25 June 2018; Thomson Reuters Foundation has found India to be the most dangerous country for women. Seven years ago India ranked fifth, according to the foundation.
In their survey of about 550 experts on women's issues, conducted online, by phone and in person between March 26 and May 4, 2018 across Europe, Africa, the Americas, South East Asia, South Asia and the Pacific, India was found to be most dangerous country for women.
The survey questions were based on following criteria;
1. Health; including maternal mortality, lack of access to healthcare, lack of control over reproductive health and HIV/AIDS
2. Discrimination; including job discrimination, inability to make a livelihood, discriminatory land, property or inheritance rights, lack of access to education and lack of access to adequate nutrition
3. Culture & Religion; including acid attacks, female genital mutilation, child marriage, forced marriage, punishment/retribution through stoning or physical abuse or mutilation and female infanticide/foeticide
4. Sexual Violence; including rape as a weapon of war; domestic rape; rape by a stranger; the lack of access to justice in rape cases; sexual harassment and coercion into sex as a form of corruption.
5. Non-Sexual Violence; including conflict-related violence and forms of domestic physical and mental abuse
6. Human Trafficking; including domestic servitude, forced labour, forced marriage and sexual slavery
India topped the list in three categories; Culture & Religion, Sexual Violence and human trafficking, “including sex slavery and domestic servitude, and for customary practices such as forced marriage, stoning and female infanticide”’ the foundation said in a statement.
“India was named as the most dangerous country for women after coming fourth in the same survey seven years ago. Violence against women in India has caused national and international outrage and protests since the 2012 gang-rape and murder of a student on a bus in New Delhi. As India’s rape epidemic gets worst by the year, critics have pointed fingers at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government for not doing enough to protect women.”
“The world’s second most populous nation, with 1.3 billion people, ranked as the most dangerous on three of the topic questions – the risk of sexual violence and harassment against women, the danger women face from cultural, tribal and traditional practices, and the country where women are most in danger of human trafficking including forced labour, sex slavery and domestic servitude”, and “women and girls married before their 18th birthday, resulting in teen pregnancies that can put their health at risk and limiting schooling and opportunities.” reported the Thomson Reuters Foundation on their website.
Foundation also cited that “World leaders vowed three years ago to eliminate all forms of violence and discrimination against women and girls by 2030, allowing them to live freely and safely to participate equally in political, economic and public life. But despite this pledge it is estimated that one in three women globally experience physical or sexual violence during their lifetime. Child marriage is still rife, with almost 750 million”
"The only Western nation in the top 10 was the US, which ranked joint third when respondents were asked where women were most at risk of sexual violence, harassment and being coerced into sex," according to the foundation.
