Time to Shatter the Silence and Create a Safe and Inclusive Society
A distressing incident of sexual harassment and molestation has surfaced in Sector 41, leaving the residents shaken. And if a thought that this topic/incident should not be taken up in a community magazine crosses some minds, that the girl should not have made it public, that it will bring embarrassment to the so called civilized society; this in itself is an example how we want to bury and trivialize crime against women. A courageous young woman boldly spoke out about her harrowing experience, only to discover that her friends had also endured similar ordeals. Galvanized by the realization that they are not alone, the girl and her friends have taken the bold step of officially filing a police complaint. This concerning trend is not a novelty in the area, and it highlights our collective failure to ensure the safety and security of women.
In the past, demands for strict vigilance on entry and exit points were made, but regrettably, this time the culprit is a resident – a man of respectable age with a family. This incident serves as a stark reminder that the perpetrators of such heinous crimes can come from within our own communities, and that we need to be vigilant and proactive in our approach to tackling this issue.
The fact that the culprit is a respected member of the community, with a family, underscores the need to re-examine our societal values and the way we raise our sons and daughters. We need to teach our sons to respect women and their boundaries, and our daughters to speak out against injustice without fear of reprisal.
We as a society must delve deeper into the root causes of this pervasive problem. The patriarchal mindset that pervades our society is a major obstacle to gender equality and women’s empowerment. Things can improve faster if we, as a society, do not remain mute spectators to the positive change our women desperately seek. Each family needs to tell its son that his power of masculinity lies in respecting and, if the situation demands, protecting the dignity of someone’s mother or daughter, and not in taking it away.
