Things are not what they seem

AS I sat down to write this column, a press release landed on my desk. "India's favourite daughter goes 'Face to Face' with the teens of her homeland" it announced. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has decided to use the name, fame and face of Lara Dutta, "the new millennium Miss Universe" in a campaign that it hopes will generate support and funds for services that "empower women and girls everywhere to exercise their basic human rights."

Very good, so far. We are also told that she plans to spend two days each in Kolkata and Mumbai and, at the end of this, her "research" will be used to come up with innovative programmes for adolescent reproductive and sexual health programmes. This, I must admit, had me stumped. How does a young woman, who will be followed around by organisers, security people and random others, conduct "research" on such important issues, and that too in just two days? And of what value is such "research", even if she were able to do it, to design programmes of such import? What voices will this young woman hear? What in her own experience gives her any idea of what other young women experience in this country, given that she has been free to choose a career as a model, to choose her own man, another model, and to compete for a title in a beauty contest? How many girls have such choices in this country?

And in any case, does having these choices mean "empowerment"? Does it guarantee women their "human rights"? Will Lara Dutta have the time to pause and think about such issues in her packed programme?

Perhaps the UNFPA should have allowed her to conduct research without wearing her earthly crown. Suppose she had been given the freedom to travel incognito, to really speak to young people in different parts of the country, to listen to their concerns. Then perhaps this well-funded U.N. organisation would have had some "research" that would have been of some value. Then, perhaps, Ms. Dutta would have heard voices like the one quoted below from a young college student who sent me this letter in response to one of my columns. It needs no comment on my part because it speaks for itself. It reiterates, yet again, that things are not what they seem; that the streets are not women-friendly, that our educational institutions are not gender sensitive; that our work places are designed for men only and women continue to be an uncomfortable intrusion.

"Dear Madam,

I'm studying Electronics and Communication engineering at an Engineering College in Kothamangalam, Kerala (on the way to Munnar, a prominent hill station). I've been wanting to write to you for a long time.

I'd like to point out the suppression of women in Kerala, a State supposed to have a high level of literacy and living. Though from the beginning of our education, we're taught that India is a free country, after 6:30 pm, girls do no go out alone. Only saleswomen and office-going women, who have no other option, hazard public transport. Even in their case, newspapers have reported that the private working women's hostels have a rigid stance. In my college, girls are a minority. Our hostel opens only by 6:30 am and closes by 6:30 pm. So those who have to leave early have to run behind the sir, who is the hostel warden, the previous working day to get the sanction. If not, they just cannot go by the early train/bus. The reason cited for not opening the gate by 6:00 am is darkness!! If it's winter, the hostel closes by 6:00 pm while our classes get over only by 4:00 pm. How much time does that leave us for our personal needs like shopping or going to the temple? If we're late, we've to call the warden, and what follows is humiliation. The implication is that we went out with guys. Ma'am, what does it cost a management to install one or two streetlights ? Better still, all of us are above 18 years, can't we make a decision as to how dark the sky is? At least, the decision should be left to the resident matron.All this is only for the girl students. The boys can come and go as they please. If the gate is closed, they jump over it!

For celebrations, we were not allowed to burst crackers, only noiseless fireworks inside the compound because the authorities thought that the noise would attract the boys from the men's hostels! The boys came anyway! Ma'am, why are the girls being penalised for what the boys might do? Instead of taking action against such boys, which they can easily do, our celebrations are cut short. Instead of providing lights or just leaving us to our discretion (we have a resident matron who has no say; she has to obey the hostel warden implicitly; at least it could be left to her) we're held to ransom by the hostel boy who reports to the warden directly. For group dances or any other group event, girls and boys are not permitted to share the stage.

Regarding basic amenities, some blocks do not have toilets for girls. They have to go the ladies' hostel or the waiting room. Since our college is on and around a hill, there is considerable distance between the blocks. All this while the same management has money to start the construction of a new engineering college which is yet to be sanctioned.

Ma'am, my experience will be just one among many. In fact, in Chennai, in the RMK college of engineering, I know from friends who study there, it's immediate suspension for a girl and a boy who talk to each other!

Please do write about the enforced segregation between the sexes and the plight of girls in co-ed colleges. We are one section who are never taken into account. None have studied the difficulties faced by girl students in institutes of higher learning, especially co-ed ones.

I think it's only the very rich and the very poor who are truly liberated; one can get anything through money and nobody gives a damn about the other!"

I rest my case.

KALPANA SHARMA

E-mail the writer at

ksharma@vsnl.com

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