Violence against women not India-specific

Toronto: Violence against women is not an India-specific phenomenon but a global one, according to an Indo-Canadian journalist who has come out with a hard-hitting book on the issue.

Brought out by Toronto-based Elspeth Heyworth Centre for Women, "Violence against Women - All Pervading" by Ajit Jain, features views of top academicians, social activists and political leaders to highlight the subservience to which women are subjected in all cultures.

"I was very, very disturbed, as were millions of people in India and elsewhere, by the shocking manner in which a 23-year-old medical student in Delhi was gang-raped by six mad men and that too in a moving bus," Jain, a journalist, told IANS in an interview.

Though the Dec 16, 2012, incident brought into focus crime against women in India, research shows that the issue is not really India-specific, he said.

"Reports in the global media gave an impression that violence against women, gang-rapes etc., are all happening in India. India is infested with mad people. Violence against women is widespread in India," he said.

"But when you research, you find that it is not India-specific. Violence against women is all-pervading. It is a global phenomenon. When you read UN statistics, it is revealed that one billion women are subjected to all kinds of violence."

According to Jain, over 25 percent of men in South Africa "take pride in admitting they have raped one or two women in their lifetime".

"And they say it in such a manner as if there is nothing atrocious about their action. It is like 'so what if I raped a woman?'. For them, women are just created differently to satisfy sexual and other needs of men," Jain said.

According to Jain, his book is aimed at over six billion people of this world.

"It is not at all a Middle Eastern question, or issues in Chechnya, but there are issues which are more important than warring nations," he said.

What is the major cause behind this violence against women?

"The lust of human beings. More and more people are unemployed. More and more of us are watching Hollywood and Bollywood movies with sexual overtones, full of violence; censor boards just close their eyes and ears and approve anything so that they don't have to do any explaining later on," Jain said.

"These factors have contributed to increasing violence against women. Excessive use of alcohol is also contributing to this violence. And we don't speak out against such violent activities. We prefer to close our eyes."