"Nothing Has Changed For Women": IIT-B, Miranda, LSR Alumni Write Open Letter To Prez, PM Modi
Alumni of various prominent institutions have written to President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Members of Parliament, drawing their attention to rising incidents of crime against women in the country, and have called upon the leaders to condemn such actions and initiate steps to protect rights and dignity of all women.
The letter has been written by alumni of Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) joined by alumni of other prominent institutions including Lady Shri Ram College, IIT Bombay, National Institute of Design (NID), XLRI, Miranda House and has over 250 signatories.??
The letter comes as incidents like 'Sulli Deals' and 'Bulli Bai' have outraged women across the country.?Speaking of the incidents, the letter states, "They are manifestations of the culture that target women, for daring to have a voice of their own."
What the letter says
The letter says, "There is a constriction of the spaces for expression and participation of women, especially from minority groups, dalit women and girls.?The social system and political economy have been historically stacked against women.?Growing incidences of intimidation and harassment of women?across various spaces indicate a threat to the gains made through these past efforts."
"Women in India have never been more unsafe both in online and offline spaces. From physical harm to sexual violence to outright violation of dignity and rights in online spaces seems to have become commonplace enough for our political leaders to not notice anymore," it states.??
The letter states: "Dalit women and girls have also been at the receiving end of violence in many spheres. What these incidents do is constrict the spaces for expression and participation of women from these marginalized communities even further. That can never be a good thing for democracy."
What alumni of these prominent institutions say
IndiaTimes?spoke to alumna of IRMA and LSR, Saloni Gupta (name changed) and she says it has become easier to peddle hate, misogyny in the easily accessible digital world today.?"Not just in India, even globally hatred is being spewed on women in today's time. It has grown to be a trend to comment and objectify women for small things and big," says Saloni.
When asked what pushed her to be a part of the open letter, she said, "My breaking point came when the Sulli deal controversy came to light. That is when my husband also coerced me to speak up."
"Out of the fear of getting trolled, I have mostly stayed silent but now I want to raise my voice. Through the letter, we are registering our voices and trying to bring in change," she added.
Another alumna of IRMA and a rural management professional Jaya Padma says the letter is just a way of getting the State to respond when women don't know what is to be done about such incidents.
Speaking to?IndiaTimes, she said,?"To bring women empowerment and make it a part of active discussion, it's an uphill task. But incidents like these make us feel that nothing has changed for women. It's as if all the years of hard work to make things better for women hasn't paid at all."
"You know people feel it's okay..so what, if something is happening on the internet. The?"chalta hai"?attitude normalises it. Leaders have to be proactive and speak up against it, otherwise the perpetrators will have impunity from the law," Jaya added.
Letter demands immediate steps to address issue
The letter urges leaders to break their silence and apathy towards the issue of women¡¯s safety.?In this atmosphere of silence not only do the perpetrators of such crimes often go scot-free, they are getting emboldened by the increasing atmosphere of hate and divisiveness in the country and barely show any remorse for hate filled misogynistic crimes.?They call upon leaders to take immediate cognizance of this situation and initiate corrective action to protect the rights and dignity of all women.
Further, the letter lists?some immediate steps to prevent these situations and to act to create safe spaces through:
- Condemnation of such hate-driven actions/speeches at the highest levels of government.
- Working with IT and media companies to ensure their accountability in keeping their channels safe for women.
- Engaging with young girls and boys around issues of positive masculinity, gender, and gender socialization from an early age through school curriculums.
