India deemed the most dangerous for women according to the Thomson Reuters Foundation
Noriko Watanabe and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
According to the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the country of India is deemed to be the most dangerous in the world for women. The survey and outcome were based on 548 experts, of which many are Indian. This should raise alarm bells in this nation. Of course, parts of the survey appear flawed because certain nations have atrocious records. For example, countless infringements exist in nations like Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, to name just two. However, international media coverage and internal coverage of countless gang-rape attacks – and other terrible areas – does mean that the perception of India is changing rapidly even if sinister areas existed in the past.
The six indices of the survey apply to cultural traditions, discrimination, healthcare, human trafficking, sexual violence, and non-sexual violence. In three categories India came first in relation to cultural traditions, human trafficking, and sexual violence. Therefore, despite the impact of war and the reality of failed states in nations including Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, India still was deemed to be the most dangerous nation in the world for women.
Of course, many detractors will rightly point to the fact that India is democratic and the freedom of movement, and other areas, can’t be compared to the mass restrictions put on women in several nations including Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and Somalia. Equally, in many of the most developed nations on this planet, the trafficking of women to work in the sex trade is an endless problem and this applies to the Northern Hemisphere. Despite this, many negative realities exist in India for women and this fact needs greater attention.
Some government officials in India have questioned the survey by Reuters. Yet, like the BBC reports, “The government has been quick to question the Reuters survey, but India has no reason to gloat – a look at the official crime statistics for 2016 shows a woman was raped every 13 minutes; six women were gang-raped every day; a bride was murdered for dowry every 69 minutes; and 19 women were attacked with acid every month.”
The above statistics are shocking, to say the least, and since 2016 many barbaric cases of the gang rape of females in India have hit the headlines. This includes the brutal murder of young girls and adult women after being gang-raped. Hence, the perception of India internationally is no longer seen through rose-tinted glasses. On the contrary, the image of India is being tarnished by recent shocking cases and other factors that blight this nation.
Manjunath Gangadhara, a state government official in the state of Karnataka, said, “India has shown utter disregard and disrespect for women … rape, marital rapes, sexual assault and harassment, female infanticide has gone unabated.”
In truth, it is impossible to say categorically which nation is the worse for women because some nations hide terrible facts. Equally, in Iraq, it is known that Yazidi women have been butchered for their faith, forced to convert to Islam, systematically raped, and sold into slavery. Hence, to compare extremely damning realities is nigh impossible to judge. Also, the sex trade in the Northern Hemisphere is often based on the trafficking of international women, enforced drug addiction of indigenous and external women by males who seek to profit from many areas of the sex trade, and other negative factors based on sexual exploitation. Similarly, in certain Middle East nations – and further afield – honor killings are a tragic reality that blight many nations. Therefore, India is one of a plethora of nations that have shocking realities.
Overall, the survey may be flawed but India should note how the perceptions of India are changing. Either way, for people who deny the survey the shocking reality in 2016 of six reported gang rapes every day, a bride being killed every 69 minutes based on the dowry system, the rape of a woman happening every 13 minutes, and other brutal areas like acid attacks and the high abortion of females in parts of the country, all should lead to areas of soul searching. Hence, people can refute the findings that India is the most dangerous place in the world for women. However, with many deplorable realities existing, it is high time for the government of India to take note of internal factors and to understand that the reputation of this nation is going downhill – rightly or wrongly.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-42436817
Modern Tokyo News is part of the Modern Tokyo Times group
DONATIONS to SUPPORT MODERN TOKYO TIMES – please pay PayPal and DONATE to sawakoart@gmail.com
http://moderntokyotimes.com Modern Tokyo Times – International News and Japan News
http://sawakoart.com Sawako Utsumi – Contemporary artist from Japan
https://moderntokyonews.com Modern Tokyo News – Tokyo News and International News
http://global-security-news.com Global Security News – Geopolitics and Terrorism
PLEASE JOIN ON TWITTER
https://twitter.com/MTT_News Modern Tokyo Times
PLEASE JOIN ON FACEBOOK