Article - Has the time come to talk about ‘Monthly Holiday’?

All of us have grown up hearing about the ‘holiday’ for the lady of the household for those three days every month. In many families, this practice still continues to adhered to till date. Along with the holiday concept is the concept of impurity of women during their periods. According to the customs, she is disallowed from taking part in any religious ceremonies, not allowed into most parts of the household and treated as untouchable during the first three days of menstrual cycle. 

This isolation of women during the menstrual cycle has contributed towards her exclusion from many social and religious events as well as serves as a tool to consider her inferior to men. Many men do not know or may not even comprehend as to what is menstrual cycle even though they may have studied it in texts. Boys are shoed away when they try to ask questions about this phenomenon.

Culture Machine, a digital media company put in place a “menstrual leave policy,” allowing women to take a paid day off during their period without dipping into sick days or vacation time. It is one of a handful of private Indian companies to have started such policies in recent months. Menstrual leaves are recognized in few other countries, among them Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, South Korea and Zambia*. What is the condition that requires Leave/ holiday for women during menstrual cycle?

Dysmenorrhea is painful menstrual cramps of uterine origin. It is commonly divided into primary dysmenorrhea (pain without organic pathology) and secondary dysmenorrhea (pelvic pain associated with an identifiable pathologic condition, such as endometriosis or ovarian cysts). Pain duration is commonly eight to 72 hours and is usually associated with the onset of menstrual flow. Dysmenorrhea is very common. The prevalence of dysmenorrhea was 59 percent (95% confidence interval, 49 to 71 percent) and it may be severe enough to interfere with daily activities in up to 20 percent of women^**. 

The leave for menstrual cycle has set off fierce debate, not just in India but around the world. Experts say the spread of such policies — despite their best intentions — could actually deter women’s progress in the workplace*.

Whatever the conclusion of the debate may be, at least it has paved the way for bringing forth the discussion about menstrual cycle. This discussion itself is a very important function as both men and women need to discuss about the issue of Menstruation rather than hide it in the cloak of mystery or religious dogma.

Cervical cancer is showing an increasing trend in India. Multiple sexual partnerships, frequent abortions or termination of pregnancy, unhygienic menstrual hygiene conditions are few of the conditions implicated in cervical cancer. Recently when taxes were getting fixed for sanitary napkins in GST regime, women groups wanted the sanitary napkins to be put in 5% tax category. At that time, the government revealed the data that only about 12% of women are using sanitary napkins during the periods. What about the remaining 88% of women? How are they managing their menstrual hygiene? I vividly remember some women coming to ask my mother for cotton saris only  for the purpose of making sanitary napkins.

The menstrual hygiene, access to toilets with running water facility are the needs of the hour for women to participate in public as well as personal sphere on equal footing with men. It is high time that the society in general and women in particular start addressing the bio. Psycho, social issues related to menstrual cycle so that they can be comfortable with their bodies as well as the much needed personal space without being banned due to religious beliefs.

- Dr. Suman K Murthy

*https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/24/health/period-pain-paid-time-off-policy.html

**http://www.aafp.org/afp/2012/0215/p386.html Latthe PM, Champaneria R, Khan K. Dysmenorrhoea. Clin Evid Handbook. December 2011:643–645. Please visit http://www.clinicalevidence.bmj.com for full text and references.

Article - Women's participation in Financial institutions.

A group of students in my department, undertook a project to study Financial Literary Awareness among Rural Women. A brief Review of literature revealed that the number of women in workforce had come down in the past decade. This result was surprising as I was under the impression that as more women get access to education, more women may want to take part in income generating activities. But the National Sample Survey results disproved my assumption. Further, the review had revealed that more number of women in rural areas were involved in income generating activities. 

SELF HELP GROUP

When I looked into the current study, it was noted that nearly 75% of women were housewives, who were not involved in income generating activities. Nearly 65% of these women were involved in Self Help groups(SHGs). Majority of them had taken loans from SHGs and were saving money through SHGs. 

Majority of these rural women had bank account, they knew about saving money in the bank, the provision to take loans from the banks. They were also aware of few insurance schemes too. The awareness about Banking, savings, loans, calculation of rate of interest for loan taken, insurance schemes were some of the parameters considered to measure the financial literary of women.

When the women were asked about why and how they save money, their response was that saving is for children's education, celebration of some functions/ festivals at home and for needy period when there may not be much money provided by the spouse.

The reasons for taking loans were children's school/ college admission, ill health of family member, told by husband to take loans.

Most of the women told that they didn't share with their spouses, the extent of their savings as the money they saved was what they had spared by intelligent management of the house hold expenses. Some women used to buy small gold jewelry by their savings. In case of emergency, they would pledge the gold jewelry, to get the money. Few women had taken loans to buy cows so that they may sell the milk to get regular income. They reported that most of the time, the money that comes to their account through milk cooperative societies is taken by their spouses. They do not have much access to that money. Hence some of them invested in secrecy in chit funds run by local people or gave money for petty lending through third party. Many such women reported that they were at risk of loosing their money due to such transactions. But they had no other options.

These findings have left me with few more questions. Why has the ratio of women in work force reduced? Why education and income generating activities not having a proportional growth rate? Most of the rural women were into saving money as they understood the need for extra income. Yet they are not much into income generating activities. Even those women who are into income generating activities, are still letting the menfolk manage their finances most of the time. In spite of these limitations, savings through micro finance access through SHGs has shown tremendous opportunities for financial transactions. How to involve the women into income generating activities as well as make them financially independent so that they may enjoy the fruits of their efforts? 

I cannot simply propose or blame patriarchal society and its structure as an answer for all the questions churning in my mind. There is a need to seriously look into the way women themselves look at their roles. Not only nurturers but also providers as well as managers of their income. That day will be the beginning of financial empowerment among women. 

- Dr.Suman K Murthy  
  

Article - Whither goes the spirit of Help and Rescue?

A 15-year old girl was gang raped in front of an online audience in Chicago. Her assault was broadcasted on Facebook live by the assaulters and watched by at least 40 viewers at a time, but nobody contacted the police¹.

Shocking news was on the Yahoo home page on 24.03.2017. We are often reading about or viewing various social network sites streaming live the plight of accident victims begging for help and the impersonal bystanders. The by standers sometimes are busy inhumanly video recording the ordeal of the helpless victims. Why does this happen? To check about this phenomenon, I went back to Google! Here is what I learnt.

According to Social Psychologists this phenomena is called as the bystander effect, or bystander apathy. This social psychological phenomenon refers to cases in which individuals do not offer any means of help to a victim when other people are present. The probability of help is inversely related to the number of bystanders. In other words, the greater the number of bystanders, the less likely it is that any one of them will help. Several variables help to explain why the bystander effect occurs. These variables include: ambiguity, cohesiveness and diffusion of responsibility.

Genovese Syndrome

Being a silent bystander to a crime is called Genovese syndrome. It's the phenomenon described by psychologists that the more people who are watching an attack or some perilous situation befall a victim, the less likely any one of them will intervene.

Multiple studies in the 1960s and since then made other observations, including that bystanders were even less likely to intervene if they were strangers than if they were friends. Some studies suggested crowds were less likely to act because each individual rationalises that someone else in the crowd would act or already had.

Some parts of the world have included laws that hold bystanders responsible when they witness an emergency. In the US, Good Samaritan laws have been implemented to protect bystanders who acted in good faith. Many organizations are including bystander training. For example, the United States Department of the Army is doing bystander training with respect to sexual assault. Some organizations routinely do bystander training with respect to safety issues. Others have been doing bystander training with respect to diversity issues. Organizations such as American universities are also using bystander research to improve bystander attitudes in cases of rape. Examples include the Inter Act Sexual Assault Prevention program and the Green Dot program².

Green Dot Bystander Intervention is an approach to prevent violence with the help of bystanders built on the premise that violence can be measurably and systematically reduced within a community. Bystander intervention as a way of violence prevention programs is becoming popular within society. Its Mission is to reduce power based-violence by being a proactive bystander and a reactive bystander³.

The Green Dot Bystander Intervention Program was founded by Dr. Dorothy Edwards. The program trains people about sexual assault and domestic violence on college campuses, primary and secondary schools, and communities. It develops and offers training for sexual assault and domestic violence. The method teaches students to intervene by using the 3'Ds: Direct, Delegating the responsibility to others, and creating a Distraction to defuse a potentially dangerous situation. As described by Green Dot an example of this is in a situation at a party, intervening could mean that instead of calling out an inebriated student, an individual can create a distraction by "accidentally" spilling their drink on a potential aggressor.

Dr. Dorothy Edwards is the founder of the Green Dot Bystander Intervention program. Prior to creating the program Dorothy Edwards worked as the University of Kentucky's Violence Intervention and Prevention Director where she discovered that individuals were not sure how to respond when witnessing a potential sexual assault. In her first year of running the program she trained 10 individuals, but by the time she left the University of Kentucky she was training 3,500 students and volunteers. The initiative led by Dr. Edwards was supported by a new focus on bystanders in The White House. Green Dot, Bringing in the Bystander, and ‘Coaching Boys Into Men’ are preventative bystander programs that have begun to make cultural changes³.

In India, The Supreme Court on 30th March 2016 approved the guidelines issued by the Centre for the protection of Good Samaritans at the hands of the police or any other authority. These guidelines are with specific reference to helping the victims of accidents⁴. Karnataka Government has taken the lead by enacting the Law to protect the Good Samaritan.

After going through all this information, my opinion is that enacting a Law will not be sufficient to motivate an unconcerned bystander to become a proactive bystander and a reactive bystander. There is a need to train people to become the proactive and a reactive bystander. There is a need to begin such initiative as done by Dr. Dorothy Edwards amidst us too. The safe techniques to help women in distress needs to be imparted to the volunteers.

 - Dr. Suman K Murthy

Reference:

¹ https://in.news.yahoo.com/gangrape-streamed-live-facebook-watched-054125907.html retrieved on 24.03.2017

² https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect retrieved on 24.03.2017

³ Cherkis, Jason, and Ryan Grim. "Here's How You Can Help Stop A Sexual Assault Before It Happens." The Huffington Post 9 July 2015, Politics sec.  Web. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/08/bystander-intervention_n_7758118.html retrieved on 24.03.2017

⁴ https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-status-of-Good-Samaritan-laws-in-India retrieved on 24.03.2017.

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Book Review - I AM MALALA

Women and Education- Few thoughts

Recently I read the book ‘I AM MALALA’ by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb.

The book is an autobiography of Malala Yousafzai who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in the year 2014 for her strong stance for advocating girl child/ women’s education. This young activist was born on 12 July 1997 in the Swat Valley of Pakistan - Afganistan border. She was encouraged by her father to study in his own school - Kushal Public School. During her years of schooling, the political topography of the Swat Valley changes with people getting highly influenced and deliberately led through a well orchestered religious propaganda by the Pakistani Taliban to follow the Islamic Law. These religious fundamentalists gradually took over the administration from the Government agencies and become a law unto themselves. They started Kangaroo courts; insisted that everyone follow the Muslim Law which according to their dictum forbids education to the Girls and Women. Life became very difficult for the people under the rule of Taliban as schools run for girls were under threat.

At such trying times, Malala starts a blog for BBC Urdu channel while she was still in her 7^th standard. The blog runs from 3^rd January 2009 to 12^th March 2009. For her safety, she had been asked by the BBC to use a pseudonym ‘Gul Makai’. Over a period of time, a documentary gets done revealing her efforts for Right to Education of girls. This is followed by a number of awards and recognition which brings her identity to public domain. Then on, her family faces the threats from the Pakistani Taliban which ultimately leads to the heinous act of an assassination attempt on her life on 9 October 20012 while she was returning from her school after writing her examination. Two other girls sitting beside her, in the school bus, also got bullet wounds.

The critically injured Malala gets all the required medical help and is later shifted to United Kingdom. It takes her nearly three months to recover and she continues to receive treatment and rehabilitation. The story of Malala catches  the attention of the World  and over 2 million people sign the petition ‘’Right to Education’’ which culminates in the first Right to Education Bill in Pakistan. Even after going through such a terrible ordeal, Malala continues her fight for Right to Education of the Girls and women at various forums. On her sixteenth birthday, in her first public address post the assassination attempt, Malala addresses the United Nations giving a call for worldwide access to education.  In 2014, Malala becomes the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize sharing the prize with another Child Rights Activist, Kailash Satyarthi of India. The Malala Fund has been created by her to provide funds for education of girls.

After reading this autobiography, my thoughts were on difficulties and discrimination faced by the Girls in accessing education in most of the societies. Though the book focussed on the Muslim Fundamentalists, one can observe the parallel efforts in every religion to withhold access to knowledge for Girls and women. Education is the key to understand oneself and others around us and to unleash the power of human curiosity. It is the key to open the vistas unseen, unheard and an opportunity to open the mind to various possibilities. Yet this access has been systematically denied to women throughout the history of human society.

At least now, concerted efforts should be made by the civic societies to provide free access to education for all girls and women so that they can participate equally inn building a responsible society.  Further, it should be impressed upon the girls as well as women to understand the need for education, the opportunities that come their way due to getting education. The educated women need to join hands to help other women to become literate first and then pursue education further.

My second line of thinking focussed on how the systematic propaganda by religious fundamentalists and fanatics can sway the whole population, to start following an ideology without even giving rational consideration. The whole of Swat valley comes under the influence of Taliban in a span of two to three years with almost no resistance from those residing in the valley! Two things seem to have led to this situation. The gross neglect of development of the region by the consecutive elected governments leading to poor access to education among the whole population combined with poverty and unemployment leading to poor living standards. These factors seem to invariably lead people to blindly follow the religious dictum without dissent. In every country, we find such pockets of gross underdevelopment which leads to frustration among the youth and can lead them towards religious dogmatism. Thus there is a need to focus on such underdeveloped areas in our backyards so as to initiate developmental and educational avenues for the people of such areas. Otherwise such rising of religious fundamentalism may also hit every country very badly.

I do appreciate the book for leading me to think on the above mentioned areas.   

- Dr. Suman K Murthy