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Disproportionate attention to proportions
***While women in power and spotlight have often contributed to their own downfall and disgrace, the fact is that there has been a surge in the unimaginable attack on professional women and the innumerable acts of inhumanity on disproportionate proportions have become part of a regular discourse all over the world.***
SHE has millions of followers, 2 thousandacre estates according to official count, 28 kilograms of gold, 10,000 saris, 750 pairs of shoes, and, of course, a salary of Rs. 1.00
per annum. A film star turned politician, chief minister for four times, she is the latest case of the Modi-fied Indian government which has just jailed her for possessing disproportionate assets. It's all part of the new drive of driving corruption away from the government, which has itself close to one-third of its members being tried for one charge, including one who has a murder case hanging over his head. Jayaram Jayalalithaa, one of the most colourful and controversial females in Indian politics and a cult personality, often referred to as 'Amma' (’Mother') and sometimes 'Puratchi Thalaivi' ('Revolutionary Leader') with her filmy history of having acted in over 140 films, is 66 has just been delivered a verdict in a case that was filed 18 years ago. The female politician, prisoner No. 7402 in WIP cell 23 in the Central Prison at Parappana Agrahara, is to stay in jail for four years and has just been fined Rs. 100 crores...
A leading Indian newspaper carried photos of Deepika Padukone's cleavage three Sundays ago and has suffered the backlash of the world. True, if we can look at 8 packs of males and not violate male sexual space, why does print media zoom in on a woman from that close a range and get away with it? Two subse-
quent tweets of Deepika claiming that she was indeed a woman and that by publishing pictures of her very proportionate proportions, the newspaper did not do justice to the concept of 'news.' This has gone on forever. Politics of sexuality has not been a new case. For years, the male gaze has penetrated way beyond the accepted cultural realities. On a separate note though, Deepika's tweets couldn't have come at a better time... her new film needed that last push of publicity.
While women in power and spotlight have often contributed to their own downfall and disgrace, the fact is that there has been a surge in the unimaginable attack on professional women and the innumerable acts of inhumanity on disproportionate proportions have become part of a regular discourse all over the world.
Sameera Salih Ali al-Nuaimy was a lawyer and was publicly executed by the Islamic State fighters in Iraq, just a week ago, after having been tortured for days.
She was an Iraqi woman promoting women's rights. Her family was barred from burying her just because she had posted comments on Facebook condemning the destruction of mosques and shrines in Mosul, an Iraqi city in the north. The trend of attacks on professional women is continuing in Iraq, a state where 8,493 civilians are reported to have died this year.
While your columnist was deciding to list a few more international stories of abuse on women, Taslima, the eighteen year old working for her came and announced that breakfast had been served. The oldest of the four children of Fazu Rahman of Tarail Thana of Kishoreganj, she was sold to slavery at 10. Long before puberty, she was given away to a 22 year old young man. The advantage of handing his ten-year old little one to a mature man was to see his daughter secure in a marriage that required no dowry. Eight years after that golden’ deal, she has ended up at our home, making our beds and dusting the dust off our furniture. She is young, restless and even with the slightest hint of flirtation with the male staff in the house; I warn her against the male gaze. She bears marks of abuse on her arms and she’s also short of hearing as a result of being repeatedly beaten. It took her dadTk. 4,000 to have her stitched up the last time she was abused. A mother at 12, she has two daughters today who she can't visit, let alone talk to. Her youngest sister is 11 and her father is contemplating handing her over to yet another "eligible," "mature' man in the village who too claims no dowry. Taslima has vowed to stop this “transfer" with her life.
While the young Taslima serves me tea,
I am busy reading up on the stats of child marriage in South Asia, where 24.4 million young girls get married before they are 18. Bangladesh tops the list with a 66%. India hosts 47% of child marriages happening ail over the world with Nepal following closely behind with 41% and Afghanistan tailing with 39% and Pakistan 24%. But most fortunately today, there are also stories like the one of Laxmi Sargara, an 18-year old woman who just had her child marriage legally annulled in northern Rajasthan state. This is thought to be the first case of its kind in India. Laxmi was just one and her bridegroom Rakesh only three when they tied the knot. Laxmi Sargara has defied the 'khap Panchayats' - village councils -and has managed to shame the practice that apparently prevents "social corruptions* or "western influences."
Today, there's Zeynep Fadillioglu, the 59-year old female architea designing mosques in Istanbul and Qatar; there's a pretty, petite and blonde Rena Dourou who's just been eleaed the new prefect of Athens; and there's a Salma Khatun, the Bangladeshi cricketer leading the Bangladeshi team to the finals at the Asian Games. Therefore, today is the day to redesign the struaure of public and private spaces for women, which has been violated for too long a time all across the globe. South Asia only needs to demonstrate the best intent to battle child marriage and excesses against women. And all we need to have is a Medusa in each one of us, so that our gaze turns the predator to stone every time he plots against the woman and every time his gaze follows her body.
The writer Is Managing Director, Mohammadi Group.