Girls Trafficked In Rajasthan To Settle Village Disputes. When Will We Value Women?

Women in our society are considered ghar ki izzat but are rarely valued as much. They are objectified as paraya dhan, sexual objects and even the means to settle disputes over money, caste or religion. Every dispute in our society happens at the cost of women’s life. Women are traded for money, peace and harmony. Women are raped for harming the enemy’s honour and women are held responsible for settling disputes by giving up their self-respect. Precisely, every dispute happens on the bodies of women. And this is not something new because even in the age of monarchy, women’s bodies became the ground of wars and exchanges. When society has developed so much, then why are women still stuck behind the curtains of history?

In Rajasthan, young girls of age eight have been reportedly sold and women have been raped to settle disputes on the order of the village caste council. This is not the first time that villages like Bhilwara have resorted to village councils to settle disputes by sacrificing the lives of women. A man had to sell his sister and 12-year-old daughter to settle a loan of rupees 15 lakhs. Another girl was sold by her father to pay for the treatment of his wife who later died. The girl was sold for 6 lakh rupees to someone in Agra and then she was sold thrice and impregnated four times. Although National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken cognisance of the incidents and sent notice to the state government, will the trafficking and rape of women stop in our society? Will the government’s action be ever strong enough to save girls from being traded for financial disputes?

When will society learn to value women?

A Delhi-based NGO dealing with trafficked survivors told The Diplomat that almost every area in India has a problem of trafficking women. “We found that every village had around 200 houses and each of these villages hosted at least 50 trafficked women. This means that almost 30 per cent of all the households had trafficked wives,” the NGO stated.  Women and girls are majorly subjected to sex trafficking in India where 40 per cent of children are sold. And as far as rape is concerned, every day, 86 cases of rape are lodged in India while the conviction rate is as low as 30 per cent.

Why are women subjected to such cruelty? Why are they objectified as trading objects to settle disputes? Why aren’t they valued as much as ghar ki izzat?

The major reason behind the trafficking and rape of women is the subservience of their gender. Women are never seen as individuals with rights and self-respect. They are objectified as things that can be used to settle desires and disputes. Moreover, the male child preference in our society further weakens women’s value in the family. It is assumed that men in the house need to be preserved for present and future security. While women need to be given up for the same security. And because of male-child preference, it doesn’t matter much to the family if they lose a&t=6s"> daughter as she is already a burden on the family.

It has also been proved that women with ambitions and dreams who break the cycle of poverty are the ones who get trafficked or subjected to sexual crimes. Society cannot stand a woman who is strong and trying to be independent. It always wants women to be submissive and subverted by the patriarchy.

But how long will women be sacrificed for the peace of the family? How long will women have to cut themselves out to maintain harmony in the family and society? When will women be valued as much as men in the house? When will their relevance in society be valued? When will they achieve freedom from the patriarchal perception of their gender that believes in subverting them and using them for its benefit and betterment?

It is high time we start valuing women. Trafficking, sexual crimes and other violence committed against women must be controlled using strict measures. Moreover, the measures should be directed towards the perpetrators and not women. Women should not be restricted or asked to sacrifice to control the perpetrators. Enough of sacrificing and bearing injustice, women now need their freedom. We have moved on from what happened in History. And so should society.

Views expressed are the author's own.