Karuna Thakur
For women, the road to justice has never been easy as traditionally structures of power in State, society and temporal world have been dominated by men. States therefore are least expected to be gender neutral or fair even if in principle they promise equality for all. In modern states too, basic citizenship rights for women like voting were haltingly granted after the women’s suffrage movement: in the USA in 1920 and UK in 1928 followed by other countries of the world. Even today, countries stand at cross roads trying to bridge the gap between principle and practice of women’s rights.
Naya Kashmir Manifesto and Women
In the political history of J&K, an ambitious blue print for women’s empowerment was the Naya Kashmir Manifesto of National Conference party led by Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah in 1944 which outlined a comprehensive charter of socio- economic and political empowerment of women of the state. In the post Accession period, while the State made steady progress in this direction, it also conveniently protected, without any legitimate explanation a discriminatory practice which restrained women’s freedom of marriage by denying them the right to domicile if they married men who were not permanent residents of the state. It denied inheritance rights to the children of such women. Importantly, what otherwise could have been attributed to a bureaucratic lapse or lack of political maturity of political dispensation in a given historical context was clearly betrayed after the state willfully introduced the women’s disqualification bill in 2004 to cement it with a legal status . Another instance of the state continuing with an archaic law without a justifiable reason was the Public Prostitutes Registration Rules of 1921( Samvat 1977), which continued to find a place in the J&K law books till as late as 2010 when it was abolished after the civil society highlighted it in the public domain.
Women’s Space and State Intrusion: However, in the present times the issue which calls into question the role of the state as an intruder concerns the ordinary lives of countless silent women, living in the walled city of Jammu where houses are poorly ventilated and designed in old style with some in a decrepit state . This pattern of houses winds through entire lanes and by lanes of the city of temples. For the women living in this part, especially homemakers who follow a dawn to dusk household routine, the feel of an open sky very often, is an unfulfilled dream because of the clustered style of houses. Apart from the crowded market and surrounding temples which provide some outlet to women, the only other open breathing space available to them is the Zanana Park or the ladies park situated next to the secretariat which was exclusively dedicated to women of the city by Maharani Tara Devi, wife of late Maharaja Hari Singh. For generations women found a refuge in this oasis of peace amidst thick mango groves to meditate, exercise, walk and communicate with each other without any interference from the outside world. They had freedom to walk into the park without any hesitation anytime of the day at their convenience. However, over the years, the park was shrunken in size due to encroachments and became a place for parking vehicles for the secretariat in close vicinity. After complaints from women, a wall of fiber sheet was erected demarcating space for vehicles and rededicated to women with great fanfare. Faced with an unavoidable situation, which was both deeply offending and discomforting, women had to now take a mandatory crosswalk from the entrance with staff and personnel parked in the vicinity and also maintain caution while engaging in activities in the garden as they were now sharing space with men who visibly moved around the premises and across the virtual wall erected by the state as an apparent act of discretion to pacify gender displeasure.
Plea for Gender sensitivity: If the history of judicial overload and backlog in India is any indicator, then state is one of the highest litigants in the system implying that it violates citizens’ rights more than anybody else. Instead of ensuring safe cities and setting up more neighborhood parks and women friendly spaces, the state in the case of Ladies Park has usurped what was a much valued space for women’s health and well being and violated a public space rightfully designated for women and effectively used by them. Surprisingly this happens in times when globally States are being pushed to adopt gender friendly policies for ensuring women’s holistic development and inclusion in the development process. Parks are being redesigned for women specific needs to make them suitable for all activities. In fact parks are being planned along specific guidelines as a strategy for gender mainstreaming as lack of safety and other such measures are known to inhibit women’s presence in these spaces. States are also urged to understand and focus on policies which promote women’s physical and mental health, the latter being an issue of utmost importance, particularly since covid pandemic has struck at the root of family system where women have borne the brunt of caring and nurturing in extraordinary times.
In India , a State like Kerala, ahead of its times, has in place a Gender Park in the form of a sprawling campus which brings together civil society, academics and government to further women related issues and policies. One expects changing perceptions about these issues will bring a more humane approach in the course of law and public policy in Jammu and Kashmir too. A positive development to cite in this direction is the project of toilets which has widened the ambit of women’s fundamental right to life with dignity, violation of which may be enforceable by law in due course.
In the same way women’s right to open spaces and gender friendly parks needs to be defended as a significant dimension of mental and physical health of the silent other half for survival .This is an issue which has for long been neglected and deserves due attention for both protection and promotion as a human right with appropriate institutional response.
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