ATROCITIES AGAINST WOMEN & UNDERSTANDING GENDER JUSTICE Final Report of the Research Project submitted to KRPLLD Programme Secretariat Centre for Development Studies Prasanth Nagar Ulloor, Thiruvananthapuram By Sobha P V C/o Prayoga Trust Orma, Poovattuparambu, Kozhikode Acknowledgement I am very much pleased to thank those who helped me to bring the present work into being; first and foremost, to Dr. K.N.Nair, Programme Co-ordinator, KRPLLD. Centre for Development Studies, Prasanth Nagar, Ulloor, Thiruvananthapuram, for the relentless support and guidance and the office staff at KRPLLD I owe sincere thanks to Dr. Nizar Ahmed, Prof. & Head of the Department, Department of Philosophy, Sree Sankara Sanskrit University, Kalady, Kerala, whose lectures conducted by Prayoga Trust oriented the direction of this study. To Brahmaputhran, co-ordinator, Prayoga Trust, I owe sincere concern for he inspired me to involve in this project and continue it, even during unfavourable conditions. To Radhakrishnan, Poovattuparamba, Kozhikode, I have gratitude, as he reminded me always about the constraints and limitations of this study, which helped me to critique my own presuppositions. My research assistants, Bindu, Prabhakaran, Renjini, Sajitha, and Unni had been of great help to me without whom this project couldn't have been materialised. Words fail me when I'm about to thank Arun for the preparation of database, charts & layout and Suresh who did the data entry patiently. To Pushpa I owe a special debt of gratitude for her attention at home. Sobha. P. V. C/o Prayoga Trust Kozhikode Contents Page No Chapter I Introduction 1 Chapter II Review of Literature 16 Chapter III Methodology 28 Chapter IV Research Settings 41 Chapter V Secondary Data Details 44 Chapter VI Details of deep interview 55 Chapter VII Survey Report (Part I – III) 131 Chapter VIII Conclusion 162 Annexure I Secondary Data : Tables 168 Annexure II Secondary Data : Data Base 181 Annexure III Survey Report : Tables 192 Reference 214 Chapter I INTRODUCTION One of the important concerns of the activists of the area of women's issues and the academics world over has been to understand the cause of women's subordination. Both activists and academics agree that women at present have a lower status than men; that socially, economically and politically women are discriminated against and this state of affairs is unfair-injustice- and must be changed. An analysis of the origin of subordinate status of women; why the lower status has still persisted; what strategies are to be devised to end this subordination and such queries are most relevant today; Both in the universal societal phenomena and the society of Kerala. Inspite of hundred percent literacy (?) and increased rate of women education, atrocities against women have become the most serious social evil of the contemporary Kerala society. If though literate (the effect of which is statistical data but not in practical day to day life) common women of the very social reality of Kerala are unaware of the dynamic concept of equality of sexes which the Indian constitution guarantees. Few women of those who are aware use the law to fight back, they being traditionally oppressed and serve in all social institutions (like family, caste, community, religion, politics, etc.,) subjugated to man. Despite the promises of legislative favours the identities like women, Dalit and Tribal etc., experience discriminations involving cultural resources in forms subtler than that the commonsense can grasp. The relevance of knowing how the social structure reproduces such forms of discrimination is only proportional to the urgency of resisting such discriminations. Contextual Frame Atrocities towards (and against) women are forms of oppression hindering the development of women and thereby resulting in gender injustice, this being ideologically supported by a value system, which is androcentric and gender insensitive. Deepening inequalities and struggles by the oppressed section to assert their rights (granted under democracy) have unleashed retaliations by the more privileged and, women situated as they are in the social matrix as non-free, dependent subjectivities, become specially affected ones. Irrespective of the caste, class or religion women are socio-cultural dependants, in our society, having no roles of decision-making capacities whether it is in family, community, politics, religion, or any walk of life. If though law provides formal equality and property rights, cultural norms are against the decisive role of women at the time of sharing of properties. Interconnectedness of the property rights and the personal laws (whether it be of Hindu, Muslim or Christian) plays an anti-women role. It is clear that rules, positions, prestige and property are with men and norms, regulations and proper behaviour, obedient character are for women in a social system which is male-oriented and male-determined. Democratic rights, granted in principle, are nullified by the social institutions where women have subordinate status. The processes of development have increasingly separated the public from the private and has enlarged the public sphere with more formal institutions as against the earlier less formal community, caste, neighbourhood institutions. Public institutions often provide scope for women, for example law, to escape from traditional constraints. However access to formal institutions is limited for women and the ideologies of many public institutions themselves reinforce traditional subordination. Hence women are restricted from utilizing the facilities democracy offer and once again they become more cribbed and confined to the dark interiors of the whole society. "Both in its day-to-day conduct and in its enduring structures the social life today shows a staggering indifference to matters related to the protection of rights and securing of duties. Justice in social affairs is the harmonious blending of rights and duties of the concerned human agents and also the guarantee that no one is made underprivileged by this orchestration, i.e., no person or position enjoys advantage at the cost of the other. In this sense justice permeates the body of most of the human social institutions. Yet they hardly figure among the rights whose protection is guaranteed by the constitution. These rights sometimes receive articulations through social revolutions and political struggles. But most often they lie indistinct, muffled by the voice of common sense that is eagerly nurtured by our media establishment and cultural leadership…. …. The question of justice deserves special attention in today's socio- economic circumstance. Planning and development activities push greater and greater number of social groups to the margins. They are victims of collective forgetfulness. At a time when these groups begin to break their silence and assert themselves, it is only relevant and significant to inquire into the nature of this forgetfulness and consider the question of justice it raises, while pledging solidarity. Only a systematic research into the working of the social institutions, i.e., their modality and structure, can reveal in the figure of social life the rights and duties of its participants. The real forms that sustain and is sustained by the commonsense could thus be made to stand face to face with us. This enables the human agents to intervene in the construction of /i.e. the commonsense” [Dr. Nizar Ahmed, Prayoga Trust, 1996] General Objectives: This research project: § Presumes that women's position in our society is one of subordination and the social structure is gender oppressive. Subordination is an exercise of power and patriarchy prevailing in the societal phenomena adds to intensity the gender oppression. § Attempts to question and critically analyse the values and ethics of the subordinating social structure and socio-cultural marginalisation of women thereby. § Intends to enquire what are the social relations (and how and why they have been created) in the particular research situations, problems at the particular time, space and society and the interactions of 'self' and 'society'. § Tries to address women's life and experiences in their own terms create notes grounded in the actual experience and language of women (who experience the experiences) § To understand the reality of women by discovering and uncovering the actual facts of women's lives and the atrocities they face and experience in their lives, which have been hidden inaccessible, suppressed, distorted, misunderstood and ignored. § To minimize the gap (if there is) between the researcher and the researched (both as subjects) attempting to create a non- hierarchical relationship making the research a joint collaborative effort. It presupposes: § To change the present attitudes and values in the social matrix regarding women's roles, and rights, to one of equal participation in all social, economic and political processes and all levels of local developments. § To promote awareness among women and men, of the need to develop and utilise women's full potential as resources for development in its economic, political and socio-cultural aspects; to question existing values; and to promote awareness of their social responsibilities so as to participate equally. § To counter the reactionary forces emanating from certain sections of the media, economic, social and political institutions that encourages the demotion of women from productive to mere reproductive roles. § To promote the values