍ത്താവിന്റെ സ്വത്തും, ഭര്‍ത്താവിന്റെ  സമ്മതത്തിനു വേണ്ടി സ്വന്തം ഇഷ്ടങ്ങളെ കാറ്റില്‍ പറക്കാന്‍ വിടേണ്ടിവരുകയും ചെയ്യുമ്പോള്‍.....

അവള് വീണ്ടുമൊരു വിവാഹം ചെയ്‌താല്‍ അയാള്‍ വീണ്ടുമൊരു വിവാഹം ചെയ്തതിനും കൂടുതലായി മൈലേജുള്ള വാര്‍ത്തയാകുമ്പോള്‍....

പൊതുബോധത്തോട് ഒട്ടി നിന്ന്കൊണ്ടല്ലാതെ ഇതൊക്കെ വായിക്കുമ്പോഴാണ് നമ്മളെയൊക്കെ ഗ്രസിച്ചിരിക്കുന്ന ആണത്തമേല്‍കോയ്മയെന്ന അല്‍പ്പത്തരത്തിന് ഇത്രയേറെ ചില്ലകളും ഇലകളും ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നുവെന്ന് നമ്മളറിയുക.

പെട്ടന്ന് നമ്മളിലേക്ക് സ്വന്തം വീടും, വീട്ടുകാരെയും വിട്ട് ഒരു ദിവസം പറിച്ചു നടുന്ന ചെടിയാണ് അവള്‍...

വെണ്ണീറും, വെള്ളവും, വളവും ഒരുപാട് മാസങ്ങള്‍ക്ക് ശേഷം ഇലയില്ലാത്ത ആ ചെടിക്ക് നല്‍കിയിട്ട് വലിയ കാര്യമൊന്നുമില്ല....

നനക്കാന്‍ നമ്മുടെ ഹൃദയത്തില്‍ വെള്ളമുണ്ടാവണം... അതവള് ആഗ്രഹിക്കുമ്പോഴും അവളെ ആഗ്രഹിക്കുമ്പോഴും പകുത്ത് നല്‍കാന്‍ കഴിയണം....

അവൾക്ക് നിഷേധിക്കപ്പെട്ട അവകാശങ്ങളെപ്പറ്റി അവള് പറയുമ്പോൾ നമുക്ക് മാന്യമായി തിരുത്താനും കേൾക്കാനും കഴിയുക എന്നതിലാണ് നമ്മളുടെ ഐഡന്റിറ്റിയുണ്ടാകേണ്ടത്...

ഒരു ആണ്‍കുട്ടിയും പെണ്‍കുട്ടിയും നിങ്ങള്‍ക്കുണ്ടെങ്കില്‍ രണ്ടുപേര്‍ക്കും സ്നേഹം പോലെ സ്വാതന്ത്ര്യവും ധൈര്യവും വീറും വാശിയും സമം ചേര്‍ത്ത് നല്‍കുക....

അവളുടെ സ്പേസ് നല്‍കാനുള്ളതോ അപഹരിക്കാനുള്ളതോ ആയ ആളല്ല നമ്മളെന്നറിയുക... അതിനുള്ള സാഹചര്യങ്ങള്‍ സൃഷ്ടിക്കുക എന്നത് കടമപോലെ ചെയ്ത് വെക്കുക....

ഇഷ്ടപ്പെടാത്ത ദാമ്പത്യത്തില് അവളോട്‌ ഓവര്‍ അഡ്ജസ്റ്റിങ്ങ് പറയാതിരിക്കുക... ഒന്ന് കരയാനും, പൊട്ടിച്ചിരിക്കാനും സ്പേസ് കൊടുക്കുക.....

എല്ലാറ്റിനും അപ്പുറത്ത് നമ്മുടെ വീട്ടില്‍... ചുരുങ്ങിയത് അവിടെയെങ്കിലും...

ഉമ്മയ്ക്കും അനിയത്തിക്കും  ജ്യേഷ്ഠത്തിക്കും നമ്മുടെ തീന്മേശയില്‍ നമ്മുടെ ഒപ്പം ഭക്ഷണം വിളമ്പുക... നമ്മളുടെ ബാക്കി ഉണ്ടെങ്കില്‍ കഴിക്കാനും നമ്മടെ ആര്‍ത്തിയില്‍ മിച്ചമില്ലാത്തത് കഴിക്കാതിരിക്കാനുമുള്ള രണ്ടാം ‌പൗരരല്ല അവരെന്നറിയുക...

ജനാധിപത്യ രാജ്യം പോലെ പവിത്രമാണ് ജനാധിപത്യ വീടുമെന്നോർക്കുക....

എല്ലാം തുടങ്ങിവെക്കുന്നതും, എല്ലാം പഠിപ്പിക്കുന്നതും, എല്ലാം ശീലിക്കുന്നതും വീട്ടില്‍ നിന്നാണ്...

വീട് അവളെ എങ്ങനെ അടയാളപ്പെടുത്തുന്നുവോ അങ്ങിനെയാണ് സമൂഹവും അവളെ അടയാളം വെക്കുക...!!

എന്‍റെ ബോധ്യങ്ങളാണ്,... എന്‍റെ ശരികളുമാണ്... 

എന്നാല്‍ ഞാന്‍ പറഞ്ഞ, നമ്മള്  പ്രവര്‍ത്തിച്ച ആണ്‍മേല്‍ക്കോയ്മയുടെ ഹുങ്കിന് തലകുനിക്കേണ്ടിടത്ത് കുനിക്കണം എന്ന് പറഞ്ഞ് വയ്ക്കുകകൂടിയാണ്...!

English Summary: Essay on Gender Equality

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എങ്ങനെ ജെൻഡര്‍ ന്യൂട്രൽ യൂണിഫോം നടപ്പാക്കും?

ആൺകുട്ടികള്‍ക്കും പെൺകുട്ടികള്‍ക്കും ഒരേ യൂണിഫോം. കേരളത്തിലെ ഒരു എൽ.പി സ്‍കൂളില്‍ നടപ്പിലാക്കിയ പദ്ധതി, ഇപ്പോള്‍ സംസ്ഥാനത്തിന്‍റെ മുഴുവന്‍ ശ്രദ്ധയും നേടി. ആൺ - പെൺ വേര്‍തിരിവുകള്‍ പ്രകടമായ സമൂഹത്തില്‍ എങ്ങനെ ഈ കാര്യങ്ങള്‍ നടപ്പിലാക്കും?

2018ലാണ് എറണാകുളം ജില്ലയിലെ വളയന്‍ചിറങ്ങര ഗവണ്‍മെന്‍റ് ലോവര്‍ പ്രൈമറി സ്‌കൂള്‍ സ്‍കൂള്‍ വിദ്യാര്‍ഥികള്‍ക്ക് മുഴുവന്‍ ഒരു യൂണിഫോം നടപ്പാക്കിയത്. 'ജെന്‍ഡര്‍ ന്യൂട്രല്‍ യൂണിഫോം' എന്ന ആശയത്തിന്‍റെ ഭാഗമായി ആണ്‍കുട്ടികള്‍ക്കും പെണ്‍കുട്ടികള്‍ക്കും ഷര്‍ട്ടും ത്രീഫോര്‍ത്ത് ഷോര്‍ട്ട്‌സുമാണ് വിദ്യാലയം നിര്‍ദേശിച്ചത്. "എല്ലാ കുട്ടികളും ഒരേ തലത്തിലുള്ള സ്വാതന്ത്ര്യം ആസ്വദിക്കണമെന്നാണ് ഞങ്ങള്‍ ആഗ്രഹിക്കുന്നത്." -- നിലവിലെ സ്‌കൂള്‍ പി.ടി.എ പ്രസിഡന്‍റ് വിവേക്.വി വാര്‍ത്താ ഏജന്‍സിയായ പി.ടി.ഐ യോട് പറഞ്ഞു. വളയന്‍ചിറങ്ങര സ്‌കൂളിന്‍റെ മാതൃകാപരമായ നീക്കത്തെ അഭിനന്ദിച്ച് വിദ്യഭാസ മന്ത്രി വി.ശിവന്‍കുട്ടിയും രംഗത്ത് വന്നിരുന്നു. "ലിംഗനീതി, സമത്വം, അവബോധം എന്നീ ആശയങ്ങള്‍ പാഠ്യപദ്ധതികളുടെ പരിഷ്‌കരണത്തിനായി ഊന്നിപ്പറയും. എന്നാല്‍ ഈ ആശയങ്ങള്‍ പാഠപുസ്തകങ്ങളില്‍ മാത്രം ഒതുക്കേണ്ടതല്ല. വളയന്‍ചിറങ്ങര എല്‍.പി സ്‌കൂളിന്റെ നീക്കം പ്രശംസനീയമാണ്" -- മന്ത്രി ട്വിറ്റ് ചെയ്‍തു. ലിംഗ സമത്വം യൂണിഫോമില്‍ നിന്ന് 1991ല്‍ തന്നെ തന്‍റെ വസ്ത്രത്തില്‍ സമത്വം കൊണ്ട് വന്ന വ്യക്തിയാണ് മലയാളപ്പെണ്‍ക്കൂട്ടം എന്ന സംഘടനയില്‍ പ്രവര്‍ത്തിക്കുന്ന ആക്ടിവിസ്റ്റ് എം.സുല്‍ഫത്ത്. "സാരിയില്‍ നിന്ന് മാറി ജുബ്ബയും പാന്‍റും ഇട്ട് വിദ്യാലയത്തില്‍ പഠിപ്പിക്കാന്‍ പോയ വ്യക്തിയാണ് ഞാന്‍. അന്ന് ചുരിദാറ് പോലും കേരളത്തില്‍ വ്യപകമല്ലായിരുന്നു. സാരി ഒരു അസൗകര്യ വേഷമാണെന്ന് തിരിച്ചറിഞ്ഞതിനാലാണ് ആ ഒരു തീരുമാനത്തിലെത്തിയിരുന്നത്. അന്ന് ആരും പരസ്യ പ്രതിഷേധങ്ങളൊന്നും നടത്തിയിരുന്നില്ല. മാത്രമല്ല അധ്യാപകര്‍ ലളിതമായ വസ്ത്രം ധരിക്കണം എന്നല്ലാതെ സാരിയുടുക്കണം എന്നുള്ള നിര്‍ബന്ധം ഇല്ലായിരുന്നു. അതുകൊണ്ട് തന്നെ എല്ലാവരും ലളിതമായ വസ്ത്രമായി പറയപ്പെടുന്ന ഖദര്‍ ആയിരുന്നു ഞാന്‍ തെരഞ്ഞെടുത്തിരുന്നത്. പിന്നീട് ഇന്നുവരെ എന്റെ വസ്ത്രം അത് തന്നെയാണ്." -- സുല്‍ഫത്ത് സമയം പ്ലസിനോട് പറഞ്ഞു. കേരളത്തിലെ പൊതു വിദ്യാഭ്യാസമേഖലയില്‍ പാഠ്യപദ്ധതി പരിഷ്‌കരണം കൊണ്ടുവരാൻ ഉദ്ദേശിക്കുന്നതിന്‍റെ പശ്ചാത്തലത്തില്‍ വിദ്യാഭ്യാസമന്ത്രിക്ക് മലയാളപ്പെണ്‍കൂട്ടം നിവേദനം സമര്‍പ്പിച്ചിരുന്നു. അതില്‍ ജെന്‍ഡര്‍ ന്യൂട്രല്‍ യൂണിഫോം എന്ന ആശയം എടുത്തു പറഞ്ഞിരുന്നു. "ശരീരചലനങ്ങളെ നിയന്ത്രിക്കുന്നതോ ശരീരത്തെക്കുറിച്ചുള്ള ഭയങ്ങള്‍ നിര്‍മ്മിച്ചെടുക്കുന്നതോ ആയ യൂണിഫോമുകള്‍ ആണ് നിലവില്‍ പെണ്‍കുട്ടികള്‍ക്ക് നിശ്ചയിച്ചിട്ടുള്ളത്. അനായാസ ചലനത്തിന് സഹായകമായതും, കായിക വിനോദങ്ങളില്‍ ഏര്‍പ്പെടുന്നതിനുതകുന്നതും വ്യക്തികള്‍ എന്ന നിലയില്‍ ആത്മവിശ്വാസം വളര്‍ത്തുന്നതുമായ, ജെന്‍ഡര്‍ ന്യൂട്രലായ യൂണിഫോമുകള്‍ നടപ്പില്‍ വരുത്തണം. പ്രൈമറി ക്ലാസില്‍ ആണ്‍കുട്ടികള്‍ക്കും പെണ്‍കുട്ടികള്‍ക്കും ഏകീകൃത യൂണിഫോം നിര്‍ബന്ധമാക്കി ഇതിന് തുടക്കം കുറിക്കാവുന്നതാണ്." -- യൂണിഫോം സംബന്ധിച്ച് നിവേദനത്തില്‍ അവര്‍ ആവശ്യപ്പെട്ടു. അതുപോലെ തന്നെ ഷാളിന് പകരം പെണ്‍കുട്ടികള്‍ക്ക് യൂണിഫോമിനൊപ്പം ഏര്‍പ്പെടുത്തിയിരിക്കുന്ന ഓവര്‍കോട്ട് മാറ്റേണ്ടതാണ്. ഷാള്‍ ധരിക്കുമ്പോള്‍ എണ്ണിയാല്‍ തീരാത്ത അസൗകര്യങ്ങളാണ് പെണ്‍കുട്ടികള്‍ നേരിടുന്നത്. ഏകദേശം മുപ്പതോളം പ്രശ്‌നങ്ങള്‍ പെണ്‍കുട്ടികള്‍ തന്നെ നേരത്തെ ചൂണ്ടിക്കാട്ടിയിരുന്നു. അതുകൊണ്ടാണ് ഓവര്‍കോട്ട് എന്ന ആശയം കൊണ്ടുവന്നത്. -- സുൽഫത്ത് പറയുന്നു. "സ്ത്രീയുടെ മാറിടം അശ്ലീലമാണ് അത് മൂടിവെക്കേണ്ടതാണ് എന്നുള്ള തെറ്റായ ബോധമാണ് ഇത്തരം വസ്ത്രങ്ങള്‍ ധരിക്കുമ്പോള്‍ ആളുകളില്‍ ഉണ്ടാകുന്നത്. ആണ്‍ നോട്ടങ്ങളെ പ്രതിരോധിക്കാന്‍ സ്ത്രീകള്‍ പടച്ചട്ടയണിയുക എന്നുള്ള ബോധം കൂടി സൃഷ്ടിക്കപ്പെടുന്നു. രണ്ടും മൂന്നും വസ്ത്രങ്ങള്‍ കൊണ്ട് സ്ത്രീകളുടെ മാറിടം മൂടപ്പെടുമ്പോള്‍ ആരോഗ്യപരമായ പല പ്രശ്‌നങ്ങളും ഉണ്ടാകുന്നുണ്ട്. യൂണിഫോം നിര്‍ബന്ധിതമായി ധരിപ്പിക്കുന്ന വസ്ത്രമാണ്. അതുകൊണ്ട് യൂണിഫോം ധരിപ്പിക്കുന്നത് ഒരിക്കലും പൊതുബോധത്തെ തൃപ്തിപ്പെടുത്തുന്നതിന് വേണ്ടിയാകരുത്. അത് വിവേചനങ്ങള്‍ക്കധീതവും ചലനത്തിനും ആവിഷ്‌കാരത്തിനും തടസ്സം നില്‍ക്കാത്തതുമായിരിക്കണം." ജെന്‍ഡര്‍ ന്യൂട്രല്‍ യൂണിഫോം എന്ന ആശയം സ്‌കൂളുകളില്‍ നടപ്പിലാക്കാന്‍ സര്‍ക്കാര്‍ പൂര്‍ണ്ണ സമ്മതമാണ് നല്‍കിയിരിക്കുന്നതെന്ന് ആലപ്പുഴ ജില്ലാ പഞ്ചായത്ത് പ്രസിഡന്‍റ് കെ.ജി രാജേശ്വരി സമയം പ്ലസിന് നല്‍കിയ അഭിമുഖത്തില്‍ വ്യക്തമാക്കി. തദ്ദേശ സ്വയംഭരണസ്ഥാപനങ്ങള്‍ക്ക് സ്വമേധയാ മാറ്റങ്ങള്‍ കൊണ്ടുവരുന്നതില്‍ തടസ്സമില്ലെന്നും എന്നാല്‍ ജില്ലയിലെ വിദ്യാഭ്യാസ വകുപ്പുമായി ബന്ധപ്പെട്ട അധികാരികളുമായി ആശയവിനിമയം നടത്തി തീരുമാനം എടുക്കണമെന്നുമാണ് വിദ്യഭ്യാസമന്ത്രി വി.ശിവന്‍കുട്ടി നല്‍കിയ നിര്‍ദേശം. നിലവില്‍ ജില്ലാ പഞ്ചായത്ത് കമ്മിറ്റി യൂണിഫോമില്‍ സമത്വം കൊണ്ടുവരണം എന്ന് ഒരു പ്രോപ്പോസല്‍ വെച്ചിട്ടുണ്ട്. ഇനി എല്ലാവരുടേയും അഭിപ്രായങ്ങള്‍ ആരാഞ്ഞ് സമ്മതമാണെങ്കില്‍ അടുത്ത അധ്യയന വര്‍ഷം മുതല്‍ ആലപ്പുഴ ജില്ലയിലെ സ്‌കൂളുകളില്‍ യൂണിഫോമില്‍ സമത്വം കൊണ്ടുവരും. -- കെ.ജി രാജേശ്വരി പറഞ്ഞു. പെണ്‍കുട്ടികള്‍ ചുരാദാറാണ് ധരിക്കേണ്ടത്, ആണ്‍കുട്ടികള്‍ പാന്‍റാണ് ധരിക്കേണ്ടത് എന്നുള്ള ഒരു പൊതുബോധം സമൂഹത്തിലുണ്ട്. അത് ആദ്യം മാറണം. മാത്രമല്ല സ്‌കൂളുകളിലെ ബെഞ്ച് ക്രമീകരണം തന്നെ അസമത്വത്തിനുള്ള ഉദാഹരണമാണ്. പെണ്‍കുട്ടികളും ആണ്‍ കുട്ടികളും ഒരേ ബെഞ്ചില്‍ തന്നെയാണ് ഇരിക്കേണ്ടത്. അപ്പോള്‍ മാത്രമേ എന്‍റെ അടുത്തിരിക്കുന്ന പെണ്‍കുട്ടിക്ക് പ്രത്യേകതകളൊന്നും ഇല്ല എന്ന് ആണ്‍കുട്ടികള്‍ക്ക് മനസിലാക്കാന്‍ സാധിക്കൂ -- രാജേശ്വരി ചൂണ്ടിക്കാട്ടി. അതുപോലെ വീട്ടില്‍ തന്നെ ആണ്‍ - പെണ്‍ വേര്‍തിരിവ് വളരെ പ്രകടമാണ്. ഒരു വീട്ടില്‍ ഒരു ആണ്‍കുട്ടിയും പെണ്‍കുട്ടിയുമുണ്ടെങ്കില്‍ അവര്‍ക്ക് വാങ്ങി നല്‍കുന്ന കളിപ്പാട്ടങ്ങള്‍ മുതല്‍ തുടങ്ങും വേര്‍തിരിവ്. പെണ്‍കുട്ടികളാണെങ്കില്‍ പാവക്കുട്ടിയും ആണ്‍കുട്ടികളാണെങ്കില്‍ കാര്‍, മറ്റ് വണ്ടികളെല്ലാം നല്‍കുന്നു. ഇനി ആണ്‍കുട്ടിയെങ്ങാനും പാവയെടുത്ത് കളിച്ചാല്‍ ബോധപൂര്‍വ്വം വീട്ടുകാര്‍ അതില്‍ നിന്ന് മാറ്റാന്‍ ശ്രമിക്കും. -- അവര്‍ പറഞ്ഞു. അതേസമയം, ആണ്‍കുട്ടികള്‍ക്കും പെണ്‍കുട്ടികള്‍ക്കും ഒരുപോലെ ഉപയോഗിക്കാവുന്ന യൂണിഫോമുകള്‍ ഡിസൈന്‍ ചെയ്ത് എടുക്കേണ്ടത് സര്‍ക്കാരിന്‍റെ ഉത്തവാദിത്വമാണെന്നാണ് സുല്‍ഫത്ത് അഭിപ്രായപ്പെടുന്നത്. സദാചാരക്കാരെ കണക്കിലെടുക്കുകയാണെങ്കില്‍ പോലും അയഞ്ഞ ഷര്‍ട്ടും പാന്റും പെണ്‍കുട്ടികള്‍ക്ക് വേണ്ടി നിര്‍ദേശിക്കാവുന്നതാണ്. പല പെണ്‍കുട്ടികളും കായിക വിനോദ പരിപാടികളില്‍ നിന്ന് മാറി നില്‍ക്കുന്നത് വസ്ത്രം കല്‍പിക്കുന്ന നിയന്ത്രണങ്ങള്‍ കാരണമാണ്. മന്ത്രിക്ക് സമര്‍പ്പിച്ച നിവേദനത്തില്‍ പെണ്‍കുട്ടികളെ ഈ രംഗങ്ങളിലേക്ക് എത്തിക്കാനുള്ള ശ്രമങ്ങള്‍ നടത്തണമെന്ന് ആവശ്യപ്പെട്ടിട്ടുണ്ട്. -- സുല്‍ഫത്ത് പറഞ്ഞു. വിദ്യാലയങ്ങളിലെ ലൈംഗിക വിദ്യഭ്യാസം 'സെക്‌സ് എജ്യൂക്കേഷന്‍ എന്ന് കേള്‍ക്കുമ്പോള്‍ പൊതു സമൂഹത്തിന് ഒരു തെറ്റായ ധാരണയുണ്ട്. അതായത് കുട്ടികളെ സെക്‌സ് ചെയ്യാന്‍ പഠിപ്പിക്കുകയാണ് എന്ന്. എന്നാല്‍ സ്ത്രീ പുരുഷ ശരീരത്തിലെ ലൈംഗിക അവയവങ്ങളെ കുറിച്ചാണ് യഥാര്‍ത്ഥത്തില്‍ പഠിപ്പിക്കുന്നത്. ഇത്തരം ക്ലാസുകള്‍ ആണ്‍കുട്ടികളും പെണ്‍കുട്ടികളും ഒന്നിച്ചിരുന്ന് കേള്‍ക്കുകയും വേണം. ആണ്‍കുട്ടികളെ സംബന്ധിച്ചിടത്തോളം സ്ത്രീ ശരീരം എന്തോ നിഗൂഢതയുള്ളതാണെന്നുള്ള തോന്നലാണ്. പെണ്‍കുട്ടികളാണെങ്കില്‍ സ്വന്തം ശരീരത്തെ ഭയക്കുകയും ചെയ്യുന്നുണ്ട്. സെക്‌സ് എജ്യുക്കേഷന്‍ പോലുള്ള വിദ്യാഭ്യാസ പരിപാടികളിലൂടെ ഇങ്ങനെയുള്ള തെറ്റായ ബോധം കുട്ടികളില്‍ നിന്ന് ഇല്ലാതാക്കാന്‍ സാധിക്കും. അതുപോലെ തന്നെ പരസ്പര ബഹുമാനവും പരസ്പരമുള്ള മനസിലാക്കലും ലൈംഗിക വിദ്യഭ്യാസത്തിന്റെ ഭാഗമായി കുട്ടികള്‍ക്ക് ലഭിക്കുന്നുണ്ട്. പ്രീ പ്രൈമറി മുതല്‍ കുട്ടികള്‍ക്ക് മനസിലാകുന്ന രീതിയില്‍ ക്ലാസുകള്‍ നല്‍കണം. സര്‍ക്കാര്‍ തലത്തില്‍ നിര്‍ബന്ധിത ക്ലാസുകളാണ് സംഘടിപ്പിക്കേണ്ടത്.' -- സുല്‍ഫത്ത് എം പറഞ്ഞു. അതുപോലെ തന്നെ പ്രസവം എന്നുപറയുന്നത് ശരീരിക ബന്ധത്തിലൂടെ ഉണ്ടാകുന്നതാണ് എന്നും അത് മറച്ചുവെക്കേണ്ട ഒന്നല്ല എന്നും ചെറിയ കുട്ടികളായിരിക്കുമ്പോള്‍ തന്നെ പറഞ്ഞ് മനസിലാക്കാന്‍ കഴിയണം. മാത്രമല്ല പാഠ പുസ്തകത്തില്‍ ഉള്‍പ്പെടുത്തിയിരിക്കുന്ന മാതൃത്വത്തിന്റെ മഹത്വവും കേരളത്തിലെ ചരിത്രങ്ങളില്‍ ഇടം പിടിച്ച സ്ത്രീകളെ കുറിച്ചുമെല്ലാം ഇത്തരം സെക്‌സ് എജ്യൂക്കേഷനില്‍ ഉള്‍പ്പെടുത്തണം. എന്നാല്‍ മാത്രമേ സ്ത്രീകള്‍ ദുര്‍ബല വിഭാഗത്തിലുള്ളവരല്ല എന്ന ബോധം ചെറുപ്പം മുതല്‍ കുട്ടികള്‍ക്കുള്ളില്‍ ഉണ്ടാവുകയുള്ളു. മാത്രമല്ല ബലാത്സംഗം ചെയ്താല്‍ ഏന്ത് ശിക്ഷയാണ് കുറ്റവാളിക്ക് ലഭിക്കുക എന്ന് മനസിലാക്കാനുള്ള പാടവവും കുട്ടികള്‍ക്ക് നല്‍കണം. -- സുൽഫത്ത് പറയുന്നു. ബലാത്സംഗം പോലുള്ള ക്രൂര കൃത്യങ്ങള്‍ക്ക് അറുതി വരണമെങ്കില്‍ കുട്ടികളായിരിക്കുമ്പോള്‍ മുതല്‍ തന്നെ ലൈംഗിക വിദ്യാഭ്യാസം നല്‍കണമെന്നതാണ് തന്റെ അഭിപ്രായമെന്ന് കെ.ജി രാജേശ്വരി ചൂണ്ടിക്കാട്ടി. മനസു കൊണ്ട് ഇരുവിഭാഗക്കാരും രണ്ടല്ല ഒന്നാണ് എന്നുള്ള ശരിയായ കാഴ്ചപ്പാടിലേക്ക് കുട്ടികളെ കൊണ്ടുവരാനുള്ള പരിശ്രമങ്ങളാണ് നടത്തേണ്ടത്. സെക്‌സ് എജ്യൂക്കേഷന്‍ എന്ന് കേള്‍ക്കുമ്പോള്‍ വീട്ടുകാരും നെറ്റിച്ചുളിക്കാറുണ്ട്. സ്ത്രീ എന്തോ ഒരു നിഗൂഢത നിറഞ്ഞ വസ്തുവാണെന്നുള്ള ബോധം ആണ്‍കുട്ടികളില്‍ വീട്ടുകാരും വളര്‍ത്തിയെടുക്കുന്നുണ്ട്. ഒരു ഉദാഹരണം പറയാം, അലക്കിയിട്ടിരിക്കുന്ന തുണി ഒരു മകനാണ് എടുക്കുന്നതെങ്കില്‍ അമ്മയുടെ അല്ലെങ്കില്‍ സഹോദരിയുടെ അടിവസ്ത്രങ്ങള്‍ എടുക്കണ്ട എന്ന് പറയുന്നത് പല സന്ദര്‍ഭങ്ങളിലും കാണാറുണ്ട്. ആ സമയത്ത് എന്തുകൊണ്ട് അത് എടുത്തുകൂടാ? അതില്‍ എന്താണ് ഉള്ളത് എന്നൊക്കെയുള്ള തെറ്റായ ആശയങ്ങളാണ് ആ കുട്ടിയുടെ മനസിലേക്കും ചിന്തയിലേക്കും കയറുന്നത്. -- രാജേശ്വരി വ്യക്തമാക്കി. ****

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Gender Equality in Kerala

While good health and educational attainments are necessary for gender equality, the development experience in Kerala suggests that these accomplishments are insufficient to support gender equality – a Constitutional promise and a Constitutional right for all Indian men and women.  This note finds that women in Kerala do not have equal access to economic opportunities and resources or equal voice in political decision-making, necessary dimensions of gender equal development. Support for gender equality is often mistaken for “feminism” reducing demand among men and women, and there is little appreciation of the important function that gender equality plays in reducing poverty and in enhancing economic growth.  Given the unique and favorable human development context, Kerala is badly in need of a considered gender and development strategy to address the second generation of economic and political challenges.  The strategy needs to be developed through a democratic process, and usher in a shift from an approach of women’s empowerment to one of gender equality. In defining this strategy, the time has also come to recognize that men will need to play a critical and educated role if gender equality is to progress in Kerala.

This background note is prepared by Gita Gopal, Gender Coordinator, Janasree Sustainable Mission for Development at the request of Janasree Management (Sri MM Hassan and Sri BS Balanchandran).  A summary version has been published in a policy document issued by Janasree.  This draft has benefitted from detailed comments received from Ms. Malini Sekhar, Communications Consultant ( www.sahanacreative.com ), Ms. Aswathy SS, Strategy and Resource Coordinator, Ekatha Trust, and from Mrs. Valsala Sekhar, Social Activist and Civil Society Representative.

Gender Equality in Kerala: A Reality or A Myth?

Gender equality is not an alien concept to India – it is a part of the Indian Constitutional promise and represents a Constitutional right . Article 14 of the Indian Constitution confers equal rights and opportunities to both men and women in the political, economic and social spheres. Article 15 prohibits discrimination against any citizen inter alia on the grounds of sex.  Article 15(3) provides affirmative discriminations in favor of women to correct discrimination.  Article 16 provides for equality of opportunities in matter of public appointments for all citizens.  Article 39 (a) related to state policies towards securing all citizens, men and women, equally, the right to means of livelihood.  Article 39(d) requires public institutions to ensure equal pay for equal work. Article 42 directs the State to make provision for ensuring just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief.  Finally, the Constitution imposes a fundamental duty on every citizen through Articles 51 (A) (e) to renounce the practices derogatory to the dignity of women.

There is also adequate evidence in development literature, which demonstrates that gender equality is about increased productivity, improved development outcomes for the next generation, and making institutions more representative ( World Development Report 2012 (WDR) on Gender Equality ) . In simple terms, no nation or state can leave behind more than half the population and expect that the house will remain in order.  Development literature confirms linkages between improved poverty reduction and gender equality. For example, in India, giving power to women at the local level has led to increases in the provision of public goods, such as water and sanitation, which was of greater concern for women. The WDR calls for immediate action in four critical areas, namely reducing excess female mortality and closing education gaps where they remain; improving access to economic opportunities for women; increasing women’s voice and agency in the household and in society; and limiting the reproduction of gender inequality across generations.

Simple as the above prescription may seem, the WDR points out that constraints to gender equality exist at multiple levels.  They exist in markets in the form of barriers to entry and occupational segregation; in institutions in terms of failure to allow women’s voices to be heard, and within households through strongly-held beliefs and practices that undermine gender equality.  Consequently, seeking change in the area of gender is complex and challenging because gender outcomes are a result of the ways in which social norms interact with markets, institutions, and individual aspirations and beliefs, to shape opportunities and outcomes for women and men throughout their lives.

External forces can also help to catalyze gender change at all levels.   For example, with ten million men Americans fighting in World War II, the need for female labor at home was urgent especially in war-time industries that had emerged.  Markets and institutions (including the Federal Government) shaped and influenced household beliefs with incentives and cries of patriotism, coaxing married women out of their homes and into the labor markets.  Women’s participation in the US labor markets reportedly increased from about one quarter to one third during this period.   In India too, one specific point of great change was Mahatma Gandhi’s call to all men and women to participate in the Indian Independence movement.  He made it the responsibility of each man and woman to take up the charka and throw off the shackles of dependence.  This led to a Constitution that forbade discrimination on the grounds of sex among other things.

Without such external forces, initiating change is challenging, even when such change is known to be right and good for the community and for the country . It needs concerted effort at different levels – political, economic, and social, and even then such change can be slow.  Such actions broadly include improving access to justice for both men and women, gender-aware policies and programs emphasizing the economic role of women, enhancing public awareness of the importance of gender equality for economic growth, programs, enhancing demand for gender equality through interventions to incentivize families and communities to change mindsets about gender, and finally committed political leadership.

This review aims to provide participants with some background on the status of gender equality in Kerala, a state in the South of India.  Based primarily on a desk review, it is aimed to increase awareness among policy makers and NGOs on gender equality in Kerala and to facilitate better appreciation of the need to initiate a dialogue on gender equality. After this introductory section, the next section provides a 3-dimensional framework for discussing gender equality.  Sections 3-5 then discuss gender issues in Kerala around the 3 dimensions, before the final concluding section.

What does Gender Equality Mean?

Gender equality is a nebulous term, not often found in several languages including in Malayalam. It is a term used to describe socially-constructed relationships between women and men.  Gender differences are unlike ‘sex-based’ differences.  The Oxford English Dictionary defines sex as referring to “biological differences”, while gender refers to differences created by “cultural or social” grounds.  Sex-based differences are biologically determined, and do not change with time or space. Gender differences, on the other hand, are a social construct, a product of society, its values, and changes from locality to locality.  While biological differences cannot be changed by society, men and women can influence gender norms through actions they may decide to take or not take within their households and communities.  For example, through their actions, they can decide to replicate gender constructs and conform to socially and traditionally created expectations or instead decide to change them.

Gender equality is not about women alone.  It is about both men and women. It is not about equal numbers for men and women, although this may be important in some contexts.  It is also not about treating men and women equally because given the biological differences, sometimes they need to be treated differently.  It is about ensuring that both men and women have equal access to opportunities, that each can live fulfilling lives, and that each can contribute to the development of communities in which they live.

Figure 1:  The Indian Constitution and Gender Equality

For the purposes of this note, gender equality will be defined utilizing the framework from the Indian Constitution.  The Constitution gives importance to rights and opportunities in 3 dimensions: (i) equal rights and opportunities for both men and women in the social sphere; (ii) equal rights and opportunities for both men and women in the economic sphere; and (iii) equal rights and opportunities for both men and women in the political spheres.  The first dimension, the social sphere, covers equal access to health, education, training and skills development.  The economic sphere focuses on women’s rights to economic assets, resources, and opportunities and discussion in the political sphere will focus on the participation and voice of women in political and community matters.

Kerala presents a paradox when it comes to gender equality. With women constituting almost 52 per cent of Kerala’s total population of 333 lakhs, Kerala has achieved enviable social development indicators. Its achievements in the areas of universal primary education both for boys and girls, favorable female-male population ratios, high literacy rates for both men and women, and high life expectancy rates for both men and women are a pride not only to the state but also to the country. The high levels of social development indicators are laudable, and are a necessary condition for gender equality.  There is, however, significant concern that although they are necessary, they are not sufficient by itself. Women may be more literate (improved enrollments) and less pregnant (decreased fertility) than in other parts of the country, but they remain equally if not more powerless and poor.

Applying the 3-dimensional constitutional lens to gender equality, this becomes evident.  Kerala fares relatively well in the first dimension in terms of social development), but falls behind in the second (access to economic opportunities, resources, and assets) and third dimension (equal voice and participation in decision making in the state). Economic, political, and social factors interact leaving women disempowered and without equal rights, sometimes as much as their sisters in other states with lower human development indicators.

This is not a new finding .  The Kerala Human Development Result (2005) notes that gender discrimination poses perhaps one of two “most serious challenges to continued human development in Kerala, cutting across categories such as class, caste, religion and age.”  The Planning Commission’s Economic Review 2010 also warns that the hype around educated and healthy Keralite women may not be the whole story – the Review points out to the need to rethink the issue and to strategize on how to address some critical constraints to gender equality. The next few sections focus on the status of gender equality in Kerala in the three Constitutional spheres (social, economic, and political) and discuss to what extent women and men enjoy their constitutionally provided rights.

Strong Progress in Social Development in Terms of Education and Health

Literacy:  Kerala has the highest literacy rates in the country, and more than 90 per cent of its women are literate . Although the rates for men are slightly higher at 96 per cent (National Sample Survey Organization 63rd round (July 2006-June 2007), these rates and the extent of gender gap fare well when compared to national figures – 86 per cent for men and 66 per cent for women. At the national level, there is a higher level of disparity with a 20 per cent gender gap. (Table 1) [i]   The National Family Health Survey-3 (NHFS 2006) confirms this high level of literacy and low gender disparity. Literate persons were defined by the survey as those who have either completed at least standard six or ‘passed’ and a simple literacy test was conducted as part of the survey. The survey found that 93 per cent of women and 96 per cent of men age 15-49 are literate in Kerala. The 2011 Census estimate also indicates that 92 per cent of women and 96 per cent of men are literate.

Education:  At the primary level, enrollment is universal and gender parity has been achieved.   At the secondary level, coverage is not universal.  A recent paper published by CDS, based on the data of the 2006 NFHS-3 shows that during the period 1996-2006, only 45 per cent of the children made it to the higher secondary level or a related stage of education. However, even at this level, female children are ahead of male children in schooling except among Scheduled Tribes (at the primary and upper primary levels) and Muslims (at the higher secondary level). (Dilip, 2010)  Dropout rates are low for both boys and girls.

A larger proportion of women are enrolled at higher level educational institutions in Kerala (Table 2) .  At the tertiary level, about 70 per cent of students registered in arts, commerce, and sciences colleges during 2009-2010 were women. Girls are ahead in all fields (arts, sciences, medicine) falling behind only in engineering, technology, architecture, and design.  Girls constitute 83 per cent of the science students, but only 43 per cent of those in the engineering cluster.  While the numbers suggest a significant bias in favor of girls (7 out of 10 girls in these tertiary institutions are girls), there is a need to better explore and understand what is happening to gender parity at the tertiary level.

Box 1: Women in the Media

Despite their high levels of education, women continue to be defined by marriage, dowry, and fairness in Kerala media.  “Fair and Beauty” creams, advertised on prime time television, promise a lighter skin to help women get that longed-for job and/or that sought-after husband.  Advertisements such as “Beauty meets Quality” and “men need women, women need gold” associate gold with heavily decked brides, rather than as a good financial investment. They help to influence and shape mindsets of the younger group in a state, where households hardly need any additional encouragement to pay or demand for dowry.  Andree Wright, who has recorded changes in the image of femininity as portrayed in the Australian Women’s Weekly through the war years finds that during the early war years, up to 1942, homemaking and motherhood remained the most important job.  As the need for increased supplies of female labour became paramount, the Australian Women’s Weekly began to change the image of its heroine and magazine propaganda painted an attractive image of the working woman.’ But as soon as the war was over, the ‘working woman’ ceased to exist for the Women’s Weekly, being replaced by ‘the bride.’  Kerala appears to be still in the prewar stage!

The high levels of education of women indicated above do not however appear to translate into marketable skills .  Women’s entry into, and participation, in the labor market is highly constrained as discussed in the next section.  The lowering of evaluation standards at the higher secondary level, instead of improving the quality of teaching and curriculum, is perceived by some as a key issue that constrains entry into labor markets.  The skills supply by universities may also not be relevant to meet the demands of a globalizing market.  Significant skills training are reported as having been conducted for women. Most activities are, however, related to ‘very stereotypical occupations like making of soaps, umbrella, foot wear, food processing, farming (mushroom, flowers etc)’ and result in little actual conversion of skills into income generating projects. Even when there were earnings, income is meager at Rs.30-Rs.50/-day.  Managerial, financial management and marketing skills were not integrated in these training sessions. Women’s limited ownership over physical assets (such as land and space for activities), and their lack of mobility further constrained outcomes. Where other skills were attempted (computer training and auto driving), such training was not coordinated with the support of financial and technical support, and they did not generate any additional income (Sakhi, undated)

Health:  Both men and women in Kerala have high life expectancies, equivalent to some European countries.  Kerala is one of the few States in the country where the female-male ratio is over one (1084 women for every 1000 men while the national rate is 940 according to the provisional data for the 2011 census).  Life expectancy is at 71 years for men and at 74 for women. ( http://www.kerala.gov.in )  A woman in Kerala is expected to have an average of 1.9 children in her lifetime.   Notably, fertility even in the rural areas of Kerala is below the replacement level of 2.1 children. The relatively high rates of maternal mortality are surprising given that all births in the state are attended by skilled attendants.  NHFS-3 found than almost all women who gave birth in the five years preceding the survey received antenatal care from a health professional, including 98 per cent from a doctor and one per cent from all other health personnel. Only one per cent of women received antenatal care from a traditional birth attendant or ICDS worker.  Interestingly, 90 per cent of fathers were present at least at one antenatal care visit.  Mortality rates are one of the best in India but remain relatively high when comparable to countries such as Sri Lanka – 95 per every 100,000 births [ii] compared to Sri Lanka’s 60. There is need to better understand the exact cause for even this level of mortality rates.

Inequalities in Access to Economic Assets, Resources, and Opportunities Remain Weak

For men and women in Kerala, there are three main ways of accessing economic assets and resources: (i) acquiring a share of the family property, (ii) participation in the labor markets, (iii) self-employment or establishment of small business enterprises or participation in the informal sectors.  In each area, women appear to be unequal partners in Kerala.  Access to economic services is also important because in societies where women are predominantly responsible for household chores, increased access to childcare services, water, electricity, and cooking gas helps women to balance their time between home and work.   These issues are discussed in this section.

Access to Family Assets

During a marriage, no spouse has rights over the property of the other spouse. [iii]   Any property held in individual names belongs to the legal owner, unless proved otherwise.  Upon divorce, each spouse is entitled to maintenance and any property in her name. The wife is also entitled to claim any stridhan she bought into the family, provided she can prove it to be so if it is not in her name.  Parents and either spouse can bequeath property registered in their individual names, thus depriving children or spouse of any share of the inheritance.  While there is no gender inequality, such equal laws were considered to have an unequal result when applied in contexts where property was mostly in the hands of male family members.  Thus in several countries, laws have been instituted which require household property (defined differently, but typically refers to property acquired after the marriage) to be divided equally between the two spouses, barring any reason specified at law such as infidelity by one party.  This is not the case in Kerala.

Despite a stringent law on the books that prohibits the taking or giving of a dowry, this criminal activity continues unabated . Further more the confusion between streedhana (the property of a woman) and a dowry (a consideration paid by a bride to the bridegroom for marriage) has exacerbated the situation.  A 2008 Planning Commission report notes that in the final quarter of the last century, dowry appears to be replacing inheritance as a mode of transfer of family property, although there is no guarantee that the assets stay in the wife’s name and under her control. [iv]   Dowry deaths are per se low in Kerala when compared to other states, but the number of dowry deaths have increased between 2007 and 2008 by almost 15 per cent, the highest levels of increase in the country.  Nevertheless, the practice is widely prevalent in Kerala, and consultation with relevant stakeholders suggests standard market prices for different categories of working men!

NFHS-3 findings appear to confirm women’s weak access to assets, particularly for married women in Kerala. Only 21 per cent of married women between the ages of 15-49 in the state have some money, which they control. This was less than half the national average of 44 per cent. Only slightly more than one-quarter of women (27 per cent) have a bank or savings account that they themselves use, although this is on the higher side than the national average (15 per cent) or that in other states, and could reflect the high availability of banking services in the state. [v]   As Table 3 indicates, patriarchal practices about women’s mobility are also strong in Kerala, and in many instances stronger that other Southern States.

Participation in the Labor Markets

Despite the high levels of educational achievement of women, participation of women in labor markets is low in Kerala , one of the lowest in India . The State HDR of 2005 points out that while over a quarter of the female population is recorded as economically active at the all-India level, the proportion is about 23 per cent in Kerala. This is despite the high levels of education attainment by Keralite women.  NFHS-3 indicates that only 29 per cent of married women aged 15-49 in Kerala were employed in the year prior to the survey, compared with 99 per cent of married men.  A 2009 paper sponsored by the Kerala State Planning Board finds similarly. It notes that the ‘the work participation rate of women in Kerala is lower than the national average as well as those of other Southern States.’ According to the 2001 Census, out of a labor force in Kerala of 10.3 million, 7.8 million are males and only 2.5 million are females.  Thisis lower than Sri Lanka and is similar to other more conservative countries such as UAE and Lebanon (see Figure 2 below).

There are no clear answers on the reasons for the low labor participation in a state where women are so highly educated .  However, there are several plausible explanations, which suggest that the issue stems from a number of complex factors.  A review by Mazumdar and Guruswamy (2006) finds inter alia conceptual problems in estimating women’s participation in the labor markets, increased migration and higher levels of household income, lower levels of female employment found in transitional and developing states in Asia and Latin America, weak links between labor demands and supply, proliferation of tertiary education and consequent changed expectations of ‘acceptable’ employment, decreased rice cultivation reducing the need for female labor, switch to cash crops and replacement of women’s labor by male immigrant labor, the stagnation of the household and small-scale industry, migration of industries to other states due to labor unions, and rigid gender roles.

While low participation rates do not necessarily reflect gender inequalities since women may elect to stay at home, unemployment rates are a clearer sign of gender inequality, given that the disparity is between men and women who are seeking employment .  According to the Economic Review 2010, women outnumber men seeking employment through employment exchanges in all the 14 districts of Kerala. Almost 60 per cent of total work seekers were women.  Educated unemployment has been also noted as a serious concern by the 2010 Economic Review.  While 18 per cent of educated men are unemployed, 71 per cent of educated women are unemployed.

The latest NSSO data provides an insight into where men and women work in Kerala (Table 4) .  About 40 per cent of both men and women are self-employed.  While 21 per cent of men are salaried workers, the numbers are higher for women at 30 per cent.  About half the men work as causal labor, while less than one-third of the women do so. This provides quite a contrast from the comparator states, where women’s participation as salaried workers is much lower than that of men.

Table 4: Participation in Labor Markets

A larger proportion of women, however, work in lower paying jobs and in the informal sectors .  Only 31.78 per cent of women are employed by the Government in Kerala, which is a more secure and better remunerated employment, but hereto the majority of women work in the lower rungs of the employment hierarchy as teachers, nurses, paramedics, secretaries, and stenographers. Seventy-one per cent of the school teachers in the state are women, while they constitute only 36 per cent of university teachers.  In the service sector, they work largely as domestic labor, beauticians, maids, and so on.  In the private sector, women constitute half of those employed, but more than 3/4ths of the women working in the manufacturing sector are in the informal sector. Also, private sector work is in general less secure and does not typically carry other benefits (Economic Review 2010).  There is also some evidence in the report that women work in a narrower range of occupations than men, partly because of the spatial limitations that affect women. The latest NSSO data for 2009-2010 indicates that there are more female salaried workers, but it also indicates that the average salary is lower than that of men despite the equal, if not superior, educational attainments.

Occupational segregation, another sign of gender inequality, is relatively lower in Kerala when examined against comparator states, although it is a problem in some districts .  Women predominate in the professional and technicians/associates categories, which does not occur in any of the other Southern States.  There is only a 3  per cent gender disparity in the elementary occupations, which is much less than in other Southern states.

Women, however, do not have equal decision making powers in their occupations even when compared to other Southern States.  A 2008 study on the ICT sector indicated that women mostly predominate in unskilled work and in work that require technical training and problem solving.  (Source) In areas requiring specific expertise and managerial authority, men predominate.  The NSSO data provided below in Table 6 indicates that women constitute only one-fourth of the men in positions of authority in Kerala. The numbers are higher in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu.  It is also lower than the national average, which is surprising given that Kerala continues to lead the human development index in India.

Self-Employment and Microenterprises

A large number of women in Kerala are in the private sector, but the quality of participation is weak .   About 22 lakhs work in the service sector enterprises in Kerala, with about 12 lakhs being own account enterprises [vi] and 10 lakhs in other establishments [vii] .  Forty-five per cent of these workers in the informal sectors in Kerala are women (highest after Orissa). About 51 per cent of all female workers work in financially weaker OAEs and about 37 per cent work in establishments. Women constitute 31 per cent of all permanent workers, while they are 82 per cent of all temporary workers.  Only 16 per cent of all worker owners are women, and it must be noted that this is the highest amongst the comparator states and higher than the Indian average (10 per cent).  However, this is much lower than in other countries and is equivalent to data in more conservative societies in the Middle East (World Bank), where also women have good human endowments but less than 20 per cent are enterprise owners.

 Gender neutral cumbersome regulations and procedures to start and maintain a business can be more cumbersome for women, because they have greater challenges in navigating in public places .  According to the World Bank’s Doing Business 2008, countries with more cumbersome business environments have smaller shares of women entrepreneurs, and simplifying business processes could create more first-time female business owners at a rate 33 per cent faster than that for their male. These are particularly tedious in Kerala when compared with other cities in India.  Among 17 cities in India, Kochi ranks as the 16 th in terms of the ease of doing business (Doing Business in Kochi, India 2009), just above Kolkatta.  Policy makers in Kerala may wish to keep this in view, given that such reform would benefit both men and women.

In Kerala, a large percentage of the women, who are principally housewives, are willing to work on their household premises – 43 per cent in rural areas and 33 per cent in urban areas .  They need either ‘initial finance on easy terms’ or ‘training’ or ‘working finance facilities’ to take up their desired work (NSSO data 2004-5). Seventy two per cent of these women preferred part-time work, while full-time work was acceptable to another 25 per cent.  Access to microfinance appears to be a constraint in Kerala. [viii]   Among women willing to start an economic activity on their homestead, 62 per cent cited the lack of initial finance on easy terms was cited as a reason.  Another 11 per cent cited training as a limitation.  NFHS-3 also indicates that access to microfinance may be an issue.  Although all women respondents had heard of microfinance, only eight per cent of women in Kerala have availed of the facility.

Domestic workers are another group of women who are highly vulnerable in Kerala.  They work without any contracts, no clear terms or conditions, and without any security of employment.  In 2010, the State Government had established minimum wages for Kerala, but there is little monitoring of its implementation.

Women continue to be predominantly responsible for household chores and child and/or elder care (Table 6) . They are responsible for collecting water and fuel for domestic consumption, for ensuring that food is on the table, and for looking after the needs of the children, the husband, and extended family members.  For working women, typically, this is in addition to their other responsibilities in the workplace.  The NHFS-3 indicates that 69 per cent of households use an improved source of drinking water (77 per cent of urban households and 65 per cent of rural households), but only 13 per cent have water piped into their dwelling, yard, or plot and 12 per cent get drinking water from a public tap or standpipe.”  Access to LPG (cooking gas) is limited to only 22 per cent of the rural population and 59 per cent of the urban population. The rest depend on firewood and other sources of energy (NSSO data 2008).  In urban Kerala, dependence on firewood and chips for cooking is highest in India (41 per cent).   Such limited access to water and fuelwood is still a problem for a sizeable proportion of women in Kerala, although the situation appears to be better than in other states.  Few affordable childcare facilities and services to look after the elderly family members must also deter women from seeking jobs.

About a quarter of households in Kerala are female headed (NFHS-3 and Census of India 2003).  Discrimination against women could adversely affect these households, but there is inadequate information on their status.  In general, given the higher educational status of women, remittances from male members who are abroad, and a proliferation of government programs for women, they cannot automatically be considered to be at a disadvantage.

The Constitutional Promise in the Political Sphere Still Remains a Mirage

Educated they may be, good health they may have, but a meaningful role in decision making as well as equal participation in  community development appears to have slipped Keralite women . Three dimensions are reviewed here: inclusion in decision making at the political and household level, social cohesion in terms of violence, and accountability of political institutions.

Inclusion in Political Decision Making: Women are not a significant part of the decision making process in the state – governance continues to be male dominated in a state renowned for its matrilineal groups.   Despite the 30 per cent women’s representation in panchayats, a single lady minister in a cabinet of more than 20 and seven women legislators in a group of 144 is low by any standard.  Patriarchal practices of political parties and male defined ways of engagement (aggressive and adversarial) combined with social attitudes to women have brought only a few talented women into the political arena.  Public defamatory statements of women by respected leaders further add to the negative environment and women’s apprehension.  Even at the local levels, reserved seats are rotated every five years, and commentators note that as soon as a woman learns the rope of job, the rug is pulled out from under her feet.  Nevertheless, there is some emerging evidence that such reservations at the local level are leading to changed perceptions about women in positions of leadership, at least in some states (World Bank, WDR 2012).  But the progress is slow and insufficient for women to have meaningful participation in key decision making areas.

Judicial Power : Representation on the judiciary is weak, another male-dominated decision making body.  In India, on average, there are about seven per cent women in the judiciary. In Kerala, where 20 per cent of the advocates in the court system are women [ix] , representation has not been much better in its apex body despite the fact that the first woman to be a Supreme Court judge in 1989 was Justice Fathima Beevi from Kerala.  At the time of writing this paper, 2 out of a total of 29 judges on the Kerala High Court are women. The implications of such an all male institution for high court decisions can only be imagined because it has not been studied in depth; it remains a concern that justice at the apex level is meted out through a dominantly patriarchal lens.  In the civil services as a whole, women constitute about eight per cent of the total workforce in 2010 in India.  In 2009, they constituted about 13 per cent of all Indian Administrative Officers.  There appears to be an effort to increase women’s representation and the average intake into the IAS was about 22 per cent between 2004-2009. [x]

Women’s ability to move outside the home is highly constrained.  NHFS-3 suggests that only half the women in Kerala are allowed to go by themselves to the market (52 per cent) or to a health facility (54 per cent) but less than half (41 per cent) have freedom to travel alone outside their own village or community.  Only 35 per cent are allowed to go alone to all three places.

Violence against women [xi] , another highly disempowering factor, is prevalent in Kerala despite its superior levels of women’s educational attainments .  Statistics from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) indicate that Kerala is among the top six states in terms of rates against women (crimes per 100000) (Kerala also has the third highest rate of incidence of violent crimes in 2010, next only to Jammu and Kashmir and Manipur). Although Kerala accounts only for 2.75 per cent of the total population, it accounts for 4 per cent of the crimes committed against women in 2009.  In terms of rate of cruelty by husbands and relatives, Kerala has a the 6 th highest  crime rate in the country, lower than Andhra Pradesh, but higher than Karnataka or Tamil Nadu according to crimes registered in 2010.  NFHS-3, however, finds that violence against wives by husband is lower than Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka or Tamil Nadu in the 2006 survey.  One way to reconcile these conflicting figures might be that a larger proportion of those suffering cruelty are registering crimes in Kerala.

While the extent of violence may be unclear, what is interesting is that sixty-six per cent of women surveyed in Kerala believe that spousal beating is justified if there is a sufficient cause such as disrespect for in-laws or neglect of household or children (NHFS-3) .   Fifty-five per cent of the men are of a similar opinion.  This figure is consistent with views of men and women in other parts of South India, but different from a state such as Himachal Pradesh where much fewer men and women felt violence was acceptance even with reason.

* Rate of Crime against Women means number of crimes against women per one lakh population

Despite the protected afforded by the “Law on Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act” (2005), NHFS-3 found that about half of the women (46 per cent) have neither sought help nor told anyone about the violence . [xii]   Only 36 per cent of women who have ever experienced violence have sought help to end the violence through institutional remedies.  Abused women most often seek help from their own families. Thus state institutions and services do not have an opportunity to address the majority of the cases.  Moreover, women often do not have the economic independence to take recourse and prefer to silently bear the violence.

Kerala men may not be violent by nature even if more than half of them may justify beating their spouse with reason.  T hey appear to need the help of alcohol to be violent. The 2006 NFHS indicated that in Kerala 64 per cent of married women, whose husbands often get drunk, report experiencing violence, compared with 10 per cent of women whose husbands do not drink any alcohol.  (Kerala Human Development Report 2005).   Each year, Keralites consume 8.3 liters of liquor per person, three times the national rate, and the state has the ignominious distinction of having the highest levels of per capita liquor consumption. The Russian experience illustrates the dangers of alcoholism.  A study published in the Lancet finds that 52 per cent of all deaths of adults between the ages of 15 and 54 between 1990 and 2001 in three Siberian industrial towns were the result of alcohol abuse.  A U.N. National Human Development Report shows that Russian males born in 2006 had a life expectancy of just over 60 years, 17 fewer than western Europeans, while Russian females could expect to live thirteen years longer than their male counterparts. Mikhail Gorbachev’s efforts initiated in 1985 with a massive anti-alcohol campaign including severe penalties against public drunkenness and alcohol consumption, and restrictions on sales of liquor helped to reduce per capita alcohol consumption and improve the quality-of-life measures such as life expectancies and crime rates despite the fact that it was deeply unpopular among the population.  While the nexus between politics and alcohol may be unbreakable without electoral reforms, it may be important at minimum to raise awareness on the risks of alcoholism, at the community-level.

Kerala has the second highest suicide per capita rates among states, double the national rate. [xiii]   In 2010, about 25 people on average committed suicide every day (NCRB data). With a population of 2.75 per cent of the total population, Kerala accounts for 6.9 per cent of all suicides in the country (NCRB 2009).  Almost three-fourths of those who committed suicide in Kerala in 2010 were men and the higher one’s education, the lesser the chance of committing suicide – in Kerala 83.7 per cent had not passed the 10 th grade in 2009.  The higher numbers for men warrants investigation but part of it may perhaps be attributable to the stress on men to be the sole providers of the family needs – clearly a ‘male gender issue’.

So What Does All this Mean?

A prosperous Kerala needs its women and men to be equal partners, socially, economically, and politically .  Economic growth and the prosperity of Kerala in this globalizing world will depend on the availability of a sufficiently large workforce with a range of relevant skill levels and the ability to adapt to the changing needs of the labor market.

Kerala has already taken its first big step towards the constitutional promise of gender equality.   It has succeeded where many other states have failed – to educate its women and ensure access to basic services. But, while it has invested in the human development of women, it is not reaping the benefits of this investment.   At an economic level, women are still to find equal access to, and control over resources, be it through employment or access to household assets.  The higher proportion of women on the unemployment list is a testimony of the fact that even those women who seek jobs are unable to find them.   At a political level, women have started to speak at the panchayat level, but their voices have not found a place in key decision making arenas, which are almost completely male dominated.  Violence against women within the home appears to be increasing, although it is unclear to what extent this is because of higher levels of reporting.  Clearly, there are miles to go before the Constitutional promise can be said to have been achieved.

The context of gender in Kerala is, however, unique – women are educated and healthy, but apparently poor and powerless when assessed by typical indicators of women’s empowerment in the economic and political sphere.  Additionally, there is insufficient demand for gender equality, even among women.  In such a context, top-down policies and programs have not been sufficient. While it would be important for the Government to establish a considered strategy for women’s empowerment and to support gender mainstreaming in its work, three findings make it imperative that the demand-side for gender equality be also urgently addressed.  Key findings are:

• There is a need to develop a collective ownership of the gender equality or the women’s empowerment agenda and for more people to become aware that a gender equality agenda is not a feminist obsession, but is a Constitutional vision, one that will protect both men and women, and one that is necessary for Kerala to emerge as a prosperous and modern state. Awareness must be raised to ensure a demand at the grassroots level for gender equality, much as this is surprising in a state where matrilineal norms were prevalent.  While the Government has a key responsibility in this regard, equal responsibility lies with other development partners such as NGOs and civil society representatives.
• An approach to achieving gender equality should focus on both men and women.  Women’s empowerment is an essential first step before one can effectively implement gender equality and achieve the Constitutional promise in the State.  At the same time, it is important to recognize and better understand the decreasing enrolments of men in the primary and tertiary education levels and to examine the need to address this issue.
• Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it is important to bring men into this equation and garner their involvement in supporting women’s empowerment and gender equality.  In forging solutions to achieve the constitutional promise, it is important that the solutions help to preserve the family, and this can be achieved only if men are part of finding the solution.   If the social change is to be harmoniously wrought, then men need to become part of the solution and the gender equation.  As Mahatma Gandhi said: “the seers among men have recognised her equal status.”  It is time for Kerala men to rise to the occasion.

2011    Gender Dimensions: Employment Trends In India, 1993-94 To 2009-10, Indrani Mazumdar and Neetha N.,  Occasional Paper No.56 (August 2011), Centre For Women’s Development Studies

2011    Key Indicators of Employment and Unemployment in India, 2009-10, NSS KI (66/10) July 2009 – June 2010 National Sample Survey Organisation, Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation Government of India

2011    Statistics of Higher & Technical Education (2008-09) (As on 30th September, 2008), Government Of India, Ministry Of Human Resource Development, Bureau Of Planning, Monitoring & Statistics New Delhi (Provisional)

XXXX            Tables Of Statistics Of School Education (2007-2008) GOI Webpage

2010    India’s Civil Services Survey Report 2010, Government of India, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances

2010    Economic Review, Kerala State Planning Board

2010    School Educational Attainment In Kerala: Trends And Differentials T. R. Dilip, CDS, Trivandrum

2009    Global Employment Trends for Women, International Labor organization

2009    Study Report on Gender Audit, A Project of State Planning Board on Strengthening State Plans for Human Development with the financial assistance of UNDP and Planning Commission, Study Conducted by Dr. Leela Kumari P, Faculty Member, State Institute of Rural Development, Kerala

2009    Service Sector in India (2006-07), Report No. 529 (63/2.345/2),  Economic Characteristics of Enterprises, NSS 63rd round, (July 2006 – June 2007) National Sample Survey Organisation, Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation Government of India

2009    Status of Microfinance in India, NABARD,  http://www.nabard.org/pdf/Status%20of%20Microfinance%20in%20India%202008-09_131109.pdf

2008    ICT And Employment Promotion Among Poor Women: How Can We Make It Happen? Some Reflections On Kerala’s Experience, P. Mohanan Pillai, N. Shanta, February 2008

2008    Kerala State Development Report, Planning Commission, New Delhi

2008    International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) and Macro International. 2008. National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3), India, 2005-06: Kerala. Mumbai: IIPS.

2008    A Decade of Gender Mainstreaming in Local Governance in Kerala (presented at the International conference on a decade of decentralization Kerala; issues, options and Lessons; October 7th to 9th, Mascot hotel, Trivandrum) by Aleyamma Vijayan, Sakhi resource center for women

2007    Participation of Women in Specified Activities along with Domestic Duties, Report No. 518(61/10/4),  2004-2005, NSS 61st ROUND, (July 2004 – June 2005) National Sample Survey Organisation, Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation Government of India

2006    Gender Gaps in Unemployment Rates in OECD Countries, Ghazala Azmat, Maia Gu¨ ell, Alan Manning, Centre for Economic Performance, Journal of Labor Economics, 2006, vol. 24, no. 1

2006    Female Labour Force Participation in Kerala: Problems and Prospects, By Sumit Mazumdar and M. Guruswamy, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, India, www.iipsindia.org .  Paper to be presented at the forthcoming 2006 Annual Meeting Program Population Association of America Westin Bonaventure, Los Angeles, California  March 30 – April 1, 2006

2005    Human Development Report 2005, Prepared for the Government of Kerala by Centre for Development Studies Thiruvananthapuram, CDS

A Decade of Gender Mainstreaming in Local Governance in Kerala, ( presented at the International conference on a decade of decentralization Kerala; issues, options and Lessons ; October 7th to 9th, Mascot hotel, Trivandrum), Aleyamma Vijayan*

2004    A Study On Gender Based Violence In Kerala, Submitted To Department Of Health, Government Of Kerala, By Sakhi Resource Center For Women, Convent Road, Trivandrum 695035,Kerala

Undated Education, Health and Women’s Empowerment – Kerala’s Experience in Linking the Triad, K.R. Lakshmy Devi, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Calicut E-mail:[email protected]

THE WORLD BANK

2012    World Development Report on Gender Equality and Development

2009    Doing Business in India 2009, Subnational Doing Business,   http://www.doingbusiness.org/Reports/Subnational-Reports/india

2007    The Environment for Women’s Entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North Africa Region, http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTMENA/Resources/Environment_for_Womens_Entrepreneurship_in_MNA_final.pdf

[i] Given the common historical and social background, states in the South were picked as comparator states with the addition of Himachal Pradesh, given its relative high levels of gender equality.

[ii] http://content.undp.org/go/newsroom/2010/september/achieving-mdgs-in-india.en

[iii] This paragraph is not meant to discuss in detail the gender issues of access to property in Kerala, given that this is complex and varies with each community.  This is only to reflect the main point that access to property for women is constrained.

[iv] Among the Hindus and the Christians, stridhana (property gifted to the daughter at the time of marriage) was the right of a women to ancestral property that was expected to remain under the bride’s control and for her economic security.  Among Muslims, a consideration was paid at the time of marriage (a consideration for the marriage contract) that was to be returned to the wife in case of divorce.

[v] Kerala has traditionally been a well-banked state.  In 2004, Kerala had a bank per 11,000 people compared to the all-India average of 16,000.  (Economic Review 2010)

[vi] An enterprise, which is run without any hired worker employed on a fairly regular basis, is termed as own account enterprise. The estimated annual gross value added per enterprise in Kerala is RS. 36000 for OAEs and Rs. 216000 for establishments.

[vii] Establishment: An enterprise which employs at least one hired worker on a fairly regular basis is termed as establishment. Paid or unpaid apprentices, paid household member/servant/resident worker in an enterprise are considered hired workers.

[viii] Studies in India suggest that microfinance helps to socially empower women.  A NABARD study of microfinance in 2008-2009 showed that 92 per cent of households reported that the social empowerment of women had increased after joining membership in SHGs over a period of time.  The findings also showed that 22.5 per cent of women SHG members in the households had taken decisions in the post-SHG period as compared to 9.1 per cent in the pre-SHG period with respect to children’s education.

[ix] http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-03-30/thiruvananthapuram/28134915_1_dress-code-bar-council-lawyers

[x] www.thehindu.com/education/article75295.ece , Education: Dispelling Myths about Civil Service Examinations

[xi] The Declaration on Elimination of Violence Against Women adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1993, defines Violence Against Women as “any act of gender based violence against women that results in or is likely to result in physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivations of liberty, whether occurring in public or private spaces”

[xii] This may change as women become more aware of the legal provisions.

[xiii] http://ncrb.nic.in/ADSI2010/ADSI2010-full-report.pdf

Ekatha.org , A trust being registered in the State of Kerala

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Dissident Self-Writing in Malayalam: Reading Autobiographical Dissonance as Protest

2023, Anju Mathew

My paper attempts to study the autobiographical 'slips' of Nalini Jameela's Njan Laingikathozhilali (Trans. Autobiography of a Sex Worker) through the conceptual framework of warmachine proposed by Deleuze and Guattari. My paper focuses on the role of colonial modernity in establishing the genre of autobiographical writing in Kerala and reads how Nalini Jameela's work significantly alters the genre by subverting the dominant notions of ideal woman, cheap woman and autobiographical language. Colonial modernity had a significant role in establishing stabilised characteristics to gender categories and accordingly an ideal woman is supposed to be subservient, familycentric and should function in society-approved manner for the progress of her nuclear family. Nalini Jameela's work questions these suppositions. I explore the following questions in my paper-What was the impact of colonial modernity in establishing autobiography as a genre in Kerala? By challenging hegemonic modes of 'telling', how does the work establish a conflicted political subjectivity ? Does Nalini Jameela's autobiography subvert the established understandings of veshya(prostitute)? How does the work deconsecrate the 'respectability' notions of angelic domestic woman?

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Through counter narratives of Malayali modernity autobiographical writings of Nalini Jameela and C.K Janu puncture Kerala’s claim to an egalitarian social structure. By exposing the hypocrisy of modern Malayali society these narratives challenge the hierarchical constitution of intellectual elitism in Kerala and also reject a modernity that alienates and excludes communities in the margins of this ‘progressive’ state, demystifying the ‘Kerala model of development’ thesis. My attempt here is to closely read Nalini Jameela’s autobiography, The Autobiography of a Sex Worker, and see how it deviates from the self narratives which are often hailed as representative writings of Malayali modernity. The varied reception to these works also shows the conscious choices and appropriations in mainstream histories to synthesize a homogenous image of the elite modern and the ideal feminine in Kerala.

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It is evident that the women"s status in India is indivisibly linked with the wider social status of India that no endorsement of women"s interests is possible without submitting to the varied socio-politico-cultural and religious issues of existence and survival. Also in India, a monolithic picture of women"s position is difficult to provide due to the multiplicity and complexity of its cultures and traditions. Another serious difficulty is of locating reliable sources which can help construct a profile of "Indian woman". This problem has been foregrounded by viewing history-social and literary-from the subaltern and feminist perspective. While on the one hand, historical documents that have been discovered and used by the "mainstream" scholars tend to be discriminatory, on the other hand, historians who attempted to build up history, from the very beginning, only perpetuated the patriarchal stance towards women and thereby paid little attention to the role of women in history, except while referring to the exceptional women. The enterprise of writing was undertaken by women all over the world as means to self-discovery and subversion of the established patriarchal ideologies. The endeavour that gained momentum from the 1970s facilitated not only a re-visioning of the stereotypical imaging of women in literary texts created till then, but engaged in a representation of women in alternative and more realistic images. The efforts of the subaltern and the feminist perspectives in relocating social and literary history in their subjective plurality deserve to be underscored.

Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities

Sanghamitra Sadhu

The article underlines that the epistemology of the self and the practice of life-writing in India marks a departure from the Western conventions and modes of expression. Although there are resistances to autobiography from the Western theoretical standpoint, the genre meets with a twofold resistance in postcolonial milieu in its negotiation with the Indian metaphysics of self. Autobiography in decolonising India negotiates complex pathways between an ardent adherence to Indian epistemology and a potent resistance to the Western modes of writing the self. In a framework to understand the phenomenon of resistance implicit in autobiography in general and the internal resistances to autobiography manifest in the genre during decolonisation in particular, the article argues that such resistances within the genre have redefined the very idea of the self in writing, generated a nuanced notion of the self in narration, as well as challenged the process of writing the self in decolonisation.

Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East

Preetha Mani

This article compares the 1950s and 1960s short story writing of two influential yet underexamined women writers, Mannu Bhandari (1931–) and R. Chudamani (1931–2010), who are considered key representatives of the Hindi and Tamil literary canons, respectively. Mani demonstrates that from within their specific geographic and historical contexts, Bhandari's and Chudamani's writing provides insight into literary discourses of gender equality circulating in the immediate postindependence moment. In particular, she argues that these women writers broadened the scope of feminist thought and literary expression existing at the time through their rhetorical use of a language of entitlement that universalizes feminine desire in humanist terms. They did so through the portrayal of female characters who express the desire to possess sexual freedom, economic independence, and human equality on the same terms as the male characters. Feminist scholarship has characterized the 1950s and 1960s as a moment of paucity in women's writing and decline in feminist politics. Yet Bhandari's and Chudamani's distinct uses of a language of entitlement offer a deeper understanding of the role of the literary in shaping feminist thought. Their work thus provides alternative genealogies of the categories of feminism and women's writing in India.

Review of Arts and Humanities

Ana Garcia-Arroyo

Snober Sataravala

If the twentieth century afforded great change due to wars and decolonization, a great deal of the twenty-first century’s upheaval comes from globalization and technology on one hand and a new kind of warfare labelled terrorism on the other. The purpose of the research is to examine against the backdrop of this development, to what extent the image or construct of a woman has changed in India for readers, particularly by studying the way it has been depicted in the writing of Indian women authors. The fact that recently these authors have received international acclaim in the form of awards makes it even more important to understand how readers all over the world and India perceive the image of an Indian woman. In short how are Indian women being positioned? The texts studied are: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, who is a second generation immigrant; The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai, a first generation immigrant; Ladies Coupé by Anita Nair and Difficult Daughters by Manju Kapur, both of whom are Indian nationals residing in India with a certain amount of western education, the latter being a ‘traditional’ intellectual. The last chapter deals with the ‘organic’ intellectual focussing particularly on two contrasting short stories—“The Hunt” and “Statue” by Mahasweta Devi. However, to substantiate the hypothesis and for the purposes of comparison, the study also takes a brief look at other novels by Arundhati Roy, Sudha Murty, Lalithambika Antherjanam, Sharmila Rege, Baby Halder and P. Sivakami, keeping in mind that many of these works are translations. The approach adopted is a close reading of the texts focussing on the female characters, themes and attitudes. On this basis, the theoretical approach adopted is the writer’s interpretation of Hegel’s master-slave dialectics and Fanon’s reinterpretation of the same, Freud’s love-hate binaries, Gramsci’s differentiation between the ‘traditional’ intellectual and ‘organic’ intellectual and Spivak’s vision regarding the role of the humanities. According to Hegel, consciousness does not exist in isolation but is always dependent on another for a sense of selfhood. As there is injustice and an imbalance of power in this world, the two consciousnesses engaged with each other will assume the roles of master and slave with respect to each other. The injustice inevitably results in a struggle for selfhood on the part of the slave; one way this selfhood can be attained is through recognition of the slave’s labour. A defining emotion in this relationship is fear and it is only by overcoming fear that the slave can break free. The ultimate fear is that of death. In addition to the instinct for domination, Freud does not see the true self as one entity but as in Marx, it is a balance between contradictory forces and in this case the dialectic is between Eros—the love instinct, and Thanatos—the death one. For Antonio Gramsci, a solution or an instrument of change is the ‘organic’ intellectual. The purpose of an intellectual is not to be “specialised” but to become “directive” that is one who is political and driven to bring about change. However, in the face of globalization and the crisis that it brings with inequality, war and terrorism, according to Spivak, hope is available through education in the humanities, for it is through the humanities that one can bring about “the empowerment of an informed imagination” (Spivak, “Righting Wrongs” 2). The aim of the research is to try and understand whether western education helps to envision a new-age woman, whom this study defines as self-reliant, able to question roles and norms society has set for her, thinks independently and uses her own free will to choose to live life for herself rather than be subservient to the needs of her husband and family, or is this education an impediment. Thus in addition to intellectual and economic independence, she must be emotionally independent as well. It must be stressed that this concept of new-age is an ideal which is strived for but never actualized because it is dynamic and constantly changing over space and time. Also one must be wary of the tendency to generalize women who vary on the basis of geography, race, economics, caste and so on. The thesis statement explored is that although in some cases western educated Indian women may ostensibly live more liberated lives, the characters or images of women in the novels by the selected writers are more circumscribed as women. Another concern of the study is the difference between lived and written reality. A questionnaire based on the movie The Namesake taken by a community of informed readers in Pune indicated that in reality the image of the woman may have changed on the page but not in the minds of women and hence paradoxically in reality the concept of ‘new-age’ is a myth. The key women protagonists analysed are Ashima and Moushumi from The Namesake; Sai, her grandmother Nimi and her mother along with Noni and Lola in The Inheritance of Loss; Akhila and her companions in the coupé in the novel Ladies Coupé and Mary in ‘The Hunt’ and Dulali in ‘Statues’. The research hopes to indicate, that the most revolutionary change in the image is captured in the characters drawn by the Indian woman who is an ‘organic’ intellectual. By working intimately with the subaltern, she is aware of the urgency for change unlike a more privileged woman. She functions as a “permanent persuader” who is an instrument of change. Thus perhaps one answer to the conundrum could be that the writing of the ‘organic’ intellectual has the potential to capture one of the myriad images of a new-age Indian woman. As for a definite final one, perhaps it can never be found as it will always be dynamically changing and evolving and hopefully aspiring towards an ideal concept akin to the one defined by the study

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• Gender Equality Essay

Introduction to Gender Equality

In a society, everyone has the right to lead his/her life accordingly without any discrimination. When this state is achieved where all individuals are considered to be equal irrespective of their caste, gender, colour, profession, and status, we call it equality. Equality can also be defined as the situation where every individual has the same rights and equal opportunity to grow and prosper. 

Every individual of society dreams for equal rights and access to resources available at their disposal, but there is a lot of discrimination. This discrimination can be due to cultural differences, geographical differences, the colour of the individual, social status and even gender. The most prevalent discrimination is gender inequality. It is not a localised issue and is limited to only certain spheres of life but is prevalent across the globe. Even in progressive societies and top organisations, we can see many examples of gender bias. 

Gender equality can only be achieved when both male and female individuals are treated similarly. But discrimination is a social menace that creates division. We stop being together and stand together to tackle our problems. This social stigma has been creeping into the underbelly of all of society for many centuries. This has also been witnessed in gender-based cases. Gender inequality is the thing of the past as both men and women are creating history in all segments together.

Gender Equality builds a Nation

In this century, women and men enjoy the same privileges. The perception is changing slowly but steadily. People are now becoming more aware of their rights and what they can do in a free society. It has been found that when women and men hold the same position and participate equally, society progresses exclusively and creates a landmark. When a community reaches gender equality, everyone enjoys the same privileges and gets similar scopes in education, health, occupation, and political aspect. Even in the family, when both male and female members are treated in the same way, it is the best place to grow, learn, and add great value.

A nation needs to value every gender equally to progress at the right place. A society attains better development in all aspects when both genders are entitled to similar opportunities. Equal rights in decision making, health, politics, infrastructure, profession, etc will surely advance our society to a new level. The social stigma of women staying inside the house has changed. Nowadays, girls are equally competing with boys in school. They are also creating landmark development in their respective profession. Women are now seeking economic independence before they get married. It gives them the confidence to stand against oppression and make better decisions for themselves.

The age-old social structure dictated that women need to stay inside the home taking care of all when men go out to earn bread and butter. This has been practised for ages when the world outside was not safe. Now that the time has changed and we have successfully made our environment quite safer, women can step forward, get educated, pursue their passion, bring economic balance in their families, and share the weight of a family with men. This, in a cumulative way, will also make a country’s economy progress faster and better.

Methods to measure Gender Equality

Gender equality can be measured and a country’s growth can be traced by using the following methods.

Gender Development Index (GDI) is a gender-based calculation done similar to the Human Development Index. 

Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) is a detailed calculation method of the percentage of female members in decision-making roles. 

Gender Equity Index (GEI) considers economic participation, education, and empowerment.

Global Gender Gap Index assesses the level of gender inequality present on the basis of four criteria: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, political empowerment, health and survival .

According to the Gender Gap Index (GGI), India ranks 140 among 156 participating countries. This denotes that the performance of India has fallen from the previous years, denoting negative growth in terms of closing the gender gap. In the current environment where equality and equal opportunities are considered supreme, this makes India be at a significant disadvantage.

Roadblocks to Gender Equality  

Indian society is still wrecked by such stigmas that dictate that women are meant to manage the home and stay indoors. This is being done for ages, leading to neglect of women in areas like education, health, wealth, and socio-economic fields. 

In addition to that, the dowry system is further crippling society. This ill practice had led to numerous female feticides. It has created a notion that girls are a burden on a family, which is one of the primary reasons a girl child cannot continue her education. Even if they excel in education and become independent, most of them are forced to quit their job as their income is considered a backup source, which is not fair. New-age women are not only independent, but they are confident too. The only thing they demand from society is support, which we should provide them.  

Along with dowry, there is one more burning issue that has a profound impact on women's growth. It is prevalent in all kinds of society and is known as violence. Violence against women is present in one or another form in public and private spaces. Sometimes, violence is accompanied by other burning issues such as exploitation, harassment, and trafficking, making the world unsafe for women. We must take steps to stop this and ensure a safe and healthy place for women.  

Poverty is also one of the major roadblocks towards gender equality. It has led to other malpractices such as child marriage, sale of children, trafficking and child labour, to name a few. Providing equal job opportunities and upliftment of people below the poverty line can help bring some checks onto this.

Initiative Towards Gender Equality

Any kind of discrimination acts as a roadblock in any nation’s growth, and a nation can only prosper when all its citizens have equal rights. Most of the developed countries has comparatively less gender discrimination and provide equal opportunity to both genders. Even the Indian government is taking multiple initiatives to cut down gender discrimination. 

They have initiated a social campaign called “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana” to encourage the education of girl children. Besides this, the government runs multiple other schemes, such as the Women Helpline Scheme, UJJAWALA, National Mission for Empowerment of Women, etc., to generate awareness among the people. Moreover, as responsible citizens, it is our responsibility to spread knowledge on gender discrimination to create a beautiful world for wome n [1] [2] .

FAQs on Gender Equality Essay

1. What Makes Women Unequal to Men?

The social stigmas and beliefs that have been running deeply in the veins of all families make women unequal to men. Women are considered to be a burden by many families and are not provided with the same rights men enjoy in society. We are ill-informed regarding women’s rights and tend to continue age-old practices. This is made worse with social menaces such as the dowry system, child labor, child marriage, etc. Women can gather knowledge, get educated, and compete with men. This is sometimes quite threatening to the false patriarchal society.

2. How can We Promote Gender Equality?

Education is the prime measure to be taken to make society free from such menaces. When we teach our new generation regarding the best social practices and gender equal rights, we can eradicate such menaces aptly. Our society is ill-informed regarding gender equality and rights. Many policies have been designed and implemented by the government. As our country holds the second position in terms of population, it is hard to tackle these gender-based problems. It can only be erased from the deepest point by using education as the prime weapon.

3. Why should Women be Equal to Men?

Women might not be similar to men in terms of physical strength and physiological traits. Both are differently built biologically but they have the same brain and organs to function. Women these days are creating milestones that are changing society. They have traveled to space, running companies, creating history, and making everyone proud. Women are showing their capabilities in every phase and hence, they should be equal to men in all aspects.

4. Mention a few initiatives started by the Indian Government to enable gender equality.

The Indian government has initiated a social campaign called “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana” to encourage girls’ education. Besides this, the government runs multiple other schemes, such as the  Women Helpline Scheme, UJJAWALA, National Mission for Empowerment of Women, etc., to generate awareness among the people.