Violence Against Women in India and Australia by Senator Lisa Singh

This is an opinion piece by Senator Lisa Singh (Tasmania) who recently addressed the Senate on the issue of violence against women in Australia and India.

Last year, Australians followed with horror the news reports and social media appeals as the tragic story of Jill Meagher unfolded. A young woman abducted on the short walk back to her apartment in Melbourne, raped, and murdered, her story shocked us all so deeply because she could have been any one of us.

The reaction across the nation was palpable. Thirty thousand people walked down Sydney Road in the suburb of Brunswick, honouring her memory and resolving that such awful acts should never be repeated.

But it only takes a new story of violence to remind us of the enormity of the task still to go. On December 16, a young woman – an intelligent, 23 year old physiotherapy student – and her male friend boarded a bus in New Delhi to return home after an evening screening of a film. The only other passengers on that private bus – six young men, including one only 17 years old – attacked them. They beat the man with a metal bar. Then, they stripped the woman, raped her and beat her within an inch of her life and before dumping her body by the side of the road. She later died in hospital.

As in the case of Jill Meagher, the utter brutality of these crimes sparked an instant reaction from India and beyond. Thousands lined the streets to protest that such an act was ever allowed to happen. Their tears and their cries were not only for this individual tragedy. In the words of the President of India, Shri Pranab Mukhergee in his Republic Day address, they wept for “a woman who was symbol of all that new India strives to be.”

More than 24 000 cases of rape were reported in India in 2011: not counting those cases that went unreported due the stigma associated with being a victim. These cases, all too common across urban and rural India, are devastating. But perhaps most disturbing of all is the perception of the role of women and men that gives rise to these acts.

Such awful attitudes are not reflected on the streets lined with young people protesting this injustice. Nor do they reflect the heart of India or what Indian society is or can be. They’re not part of the Indian heritage I grew up with, where Gandi and non-violence was the guiding political philosophy, and goddesses like Lakshmi, Durga, and the birth mother were revered. These attitudes do not match the justice and the pride that fuels Indian civilisation.

But these attitudes are not just a Western phenomenon either. These views survive in all societies and ones in which leaders, citizens and activists are forgetful that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

They are the lessons that young girls and boys learn through gender stereotypes in magazines and television shows. They are the signals that are sent to young people when the source of their role models are male captains of industry and powerful sportsmen on one hand; and women who must either talk about or take off their clothes to make the front page on the other. They are in language that mixes sex and violence, and implies that men and boys are entitled to women’s bodies.

And ending these attitudes requires citizens, here in Australia as well as in India, to unite for the cause of preventing violence against women wherever it occurs.

Fortunately, attitudes are slowly changing. A strong and active civil society has mobilised against these poisonous views, empowering women and men to reject the things that enable rape culture. The White Ribbon Foundation, for example, gives an opportunity to swear an oath never to commit, excuse or remain silent about acts of violence against women. Meanwhile, in newspapers, magazines and online communities like Mama Mia, women are sharing their stories and supporting one another to stand up to a culture of disempowerment and misogyny.

As a politician, I am driven by a deep sense of responsibility to the people whom I represent. To be a member of a community, let alone a leader in a community, is to owe to that community a voice for what is right and against what is wrong. I recently had the chance to meet Pallavi Sinha from the Migration Institute Australia who, in the wake of the news from India, immediately began a petition for change and organised and united the Indian diaspora in Sydney.

Her response is one of many examples of action, guided by heritage, principle and responsibility, of which communities are capable. I believe we honour the promise of Australian democracy when we speak out against what is wrong in our communities, whether it is our neighbourhood, our country or our region. We all have a responsibility to speak out against violence against women.

Photo credit: © Warren Goldswain – Fotolia.com

About the Author

Lisa Singh is a Labor Senator for Tasmania. Prior to politics, she was Director of the Hobart Working Women’s Centre and was President of the United Nations Association of Australia (Tasmania). She is regarded as the first member of the Australian Parliament of South Asian origin. Ms Singh recently spoke to 900 Ogilvie High School students about the issue of violence against women and girls in conjunction with the One Billion Rising campaign.