Amara Shah
I was too naïve to think that harassment against women is only done by illiterate and uneducated till later when I stepped out of my home and got harassed by so called progressive men and pseudo intellectuals who always raise their voices for women rights and keep on sloganeering feminism. Often, you will find them speaking in seminars and conferences five-star hotels to deliberate upon the issue that “only” happens in dingy, gloomy and murky workplaces.
The workshops are then followed by colorful reporting in the media where these feminist proponents explain their hectic efforts to bring harassment to the end. Neither seminars come to an end nor harassment vanishes from the society.
Recently, I came across another woe and torment that the women folk of this country face and that is harassment by teachers, professors and supervisors at graduate and post-graduate levels in prestigious universities.
Some females that I met recently shared that their synopsis in many cases get accepted if they agree to the terms and conditions of their supervisors and in order to get them approved, some students do accept the “terms & conditions”. I was shocked to hear this and in an attempt to understand why do the girls agree to this, I met a few of them to find out the reason;
- If we say NO our synopsis/thesis would be thrown into the bin and this will lead to delay into the acquisition of our degree.
- If we share the issue with our parents they would advise us to leave the university immediately.
- If we dare to complain to university management, they would have an inquiry and everyone around would find out and that’s really shameful and embarrassing.
Our only objective is acquiring our degree and building a career, many said.
These reasons were given by Masters and M. Phil students.
“Sometimes they flirt, at times they offer a cup of tea and send unwanted messages. We, women, sniff a whiff of an altered intent that something is in the air that portends turbulence. Sometimes it ends here but sometimes it goes beyond”.
The tragedy is that the students consider the whole exercise normal. This normalcy is anything but normal and is alarming. The acceptance has become normal and that’s the most troublesome situation.
They don’t speak and those who do, speak in whispers. Not denying the fact that harassment is rampant in our society but why women never dare speak? Not ordinary women, but Masters and M. Phil students?
Sixteen years of education does not make them courageous enough to stand for themselves, to stand for what is right, to fight against patriarchy, to be a rebel against the corrupt system? Where there should be vigour, there is inertia; where there should be passion, there is indifference; where there should be opposition, there is retreat.
Why? If it doesn’t fulfil the purpose why do we thrive for degrees? Or is the whole exercise of pursuing degrees is to get a job and get themselves yoked under the monotonous restrictions of corporate world.
Our education system can breed extremists and jihadis but can’t produce rebels who can courageously challenge the wrongs of this society.
Let us try to address the reasons described above:
What if the degree gets delayed?
Why do parents not advise them to fight back?
Why is it embarrassing for the victim?
Where does the flaw lie?
The flaw pops up from the very syllabi which is crafted by the professors who are actually at times the predators. This syllabus totally centres on cramming up of the obsolete and archaic ideas to get through your sinister professor and academic semester.
Then comes the mental void created by the so called eastern culture and civilization where sex, harassment and the likes are taboos. No sex education is provided to children. Parents do not discuss the subject with their kids. This gives an impression in our early childhood that one should never ever bring this topic into discussion. This impression and fear goes and grows with us all our lives and our school, colleges and universities play no role in eradicating this fear and educating us.
Ultimately, the burden lies on women. They have to be courageous not only literate to face off this heinous crime, surreptitiously going on in every sphere of life.
Be that ‘Bad Woman’ who is loud and clear against injustice and oppression. You have to eradicate the fear, this society has implanted in you, and forget about it the way these predators have forgotten morality and humanity, nature once instilled in them.
