In India a) there are hardly any women (in comparison with China)
in the service industry -
**** Could it be because of the fact that those rare few who ARE in
it, have terrible things to say about their lot--that they become
targets of unwanted advances from men customers?
*** Could it also be that because of the above, it becomes a stigma for them?
Heads I win, tails you lose proposition?
At 8:32 PM +0200 8/12/05, Amlan Saha wrote:
I am not surprised. Delhi never had any ethical or cultural credit
anyway. Although most of India is largely woman unfriendly, the
North and especially Delhi is the crudest of them all. All my women
friends who go backpacking to India always have the worst to say
about Delhi.
Not that the rest of India is any better (according to most of them
the only countries that are worse than India for single woman
backpackers are the Islamic countries except Malaysia and Indonesia)
but Delhi just takes the cake.
While on that, and slightly off-topic but related, from all my
travels in China, I personally feel that although India is a
democracy, China has other factors going for it. For example, not
only is China way ahead of India in terms of economic
development(which we all know), it is also way ahead in terms of
utilising the other 50% of its population called women. In India a)
there are hardly any women (in comparison with China) in the service
industry - restaurants, bars, cafes, banks, airports, train
stations, etc. b) I have been to a fair number of countries but
have not come across many Indian woman executives who relocated to
another city or country on their own. It is most often because of
their husbands that they move. The one off example does not count
because I have encountered scores of Chinese women who are handling
matters for companies based out of cities that are not their own.
Even at the UN (I have been in Geneva for the last 4 months doing an
internship) and other international organisations, there are hardly
any Indian women in any of the lobby/working groups. Admittedly,
there are more Indian women who occupy extremely senior positions
than do Chinese women, but they are a handful and are the elites.
So long as the general class is not roped in, I do not think India
can ever dream of real progress.
I might be wrong, but I do not think the Indian mentality is ready
to accept women in every walk of life. For example, try checking
into a hotel as a single woman without anyone accompanying you (yes
5 star hotels included).
They are not even ready to accept the basic rights of women -
recently when the topic of tight tops came up at Bombay University,
I was aghast to hear that one of the professors (or was he the
dean?) instead of defending the women students in that it is their
right to wear what they want, said that they ought not to attract
unnecessary attention.
He is a professor (a supposed educator and a thinker) for goodness
sake not some deranged theocrat! Such is the state of affairs...
Amlan.
On 12 Aug 2005, at 19:26, Ram Sarangapani wrote:
This is again another shocking gang rape in Delhi. Sometime ago (and
even today), we discussed how unsafe Delhi is, specially for women in
the NE.
The place seems to becoming culturally and morally bankrupt.
The Hindu link also provides some stats. This year already, there have
been 2706 rapes, in 04, there were 5568, in 03 - 4338 ....
Are these stats in line with other cities? With the stigma attached
to rapes, one would think a vast majority goes unreported.
_______________________________
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2005081213400100.htm&date=2005/08/12/&prd=th&;
Another night, another nightmare of a gang-rape
Devesh K. Pandey
NEW DELHI: The Capital was shaken by yet another case of gang-rape in
the wee hours of Thursday. The victim was a 16-year-old girl who was
criminally assaulted by six men in a stationary bus parked at a depot
near Najafgarh in South-West Delhi. The accused have been remanded by
a court to two-day police custody for further interrogation as the
police suspect involvement of some more people in the ghastly crime.
It was around 1-30 a.m. that the Police Control Room received a phone
call informing that some people were assaulting a minor girl in a
stationary bus of route 578 at the Dichaon Kalan village bus depot in
Najafgarh. Two PCR vans on night patrol rushed to the spot and the
local police were alerted. As the police reached the spot, they saw
the bus stationed there and heard a girl crying out for help.
Assistant Sub-Inspector Jagbir Singh entered the bus and saw the
accused assaulting the victim. According to the police, one of the
accused tried to flee but was overpowered. The other accused were
rounded up with the help of the local police and the girl was taken to
hospital for medical examination.
During interrogation by the police, the accused identified themselves
as bus drivers Narender and Rajbir, conductors Vikas and Shekhar, and
helper Narender. The sixth accused was identified as Sandeep, a trader
described as a friend of the bus employees.
Still to recover from the trauma, the girl purportedly told the police
that she had run away from her Mahipalpur home in the Capital a few
days ago. Around 10 p.m. on Wednesday, she boarded a bus from Shiv
Murti and got down at the Dichaon Kalan bus depot where she met the
bus helper, Narender, with whom she was acquainted. According to her,
they chatted for a while, after which Narender took her to the bus
parked nearby. In the bus, she saw some men on board.
According to the girl, the occupants of the bus overpowered her and
assaulted her by turns.
After the medical examination of the girl in hospital later in the
morning, the accused were produced by the police in court, where the
Judge remanded them to two days in police custody.
"The victim is still in a state of shock and unable to recall the
incident properly. For now, we are providing her psychological
counselling, after which she would be in a position to give her
statement," said a senior police officer on Thursday evening, adding
that an identification parade would soon be held for identification of
the accused by the victim.
The All India Progressive Women's Association has condemned the crime
and demanded resignation of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and
Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, holding them responsible for the
increasing incidence of crimes against women in the Capital. The
Association alleged that criminals were being appointed as drivers and
conductors in Blueline buses. It demanded arrangement of special DTC
buses for women.
To register its protest, the Association will hold a dharna at Delhi
Police Headquarters on Friday.
(c) Copyright 2000 - 2005 The Hindu
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