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India’s the most dangerous country for women. SA doesn’t make worst list

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The Gulabi Gang from India.
The Gulabi Gang from India.

The #MeToo movement spurred international unity and outcry from women and men across the globe, following revelations which came out of Hollywood about sexual abuse and harassment that female actors and entertainers often fell victim to within the industry.

But even before the movement began, communities in countries across the globe have protested against issues such as rape and violence against women and children.

In India, for example, the high levels of abuse and assault which women face on a daily basis prompted activists to take action and seek justice for themselves, by forming the Gulabi gang in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

The founder of the group, Sampat Pal, addressed a news conference in April when she spoke of the prevalence of crimes against women in India, according to a Times of India report.

“When one has to lead a revolution, it invariably works against the law. The government, courts and police do not work on the side of the common man. It is up to us to wield the power,” she said.

It should come then as no surprise that India has been surveyed as the world’s most dangerous country for women, according to the research conducted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Surprisingly, with South Africa’s high level of women abuse, it failed to make the top 10.

Top 10 most dangerous countries for women
  1. India
  2. Afghanistan
  3. Syria
  4. Somalia
  5. Saudi Arabia
  6. Pakistan
  7. Democratic Republic of Congo
  8. Yemen
  9. Nigeria
  10. United States of America

The list follows with Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Yemen, Nigeria and at number 10 on the list, and the only western country, is the United States of America.

The US, the report says, made the list because of the #MeToo movement which made international headlines, highlighting the sexual abuse and harassment to which women in the US are subjected.

The report brings to the forefront once again the high levels of rape, abuse and ill-treatment of women around the globe, and some of the stories are harrowing.

In India, women in many rural and urban societies are still subjected to child marriages, which lead to a number of societal pressures and mistreatment, such as child birth and violence and abuse by spouses and family members.

In Malawi girls as young as nine and 10 are meant to go to initiation camps where they learn about motherhood and the sexual satisfaction of a man. Picture: iStock

Rape and sexual assault is also high on the list, with one of the most highly publicised cases being that of 23-year-old Jyoti Singh Pandey, who was held on a bus in Delhi and raped and murdered in 2012. There was both national and international condemnation for the act, with human rights and women groups advocating for the death of her rapists and murderers.

In South Africa, women don’t face any less of a danger towards their sexuality and dignity. According to the 2016 Statistics South Africa demographic and health survey, 21% of women 18 years and over “report that they had experienced physical violence by a partner, and 8% reported that they had experienced physical violence in the past 12 months. Furthermore, 6% of ever-partnered women report that they experienced sexual violence by a partner, and 2% experienced sexual violence in the past 12 months.”

The United Nations Women reports that globally, 35% of women “have experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or sexual violence by a non-partner at some point in their lives”.

According to the 2016 Statistics South Africa demographic and health survey, 21% of women 18 years and over report that they had experienced physical violence by a partner, and 8% reported that they had experienced physical violence in the past 12 months. Picture: iStock


In some societies, however, this figure can increase to about 70%.

When it comes to child marriages, the UN estimates that almost “750 million women and girls alive today were married before their 18th birthday.”

As young girls growing up, we saw marriage as the only hope for a secured future. It was normalised. People like to quote is as ‘child marriage’, but on my personal outlook it is child abuse
Memory Banda

Shockingly, almost 120 million girls worldwide have experienced “forced intercourse or other forced sexual acts at some point in their lives”.

Human trafficking, which has seen major backlash from civil society groups and government authorities across the globe has proven a tough and often stumbling block when it comes to the vulnerability of women.

“Adult women account for 51% of all human trafficking victims detected globally. Women and girls together account for 71%, with girls representing nearly three out of every four child trafficking victims. Nearly three out of every four trafficked women and girls are trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation,” the UN says.

Somalia, which is fourth on the list, includes factors such as cultural traditions which has led to the safety of women being at danger point. This includes female genital mutilation.


Leyla Hussein, who is a survivor and one of the leading global experts in female genital mutilation spoke at the Oslo Freedom Forum in March, when it was held in South Africa, of the harrowing nightmare that female genital mutilation is for women who have to endure such a tormenting procedure, and how it stripped women of their dignity.

Hussein, of Somalian descent who now lives in the United Kingdom, founded the Dahlia Project in 2013, which has acted as a support group for women in the UK who have undergone the procedure.

“It is a violation against not just women’s rights but human rights too. Women die from this, yet there is not enough that is being done to stop this barbaric practice,” she said at the forum.

Hussein, like activists such as Malawian-born Memory Banda, has tackled old-age traditions which have sought to impose strict rules against women in societies.

Banda, who was also present at the forum, spoke of the scourge of child marriages in Malawi, and how her own sister was a child bride. Through her efforts, the Malawian government institued a legal ban on child marriages in 2015.

“As young girls growing up, we saw marriage as the only hope for a secured future. It was normalised. People like to quote is as ‘child marriage’, but on my personal outlook it is child abuse,” she said.

Banda said that she had witnessed her own family members and classmates being marriage off as young as 10 years old.

“In my country, these girls as young as nine and ten are meant to go to initiation camps where they learn about motherhood and the sexual satisfaction of a man.”


Avantika Seeth
Multimedia journalist
City Press
p:+27 11 713 9001
w:www.citypress.co.za  e: avantika.seeth@citypress.co.za
      
 
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