Experts Call For Inclusive Approach To Gender-Based Sexual Violence

Bhubaneswar: Odisha has the second-highest rate of crime against women and girls in the country. Gender-based atrocities reached an alarming high during the COVID-19 pandemic. Quoting the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data of 2020, Prof. Aparajita Chowdhury, Vice-Chancellor, Rama Devi (RD) Women’s University said it is high time measures were taken to empower and involve men to achieve gender equality.

“Since the perpetrators are male, efforts need to be made to understand their psychology and behaviour and involve them in the process of eradicating sexual gender-based violence (SGBV),” Chowdhury added.

She was addressing the audience at the learning-cum-experience sharing programme on ‘Quick Impact Project’ to mitigate Sexual Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) through community awareness and support system organised by the Centre for Youth and Social Development (CYSD) and the Centre for Gender Studies, RD University here on Tuesday. The Quick Impact Project is an initiative by the CYSD to eradicate SGBV through community participation. It is being implemented in three tribal-dominated districts – Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Koraput.

She announced that the CYSD and the RD University will have a long-term coordinated action-research project on gender-based violence in the state.

Crime against women has increased despite the fact that legal provisions are in place and there have been a lot of efforts at the community, state, national and international levels, said Shri Jagadananda, Mentor and Co-founder, CYSD. He said CYSD has been emphasising on the importance of preparing community cadres including both men and women to address gender-based violence at the local level.

He emphasised the need to reach out to the victims and to take measures to ensure that they have easy access to facilities like one-stop centres (OSCs); Swadhar Grehs; Mahila O Shishu Desk at the district headquarters police stations and Ujjawala Homes, which are meant to prevent and address gender-based violence. He also underlined the need for sensitive counselling of sexually-assaulted women and girls.

CYSD’s gender coordinator Uppali Mohanty raised concern over the under-reporting of cases of violence due to lack of awareness and psychological pressure.

Many women applied for divorce during the pandemic. Most were from well-to-do families, said Dr Minati Behera, Chairperson, Odisha State Commission for Women. So, gender-based violence is prevalent across all strata of society. She urged women to raise their voices to end violence.

Bishaka Bhanja, a member of the National Alliance of Women’s Organisations (NAWO), Odisha Chapter, shed light on the need to transform gendered terminologies. “There should be equal distribution of power and responsibility between boys and girls and it needs to start from family,” she added.

Mousumi Kundu, Deputy Director, Program BreakThrough, New Delhi analysed atrocities against women from a psychological perspective and said gender-based discrimination and violence is deeply ingrained in our psyche.

A number of mechanisms are in place for the promotion of the economic empowerment of women. However, the perspective of gender equality needs to be integrated into these mechanisms, said Alka Narang, Gender Specialist, UNDP, New Delhi.

Among others, Prof. (Dr.) Jyotirmayee Acharya, Dept. of Gender Studies, RD University spoke on the occasion. Community leaders from Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Koraput districts shared their experience and challenges on how they are working to prevent gender-based violence in their respective areas. Aliva Mohanty of RD University proposed the vote of thanks.

Recommendations to address violence against women

• Strengthen the system of psycho-social counselling and create a sensitive support system at various levels for the victims of sexual violence.
• Adequate provision of beds, dedicated counselling spaces and rescue vehicles at the One Stop Centres (OSCs).
• Proper mechanism to help the survivors reach out to institutional facilities.
• Building mechanism to stop child marriage.
• Provision at Swadhar Grehs and OSCs to ensure that the violence survivors get immediate medical aid. The medical system should be on alert to deal with emergency cases.
• Proper training for government frontline workers like Anganwadi workers, who are the first point of contact for the survivors.
• Auto location tracking of all calls received from the victims needs to be mandated to ensure that the helplines can reach out to the survivors.
• Adequate budget allocation for smooth functioning of the existing institutional mechanisms.