There are women who say India is a patriarchal society. Women who are victims of rape and other sex crimes do not get justice because of men. Policemen are not gender sensitive. For women to get justice there should be women police, women doctors, women judges, and women investigators. Patriarchy is the problem. When women hold all positions, women get justice.
In real life it does not work life that. Rape victims had problems with women constables who were unsympathetic to them. In a recent case in Bulandshahar, a 10-year old rape victim went to an all-women police station to register a complaint. Instead of catching the criminal the girl was put behind bars. Women judges have been lax on rapists. There are women who oppose castration or death penalty or life imprisonment for rape.
In West Bengal a woman complained of rape. Mamata Banerjee said it was a conspiracy against her. Damayanti Sen, the police officer who tried to get justice to rape victim, was transferred. Things are not better for women in states with women chief ministers.
Not all rape complaints are true. Sometimes women commit adultery and when caught they say they were raped.
Army, navy, and air force are for the defence of the country. They are not for equal representation for men and women. Some women want certain positions in defence forces. They do not talk of discrimination when standards are diluted for women. If men have to cover certain distance in 9 minutes, women are given 14 minutes. If the standard is same, women do not qualify. After getting in short service commission, women say they want permanent commission. When they do not get it they talk of discrimination.
Some years back the cost of training a fighter pilot was 15 crore rupees. Now it is more. Some women want to be fighter pilots but do not want to go to areas without toilets. It is a problem when they are pregnant and are on maternity leave. There is no use of having women fighter pilots if they are not available during war. Now that technology has developed, we must do away with fighter pilots and have drones and missiles.
Some years back there was a newspaper report. One magazine had reported Demi Moore was pregnant by her physical trainer. Demi Moore wrote to the magazine something like “I hope you have not paid a lot of money for this piece of shit. I am having everything normal. Period. Unless of course you know something I do not know.” A woman will know when she is pregnant. If a woman does not know she is pregnant how somebody else can know, I wondered. Some months back there was a British woman soldier at the frontline in Afghanistan. Suddenly she had labour pains. It was found that she was eight months pregnant and did not know about it. We do not want such a situation. There is a saying which begins with “Because of a nail a shoe was lost” and ends with “Because of a battle a war was lost”.
War is not picnic. There are instances of beheading, mutilation, and torture of Indian soldiers by Pakistanis.
There are women commandos. Women chief ministers do not want them as bodyguards. Mayawati and Jayalalitha rejected them. Sukhbir Singh Badal accepted them. Only other man known to have women bodyguards was Muammar Gaddafi.
There is National Commission for Women which has not been of much use for women. There was an attack on women in a pub in Mangalore. The member of the commission sent for investigation blamed the women and said women should not go out without security. An Air India air hostess did not get justice from the commission.
Women are free to contest all seats of Parliament and state legislatures for which elections are held. Capable women win. Indira Gandhi became Prime Minister in 1966. There have been many women chief ministers. Yet some women want 33% reservation for women. That is quotocracy, not democracy. Reservation for women in panchayats has led to proxy rule. We hear of pradhanpatis and sarpanchpatis.
There are women who abet in female foeticide, female infanticide, domestic violence, and bride burning.
Over the years some boys’ colleges have become co-ed colleges. Girls’ colleges have not changed. There are less seats for boys, more for girls.
In city buses seats are reserved for women, not for men. That is discrimination.
