On Tuesday, there was a poll of global experts released which claims India is the world’s most dangerous country for women due to the high risk of sexual violence and being forced into slave labor.
Devastated by war, Afghanistan and Syria ranked second and third in the Thomson Reuters Foundation survey of about 550 experts on women’s issues, followed by Somalia and Saudi Arabia.
Well if you are thinking that USA is safe for women then the answer is ‘no’, because it was the only western nation in the top 10, which ranked joint third when people were asked that where women were most at risk of sexual violence, harassment and being forced into sex.
Though the poll was repeat of the survey in 2011 in which experts witnessed Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, India, and Somalia as the most dangerous countries for women.
Experts said India moving to the top of poll showed not enough was being done to tackle the danger women faced, more than five years after the rape and murder of a student on a bus in Delhi made violence against women a national priority
In India there are not enough measures are taken to tackle the danger that women face hence it is heading towards top of survey, more than five years of Delhi gang rape case of a student on a bus made brutality against women as a national precedence.
Manjunath Gangadhara, a Karnataka government official said that “India has shown utter disregard and disrespect for women … rape, marital rapes, sexual assault and harassment, female infanticide has gone unabated.”
It is shameful of India that world’s fastest economy and leader in space and technology is not only violating women’s modesty but also spreading a hideous virus which is destroying a beautiful creature called ‘woman’.
The survey asked respondents which five of the 193 United Nations member states they thought were most dangerous for women and which country was worst in terms of healthcare, economic resources, cultural or traditional practices, sexual violence and harassment, non-sexual violence and human trafficking.
Well there were responses that India is also the most dangerous country for women in terms of human trafficking, including sex slavery and domestic servitude, and for customary practices such as forced marriage, stoning and female infanticide.
India’s Ministry of Women and Child Development declined to comment on the survey results initially but now they have denied the facts presented through survey.
Afghanistan fared worst in four of the seven questions, with concerns over healthcare and conflict-related violence.
Kimberly Otis, director of advancement at Women for Afghan Women, said women and girls faced severe gender-based violence, abuse, illiteracy, poverty, and other human rights offences.
“The ongoing war and conflict are getting worse in Afghanistan, which puts the lives of women and girls at increasing risk,” said US-based Otis, a survey participant.
Afghanistan’s Public Health Minister Ferozuddin Feroz said the deteriorating security situation was making life difficult for women, with large parts of the country still in the control of Taliban fighters after nearly 17 years of war.
“Nowadays, suicide bombings and armed conflict is the third (highest) cause of deaths and disability in Afghanistan,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview in London.
“Instead of focusing on maternal health, on nutritional status, we spend it on trauma.”
In the survey Syria was considered into third place due to the impact of a seven-year war with concerns over access to healthcare and both sexual and non-sexual violence.
Executive director of Women Now For Development Maria Al Abdeh, who supports women’s centres in Syria said that “There are so many dangers for girls and women, there is sexual violence by government forces. Domestic violence and child marriage are increasing and more women are dying in childbirth. The tragedy is nowhere near an end.”
Somalia, where more than two decades of war has fueled a culture of violence and weakened institutions meant to uphold the law, was again named as one of the five most dangerous countries for women.
More than two decade Somalia was under war culture where there is violence and humiliating activities carried out as a tradition which upholds the law is considered to be one of the five most dangerous countries for women.
Ahlam Akram, founder of BASIRA (British Arabs Supporting Universal Women’s Rights) in the UK said “One of the worst laws that prevent women from having equal opportunities is guardianship – because every woman is subjected to a male guardian. She cannot get a passport, cannot travel, sometimes she cannot work”.
“We need to completely obliterate this system. I think change is coming, but it takes time”, he added.
As we all know that #metoo claims to fame which overpowered every headline for months and Time’s Up campaign too but Experts said United States is in the top 10 most dangerous countries for women.
Cindy Southworth, executive vice president of the Washington-based National Network to End Domestic Violence said “People want to think income means you’re protected from misogyny, and sadly that’s not the case.”
We are going to look back and see this as a very powerful tipping point … We’re blowing the lid off and saying ‘#Metoo and Time’s Up’, she added.
Out the top 10 most dangerous countries for women were Pakistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Yemen and Nigeria.
India, Libya and Myanmar were considered the world’s most dangerous nations for women exploited by human traffickers in a global crime worth an estimated $150 billion a year.
Nick Grono, chief executive of the Freedom Fund, the first private donor fund dedicated to ending slavery, said “In many countries the simple fact of being female creates a heightened risk of becoming a victim of slavery.”
The poll of 548 people was conducted online, by phone and in person between March 26 and May 4 with an even spread across Europe, Africa, the Americas, South East Asia, South Asia and the Pacific.
Respondents included aid professionals, academics, healthcare staff, non-government organisation workers, policy-makers, development specialists and social commentators.