GS Paper: GS1-07.Role of women and women’s organization, population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues.

This newscard is an excerpt of an article originally published in the Down To Earth.

Defining Work

• ‘Work’ was defined by Spanish economist Lourdes Beneria in 1999 as a paid economic activity linked to the market.
• Both paid and unpaid work, however, are constituents of our economic life.
• This leads to an ecosystem where unpaid and care work, performed for long hours, becomes invisible.

Narrative of Unpaid Work

• Women perform 75 per cent of the world’s unpaid care work, and unfortunately it is not accounted for in a nation’s gross domestic product.
• The largest source of women’s unpaid labour is domestic work.
• These include household chores like grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning as well as caregiving to the children, elderly and infirm.
• In the absence of this, survival is perceived as a challenge for both individuals and society as every economy is dependent on unpaid labour and care services.

Time Poverty and unpaid work

• This share of labour has a cost not only in terms of the unrecognised monetary value but also time poverty.
• Time poverty is defined as “not having enough time” to pursue interests beyond unpaid domestic / care work.
• Time poverty has a direct bearing on the ability of women to contribute to or participate in the labour market and / or public or political life.
• Time poverty is also responsible for insufficient political participation of women globally.

Issues with unpaid work

• Unpaid labour is not considered ‘real work’ and is often devalued by the men and society, who directly benefit from it.
• The situation leads to emotional strain and combined with the time poverty, the costs often outweigh the benefits.
• Often, women do not find enough time or motivation to participate in activities outside the household.
• Female labour force participation rate is on a declining trend in major economies.

The conception of Time Banking

• Time banking comes forward as a social innovation for increased empowerment of women.
• Traditionally, household chores are expected to be performed by women. Women in general are more time poor than men.
• Empowerment of women is limited by time poverty. In this context the concept of time banking was introduced. 
• Time banking can be viewed as an opportunity cost of an unpaid activity in terms of the time sacrificed.

How does time bank function?

• In time banks, one hour equals one time credit, regardless of the service being performed or the level of each person’s skill or gender.
• The time banks are time-sharing cooperative among women, with people helping each other meet their day-to-day needs and address challenges in their community.
• For each hour of a service exchanged, the service provider receives one, time credit and the beneficiary pays one, time credit.
• The time bank networks tap into unused resources of people in the community to fill unmet needs of each other.

Significance of time banking for women

• Time-banking can benefit women, their families and their communities by alleviating time poverty through the system of exchange services through time credits.
• The system has the potential to improve the livelihoods of women and their families, thereby increasing overall economic activities.
• There were time banks operating in more than 30 countries in the Americas, Africa and Europe as well as in Russia and China.
• Most case studies showed that time banks have functioned most as community-building tools, economic drivers or within elder care.
• They can also be utilised to prioritise women’s political participation.
• This has a direct impact on women empowerment and entails benefits to individual women, their families and communities.

Time bank networks can be utilised for increasing political participation of women in the following ways:

1. Directly: Through utilisation of time credits for campaigning for office
2. Indirectly: By educating themselves or others on local issues or understanding their rights, accessing government programs and mobilising others.

Way forward

• Across the world, there are examples in our everyday life of intra- and inter-family examples of informal time-sharing.
• However, for tangible results on a community or economy scale, the concept needs scaling up and formalisation.
• Time banking, if made a formal arrangement, has the potential of community building, civic inclusiveness and increasing economic activity.
• Above all, it has the potential to act as the catalyst to women empowerment by formally recognising the economic value of unpaid labour and tapping the same across communities.

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Taking cognizance of multiple complaints that photographs of women had been posted on a mobile app (with a very informal slang name) for fake auctions, the police in Delhi and Mumbai have registered cases.

What is the controversy?

• Hundreds of women in India including journalists, social workers, and other prominent personalities found their images and derogatory content about them on a new app.
• The app was created on hosting platform Github, offered an online “auction” of women (esp from a particular community).
• This controversy is part of the routine harassment women faced on social media in an increasingly polarized communal environment.

Online Abuse of Women

• Online abuse includes a diversity of tactics and malicious behaviors ranging from:

1. Sharing embarrassing and cruel content about a person to impersonation
2. Stalking and electronic surveillance
3. Nonconsensual use of photography
4. Violent threats and hate speech
5. Defamation
6. Flaming- use of vitriolic and hostile messages including threats, insults
7. Trolling

• The online harassment of women, sometimes called Cybersexism or cybermisogyny, is specifically gendered abuse targeted at women and girls online.
• It incorporates sexism, racism and religious prejudice.

Recent controversy: A critical case of abuse

• The app is clearly an example of online trolling where the dignity and modesty of a woman is highly downgraded.
• This has not been the very first time. Earlier, no arrests were ever made showing Police inaction.
• The authorities were using the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) to obtain information about the creators of such apps from California-based GitHub.

Legal provisions against such Crimes

For making arrests, the police have invoked Sections 153A, 153B, 295A, 354D, 500 and 509 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act.

• Section 153A pertains to the offence of promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony
• Section 153B relates to imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration
• Section 295A provides punishment for deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings
• Section 354D provides that any man who monitors the use by a woman of the internet, email or any other form of electronic communication with malintent, commits the offence of stalking.
• Section 500 defines the punishment for defamation
• Section 509 addresses the offence of word, gesture or act intended insulting the modesty of a woman
• Section 67 of the IT Act lays down the punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form

Penalty for such crime

• The first conviction attracts imprisonment up to three years and fine up to ₹5 lakh and the second or subsequent conviction may lead to imprisonment up to five years and fine that may extend to ₹10 lakh.

What are the other provisions related to cybercrimes?

• Section 66E of the IT Act prescribes punishment for violation of privacy.
• Also, sections 354A (sexual harassment and punishment for sexual harassment) and 354C (voyeurism) of the IPC were introduced along with sections 354B and 354D in 2013.
• These may also be applied in conjunction with the relevant IT Act provisions, based on the nature of the offence.

What are the responsibilities of intermediaries like social media platforms?

• As of now, the intermediaries are not liable for any third-party data or communication link hosted or stored by them.
• They are required to retain the requisite data for duration as prescribed by the Government and supply the same to the authorities concerned, as and when sought.
• Any contravention attracts punishment as prescribed under the IT Act.

Additional steps been taken

• The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology notified the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
• Its provision —“Due diligence by intermediaries and grievance redressal mechanism” —requires them to inform their users not to host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, store, update or share any illegal information.
• They include contents that are defamatory, obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, invasive of another’s privacy, insulting or harassing on the basis of gender, libellous, racially or ethnically objectionable, etc.
• The intermediaries, on the direction of the court or appropriate government agency, are prohibited from hosting, storing or publishing any information declared unlawful.
• Within 24 hours from the receipt of a complaint from, or on behalf of, an individual about any offensive content, they are required to take all reasonable and practicable measures to remove or disable access to it.

Way forward

• The government can take action beyond passing and enforcing platform regulations.
• It can promote digital education to recognize and report inappropriate online conduct and to communicate respectfully online.
• Social media companies have the primary responsibility to prevent the amplification of online abuse and disinformation.

Conclusion

• Gender-based harassment is marked by the intent of the harasser to denigrate the target on the basis of sex.
• But this proliferation of online harassment of women has now incorporated religious polarization.
• This is very harmful for the existing communal harmony of the nation in the long run.

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The proposal to raise the minimum age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 was cleared by the Union Cabinet based on the recommendations of a task force headed by Jaya Jaitley.

Minimum Age for Marriage in India

• Personal laws of various religions that deal with marriage have their own standards, often reflecting custom.
• For Hindus, The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 sets 18 years as the minimum age for the bride and 21 years as the minimum age for the groom.
• In Islam, the marriage of a minor who has attained puberty is considered valid.
• Now, the govt will have to amend the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, the Special Marriage Act and personal laws such as the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.

Reasons behind the decision

• Gender-neutrality: With this decision, the government will be bringing the age of marriage for both men and women at par.
• Motherhood complexities: An early age of marriage, and consequent early pregnancies, also have impacts on nutritional levels of mothers and their children, and their overall health and mental wellbeing.
• Mother and Child Mortality: It also has an impact on Infant Mortality Rate and Maternal Mortality Rate.
• Women empowerment: The decision would empower women who are cut off from access to education and livelihood due to an early marriage.
• Protection from abuse: This will essentially outlaw premature girls marriages and prevent the abuse of minors.

What is the Jaya Jaitly Committee?

• In June 2020, the Ministry of WCD set up a task force to look into the correlation between the age of marriage with issues of women’s nutrition, prevalence of anemia, IMR, MMR and other social indices.
• The committee was to look at the feasibility of increasing the age of marriage and its implication on women and child health, as well as how to increase access to education for women.

Key recommendations

• The committee has recommended the age of marriage be increased to 21 years, on the basis of feedback they received from young adults from 16 universities across the country.
• The committee also asked the government to look into increasing access to schools and colleges for girls, including their transportation to these institutes from far-flung areas.
• Skill and business training has also been recommended, as has sex education in schools.
• The committee said these deliveries must come first, as, unless they are implemented and women are empowered, the law will not be as effective.

Criticism of the move

• Illegal marriages: Such legislation would push a large portion of the population into illegal marriages leading to non-institutional births.
• Ineffectiveness of existing laws: Decrease in child marriages has not been because of the existing law but because of an increase in girls’ education and employment opportunities.
• Unnecessary coercion: The law would end up being coercive, and in particular negatively impact marginalized communities, such as the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes, making them law-breakers.

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The Centre gave the Supreme Court the “good news” that it had taken a decision to allow women entry into the National Defence Academy (NDA), so far a male bastion for recruitment into the Armed Forces.

About National Defence Academy

• The NDA is the joint defence service training institute of the Indian Armed Forces, where cadets of the three services train together before they go on to respective service academy for further pre-commission training.
• It is located in Khadakwasla, Pune, Maharashtra.
• It is the first tri-service academy in the world.
• Applicants to the NDA are selected via a written exam conducted by the UPSC every year, followed by extensive interviews by the Services Selection Board.

What was the latest development?

• Recently, the Supreme Court upheld the right of serving Short Service Commission (SSC) women officers of the Navy to be granted Permanent Commission (PC) on a par with their male counterparts.

Women in Armed Forces: Significance

• The court ruled that women naval officers cannot be denied the right to equal opportunity and dignity entitled to under the Constitution on specious grounds such as physiology, motherhood and physical attributes.
• The battle for gender equality is about confronting the battles of the mind.
• History is replete with examples where women have been denied their just entitlements under law and the right to fair and equal treatment in the workplace.

Why males have ever dominated the armed forces?

• Militaries across the world help entrench hegemonic masculine notions of aggressiveness, strength and heterosexual prowess in and outside their barracks.
• The military training focuses on creating new bonds of brotherhood and camaraderie between them based on militarized masculinity.
• This temperament is considered in order to enable conscripts to survive the tough conditions of military life and to be able to kill without guilt.
• To create these new bonds, militaries construct a racial, sexual, gendered “other”, attributes of whom the soldier must routinely and emphatically reject.

Dimensions of the Issue

Gender is not a hindrance: As long as an applicant is qualified for a position, one’s gender is arbitrary. It is easy to recruit and deploy women who are in better shape than many men sent into combat.

Combat Readiness: Allowing a mixed-gender force keeps the military strong. The armed forces are severely troubled by falling retention and recruitment rates. This can be addressed by allowing women in the combat role.

Effectiveness: The blanket restriction for women limits the ability of commanders in theatre to pick the most capable person for the job.

Tradition: Training will be required to facilitate the integration of women into combat units. Cultures change over time and the masculine subculture can evolve too.

Cultural Differences & Demographics: Women are more effective in some circumstances than men. Allowing women to serve doubles the talent pool for delicate and sensitive jobs that require interpersonal skills, not every soldier has.

Hurdles for Women

Capabilities of women: Although women are equally capable, if not more capable than men, there might be situations that could affect the capabilities of women such as absence during pregnancy and catering to the responsibilities of motherhood, etc.

Adjusting with the masculine setup: To then simply add women to this existing patriarchal setup, without challenging the notions of masculinity, can hardly be seen as “gender advancement”.

Fear of sexual harassment: Sexual harassment faced by women military officers is a global phenomenon that remains largely unaddressed, and women often face retaliation when they do complain.

Gender progressiveness could be an illusion: Women’s inclusion is criticized as just another manoeuvre to camouflage women’s subjugation and service as women’s liberation.

Battle of ‘Acceptance’: Acceptance of women in the military has not been smooth in any country. Every army has to mould the attitude of its society at large and male soldiers in particular to enhance acceptability of women in the military.

Job Satisfaction: Most women feel that their competence is not given due recognition. Seniors tend to be over-indulgent without valuing their views. They are generally marginalised and not involved in any major decision-making.

Doubts about Role Definition: The profession of arms is all about violence and brutality. To kill another human is not moral but soldiers are trained to kill.

Physical and Physiological Issues: The natural physical differences in stature, strength, and body composition between the sexes make women more vulnerable to certain types of injuries and medical problems. The natural processes of menstruation and pregnancy make women particularly vulnerable in combat situations.

Comfort Level: Most women accepted the fact that their presence amongst males tends to make the environment ‘formal and stiff’. The mutual comfort level between men and women colleagues is often very low.

Conclusion

• Concern for equality of sexes or political expediency should not influence defence policies.
• Armed forces have been constituted with the sole purpose of ensuring defence of the country and all policy decisions should be guided by this overriding factor.
• All matters concerning defence of the country have to be considered in a dispassionate manner.
• No decision should be taken which even remotely affects the cohesiveness and efficiency of the military.

Way ahead

• Induction of women into armed forces should be on the basis of their abilities and not on the basis of their gender.
• The training for both women and men should be standardized to eliminate differentiation based on physical capabilities.
• The career aspects and opportunities for women need to be viewed holistically keeping the final aim in focus.

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The Delhi High Court has dismissed former Union Ministers’ criminal defamation complaint against a famous journalist over her tweets accusing him of sexual harassment.

What is the #MeToo Movement?

• The #MeToo movement, with variations of related local or international names, is a social movement against sexual abuse and sexual harassment towards women, where people publicize allegations of sex crimes.
• The phrase “Me Too” was initially used in this context on social media in 2006, on Myspace, by sexual harassment survivor and activist Tarana Burke in the US.
• It is aimed at demonstrating how many women have survived sexual assault and harassment, especially in the workplace.

You must know this!

The Vishaka Guidelines were a set of procedural guidelines for use in India in cases of sexual harassment. They were promulgated by the Indian Supreme Court in 1997 and were superseded in 2013 by the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.

What did the court say?

• Women have the right to put their grievances at any platform of their choice and even after decades.
• The court also rejected the argument that the former union minister was a man of a stellar reputation.

What is the case?

• The former minister had filed a criminal defamation case against the person in October 2018 since she did not produce any proof.
• The criminal case was initiated to create a chilling effect against women who spoke out about their experience of sexual harassments.

Legal backing of the acquittal

• Criminal defamation is defined in Section 499 of the IPC as making or publishing any imputation about a person intending to harm, or knowing it will harm the reputation of a person.
• Any statement or article criticizing a person or accusing them of any sort of problematic behaviour will obviously lower their reputation.
• Hence this is always emphasised in legal notices and complaints to courts alleging defamation.
• However, the law recognizes that a person’s reputation can’t be a shield against their own bad behaviour and that there can be various circumstances when outing this bad behaviour is in the public interest.
• This is why Section 499 of the IPC also prescribes several exceptions to claims of defamation.

Is it a win for the survivors?

• It should be noted that this does not necessarily mean that a corresponding criminal case for sexual harassment against the man would be successful.
• This is because the allegations of harassment would have to be proved against the man beyond all reasonable doubt.
• Therefore even though the present defence of truth was accepted by Delhi HC, this would not guarantee that the former minister would be convicted, as the standard of proof is different.

Conclusion

• This judgement will set an example for the reluctant or other ousted women who are willing to revisit the cases of sexual misconduct against them.

A panel of doctors to decide on the termination of pregnancy beyond 24 weeks as proposed in the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Amendment Bill, 2020, is “unfeasible” as 82% of these posts are lying vacant in the country, finds a new study.

Q. What are the differing opinions with regards to the Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Amendment Bill, 2020? Discuss.

About the MTP Amendment Bill

The MTP Bill was passed in Lok Sabha in March 2020 and is likely to be brought before Rajya Sabha during the ongoing Budget Session. Its salient features included:

• Proposing requirement for the opinion of one provider for termination of pregnancy, up to 20 weeks of gestation and introducing the requirement of the opinion of two providers for termination of pregnancy of 20-24 weeks of gestation.
• Enhancing the upper gestation limit from 20 to 24 weeks for special categories of women which will be defined in the amendments to the MTP Rules and would include ‘vulnerable women including survivors of rape, victims of incest and other vulnerable women (like differently-abled women, Minors) etc.
• Upper gestation limit not to apply in cases of substantial foetal abnormalities diagnosed by Medical Board. The composition, functions and other details of Medical Board to be prescribed subsequently in Rules under the Act.
• Anonymity of the person: Name and other particulars of a woman whose pregnancy has been terminated shall not be revealed except to a person authorised in any law for the time being in force.

Benefits sought with the bill

• It is seen as a step towards the safety and well-being of the women and many women will be benefitted by this.
• Recently several petitions were received by the Courts seeking permission for aborting pregnancies at a gestational age beyond the present permissible limit on grounds of foetal abnormalities or pregnancies due to sexual violence faced by women.
• The proposed increase in gestational age will ensure dignity, autonomy, confidentiality and justice for women who need to terminate the pregnancy.

Flaws in the bill

• The Bill allows abortion after 24 weeks only in cases where a Medical Board diagnoses substantial foetal abnormalities.
• This implies that for a case requiring abortion due to rape, that exceeds 24-weeks, the only recourse remains through a Writ Petition.
• The Bill does not specify the categories of women who may terminate pregnancies between 20-24 weeks and leaves it to be prescribed through Rules.
• The Act (and the Bill) require an abortion to be performed only by doctors with specialization in gynaecology or obstetrics.
• As there is a 75% shortage of such doctors in community health centres in rural areas, pregnant women may continue to find it difficult to access facilities for safe abortions.

Key Issues and Analysis

• There are differing opinions with regard to allowing abortions. One opinion is that terminating a pregnancy is the choice of the pregnant woman and a part of her reproductive rights.
• The other is that the state has an obligation to protect life, and hence should provide for the protection of the foetus.
• Across the world, countries set varying conditions and time limits for allowing abortions, based on foetal health, and risk to the pregnant woman.
• Several Writ Petitions have been filed by women seeking permission to abort pregnancies beyond 20-weeks due to foetal abnormalities or rape.