The global local way to go

This is where one important international convention — that India ratified in 1993 — comes in. The world adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) exactly 25 years ago and it has often been termed as the universal bill of rights for women. Indeed, many progressive judgments in India have looked to this convention for their raison d’etre. In Vishaka versus State of Rajasthan, dealing with sexual harassment, the Supreme Court specifically observed that “In the absence of domestic law occupying the field, to formulate effective measures to check the evil of sexual harassment of working women at all work places, the contents of International Conventions and norms are significant”. The judgment also cited Article 51 C, which enables Parliament to enact laws for the implementing of international conventions.

CEDAW has a substantive definition for “discrimination against women”. It interprets it as “any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field”. Every nation that has ratified the Convention is bound to submit periodic reports every four years to the CEDAW Committee, made up of 23 independent experts on women’s rights, to indicate their progress on this front. India made its first submission in January 2000 and it received quite a grilling from the CEDAW Committee. For instance, Savitri Goornesekere, Sri Lankan jurist and academic, who was on the Committee then, had some sharp observations to make on the son-preference of Indian society.

Next year, India will be required to present its Second Report to the CEDAW Committee and as the Department of Women and Child Development works to put together the official report of the Indian government, women’s groups from all over the country are busy evolving their Alternative Report on the issues of concern to be submitted to the Committee. It is an interesting process, this gathering of information from every corner of India. The coordinating body — the National Alliance of Women — is at present convening meetings of various groups to put together a composite document which will highlight India’s performance, the gains made since 2000 and the gaps between stated aims and changes on the ground. The participants see it as a significant intervention by Indian women to mobilise, collate data, raise awareness and exert pressure on the state to deliver better, deliver more.

A whole range of issues have already emerged. One is that of legal reform. The failure of the state to enact a comprehensive anti-discrimination law and an anti-violence law is a concern. It is felt that Section 498-A of the Indian Penal Code is inadequate in addressing the wide range of domestic violence, within marriage and outside it. Existing law does not, for example, recognise marital rape as a crime, or situations of mental cruelty and the legal definition of rape is inadequate. Women’s health is another area of worry. In 2000, the CEDAW Committee had expressed concern over India’s high maternal and infant mortality rates. Women’s groups believe that the situation remains as grave as ever. The actual picture is hazy because there is little reliable documentation. According to existing data, India has a maternal mortality ratio of 540 per 100,000 live births which translates into some 1,30,000 women dying each year because of complications of pregnancy and childbirth. Abortion is a hugely unrecognised problem — only 10 per cent of the estimated 5-6 million abortions done annually are performed by trained personnel. Then take employment. The lack of protection for the estimated 30 million home-based workers in the country, 93 per cent of whom are women, is seen as a conspicuous policy gap. When this process of articulation is complete, a fairly comprehensive picture — across a wide spectrum of issues from education to declining sex ratios to situations of armed conflict — will emerge.

Assessing the status of women in India is extraordinarily difficult given the great diversity that marks their lives. Questions have been raised as to whether universal norms are at all relevant in the face of this reality. Martha C. Nussbaum, professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, has an appealing response: human dignity, she says, has broad cross-cultural resonances. In Women and Human Development, she flags 10 elements or capabilities — ranging from the ability to live to the end a human life of normal length to that of having control over one’s environment — which she sees as central to human functioning. For her, legitimate concerns of diversity and pluralism are not incompatible with the recognition of human norms and, in fact, are necessary to achieve them.

A primary challenge before India remains that of providing equal citizenship to all women. Universals of justice, as embodied in a convention like CEDAW, are therefore vital instruments to transform lives. Even at the most local, culturally specific, level.