Right to life for females prostitution.
A more recent but equally alarming phenomenon is that of the mail-order brides. Although it started as a fad, it has now developed into big business, in which legitimate companies, notably in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, are engaged in marrying off young Asian women to Western men.
THE FOLLOWING interview with Trupti Shah, a member of the Catalogues with pictures and descriptions of the women are sent out to Baroda [in Gujarat, a northwest Indian state] Women's Group was a club member who can pick the given to Jacqueline Heinen in Brussels in December 1985. It has woman he wants. The Asian women been translated from an edited text in French. are advertised as "meek, docile, submissive, home-orientated have tremendous capacities in bed," in contrast to assertive and "liberated" Western women. Women have availed themselves of this means of escaping from their poverty and of being able to send money back home to their families. And since marriage is highly valued by Philippine society, 85 per cent Catholic, it is seen as an honorable thing to do. Yet it sometimes means a lifetime of problems. Culture shock and loneliness are usual results. Some marriages do work out, but in other cases such marriages are equivalent to sex slavery.
The problems that Filipino women face today are gigantic and complex. They have their roots in the historical past, the incursion of various capitalistic developments into Filipino life, and the dimensions of these problems somehow reflect the proportions of the present crisis. It is a good sign that the women's movement is becoming more militant.
Women have dared to become more engaged in political issues and in different fields despite their burdens, made even harder by today's crisis. More women are also reportedly joining the New People's Army, the guerrilla forces in countryside, and are leading workers' pickets and strikes. Many have had to this political engagement. Sad and disgusting are the stories of not only suffered the usual forms of torture of the regime but have also been subjected to rape, sexual humiliation and abuses by their captors.
The debates within the movement are, of course, understandable. The country is presently in a situation where political changes can take place unexpectedly. This can cause confusion and the need for choices to be made. Nonetheless, while groups may differ in their approaches, the fact that all groups are moving within their various capacities is a healthy and positive sign for the movement. 22
Bird a in cueine
Question. We often hear of various types of discrimination against women in India, which seem to take extreme forms and even result in a much higher infant mortality among girls than among boys.
The demographic data in fact indicates that, contrary to other countries, the proportion of women in the population as a whole is less than that of men. Moreover, this phenomenon in countries such as Pakistan and Iran. At the beginning of this there were 972 women for every 1,000 men, and the proportion of declined steadily reached 930 for every 1,000 men in 1970, where it has stood roughly
- that of the status of and social tradition dictates that it is better to bring a boy into the world than a girl. Because of the dowry system, the birth of a daughter is perceived as an economic burden, while boys represent the continuity of the family, a support in old age, starts in infancy, with babies getting fed and cared for differently according to their sex. Not only do you see little boys getting a lot more affection, but the best milk is reserved for them, with little girls even being left to waste away. Of course, such discrimination continues as children grow up, in education and professional tion, to say nothing of health care.
The disproportion between and females is, in a way, a sort of concrete expression of these forms of phenomenon aggravated by industrialization progress, in particular by the introduction of new reproductive techniques. Thus, amniocentesis, a test for detecting possible malformations systematically used for female infanticide, since this test also makes it possible to determine the sex of the baby. It has been practiced commonly in the country's big cities for three years. And when it has turned out that the unborn child is a girl, it can be seen that in 99 per cent of the cases, the women try to
Since amniocentesis can only be done at the end of the fourth month of pregnancy, the consequences for the health of women are catastrophic, since the abortion cannot be done before the 18th or 19th week. And such a practice is being justified in the name of birth control!
So, we face a situation totally opposite to what obtains in the European countries, where women are fighting for the right of abortion feminists have to fight against the policy of the authorities, who under the pretext of population control, are massively disseminating contraceptives (such as Depo-Provera) that are banned in other countries because of the dangers they pose for the health of women. And they are not providing the slightest information about the side effects they can have. Moreover, they encourage family-planning offices to insert intrauterine coils in women without telling them. In such cases, the women only find out about this when they go to gynecologists because Because of these coils, many women have gotten cancer and other very
Furthermore, the government backs sterilization campaigns without bothering to make sure that the operations are carried out under good conditions. It happens very often that the women are not informed about the irrevocable character of this operation and that the medical teams in charge often leave out the preliminary examinations so that they can fulfill their quotas of International Viewpoint 10 March 1986
operations a day. Thus, in Rajasthan in 1984, several women died as the result of such a campaign.
means two quite different to women in the developed countries and those in Third World countries such as India. The problem in India is to fight for the right to the methods of contraception and abortion that are imposed on women and combat forced abortion, contraception and sterilization. This is a still greater the international organizations that extend aid to the Monetary Fund, the World NOVIB (1) and OXFAM-India (2) all provide funds for the government's family-planning Indian women outside industrial plant (DR) raising any questions about its sexist and racist character. Women's health is the least of their concerns.
On top of the very high infant for girls, the life expectancy of adult women is very low. However, there are virtually no local medical centers equipped to meet the most elementary needs of caring for women and their infants. The only factors taken into consideration are the reproductive functions of women - who are seen primarily as wombs for assuring the reproduction of the race - and the enormous demographic problems that are posed. This is why, although there are no hospital centers, the family-planning network extends into the most remote corners of the
As regards the right to choose, the problem of course is that the existence of contraceptive methods do represent an unquestionable advance, because they can enable women to control their own bodies. So it is not a matter of demanding that they be banned. The problem is that women are treated as second-class citizens and are denied the right to exercise such control.
respect, the use of the amniocentesis test is typical. Women are not being informed of the risk to themselves and their babies in taking it. There are no restrictions on this practice as there are in the West, where the tests are only done when the mother is above a certain age and the risks of malformation of the fetus are very high, or in the case of serious problems. The most retrograde cultural reflexes are being encouraged, as regards the attitude of the society, and therefore of women, with regard to the female sex. This test is made into an everyday medical practice cheap enough 50 that the poorest working-class women can afford it. Thus, in 1978-1982, almost 78,000 female fetuses were aborted after amnio
International Viewpoint 10 March 1986 centesis. And the trend has steadily
All of this shows how much the birth of a girl is considered an economic and social burden. dowry system provides for setting the sum in accordance with the status and professional prospects of the fiance, so daughters are expensive, and all the more so insofar as parents want to make a good match
Moreover, when the parents-in-law find the dowry inadequate, lead to acts of torture against young women in order to drive her to suicide, or even to outright murder. In 1984 alone several hundreds of thousands of women were burned alive by their husbands shortly after their marriages, that is after they collected the dowry, the obligatory marriage price.
autonomous women's movement in India, which has existed almost ten years now, respond to such practices? What are its possibilities for action?
A. It is not easy to fight practices of this type that affect all social strata, because women are very much under the control of their families. When they complain about the treatment inflicted on them or try to take refuge with their parents, the latter most often send them back to their husband's families. Any proposal for breaking with that family is, thus, very problematical.
Nonetheless, problem of against women was what gave rise to the first mass campaign the Indian feminist movement. Several cases of women being raped by policemen had already been made public when the story of a 14-year-old girl raped by two police officers in 1978 made this question, which had previously been taboo, appear as major social evil. It caused a stir throughout the country.
After the policemen were first pronounced innocent by the local
(which concentrated instead on the girl's "lack of morals"), they were sentenced to seven and a half years in prison by the High Court, which overruled the first judgement. But the Supreme Court in turn intervened in 1979 to rule that the girl had consented, and this unleashed a vast argument throughout the country, with a petition signed by well-known rersonalities, intellectuals, and so forth. Finally, through this campaign, the women's movement forced the government to revise the law on rape in 1980. features of the Indian feminist movement by comparison with what you know of other women's movements throughout the world? of the autonomous women's move. ment in 1975 marked a new phase in the struggle of Indian women, who up until then had participated in movements against price rises or against corruption, but had never
The influence of the movement in the West led to the groups in 1975 in the universities but also among working-class women. There had been a lot of women's associations connected with political were regarded as transmitters of the line of the parties designed to take up the questions of special concern to women. Moreover, neither the women's mutual aid or charitable associations nor the pronon-religious organization for aid to the Third World, based in the Netherlands.
non religious organization for aid to the Third World, based in Oxford in Britain.
23
BARODA WOMEN'S MOVEMENT FIGHTS VIOLENCE
A RECENT rape case in the Broach district of Gujarat has mobilized women's organizations in the area in a successful demand that the Supreme Court of
India take over the case from local authorities.
incident occurred
January 6 in Devidab village, feminist group in 1980, but it dint not last. For several years the on thing that existed were the reformis women's associations that organi beauty contests or afternoon sew bees. Then we started up again small discussion groups in the according to the Indian Express of January 21, 1986. A woman of the Adivasi tribe and her husband were forcibly taken from their home by four policemen after they had lodged a complaint about the kidnapping of a minor girl rela-
The woman was repeatedly raped in the police truck and again police station. She and her husband were released only after relatives came up with a bribe of 2,000 rupees (approximately 160 US dollars).
request for a medical examination was refused by the
The woman's government hospital at Rajpipla since the police superintendent had refused to authorize it. Insisting that she was a woman of "loose morals," the superintendent also refused to record the couple's complaints.
taken to the Sagbara police station where they were threatened and forced to withdraw their allegations.
The Baroda-based women's organization, Sahiyar, demanded that the case be taken away from the local police and called upon all civil rights activists and women's organizations in Gujarat jointly to initiate protest action. As a result the Indian Supreme Court on January 22 asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to take over the investigation.
case is expected to become a national issue. It has already had a on the women's movement in Baroda where Sahiyar is organizing meetings and demonstrations.
fessional associations of women in the or the informal professions sector had such a purpose. It was only with the appearance of the autonomous women's movement that we saw such women's organizations.
coordinating women's groups was set up in 1978, and it has given impetus to various as campaigns such as the one against rape, protest actions against certain sexist films inciting violence women subjected to several young torture by their husbands.
In 1981, the women's movement demanding higher wages, two days off a month and medical insurance, a strike that in particular protested against the sexual aggressions to which they were being subjected by their struggle made it possible to get the unions to move a bit, but overall, unfortunately, the organizations of the workers' ment remain quite insensitive to the of the specific oppression women. The trade-union leaders have done practically nothing on the question of day-care centers, canteens or the problem of working hours, no more than on the problem of sexual segregation of the workforce or sexual harassment on the job.
In the textile industry, leaders have even come to an agreement with the bosses number of jobs for women, replace women with men in cases of rationalization or mechanization. This has not made the tasks of feminists in the unions any easier. And that is why the idea has arisen of forming women's unions. In several unions, women have formed committees in
24 order to be able to put pressure more effectively on the leaderships.
Q. Are there "women's places," as there are in other countries. And how is the movement organized?
Yes there are women's homes groups after a few years have come to understand that it was not enough to engage in initiatives, campaigns,
-how broad - without offering some minimum concrete alternative for the victims of violence or sexual discrimination. This is what led to the opening of centers for battered women, rape victims, or victims of the dowry
Other groups, anxious to avoid isolation, have built ties with broader social movements, such as the movement of shanty-town dwellers or the movement against castes and communalism, or they have become actively supporting workers' strikes.
there is no federation of groups in different cities in the proper sense of the term, the groups active question have links. This is true for example of the groups that are active on the question of rape, the dowry system or forced contraception. They all support the fort["'Human"], which alternately in English and Hindi, and which serves as a forum in which the respective positions and experiences. In addition, there are many local or bulletins, which reflect the diversity of the women's movement.
However, it has to be said that the development of the autonomous movement has been very uneven. In
Baroda, for example, there was an initial attempt to set up a versity on the personal proble relating to our situation in families, the discrimination we face with respect to our brothers. the problems of sexual harassment, and
On March 8, 1985, we decided to take a public initiative by organizing an exposition on sexual discrimination and the way that some women started fighting against state of affairs in the rest of the
The idea was to lay the basis for developing an understanding of problems such as the dowry system, the misuse of amniocentesis and the situation of working women. The exposition had to be as visual as possible, with a maximum use photos and graphics, inasmuch as 75 per cent of women can neither read nor write. Nearly 500 people came, which was a success, and the exposition was then used in other cities.
Besides this, we discussed economic and social problems facing women and the need for establishing links with other social groupings. Not all the women were convinced about this. Then came the uprisings organized in Baroda by the middle strata against the principle of quotas reser ving a certain number of places for members of the Backward Castes (Untouchables) in the various aspects of social life, in particular in the educational system. This led a lot of feminists to take up the defense of the Untouchables and take part in defense of their interests, even though most of them came from the middle strata them-
It has to be said that these helped them become conscious of this because in India women are considered Untouchables during menstruation, and in fact they cannot say that they belong to any caste, since their status will be redetermined by marriage. This example is a good illustration of how the struggle of women for their emancipation is playing, and will continue to play, an important role in the fight for radical social transformations. The place of the women's movement is alongside all of those, male and female, who are fighting to abolish the class system and the prejudices bound up with the caste system. But at the same time, it will have a decisive weight in the battle to assure that the new social bring a genuine emancipation of all individuals. International Viewpoint 10 March 1986