Soroptimist International has written to the Prime Minister of India to express shock and outrage at the recent horrific gang rape and murder of a young student in Delhi, and to call on the Indian Government to act “with passion and conviction” to prevent such acts of violence against women.
“This particular case has come into the media because of its brutality, but millions of women and girls in India experience some form of gender crime within their lifetime, many on a regular basis, and their access to justice is often non existent”, writes SI President Alice Wells, on behalf of the 84,000 Soroptimist members worldwide.
Soroptimist International calls upon the Indian Government to:
- Send out a message of zero tolerance for all forms of gender crime and discrimination, so that perpetrators know that they can not get away so easily with these heinous offences;
- Conduct a sustained nationwide public education programme to change mindsets;
- Fast-track all gender related crimes so that perpetrators can be removed from society and prevented from committing further atrocities;
- Roll out gender sensitivity training, especially to those in positions of power within law enforcement agencies.
Soroptimist International believes that eliminating violence against women is only possible where changes are made to society, relationships and the underlying factors which allow violence to happen in the first place. Recent blog posts from Soroptimists in India have highlighted the urgent need to change attitudes.
“The societal norms and social attitude towards women need drastic change. We are so deeply embedded in patriarchy, a strong deterrent to gender equality”, writes SI Bangalore President Sujatha Balakrishnan.
“Soroptimists throughout India were greatly appalled and to register our anger and depth of agony have galvanized into action by organizing activities to show our solidarity and stop violence against women” explains Annette Mascarenhas, President of the National Association of Soroptimist International – India.
"Some of the clubs have held Peace Marches. I have sent suggestions to fast track change, justice and accountability on social, legal and cultural issues concerning violence against women to Justice Verma Commission as suggested by the Government of India.”
Read more about the response of SI clubs in India to the Delhi gang rape.
In the run-up to the 57th session of the UN’s Commission of the Status of Women, Soroptimist International is lobbying governments to promote effective measures to end violence against women and girls. The experience of SI clubs in on-the-ground projects shows that policies and programmes must have education and empowerment at their core, not just for victims/survivors and perpetrators, but for all members of society.
The pandemic of violence against women must be addressed both from the top-down (eg through legislation and justice systems) and the bottom-up (through whole community participation and buy-in), and actions taken must be systems-based and holistic. Read SI’s written statement to CSW57.