s a part of the ongoing public outcry following the rape and death of Nirbhaya has resulted in the constitution of a high-level committee to review laws related to sexual crimes. The committee produced The Justice Verma report in record-breaking time. The report makes several recommendations to the government including judicial, political, police and military reforms. The committee also recommended that the Parliament promulgate a special bill of rights for women to ensure a life of safety and dignity, including in marriage. For the first time there is mention of “sexual autonomy” for women, and there is some recognition of marital rape as a crime. Severe punishments for rape and for all sexual offences are recommended, including stalking and sexual harassment in the work place. The committee writes that all marriages should be registered, which will make it possible to identify and prevent child marriages, which are widely prevalent in India. In addition, police should be subject to punitive action for not registering cases of rape and other sexual crimes. Jody Williams, civil rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner for her work on the Campaign to Ban Landmines, states “impunity” as the single biggest reason that violence against women continues to exist in such large numbers. Accordingly, the Justice Verma Report tries to make the law more responsive.
People in India are demanding that the issue of women’s safety be taken seriously by the government, and the state has, in this instance, responded. Their actions pave the way for further progress. For instance, a recent budget declaration allocates 200 million USD for the “safety of women” and civil society organizations are now organizing to understand how the Ministry of Women and Children will spend this money. The fact that the elections are only a year away could be a factor in government’s responsiveness to civil society demands. Even so, women are being taken seriously as a political constituency to be recognized and considered.
The movement that led to the Justice Verma Report has been hugely successful, but there is more work to be done. Advocacy efforts should focus not only on these issues and judicial responses, but also the administrative environment and ability for crimes to be redressed quickly. The Indian government passed an ordinance recognizing 90 percent of the recommendations, but left out two important ones. Marital rape has still been denied legal recognition, leaving women unsafe in the domestic space, and the armed forces have been left out of the punitive net. Both are grave omissions, and women’s organizations are contesting them strongly.
Strategy #2: Include Gender Education in the Curriculum
Since critical dialogues can lead to real change in society with positive outcomes for women and men, we must note that the education system can support these dialogues by introducing gender education in the curriculum to sensitize and empower both girls and boys. What is most significant in the recent events in India is that we have seen that girls and women (at least in urban areas) are finding their “voice” and are raising it. Critical dialogues and discussions around gender are taking place all over, in the media, universities, government, policymaking halls of power, schools, cafes, homes, and on the streets. Gender has become, at least for the now, an important issue. This transformation can and should happen in every school for every girl and boy. Even now, policymakers and civil society are considering the convening of a national-level working group in India to examine how education can promote positive gender norms.
Indeed, gender norms should receive special official focus in education systems, curricula and teacher training. Students must know the laws and recognize that women are entitled to an equal voice in the home and in society. Education helps girls and women develop their voice and the capacity to aspire to equality, based on the recognition of themselves as equal persons. We must include gender education in our core curriculum al