Mangaluru: “We can see from recent instances that the state takes no responsibility for ensuring women’s rights. Unless there is societal responsibility, women will continue to be discriminated against”, said renowned feminist and academician Prof. Nivedita Menon, Professor of Political Thought, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi.
Delivering the second edition of the annual lecture hosted by the P P Gomathi Memorial Education Trust on the subject “Feminist Politics in India Today: Some Key Issues” at St. Aloysius College in the city on February 26, Prof. Menon analysed the concept of feminism and the way it manifests in the political space.
Clarifying on the stance of feminism, Prof. Menon said, “Feminism is not anti men. Feminism is about recognising the structural ways in which our society favours men. The structure of patriarchy produces men and women in a certain way which perpetuates the system. Feminism also recognises that gender is only one of the axis of power in society, along with others like caste and class. Feminism is also not exactly a western import as India has a very old feminist movement going back to the colonial period.”
She asserted that feminists find no cause to rejoice over recent political initiatives like the abolition of Triple Talaq and the idea of having a Uniform Civil Code for India. “These are very complicated issues. First of all the personal law of most religions discriminates against women. Then there is also the fact that these are talked about as national integration issues and not as women’s rights issues”, she said.
Analysing the political scenario, she said in the 1980s, in the aftermath of the Shah Bano case, the Congress Party started on a path of Muslim pleasing, basically the pleasing of the communal elements within the community. “This gave the BJP a trigger for Hindu mobilisation. Today even Bangladesh has managed to reform Muslim laws but here such moves generate controversy. For the right politics to be put in place, the community should be confident to being self critical,” she said.
Elaborating further on the Uniform Civil Code, she said, “The women’s movement since the 90s no longer believes uniformity will bring about justice. We don’t not even consider it to be a viable option because of the futility of standardising uniformity. It is now recognised that legal pluralism is more democratic than uniform laws as it is impossible to bring about one law that is good for everyone. It is in fact better to work within the personal law and make it better. Our focus now is on gender just laws. Hindus are the most homogenous community in India and we find diversity in practices all across India. But, the Hindu Right wants only a certain strand of north Indian standard to stand in for uniformity.”
Dwelling on the mass outrage seen during the Nirbhaya Rape Case in 2013, she said it was for the first time that one could see a popular uprising against an atrocity committed on a woman which cut across all barriers like politics, religion, gender, age or region.
The P P Gomathi Memorial Education Trust has been established by her family and former associates to perpetuate the ideals cherished by the Late P P Gomathi, a renowned educationist who had served as the principal of Besant Women’s College and later as the secretary of the Women’s National Education Society until her death in 2014.
P P Sudhakaran, brother of P P Gomathi and Prof. P A Gopinath, her nephew were present on the occasion.
