Mangalore, March 2: Every 26 minutes, a woman or a girl in India is being molested, and every 34 minutes, a woman is being raped in the country, Shalip Kumari, Associate Professor at SDM College, Ujire, said here on Tuesday.
Ms. Kumari was presenting a paper on human rights and the rights of women during a seminar organised here on human rights and unorganised labour.
Quoting the latest figures put out by the South Indian Cell for Human Rights Education and Monitoring, Ms. Kumari said that every 42 minutes a woman was facing some form of sexual harassment, every 93 minutes a woman was burned to death or killed for failing to bring enough dowry from her parents, and every 43 minutes, a girl or woman was being kidnapped. Nearly 1.5 crore girls did not live beyond the age of 15, she said.
Among the numerous human rights violations committed against women, some of the most extreme included genital mutilation done with crude instruments such as knives and blades, to surgically alter the female genitalia in order to protect her virginity, Ms. Kumari said.
According to World Health Organisation data, genital mutilation was inflicted on more than 100 million women.
Responding to questions, Ms. Kumari said the socialisation was important to counter patriarchal values prevalent in both men and women. She said that although non-governmental organisations had done much to economically empower women, they do not take up “tougher issues” of inter-caste or inter-religious marriages because of strong social pressure.
Speaking during a panel discussion on policy suggestions on human rights and the unorganised sector, professor of social work, Rita Noronha said control of resources should be with communities and the rights of women should be with women.
“There is a need for mechanisms to listen to the voices at the margins. Don't think we have the solutions to the problems of the unorganised sector,” she said and added that there should be meetings at the district level to discuss problems affecting women.
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