Newspaper:Indian Express
Posted: Wed Jun 15 2011, 03:11 hrs
The police beat a woman during an eviction drive in Raipur.
India is the fourth most dangerous country for women, as per a gender poll that gauged perceptions of threats ranging from domestic abuse and economic discrimination to foeticide and other crimes against women. The survey was conducted by the UK-based Thompson Reuters Foundation.
Ranked fourth after Afghanistan, Congo and Pakistan, India’s reasons for being dangerous for women essentially emerge from a skewed sex ratio. Somalia is fifth on the list. Basic human rights are systematically denied to women in these countries, Monique Villa, chief executive of Thomson Reuters Foundation, said.
The poll that was carried out by Trustlaw, a legal news service run by Thomson Reuters Foundation, asked 213 experts, including professionals, academics, health workers, policymakers, journalists and development specialists, from five continents to rank countries based on their overall perception of danger. The poll covered not just “hidden dangers” such as lack of education opportunities and healthcare but also rape and murder.Female foeticide, infanticide and human trafficking are the main reasons why India figures on the list. The survey says nearly 12 million girls were aborted in the last three decades. In 2009, the CBI estimated that 90 per cent of trafficking took place within India and there were around 3 million prostitutes, 40 per cent of them minors.
Afghanistan is most dangerous country for women
Violence, dismal healthcare and brutal poverty make Afghanistan the world’s most dangerous country for women, with Congo a close second due to horrific levels of rape, a Thomson Reuters Foundation expert poll said on Wednesday.
* Afghanistan tops expert poll of dangers to women
* Congo plagued by rape as weapon of war
* Pakistan blighted by acid attacks and ‘honour killings’
* India cited for trafficking and sexual slavery
* Somalia seen as having full gamut of risks
Pakistan, India and Somalia ranked third, fourth and fifth, respectively, in the global survey of perceptions of threats ranging from domestic abuse and economic discrimination to female foeticide, genital mutilation and acid attacks.
India ranked fourth primarily due to female foeticide, infanticide and human trafficking.In 2009, India’s then-Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta estimated that 100 million people, mostly women and girls, were involved in trafficking in India that year.
Following are key facts on each of the five countries, ranked in order of danger:
1. AFGHANISTAN
Beleaguered by insurgency, corruption and dire poverty, Afghanistan ranked as most dangerous to women overall and came out worst in three of the poll’s key risk categories: health, non-sexual violence and economic discrimination.
* Women in Afghanistan have a one in 11 chance of dying in childbirth.
* Some 87 pct of women are illiterate.
* 70-80 pct of girls and women face forced marriages.
2. CONGO
Still reeling from a 1998-2003 war and accompanying humanitarian disaster that killed 5.4 million, Democratic Republic of Congo ranked second due mainly to staggering levels of sexual violence.
* About 1,150 women are raped every day, or some 420,000 a year, according to a recent report in the American Journal of Public Health.
* The Congolese Women’s Campaign Against Sexual Violence puts the number of rapes at 40 women a day.
* 57 pct of pregnant women are anaemic.
3. PAKISTAN
Those polled cited cultural, tribal and religious practices harmful to women, including acid attacks, child and forced marriage and punishment or retribution by stoning or other physical abuse.
* More than 1,000 women and girls are victims of honour killings every year, according to Pakistan’s Human Rights Commission.
* 90 pct of women in Pakistan face domestic violence.
4. INDIA
Female foeticide, child marriage and high levels of trafficking and domestic servitude make the world’s largest democracy the fourth most dangerous place for women, the poll showed.
* 100 million people, mostly women and girls, are involved in trafficking in one way or another, according to former Indian Home Secretay Madhukar Gupta.
* Up to 50 million girls are missing over the past century due to female infanticide and foeticide.
* 44.5 pct of girls are married before the age of 18.
5. SOMALIA
One of the poorest, most violent and lawless countries, Somalia ranked fifth due to a catalogue of dangers including high maternal mortality, rape, female genital mutilation (FGM) and child marriage.
* 95 pct of women face FGM, mostly between the ages of 4 and 11.
* Only 9 pct of women give birth at a health facility.
* Only 7.5 pct of parliament seats are held by women.
