No Country For Women

A few months back, when the Nirbhaya rape incident rocked Delhi, everyone started painting Delhi as “the rape capital of India.” I wanted to determine the veracity of this statement. I went online to check the rape statistics and incidents across various states in India. As per the Crime Bureau Statistics, this statement was not true. Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal account for the maximum number of reported rapes in the country. Rape cases are regularly reported from across the country.

When I posted on my facebook page  “Maharashtra is more unsafe for women than Delhi’, a  Mumbai based friend made vehement protests..She went to great lengths to prove me wrong, despite the fact that I had substantiated my claims with research data. Well, the recent broad daylight rape in Mumbai narrates a different story.

I decided to take my research to the next level and take an in-depth look at rapes at a more global level. I had been unnerved by the rape incident in Delhi, and wondered about cities/countries across the world where women could feel safe. 

I was quite surprised with my findings. As per a UN report, the United States had amongst the highest number of rapes with more than 80,000 cases of rape reported to the police from 2004 to 2010. India was at Number 2 with more than 20,000 reported rape cases every year. Australia, Botswana and Lesotho ranked highest in number of rapes per capita. But tallying sheer totals, Europe and the Americas consistently top the charts.
 
South Africa has the highest rates of rape in the world, with some 65,000 rapes and other sexual assaults reported for the year ending in March 2012, or 127.6 per 100,000 people in the country. A 2010 study led by the government-funded Medical Research Foundation says that in Gauteng province in South Africa, more than 37 percent of men said they had raped a woman. In South Africa, rape is so common it barely makes the news. The rapes of elderly women and babies are outlined in four-line stories on the inside pages of local newspapers, but most sexual assaults get no public attention.

Sweden has the highest incidence of reported rapes in Europe and one of the highest in the world. According to a 2009 study, there were 46 incidents of rape per 100,000 residents. This figure is twice that of the UK which reports 23 cases, and four times that of the other Nordic countries, Germany and France. The figure is up to 20 times the figure for certain countries in southern and eastern Europe.

It is not only the rape statistics that confound me. It is also the rape laws that exist in various countries that brings several questions to mind. As per Amnesty International, Danish laws on sexual crimes fall under a chapter called "Vice Crimes", unlike in most Western countries, which sends the message that rape violates public morality or public order, rather than the rights of an individual to bodily integrity. The definition of rape is very narrow focusing on violence and excludes many situations dealing with other forms of abuse, which, according to the report, are considered rape in most other Western countries.

 In a 2006 case in Italy, the Court of Cassation ruled that a 41-year old man who raped his 14-year-old stepdaughter can seek to have his sentence reduced on mitigating circumstances, due to the fact that the girl had been already sexually active and "since the age of 13 had had many sexual relations with men of every age and it's right to assume that at the time of the encounter with the suspect her personality, from a sexual point of view, was much more developed than what one might normally expect from a girl of her age". UNICEF in Italy stated that the decision "seriously violates human rights and the dignity of a minor.

In a study, some of the common conclusions were given to the participants, it recorded that 33% of the police officers suggested that "some women deserve rape", 66% of police officers, as well as nearly 50% of other professional groups except the psychologists about 18% and 27% of psychiatrists, suggested that "the physical appearance and behaviors of women tempt men to rape." 

The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics defines rape as penetration by the offender, and excludes rape by envelopment.I am not even going to delve into Middle-East rape statistics for obvious reasons.

I am left wondering  – Is there a Country Safe for Women? Or Is there “No Country for Women?”

The Prodigal Daughter

It was her younger brother's engagement. She had been invited to attend the function back home. Her brother was very keen that she be a part of this important event of his life. She was his only sibling.

But the thought of going back to that house sent shivers down her spine. She had visited the house many a times in the past few years. But every time she had to brace herself for the familiar nausea in which that house managed to envelop her. She had however done it in the past in the name of social and family obligations. She had tried  hard and in earnest to shrug off the dust of the past - to forgive and to forget. But it had not happened.

Her abuser still lived in that house, and the sly smile on his face never failed to bring the memories flooding back - memories of being abused at the young age of 13 years, memories of feeling suffocated and trapped, memories of an innocence lost forever.

Should she do it again in the name of her brother's love, in the name of family honor? She was not sure. She had found a little oasis of her own, and she was not willing to step back into the desert anymore. "But Didi, I really want you to come. There will be no joy without you," her brother had said over the phone.

After some introspection, she realized that she really wanted to be there for her brother's engagement. She loved him. She did not wish to deprive herself or him because of the abuser.

So how could she participate in the function without having to go through the trauma of staying at that house. She decided to book herself into a hotel." But what will the relatives say? This is unheard of - staying at a hotel when you have your own home. What about the family image?" her mother protested.

She chuckled at that. She had come a long way in life and had found a guiding philosophy that was serving her well - "To thine own self be true".