wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Despite women-friendly laws, discrimination and violence remain, Indian activists say

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World Council of Churches - News Release

Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release - 13/10/2009 10:18:55

DESPITE WOMEN-FRIENDLY LAWS, DISCRIMINATION AND VIOLENCE REMAIN,
INDIAN ACTIVISTS SAY

Laws designed to empower and protect women in India have been
described as “toothless” by activists who have spoken out against
the government’s failure to implement them.

Campaigners from high-profile women’s organizations in India met
with a Christian ecumenical team representing the World Council
of Churches (WCC) to raise international awareness about violence
against women and laws that are supposed to protect women, but
don’t.

The WCC Living Letters (

http://www.overcomingviolence.org/en/iepc/living-letters-visits.html
)team travelled to India as part of the WCC’s Decade to Overcome
Violence, which will lead to the International Ecumenical Peace
Convocation (
http://www.overcomingviolence.org/en/peace-convocation.html
)in 2011. In India the team heard stories of violence against
women, Dalits and Christians.

“Last year there was a rise in the number of dowry deaths,” said
Premindha Bannerjee from the Young Women’s Christian Association
at the Centre for Inclusion and Equity in New Delhi on the
International Day of Prayer for Peace (
http://www.overcomingviolence.org/about-dov/international-day-of-prayer-for-peace.html
)(21 September).

“We are still putting our heads together to decide what the real
cause of dowry murders is,” Bannerjee explained. “The law against
dowry murders was effective in the 1980s and 1990s. But after a
few High Court cases, it became toothless. There are around 45
laws in India that are very women-friendly, but implementation is
very difficult. We have to focus on implementation techniques.”

Bulu Sarin from Christian Aid said that the ambit of violence
against women in India had widened from physical violence to
include emotional and psychological violence. Women who are
mentally harassed now have recourse to the law. The Domestic
Violence Prevention Act came into effect in 2005. However,
conviction rates against the perpetrators are low as women come
up against uncomprehending police officers and judges.

Rape, sexual harassment, female infanticide and a rise in acid
attacks against women are other pressing issues facing women in
India. The activists also highlighted the secondary role that
women are expected to play within the church, adding that much
needed to be done to correct the gender imbalance in church
leadership. And despite incentives encouraging girls’ education
over the past decade and female students outnumbering male
students in Indian colleges, women are not encouraged to work
once they marry.

“Now we have middle class women coming to us who are educated,
but when they marry they discover their husbands do not want them
to work,” said Bannerjee. “The husband says, ‘I’m providing you
with clothes and with cars so you don’t need to work.’ Officers
themselves don’t recognize the emotional violence. They say to
these women, ‘Why don’t you wear a sari and be a good wife. If he
doesn’t want you to wear jeans, just don’t wear them.’”

Annie Raja, General Secretary of the National Federation of
Indian Women, said the women’s movement was fighting for at least
33 percent of seats in parliament to be reserved for women. “Men
and women have equal voting rights,” she told the Living Letters
team. “But if you look at the number of women in parliament it is
something like 10 percent after 62 years of Indian
independence.”

Over the past ten years, the women’s movement has become more
vocal on the issue of the violence suffered by Dalit women – the
outcast group known as "untouchables". Raja explained that
although universities are legally required to reserve 27 percent
of places for scheduled castes, the law is rarely implemented.

"Indian Christian leaders call for an end to caste-based
discrimination, also within churches":
http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/eng/a/article/1634/indian-christian-leaders.html

"Christians begin to rebuild their lives in Orissa":
http://www.oikoumene.org/gr/news/news-management/eng/a/article/1634/christians-begin-to-rebui.html

Living Letters visit to India:

http://www.overcomingviolence.org/en/peace-convocation/living-letters-visits/india.html

Photo gallery:

http://www.overcomingviolence.org/en/news-and-events/photos/visit-to-india.html

WCC programme on solidarity with Dalits for justice and
dignity:
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=3249

WCC member churches in India:

http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/asia/india.html

>Decade to Overcome Violence:
>http://www.overcomingviolence.org/

Additional information:Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507
6363media@wcc-coe.org

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith,
witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical
fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings
together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches
representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110
countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic
Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from
the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.