March 08, 2007	Thursday	Safar 18, 1428

NEW DELHI: From female deities worshipped at Hindu temples to revered historic figures such as Indira Gandhi and Mother Theresa, women have made their mark on India. But not enough to stop widespread abuse and chauvinism.

Pushpa, a 23-year-old housewife, is one of tens of thousands of battered wives in India, where many women are treated like their husbands’ vassals under a tradition that once demanded widows immolate themselves on their husbands’ funeral pyres.

“It’s not easy to talk to anyone about this ... if my husband finds out, only God knows what he will do to me,” Pushpa said, her voice trembling as she recounted the beatings and abuse she has suffered at the hands of her husband.

Pushpa has been married for almost four years to a bank clerk. Like many victims of domestic violence in India, she is afraid to go to the police, almost resigned to her suffering.

“He comes home from work, often drunk, and hits me with a wooden stick ... once he pushed me down the stairs. But I have accepted it as I don’t have much choice. What else can I do?” said Pushpa, who asked for her full name to be withheld.

More than 60 per cent of married women, aged between 15 and 49, are victims of beating, rape or forced sex by their husbands, according to a study by the United Nations Population Fund.

Government officials say a new domestic violence law passed in October empowers these victims by giving them rights over their abusers’ assets and legal protection.

The landmark legislation -- which also applies to women in live-in relationships, mothers, sisters and daughters -- is one of many laws introduced in this patriarchal society to bridge the gender divide since India’s independence almost six decades ago.

But activists say India still has a long way to go to safeguard women’s rights and security in a country where a woman is murdered, raped or abused every three minutes on average.

BRIDGING THE DIVIDE: India has a long list of legislation passed to protect the rights of women, but activists say the laws are rarely enforced.

Legislation banning dowries, a custom that frequently lead to women being abused by husbands and parents in-law, was passed in 1961 but is still widely flouted.

According to police records, a woman is murdered every 77 minutes as a result of dowry-related issues.

Sati -- the custom of burning widows alive along with the bodies of their deceased husbands -- was outlawed in 1987 but rare cases still occur in parts of rural India.

And the rising number of abortions of female foetuses by parents preferring male babies has led to legislation barring the use of ultrasounds to determine gender of unborn foetuses.

At the same time, the role of women has changed since India’s economic reforms began in the 1990s and increasing globalisation has opened up the traditional and largely conservative South Asian nation to the rest of the world.

Today, there are an increasing numbers of women in the workforce, more girls in schools, more women holding senior positions in corporations and in government and thousands of organisations representing the interests of women.

But in a country where the majority Hindus worship female deities like Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, or Saraswati, the goddess of learning and where the female form is revered as the Universal Mother -- women continue to be abused and disrespected.

ABUSE CONTINUES: Despite some of most powerful figures in India’s political history being women, such as former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her daughter-in-law, Sonia Gandhi, who is head of the governing Congress party, India remains patriarchal.

A bill to reserve about 30 per cent of parliamentary seats for women was introduced a decade ago, but activists say it has not been passed largely due to male opposition to the bill.

Activists say even after centuries of tradition where men have ruled over women in every sphere, women are still largely considered second-class citizens incapable of making decisions.

In one recent incident, a woman was ordered by a village council to marry her father-in-law after he raped her.

And in another, a girl was burnt alive by her rapist after she refused to withdraw a complaint against him.

There are also frequent reports of spurned men disfiguring women by throwing acid in their faces due to unrequited love and of husbands and their families setting women ablaze for not providing sufficient dowry.

“The problem is the law enforcement machinery -- the police and local judiciary -- are not sensitive to crimes against women, especially in rural areas where the majority live,” said Ranjana Kumari, director of the Centre for Social Research, an independent think-tank on women’s empowerment.—Reuters