India needs more than protests to change attitudes toward rape

By Karishma Vaswani

Protests against sexual violence are taking place across India to demand more protection for women in the world’s most populous nation. The demonstrations are helping to raise much-needed awareness about an epidemic of rape. But to tackle the pervasive culture of misogyny in a society that’s still fiercely patriarchal, reform needs to start with the top echelons of institutions, such as the courts and police force.

It won’t be easy to address norms that have been in place for centuries. While education and better policies can help, more women need to be elected and appointed to top jobs, both in politics and the corporate world (scores for women’s representation in ministerial positions (6.9 per cent) and in parliament (17.2 per cent) remain relatively low, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap report for 2024). Instituting change from within these largely male bastions of power will help to improve India’s reputation internationally, at a time when foreign investors are looking closely at the economic powerhouse.

The brutal act that prompted the marches was the rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor on Aug. 9 at a government hospital in Kolkata. It was reminiscent of the 2012 gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student on a New Delhi bus.

Back then, massive demonstrations occurred across the nation, and a commission was set up to reconsider laws on sexual crimes. The government passed tougher laws on rape, including the death penalty for repeat offenders. The legislation also provided for jail terms for police officers who fail to record an initial complaint lodged by an assaulted woman.

The policy changes, though small steps, were an improvement and recognize that lawmakers have to act to deal with these vicious crimes.

But it didn’t stop violence against women. In fact, it’s getting worse.

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A total of 445,256 cases of crime against women were registered during 2022. Among them, around 32,000 were rapes, up from approximately 28,000 in 2020. In 2011, a woman was raped every 20 minutes, according to government data. That rose to about every 16 minutes by 2021.

India is not the only country with a strong patriarchal culture that favors men. However, it is one where it seems that those in power have been turning a blind eye to violence against women for far too long. It has become so normalized that a report from the National Crime Records Bureau has categories including Murder With Rape/Gang Rape, Dowry Deaths, Abetment to Suicide of Women, Acid Attack, and Cruelty by Husband or His Relatives.

Despite economic advances, the picture for women isn’t improving. India ranked 129 out of 146 countries on the Global Gender Gap Index 2024. Nine-in-10 Indians agree with the notion that a wife must always obey her husband, including nearly two-thirds who completely agree with this sentiment, according to a 2022 survey by the Pew Research Center on how men and women perceive gender roles.

It all starts at home, which is another issue. Families tend to place a higher value on sons rather than daughters, because of a perception that they can help to financially support parents in old age — although many working women do this too. Then there’s the matter of dowries for brides. Despite being outlawed since 1961, they are still prevalent, even among the educated middle class.

Passing new laws won’t address these issues, because of inherent flaws within the system. “Law enforcement personnel are misogynistic and overburdened — they neither have the will nor the capacity to help women,” Poulami Roychowdhury, associate professor of sociology at Brown University, told me. “Policymakers need to implement police reforms and add judges to the benches, and make public spaces like hospitals, schools and other institutions where women are at risk, safer.”

India’s judicial system is notoriously backlogged and cases can take years to go through the courts. For many women, this adds to the stigma of reporting a rape or sexual assault, because of the long delay they face to get any form of justice. The largely male police force also needs to change — women make up just under 11 per cent, far behind the UK, where female officers constitute a third of overall law enforcement. In 2022, the India Justice Report, which surveys the state of law enforcement, said it would take 24 years to reach the police’s target of 33 per cent female representation.

Given a society that has long adhered to deeply ingrained views on the roles of men and women, it is not surprising that men are disproportionately represented in government and corporate positions of power. That makes it an uphill battle and a missed opportunity to acknowledge the value that women contribute to business. India could increase gross domestic product by $770 billion by 2025 if it gets more women to work and boost equality, McKinsey Global Institute estimated. The female contribution to GDP is 18 per cent, one of the lowest in the world, reflecting the fact that women make up only 25 per cent of the labour force.

People power has brought attention to the plight of women in India. But that is no longer enough. For meaningful change, policymakers need to reform the institutions that can directly improve the lives of half the population. Women in the world’s largest democracy deserve that.