Gender and inclusion : Way Forward

                                                        

Gender and inclusion : Way Forward
A brief Report by
Malika B. Mistry

 

Development economists aver that development can’t be distanced from the discussion of gender. So to explore the gender and development issues such as health, education, violence against women and economic empowerment, a three national conference was recently (6th, 7th and 8th of June 2022) organized by the Centre for Development Policy and Practice and Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU), Hyderabad. The conference also aimed to delve into the inter-sectionality of gender and religious and social identity.

Muslim women in India are caught in the cross-fire of  Hindutva politics, the Hijab row, triple talaq issue and the mock  auction of  Muslim women who dared to  raise  their voices.  In the middle of all these, we have those women who have been flag-bearers of the anti-CAA movement with their mighty display of resistance.

What is the way forward?  Gender studies investigate  this construct in issues like  labour conditions to health  care access to  popular culture.  Gender  also incorporates the disposing  of  factors such as race, class, ability, religion,  region of origin, citizenship and access to resources.  The conference also undertook discussion on  pressing challenges  in the field  and the barriers that the communities face on a global, regional  and local level in the movement towards gender justice.

There are around 2 million civil society organizations in India, a majority of which work toards providing quality education, promoting social and economic empowerment of women and building resilience among communities. However the challenges become more difficult and multifold when dealing with the marginalised groups.  Nagma Mulla, CEO,  Edelgive Foundation, shared her experience of working with NGOs and helping them  develop capacity and leadership to reach underserved areas and populations. She pointed out that it should not be gender inclusion but women’s participation. Gandhiji  ensured that women particiiipatead in the freedom movement achieved through non-violence. Gloria Steinem, the famous American feminist, found that in her own country there was no such movement as women’s participation. She came to know about women’s effective participation from India. Nehru too  wanted women and men to rebuild India. However even today only 4 per cent of the resources are spent on women. In India too it is the same. For one or other reason women are denied resources. Those who are powerful women, must work towards empowering their fellow deprived women.

Shaheda Muttuza, Director, , Women’s Study Center, MANUU, averred that “women are not bound but are made subhuman.”  An examination of different aspects of life  viz. economy, health, education, cultural practices reveals this. Most of women’s work is unpaid and invisible. Women are born strong but made weak in ocurse of time. When women accept  gainful employment they are made to feel guilty. Muslim women’s situation is worse. It is becoming  more difficult for Muslim women to live with dignity.

Muslim women in India are doubly disadvantaged – as a minority and as women. They  find themselves  caught between  being loyal to their religious  identity and a desire for  freedom and equal rights  with in those communities.  From being targeted  in communal riots to having  to defend and  claim their rights, they are battling  simultaneous challenges. Fatima Khan, a young and dynamic journalist from Gurgaon,  threw light on what it means  to be a Muslim woman  in contemporary India in the present day communal atmosphere. At the same time, She advocated that Muslim men should be just to the women in their families. “We need to be egalitarian with our own families and in our own communities.”

Gazala Wahab through her book ‘Born a Muslim ..’ shared her real life stories and incidents recounting the journey of navigating through her faith. Her book highlights the insecurities and fears among the Muslims of the country amid rising Islamophobia and communal violence. She advocated that every woman should inculcate the following five attributes to achieve empowerment: (i) financial independence; (ii) educating and learning (iii) asking questions  (iv)preserving oneself and (v) not fighting always.

What sort of research should we undertake? Social problems are multifaceted. So to fully understand the issues and their multiple layers,  a multi-disciplinary approach of research is necessary. Farida Siddique, Dean of Social Sciences, MANUU, strongly advocated the importance of multi-disciplinary approach to  social sciences research.

In today’s world, data are very important. So where do we look for data on marginalization and vulnerability? Amirullah Khan, an eminent development economist,   explained that  one should not be emnotionla about Muslim women’s issues but collect data to present their situation in a logical  way.

Amitabh Kundu, a well-known economist, cautioned that academicians should not bother too much about Hindutva. According to him, the decade 2011-21 is  disastrous for Indian economy,health sector and also for data. In the enumeration of Indian population census, usually 3 per cent of men are excluded. This exclusion would one-and-half time more for  women compared to men.

Amartya Sen in his book Identity and Violence (a rejoinder to Samuel Huttington’s Clash of Civilizations) averred that we all have multiple identities.  Today religious identity is beoing highlighted both by Hindu and Muslim fundamentalists.  Kundu warned that this is dangerous for the country.

Hasina Kharbhih, Founder, Impulse NGO Network, from North-East (Meghalaya)  has been working  to provide sustainable livelihood in a safe environment for women and children. Her organization helps to prevent unsafe migration and human trafficking. She feels  that in her type of work using religion as variable in data analysis should not be advocated because all the women and  children are vulnerable and are  victims. He hold that data are critical and important  to design programmes and policies. Care should be taken to understand data  from the subject’s point. However data are not every thing.

Afroz Alam, a psephologist, opined that data are every where. It is for the experts to search and find. For example, Twitter and Face Book sell the individual data. Who buys them? Political parties. Why? To manipulate the voters. Today it is common knowledge that who is going to vote for whom. Only 20 per cent of the voters are floating population. They need to be influences. Technical expert and professional agencies can change emotions of this population over night through social media.

Osama Manzar, a well known data expert, informed that  data should have a narrative. Artificial intelligence helps in promoting hatred more than peace. To counter this, the law makers  should trend much more than the hate mongers.  P.C.Mohanan, a former Member of National Statistical Commission, held that it is the narrative  about the data that helps but not the data itself.

There is a significant coverage of Muslim women in media specially about their dress code. Real issues like health and education among Muslim women  are neglected.  A major part of the debate is done in an unpleasant and biased manner by politicians and the media.  Muslim women journalists are also discriminated at their workplace. They face harassment and their reportage is undermined. Whether the Indian media represents the interests or presents a subverted image of the Muslim community needs further exploration. To counter this, we need to have bold and sincere journalists.

According to World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report 2021, India is ranked 140^th out of 156 countries slipping  28 places on the list.  Even though there has been a steady growth of  skilled professionals among women, it is not significant enough  as female representation in leadership positions is barely  27 per cent.  Entrepreneurship is challenging  irrespective of gender but in case of  rural women and  specially Muslim women, the challenges are much more. Ten female Soochnapreneurs    ( they are community information agents  who will bridge gap between government  and citizens  and will make information available to the  last mile rural beneficiaries.  They operate both at Panchayat and Block levels by empowering their immediate surroundings.  This is an initiative  which hones and incubates  the entrepreneurial abilities and qualities of a person.)  from different parts of rural  India  shared their experiences anddiscussed solutions  as social entrepreneurs in their respective geographic locations. They took digital training, started self employment and became empowered. Most of these young ladies do not want to marry because  marriage will take away their empowerment and now they are self sufficient. As the boys are expected, these girls  are supporting their parents and families. This has also dented the bias against the females in the rural areas. Thus they have positive influence on the society.

The NFHS-5 data highlight the growing level of anemia among Indian women. They face derivation at multiple levels  which results into poor health.  These challenges are  intensified with poverty and illiteracy.

Meenakshi Gupta, Co-founder of Goonj,  is passionate about  Goonj’s work on  mainstreaming and repositioning menstruation as a human issue  beyond just women’s issue. Sometimes the silence on menstruation kills women. She narrated two stories. A rural woman in north India used a blouse with hooks as protection against menstrual bleeding. The hook was rusted, she developed titanus and died. In south India, one rural woman used a cloth. Unfortunately in the cloth a centipede was hiding. It entered her body and she died due to health  complications. Specially in the rural areas, for menstruating women, no facilities to change, to wash, tgo bathe exist. Talking about it is a taboo. Heath and well being of women go together. Therefore menstrual health must be given much more importance in our society.

 Women are vulnerable. In sugar-cane cutting work, the contractors encouraged the young women labourers (including unmarried women)   to  remove their uteruses because they did  not want to lose 5 days labour by the  menstruation. How unethical!

Sanghmitra Acharaya added that women’s health is prioritized at the end of all other priorities in the family. In case of menstruation, socio-religious context goes against them.  Women empowerment is the only solution. Further for women holistic view of health, not just reproductive health, needs to be developed. 

Nilanjan  Banik enlightened that building more and more toilets for women does not solve the problem. They need to be well maintained. Also villages need to be given choice to set upthat infrastructure which is needed by them rather than government stipulating what to do the funds given by it to the village. In one village, villagers wanted a health facility to be set up in the village but the funds were meant for  provision of school only. This compulsion has to change.

NFHS-5 data reveal that for Muslim households, the health indicators are better.  Washing hands five times a day seems to give this advantage to Muslims. Also IMR among Muslims was found lower.

The enrolment and  attendance levels of vulnerable groups have improved.  According to 2011 census, 64 per cent of the women were literate. All India Survey on Higher Education 2017-18 found only 27 per cent of the women were enrolled in higher education. Further, women have low levels of workforce participation rates. The experts in this field  discussed the gap between  educational advances and livelihood opportunities for  marginalized women while also exploring  the challenges in increasing  labour force participation.

 The marginalization of women is often aggravated in difficult  geographical terrains,  political crises, religious and cultural  conflicts ad climate change. Women in North East are worse off than women in mainland India.  Women in areas prone to communal riots live in constant feelin g of insecurity. In areas where  draconian laws such as AFSPA are  in place, women  experience  violence of unprecedented level. In remote areas women bear the maximum  burden of poverty. 

Shireen Azam, Doctoral researcher at the Oxford University, pointed out that caste does exiost among Muslims in India. However there is invisibilization of this fact among Muslims. According to her  majority the Muslims belong to lower castes.  Caste is linked with  endogamy, hierarchy and traditional occupations. As much as 70 per cent of theMuslim leaders come from upper castes. So nobody talks about the issues of lower caste Muslims.  She urged that while talking about backwardness of Muslims, we need to consider this fact of caste among Muslims.

Four civil society veterans who worked tirelessly  for uplifting and  empowering women spoke about their experiences and concerns  about working with  the marginalized women. Anshu Gupta is the Founder of Goonj.  Goonj envisions to grow as an idea across regions, economies and countries using urban discord as a tool  to alleviate poverty and enhance  the dignity of the underprivileged  people of the world. It addresses the basic but neglected issues of  poor by involving them  in evolving their own solutions with dignity  and urban materials as reward.

Anshu Gupta  structured imaginative solutions  with urban surplus to outside the radar of the development sector and the civil society. He is known as the clothing man of India for his mission of bringing basics to  like clothing into the mapping of  development work.

Osama Manzar is a global leader on the mission of eradicating information poverty from India and ghe global south  usaing digital tools through an organization he founded in 2002. With over 25 years of experience, Osama worked  in the areas of journalism,  new media and software enterprise. He educated that Indians face common problems which are a result of the existing system but we do not ant to change the system. Technology has no language. Using communication tools by giving them intothe hands of the women can bring social change. As a result women can become change makers and  break the  patriarchy slowly. Through this work, it has shown that women can be empowered through technology.

Women in difficult situations :  Durfing the anti -CAA movement Muslim women were beaten up. In 2019, a 70 year old Muslim woman was beaten up because she was participating in the movement. Today double oppression of women is taking place. Indian state is also suppressing the Muslim women.

Vahid Nainar , an independent researcher and consultant on women’s rights, observed that Indian state is in conflict with Muslims and some other communities in some other  regions. In India we do not have laws to punish the type of crimes  committed by polic and state agisnt the Muslims. Even though India has ratified  the international Convention of Genocide, it has not implemented it.  India does not have a law against  genocide. Against torture too India does not have laws.  Today the impunity to criminals is due to break down of laws. So cases must be registered under common rape laws and murder laws. Another impediment is that to  file a case against  public servants, permission of state is necessary.

Asim Prakash from TISS observed that today the markets of Muslims are boycotted informally becaue of the hatred spread agisnt them. The Ganga Jamuna Tehzeeb is missing.

Data from the  recent Periodic Labor Force Survey  indicated that the  economic downturn of the pandemic  affected different communities in different ways.

Gender and Religious bias : Amitabh Kundu, a well-known economist, presented his path breaking study on labour market discrimination. (He  had chaired the  Post Sachar Evaluation Committee  and that for estimating Urban Housing  Shortages.) He quantified the discrimination in labour markets  especially in post Covid times. He did this study for Oxfam India. He undertook this research to find out how the labour market responded to the pandemic when the unemployment went up  and both the formal and informal  sectors got seriously disrupted.

In rural gender discrimination was 100 per cent for all women becaue women did not go out to work during the pandemic. In urban aeas it was 90 per cent.

In rural areas Muslims did not face discrimination because they are employed in low productive occupations and hardly any competition exists. The discrimination against Muslims in urban areas was as much high as 68 per cent. He concluded that  gender discrimination in India is critical. Also the discrimination  against Muslims in Urban areas is  very high. This is a serious issue. 

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