L anguage of the society is changing from blaming women for inviting harassment
to blaming men for their predatory behavior.
So…. Finally the union minister M J
Akbar has resigned as a minister for charges of sexual harassment against him,
not by one or two women journalists but more than seventeen journalists. It
took more than two weeks after the first allegation made against him. It was
after much audacious behavior by the minister of filing a case of criminal
defamation against the complainant. The legal notice served to her has as many
as 97 lawyers advocating for the minister, clearly indicating an attempt to
intimidate her and silence all others who are yet to speak up. It is a threat to
the victim by exhibiting his heavy political weight. All these while, there is
no clear statement either by the government of India – whom he represented, nor
BJP as a political party, whose member he is. This is despite the fact that the
charges against him are old, of the time when he was not even associated with
BJP, he was rather close with Congress. BJP could have sacked his minister,
sheer for the political reason. But it did not, showing how lightly our
political parties take the issue of sexual harassment and how meek and superficial
is their commitment towards “Beti Bachao….”
We are pointing finger at BJP
because they are in the power right now. They are more accountable as one of
their ministers is alleged to have indulged in misogyny behavior, which mounts
to violation of fundamental rights of women. That does not mean others are
clean. Attitude of male workers towards women co-workers is one of the ugly commonalities
among all political parties, and that is very serious. But the party in power bears
more responsibility of setting an example by taking politically correct action
that could have possibly taken the MeToo movement at different level and could
have given more confidence to the women in possibility of justice.
MeToo, though confined to the upper
segment of the society and is primarily limited to using social media as a
weapon, has emerged as a very important incident of the time. Individual
initiatives have turned into a movement as many women from different spheres of
society are coming out and sharing their experiences and not hesitating in
naming the culprits. It is gaining wider acceptance. Many individuals and
groups are standing besides the victims giving them more strengths. Many support
groups are also formed in order to extend much needed moral, emotional and
legal support. Such wide scale support is
helping many women to overcome their fear with which they lived all these
years. Although one may find stereotypical remarks from many who always find
faults with women, supporting MeToo seems a wider sentiment today. A movement
has set in that has given strength to many women in believing in themselves,
standing by each other in solidarity and compelling society to speak against
the perpetrators. The language of the society is changing from blaming women
for inviting harassment to blaming men for their predatory behavior. This is
the most important outcome. In future women will not blame her selves. They
will not wait for years for gathering courage to speak against the violator of
her dignity. Girls will not be taught to keep quiet, they will be taught to hit
back and approach one of the support groups for quicker actions.
The movement is important because
it has challenged the deep rooted culture of misogyny in our society that is
responsible in giving rise to sexual harassment. It has challenged men who don’t
see any problem in taking physical liberty, as if it is a natural right. It has
shaken the mindset that doesn’t believe in respecting women’s choice and don’t
care to seek for her consent. Not many of the allegations will convert into
legal battle, and legal justice will not be served. But it certainly has shamed
many high profile men. They may face problems in their personal and
professional lives in future. Hopefully their ruined career will be an example
for many more before they even think of taking women for granted. Justice will
prevail.
In last one month, in response to MeToo many individuals
and organizations have come out clearly in defining their policies against
sexual harassment. That will compel many others to define theirs. Lasty, Maneka
Gandhi has urged all political parties to constitute Internal Complaint
Committee (ICC). In fact, ICC is mandatory for all organizations where women
are working as per Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act,
2013. But see the irony. After five years
of the legal provision, the union minister of Women and Child Development, Maneka
Gandhi is still requesting and not compelling.
The scope of the movement is of
course, confined to urban upper segment of the society. Even in that media –
films, press and electronic media – is the main occupation where women are
speaking. This seems tip of the iceberg. There must be many more women who are
still hesitating to speak. They must have buried past experience in order to
move on, and must not be wanting to go back to the memory lane to live back the
nightmare. And what about the fields other than media? Corporate sector is ill
famed for derogatory behavior against women. Nobody from corporate is blamed
yet. Academics, NGO, Medical profession, Legal services and politics
(allegations against Akbar are by journalists and of his journalism days)… all
have their share of misogynists waiting to be exposed. What to say about the entire informal economy
that is still operating with feudal values!!! Vulnerability of women multiplies
if she is from backward communities and/or from rural area. It will take many
more years to reach out to women from all the layers of the society.
Many are pointing out at the cases
where women might have taken an advantage of their sexuality in attaining their
personal goals, and are now coming out with MeToo. Possibility of such cases is
not denied. Here question is one big question glaring at us. Why sexuality of
women is considered a trump card for her success? Isn’t it also an outcome of
misogyny mindset of which both men and women are victims? It is the time we
question the undercurrent ideas that are guiding us.
That may remain to be debated. At present,
at this point of time it is more important to support the women showing courage
to speak against all odds. It is important to be careful about differentiating the
genuine cases and the opportunist ones, but let that concern not overpower to
restrict the courage that women are showing right now. Let this movement take
much longer road. By giving strength to the women it is doing more good to the
society than the damage.
