Forum against Oppression of Women

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The Forum against Oppression of Women is a feminist organisation based in Mumbai, India. It originated as the Forum against Rape in 1980, organising protests in the city to the judgement in the Mathura rape case. [1]

Contents

Origins

A protest letter against the Mathura rape case judgement in 1979 sparked a new debate about Indian laws about rape. In Mumbai, forty women who saw this letter organised a public meeting on 23 February 1980, to protest the judgement. The group referred to itself as the Forum against Rape. Acknowledging the much broader scope of concerns it wished to address, the group renamed itself Forum against Oppression of Women (FAOW). [2] Founding members including Lotika Sarkar, Chayanika Shah, Upendra Baxi, Raghunath Kelkar, Vasudha Dhagamwar, and Sonal Shukla. [3] [4]

Purpose

The group has gone on to serve as "an umbrella group for a cultural group, a group working with trade unions, and a space for interactions with women on a daily basis—the Women's Centre". [5] [2]

Activities

Since the 1980s, FAOW has taken on advocacy relating to a range of women's rights issues. A few examples follow.

Rape

Activism around the Mathura judgement prompted the founding of the Forum against Rape, which organised a public meeting and rally to protest the judgement. [6] [7] [8] FAOW took up other cases of rape over the years, including the Turbhe case.[ citation needed ]

Sex-selective abortion

FAOW was an active part of the Forum Against Sex Determination and Sex Preselection (FASDAP). Activism in the mid-1980s around sex-selective abortion had two objectives: to get a law passed on sex determination tests and to create awareness around the issue.

"Right from the start, it became evident that since the large majority of people were not likely to support the campaign spontaneously, we would have to develop newer forms to highlight this social issue. So, the campaign (concentrated on) influencing the attitudes of people against the test, daughters, women in general; of women themselves who would readily sacrifice anything for sons; the medical community and other informed persons." [9]

Right to work and better workplace conditions

The ban on bar dancers in Maharashtra was seen as raising the right to work and the right to better work conditions for all strata of women. [10] In a 2013 statement on the case of the Indian diplomat in New York and her domestic helper, FAOW issued a statement:

"There are hundreds of thousands on domestic workers from developing countries like India, Sri Lanka , the Philippines etc. working in their own countries as well as in the developed world. When they work abroad, they leave their families and homes and go out to be able to earn more so that they can begin to live a little more comfortable life once they are old and cannot work. For most domestic workers, working here or abroad, this is a distant dream. The abuse these workers have to live with here as well as abroad is something one can barely imagine. Hence it is very disturbing that very few political parties or individuals have bothered to look at this issue and make it a big enough political plank for all the powerful to take note. ...We urge the Government of India to immediately sign and implement ILO Convention 189 on the rights of domestic workers and to take concrete steps of ensure the dignity and safety of citizens and working people inside and outside the country." [11]

Submission to the Justice Verma Commission

Along with other Mumbai groups, FAOW made a submission to the Justice Verma Commission that identified three concerns: [12]

We hereby place our concerns before you.

First of all we think that the committee should look at the entire gamut of sexual violence, not just "extreme" or "aggravated" cases. It should review all the laws relating to sexual assault and harassment, including the process of investigation, trial and speedy justice, the manner in which evidence (including medical and FSL) is collected and presented and recorded during the trial. This exercise of review for quicker investigation, speedier justice and trial needs to be done for ALL cases of sexual assault.

Secondly while we totally support the need for quicker trials, we are not sure if enhancement in punishment is a solution to the problem of sexual assault. We are particularly against the death penalty. Our vision of justice does not include death penalty, which is neither a deterrent nor an effective or ethical response to these acts of sexual violence. We append (Annexure 1) with this statement our reasons as to why we think the death penalty is not a punishment to be given for sexual assault. We also believe that castration, chemical or otherwise, should not be a punishment awarded to rapists. Any form of corporal punishment is barbaric and has no place in a civilised polity.

Thirdly we urge you to please carefully look at the Criminal Law Amendment Bill 2012 which has been passed by the Cabinet. It is changing the way in which rape will be looked at by making the law gender neutral. Sexual assault laws need to be gender sensitive, not gender neutral. Rape and sexual assault are gendered crimes, and whether they are committed on women, transgenders [ sic ] or men, they have to be looked at as "male pattern violence" prevalent in a patriarchal society. We have in our earlier recommendations (attached herein as Annexure 2) to the Home Minister urged that the suggested gender neutrality in the Bill be changed.

We ask for all sexual assault and rape laws to define sexual assault as a gendered crime committed by men on any person.

Related Research Articles

Some victims of rape or other sexual violence incidents are male. It is estimated that approximately one in six men were sexually abused as children. Historically, rape was thought to be, and defined as, a crime committed solely against females. This belief is still held in some parts of the world, but rape of males is now commonly criminalized and has been subject to more discussion than in the past.

Sexual violence is any sexual act or attempt to obtain a sexual act by violence or coercion, act to traffic a person, regardless of the relationship to the victim. It occurs in times of peace and armed conflict situations, is widespread, and is considered to be one of the most traumatic, pervasive, and most common human rights violations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in India</span> Overview of the status of women in India

The status of women in India has been subject to many changes over the span of recorded Indian history. Their position in society deteriorated early in India's ancient period, especially in the Indo-Aryan speaking regions, and their subordination continued to be reified well into India's early modern period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Femicide</span> Murder of women or girls because of their gender

Femicide or feminicide is a hate crime which is broadly defined as "the intentional killing of women or girls because they are female," but definitions of it vary depending on cultural context. In 1976, the feminist author Diana E. H. Russell first defined the term as "the killing of females by males because they are female." In some Central American countries the term femicide is used in reference to the violent killings of women and girls which are frequently perpetrated by gang members in order to stoke fear and compliance among civilians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Violence against women</span> Violent acts committed primarily against women and girls

Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), are violent acts primarily or exclusively committed by men or boys against women or girls. Such violence is often considered a form of hate crime, committed against women or girls specifically because they are female, and can take many forms.

Rape can be categorized in different ways: for example, by reference to the situation in which it occurs, by the identity or characteristics of the victim, and by the identity or characteristics of the perpetrator. These categories are referred to as types of rape. The types described below are not mutually exclusive: a given rape can fit into multiple categories, by for example being both a prison rape and a gang rape, or both a custodial rape and the rape of a child.

Feminist sexology is an offshoot of traditional studies of sexology that focuses on the intersectionality of sex and gender in relation to the sexual lives of women. Sexology has a basis in psychoanalysis, specifically Freudian theory, which played a big role in early sexology. This reactionary field of feminist sexology seeks to be inclusive of experiences of sexuality and break down the problematic ideas that have been expressed by sexology in the past. Feminist sexology shares many principles with the overarching field of sexology; in particular, it does not try to prescribe a certain path or "normality" for women's sexuality, but only observe and note the different and varied ways in which women express their sexuality. It is a young field, but one that is growing rapidly.

Timeline of women's legal rights (other than voting) represents formal changes and reforms regarding women's rights. The changes include actual law reforms as well as other formal changes, such as reforms through new interpretations of laws by precedents. The right to vote is exempted from the timeline: for that right, see Timeline of women's suffrage. The timeline excludes ideological changes and events within feminism and antifeminism; for that, see Timeline of feminism.

The Mathura rape case was an incident of custodial rape in India on 26 March 1972, wherein Mathura, a young tribal girl, was allegedly raped by two policemen on the compound of Desaiganj Police Station in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra. After the Supreme Court acquitted the accused, there was public outcry and protests, which eventually led to amendments in the Indian rape law via The Criminal Law Amendment Act 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Initiatives to prevent sexual violence</span>

As sexual violence affects all parts of society, the responses that arise to combat it are comprehensive, taking place on the individual, administrative, legal, and social levels. These responses can be categorized as:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Domestic violence in India</span>

Domestic violence in India includes any form of violence suffered by a person from a biological relative but typically is the violence suffered by a woman by male members of her family or relatives. Although Men also suffer Domestic violence, the law under IPC 498A specifically protects only women. Specifically only a woman can file a case of domestic violence. According to a National Family and Health Survey in 2005, total lifetime prevalence of domestic violence was 33.5% and 8.5% for sexual violence among women aged 15–49. A 2014 study in The Lancet reports that although the reported sexual violence rate in India is among the lowest in the world, the large population of India means that the violence affects 27.5 million women over their lifetimes. However, an opinion survey among experts carried out by the Thomson Reuters Foundation ranked India as the most dangerous country in the world for women.

Punishment for rape in Pakistan under the Pakistani laws is either death penalty or imprisonment of between ten and twenty-five years. For cases related to gang rape, the punishment is either death penalty or life imprisonment. DNA test and other scientific evidence are used in prosecuting rape cases in Pakistan.

Rape is the fourth most common crime against women in India. According to the 2021 annual report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 31,677 rape cases were registered across the country, or an average of 86 cases daily, a rise from 2020 with 28,046 cases, while in 2019, 32,033 cases were registered. Of the total 31,677 rape cases, 28,147(nearly 89%) of the rapes were committed by persons known to the victim. The share of victims who were minors or below 18 - the legal age of consent - stood at 10%.

Prosecution of gender-targeted crimes is the legal proceedings to prosecute crimes such as rape and domestic violence. The earliest documented prosecution of gender-based/targeted crimes is from 1474 when Sir Peter von Hagenbach was convicted for rapes committed by his troops. However, the trial was only successful in indicting Sir von Hagenbach with the charge of rape because the war in which the rapes occurred was "undeclared" and thus the rapes were considered illegal only because of this. Gender-targeted crimes continued to be prosecuted, but it was not until after World War II when an international criminal tribunal – the International Military Tribunal for the Far East – were officers charged for being responsible of the gender-targeted crimes and other crimes against humanity. Despite the various rape charges, the Charter of the Tokyo Tribunal did not make references to rape, and rape was considered as subordinate to other war crimes. This is also the situation for other tribunals that followed, but with the establishments of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), there was more attention to the prosecution of gender-targeted crimes with each of the statutes explicitly referring to rape and other forms of gender-targeted violence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in Brunei</span> Overview of the status of women in Brunei

Women in Brunei are women living in Brunei Darussalam. In Brunei, women are regarded as persons of "very high status". The U.S. Department of State has stated that discrimination against women is a problem in Brunei.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Violence against women in India</span> Public health issue of violent acts against women

Violence against women in India refers to physical or sexual violence committed against a woman, typically by a man. Common forms of violence against women in India include acts such as domestic abuse, sexual assault, and murder. In order to be considered violence against women, the act must be committed solely because the victim is female. Most typically, these acts are committed by men as a result of the long-standing gender inequalities present in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's rights in 2014</span>

2014 was described as a watershed year for women's rights, by newspapers such as The Guardian. It was described as a year in which women's voices acquired greater legitimacy and authority. Time magazine said 2014 "may have been the best year for women since the dawn of time". However, The Huffington Post called it "a bad year for women, but a good year for feminism". San Francisco writer Rebecca Solnit argued that it was "a year of feminist insurrection against male violence" and a "lurch forward" in the history of feminism, and The Guardian said the "globalisation of protest" at violence against women was "groundbreaking", and that social media had enabled a "new version of feminist solidarity".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carceral feminism</span> Forms of feminism that advocate for increased prison sentences

Carceral feminism is a critical term for types of feminism that advocate for enhancing and increasing prison sentences that deal with feminist and gender issues. It is the belief that harsher and longer prison sentences will help work towards solving these issues. The phrase "carceral feminism" was coined by Elizabeth Bernstein, a feminist sociologist, in her 2007 article, "The Sexual Politics of the 'New Abolitionism'". Examining the contemporary anti-trafficking movement in the United States, Bernstein introduced the term to describe a type of feminist activism which casts all forms of sexual labor as sex trafficking. She sees this as a retrograde step, suggesting it erodes the rights of women in the sex industry, and takes the focus off other important feminist issues, and expands the neoliberal agenda.

Sonal Shukla (1941–2021) was an Indian feminist, activist, teacher, writer, and social worker. She is known for her establishment of the Vacha Charitable Trust, a private organisation that founded a library for women scholars in Mumbai, India. She was a key member of the feminist protests regarding the Mathura Rape case, and a founding member of the Forum Against Oppression of Women, which successfully led a movement to reform India's laws against rape in the 1980s.

Chayanika Shah is a queer feminist, activist, educator involved in many autonomous women's rights movements in India since the late 1970s. She is well known for her work in feminist science studies, pioneering courses where science is explored in a critical way, using the lens of gender and sexuality. Shah was one of the earliest members of the Forum Against Oppression of Women, Forum Against Sex Determination and Sex Preselection (FASDSP), a coalition of many women's organisations. She is one of the founding members of a queer collective called LABIA – A Queer Feminist LBT Collective in 1995.

References

  1. ↑ ""Dr Vibhuti Patel and Radhika Khajuria, Political Feminism in India: An Analysis of Actors, Debates and Strategies" (PDF). Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. 2016" (PDF).
  2. 1 2 Ray, Raka (1 January 1999). Fields of Protest: Women's Movements in India . U of Minnesota Press. p.  118. ISBN   9781452903613.
  3. ↑ "Sonal Shukla: a feminist who worked to empower girls from deprived communities". The Indian Express. 14 September 2021. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  4. ↑ Shanti, Nishtha (1 September 2021). "The Mathura Rape Case Of 1972: A Watershed Moment In India's Rape Laws". Feminism In India. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  5. ↑ "Women's Centre". Archived from the original on 1 April 2018. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  6. ↑ Patel, Vibhuti. "Campaign against Rape by Women's movement in India: Vibhutiu Patel, President, WomenPowerConnect".{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. ↑ "Rape: The Movement Against Rape in India". YourArticleLibrary.com: The Next Generation Library. 5 April 2014. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  8. ↑ "Violence Against Women: A Site Dedicated to Providing Information and Resources for Health Care Providers & Survivors of Violence against Women – Violence against women – Roleof the Womens Movement – Womens Movement in India". violenceagainstwomen.cehat.org. Archived from the original on 3 April 2016. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  9. ↑ Gangoli, Geetanjali (November–December 1998). "Reproduction, Abortion and Women's Health. p. 83-105" (PDF). www.womenstudies.in/elib/abortion/ab_reproduction_abortion.pdf. Social Scientist. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  10. ↑ "Feminist Contributions from the Margins:Shifting Conceptions of Work and Performance of the Bar Dancers of Mumbai. Vol. 45, Issue No. 44-45". Economic and Political Weekly: 7–8. 30 October 2010. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  11. ↑ Ghotoskar, Sujata (20 December 2013). "India: Forum Against Oppression of Women protests against treatment meted out to Richard and Khobragade". International Domestic Workers Federation. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  12. ↑ "Submissions to Justice Verma Committee by Forum Against the Oppression of Women (FAOW), Aawaaz-e-Niswaan (voice of women) (AEN) Lesbians and Bisexuals in Action (LABIA), Mumbai" (PDF). Retrieved 26 November 2016.
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