Harassed in India: Women face an uphill battle in a culture that devalues
females
By Raymond Thibodeaux
February 22, 2008
Lauren Olsen (right) and her friend, Shelly Trivedi,
both 16, say they sometimes find it difficult walking in some areas of Delhi,
where men ogle, heckle and even grope women. |
In its global campaign to attract foreign tourists, India's "Incredible India"
ads feature a young woman enjoying her morning yoga session on a secluded
beach.
In reality, what female tourists experience too often is this: persistent
ogling and heckling by Indian men.
"At times I find it hard traveling around as a woman in Delhi. I've been groped
twice in public," said Amanda Burrell, 36, a blue-eyed, blond-haired
documentary filmmaker from England on vacation in India. "I think Indian women
have it much worse."
If the Indian male ever had a reputation for being suave and sophisticated,
that image has hit rock bottom. In recent weeks a spate of attacks against
women and a new study showing rape as the fastest-growing crime in New Delhi
are painting a less flattering picture.
In India, the fact that men are being held under such heightened scrutiny is a
sign of changing social rules between men and women as the country modernizes.
While more and more Indian women move into the high-tech workforce or rise to
key government posts in the new India, some analysts say many women appear to
be losing the battle to overcome centuries-old cultural attitudes that tend to
devalue the role of women and keep them dependent on men.
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"Many of India's social values have not kept pace with the development of its
modern cities," said Shaibal Gupta, a social analyst for the Asian Development
Research Institute, a nongovernmental agency based in the northeastern Indian
state of Bihar.
India's predominantly Hindu culture is skewed in favor of boys and men, say
some social experts. In India's deep-rooted system of dowry, a bride's family
pays the groom for marrying her - a custom that has been outlawed but only
loosely enforced.
"Most Indian men don't have opportunities for intimate contact with women until
their mid-20s," Gupta said. "For some of them, their only exposure to women in
a sexual context has been in the virtual realms of Bollywood and Internet porn
sites."
For many women in India, the result can be terrifying.
In an incident that rattled the country, dozens of young men taunted and groped
two girls as they left a New Year's Eve party at a popular five-star hotel in
Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay. An Indian newspaper photographer called the
police and recorded the melee in a shocking series of photos that ran on the
front page of almost every major newspaper in India, launching a flurry of
editorials.
In a televised interview, the outraged chief of India's ministry for women and
child development called for the death penalty for those convicted of rape.
There have been several high-profile assaults recently against foreign women in
India. A British freelance journalist allegedly was raped by the owner of a
guesthouse where she was staying in northern India. A 28-year-old American
tourist was groped by a Hindu priest while visiting a temple in the
northwestern Indian state of Rajasthan.
Several Western embassies have issued warnings on the dangers women often face
in India.
"I get stared at, and sometimes men approach me and say things. But I've lived
in India long enough that I've almost stopped paying attention to it," said
Lauren Olsen, 16, a student at an American school in Delhi.
"It can be difficult being a girl here," she said.
