Safety Of Women In India New Delhi, Jan 23 (IANS) The gruesome gang-rape and death of a 23-year-old girl in Delhi

last month has brought alive the issue of safety of women in public places. But how safe are girls and women in their own homes? For actual change to take place, experts say that "mindsets" need to change at a much deeper level - before a girl is born - so that she is not viewed as a burden and becomes a victim of violence or femicide. Ruchira Gupta of Apne Aap, an NGO that works against the trafficking of women, says that while it is a good thing that people are talking about and measures are being taken for the safety of women in public places, an equal emphasis should be given on ensuring their safety in their own homes. "Where should one feel the safest? In their home! But a girl faces the threat of foeticide before she is born. If she is born, there is a threat of infanticide, then malnourishment and lack of education unlike her male siblings. Then she faces the threat of child marriage; if she survives that there is the lurking threat of dowry related problems and domestic violence," Gupta told IANS. "If she survives them, there is the danger of maternal mortality because of various reasons, like young age, malnourishment. And if she becomes a widow, she faces the threat of being thrown out of her own home. So a woman faces danger at many levels. The mindset change therefore has to be at a much deeper level to ensure safety of women," she added. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), violence against women have been on the rise in India, with a marked increase of more than seven percent between 2010 and 2011. Over this period, there has been a 27 percent increase in dowry-related torture and more than five percent rise in torture at the hands of a woman's husband and relatives. Civil society members say that the numbers are much higher since a large number of cases go unreported. The primary reason why girls are discriminated against is because they are viewed as an economic burden, says Ranjana Kumari, director of Centre for Social Research. "The value of a girl child and her productivity needs to be realised in order to not view her as an economic burden. This is what gives birth to the perception that because she has no value, she can be controlled. And when she refuses to be controlled, there is gender-specific violence, like dowry-related murder, honour killing," Ranjana Kumari told IANS. "The entire socialisation process has to be re-looked at," she added. When one looks at domestic violence, while government estimates put the number at 40 percent, NGOs working on the issue estimate that a whopping 70 percent married women have experienced domestic violence, and campaigns such as 'Bell Bajao', or 'Ring the bell' to stop this have thus been put together. Sociologist Palash Kulkarni attributes such gender violence to the patriarchal mindset of the society. "Patriarchy is about the social relations of power between men and women, the

former being the dominant one. So whenever the woman tries to assert her opinion, the man feels threatened and gets violent. It could be mental harassment, physical abuse or forced sex. Of course, not all men are the same". According to a UNICEF report, India has lost over 10 million girls to abortions and infanticide since 2007 and there is a dramatic decline in the sex ratio. As per the 2011 census, the child sex-ratio has dipped to 917 females per 1,000 males, from 927 per 1,000 in 2001. "This skewed sex ratio, especially in states like Haryana which has one of the worst ratios in the country, has obviously resulted in a dramatic fall in the number of women who can be married. With fewer women to get married to, men are now "importing" brides from states like West Bengal, Kerala and Assam; which is further encouraging trafficking of women," Gupta told IANS. What's more, these forced brides are then expected to bear a son - keeping alive the vicious cycle. "An important point to remember is that in issues pertaining to women's safety, men should be made equal stakeholders. There is no point saying 'Men will be men', and that 'Girls should behave in a particular manner'. This way you are again putting all the onus on the girl, and letting the man go without being accountable," opined Shirish Dey, an activist, in response to various political leaders' and spiritual gurus' take that women are to be blamed for violence on them because of what they wear or how they behave.

It's sparked a fierce debate nationwide about the treatment of women, as a number of reports rank India as one of the worst countries in the world to be female. But a generation of newly-empowered young women are going out to work in larger numbers than ever before, so just how safe do women in the capital feel? Busy street At the Munirka bus stop where the young medical student and her friend boarded a bus on the night of 16 December, women say they fear getting into buses. But buses are one of the cheapest modes of transport so many don't really have a choice. While this spot has become one of the focal points in the city while talking about women's safety, the irony is that it's not a remote area of Delhi. It's one of the busiest streets in prime south Delhi and has traffic day and night. Hundreds of women use this place every day - to get to work and back.

But some like Sweeti Dagar are learning self-defence skills. In a basement martial arts centre, she practices her kicks and punches on a male colleague. She lives in Najabgarh on the outskirts of Delhi and spends nearly two hours every day on public transport to get to university and back. The petite 21-year-old says she wants to be strong to be able to protect herself out on the streets. "I think it's important to learn martial arts - all women should. It's not safe out there. When in danger, we can't wait for our brothers or fathers to protect us." With crime rates against women increasing in India's cities, some industries are investing to protect their workers and encourage more women to join them - like the IT and outsourcing sector. After yet another horrific rape and murder of a 24-year-old woman employee of HewlettPackard in Bangalore, a strict code of conduct was put in place to protect workers. Helplines Nasscom, the industry body that represents Indian technology companies, says women form more than a third of its workforce. Sangeeta Gupta, senior vice-president at Nasscom, says this higher percentage of female participation is because "the industry has a complete mechanism internally to ensure we have helplines to provide all the safety-security of women - particularly in transportation and safety". The measures include:

Providing company transport to and from the workplace Ensuring that the women employee is not the first to be picked up and not the last to be dropped Installing GPS tracking systems in all cabs Companies doing background checks all security guards and drivers including maintaining records of fingerprints and photographs Companies providing their database of drivers to Nasscom and they in turn give that to the police.

'Risk' All this comes at a cost, which Ms Gupta says companies operating in markets like the Philippines don't have to incur. "In the Philippines, even if a shift ends late in the night, workers take cabs and don't feel unsafe," she says.

"Whereas here in India, we cant take that risk. While it's an added cost, its something companies take into consideration as we want more women to work for us." But for small businesses, it's a lot harder to invest in security. It's a question that employers are considering before hiring women. With outlets across the country, Speciality Restaurants employs hundreds of women. But the owner says that in Delhi he hires more men as he is worried for the safety of female employees. "I have restaurants in 26 cities in India but Delhi is what concerns me the most," says the firm's MD Anjan Chatterjee, "I hire more women everywhere else. But here it's a different story. I'm from Delhi and I know first-hand how the environment here is. I don't think I can have women workers especially as they will need to work late hours." 'Nasty stuff' Even so, he arms all his women workers with pepper sprays. At his Chinese restaurant in south Delhi, one of the employees sprays a little at the floor to show me its efficacy. Soon the entire floor has men coughing and sneezing - it's pretty nasty stuff. But more and more women on the streets now own one. Chemists in every locality have signs now advertising that they sell pepper-sprays - mostly sourced from China. Many feel that it'll take more than just pepper-spray to make India's women feel more secure. But while the country is debating the issue, there is now more pressure on employers to ensure the safety of their workforce.