Humanising gender relations
Saturday, 12 December 2009
Ameer Hamza
The South Asian Network of Gender Activists and Trainers (SANGAT) recently observed South Asian Women's Day -- its fifth, on 30 November, as designated in 2005 when the network was born in the Indian city of Puri -- reiterating the same vows to work together for peace, justice and human rights in the region, centred around, most importantly, the enhancement of women's lives. It needs no telling that women in the region need all the activism they can get, to overcome the entrenched prejudices that keep the majority of women behind physical, psychological, emotional bars. An International Women's Day is also observed on 8 March, which ironically, has been co-opted by glitzy capitalist commerce -- cosmetics, fashion, soap operas and the like -- far removed from the struggle that began on a factory floor in America nearly a century and a half ago, as a protest against discrimination, long hours and low wages.
Women in general still have miles to go, not only in poor countries likes ours but all across the globe. The entrenched apartheid of gender which, in the final analysis, is the root cause of multiple psycho-social and economic ills everywhere, has nowhere been fully 'deconstructed' yet, to give way to healthy, humane and mutually enhancing gender relations, based on caring and sharing and equitable distribution of work and wealth. Some 600 million women in the developing world, according to one estimate, exist below the poverty line. Even in rich countries like Norway, France and Switzerland, about 20 to 25 per cent women are in the same category. And of the one billion or so illiterates nearly two-thirds are women; 70 per cent of the overwhelming mass of global poor are female.
Need we elaborate on the situation of women in Bangladesh ? No amount of hype about the two mainstream political parties being headed by women can hide the stark truth. Women, in a largely impoverished society, are the underdogs of the underdogs (men). The statistics speaks for itself. We still have one of the world's highest maternal mortality rates, a testimony to the neglect child-bearers suffer. Among the millions of men, women and children who are dispossessed and excluded from the fruits of development, the majority are female. Many of them make news with their heroic struggle to keep body and soul together, and tragically also with their violent death -- as we often see when girls and women fall prey to the commercialization of life and the unspeakable violence of rapacious individuals or groups.
Women's organizations are often found expressing their collective outrage -- every conscientious citizen no doubt feels the same -- when murders or suicides following oppression occur. Effective action against the perpetrators and abettors of such crimes can be taken, despite the flaws in our judicial system, if positive activism is reasonably sustained. Some even suggest that nothing could work better as a deterrent against sexual crimes than outright castration of the brutes! Activists calling for amendment of the rape law might propose this drastic measure against proven (beyond all doubt) offenders -- and publicize it across the country to tame aspiring rapists for good!
But what can be done to weed out mindsets that perpetuate crimes against women and girls? Those who see human sexuality only in the context of a predator-prey situation, a means to mark territory, subjugate the prey or simply to use and abuse the female of the species as a sexual commodity? Among lesser animals, mark you, rape is totally unknown. It would be too simplistic to presume that inhumane attitudes and sexual behaviour can be transformed merely through deterrent punishment or through social strictures and dress codes for women. The hijab is no bar for lechery.
True deterrent must come from within. Children must be taught as to what constitutes mutually enriching gender interaction and this calls for a broad-based universal education that reaches deep into humanity's spiritual core. It is only then that inter-personal relations between the genders -- including intellectual, sexual, emotional and spiritual relations -- can become free and wholesome enough to rid society of the psycho-sexual afflictions all around.
Most importantly, a national level reproductive health education for adolescent girls and boys, to instill in them self-esteem, right conduct and mutual respect, is an imperative in these times when young and old alike are bombarded by all kinds of tittillating stimuli, distorted and fallacious images of human sexuality that often pollute the mind and lead to a very harmful, consumerist attitude towards this very basic instinct. This mind pollution can, and must be, beaten through the inculcation of solid human values as early in life as possible. A national resource development curriculum, designed to transform attitudes and behaviour, is what Bangladesh needs, if we are to dismantle the apartheid of gender and banish the misogyny in our hearts.
The South Asian Network of Gender Activists and Trainers (SANGAT) recently observed South Asian Women's Day -- its fifth, on 30 November, as designated in 2005 when the network was born in the Indian city of Puri -- reiterating the same vows to work together for peace, justice and human rights in the region, centred around, most importantly, the enhancement of women's lives. It needs no telling that women in the region need all the activism they can get, to overcome the entrenched prejudices that keep the majority of women behind physical, psychological, emotional bars. An International Women's Day is also observed on 8 March, which ironically, has been co-opted by glitzy capitalist commerce -- cosmetics, fashion, soap operas and the like -- far removed from the struggle that began on a factory floor in America nearly a century and a half ago, as a protest against discrimination, long hours and low wages.
Women in general still have miles to go, not only in poor countries likes ours but all across the globe. The entrenched apartheid of gender which, in the final analysis, is the root cause of multiple psycho-social and economic ills everywhere, has nowhere been fully 'deconstructed' yet, to give way to healthy, humane and mutually enhancing gender relations, based on caring and sharing and equitable distribution of work and wealth. Some 600 million women in the developing world, according to one estimate, exist below the poverty line. Even in rich countries like Norway, France and Switzerland, about 20 to 25 per cent women are in the same category. And of the one billion or so illiterates nearly two-thirds are women; 70 per cent of the overwhelming mass of global poor are female.
Need we elaborate on the situation of women in Bangladesh ? No amount of hype about the two mainstream political parties being headed by women can hide the stark truth. Women, in a largely impoverished society, are the underdogs of the underdogs (men). The statistics speaks for itself. We still have one of the world's highest maternal mortality rates, a testimony to the neglect child-bearers suffer. Among the millions of men, women and children who are dispossessed and excluded from the fruits of development, the majority are female. Many of them make news with their heroic struggle to keep body and soul together, and tragically also with their violent death -- as we often see when girls and women fall prey to the commercialization of life and the unspeakable violence of rapacious individuals or groups.
Women's organizations are often found expressing their collective outrage -- every conscientious citizen no doubt feels the same -- when murders or suicides following oppression occur. Effective action against the perpetrators and abettors of such crimes can be taken, despite the flaws in our judicial system, if positive activism is reasonably sustained. Some even suggest that nothing could work better as a deterrent against sexual crimes than outright castration of the brutes! Activists calling for amendment of the rape law might propose this drastic measure against proven (beyond all doubt) offenders -- and publicize it across the country to tame aspiring rapists for good!
But what can be done to weed out mindsets that perpetuate crimes against women and girls? Those who see human sexuality only in the context of a predator-prey situation, a means to mark territory, subjugate the prey or simply to use and abuse the female of the species as a sexual commodity? Among lesser animals, mark you, rape is totally unknown. It would be too simplistic to presume that inhumane attitudes and sexual behaviour can be transformed merely through deterrent punishment or through social strictures and dress codes for women. The hijab is no bar for lechery.
True deterrent must come from within. Children must be taught as to what constitutes mutually enriching gender interaction and this calls for a broad-based universal education that reaches deep into humanity's spiritual core. It is only then that inter-personal relations between the genders -- including intellectual, sexual, emotional and spiritual relations -- can become free and wholesome enough to rid society of the psycho-sexual afflictions all around.
Most importantly, a national level reproductive health education for adolescent girls and boys, to instill in them self-esteem, right conduct and mutual respect, is an imperative in these times when young and old alike are bombarded by all kinds of tittillating stimuli, distorted and fallacious images of human sexuality that often pollute the mind and lead to a very harmful, consumerist attitude towards this very basic instinct. This mind pollution can, and must be, beaten through the inculcation of solid human values as early in life as possible. A national resource development curriculum, designed to transform attitudes and behaviour, is what Bangladesh needs, if we are to dismantle the apartheid of gender and banish the misogyny in our hearts.