RedFlagMagazine

Location: Toronto, Canada

Name:  Roop Gill

Words: by Roop Gill

Photograph: Maja Zonjic

During the final days of 2012, India was erupting with anger over the heinous case of gang rape that claimed the life of a 23-year-old. Protestors took to the streets in New Delhi, where the rape occurred, and other parts of India to raise their voice against the government’s lassie faire attitude towards rape, Eve teasing and women’s rights. In a country, where a woman is sexually abused every 20 minutes, gender equality is a taboo issue that has never gained extensive and continued attention.

The anger and uproar continued well into 2013 and reached my home, here in Toronto, Canada. My Mom and Aunt, both very strong females to look up to, decided that something must be done here in Toronto to highlight this issue to Canadians. Even though Indians leave India, they bring their mentality with them to foreign countries where they reside in. There have been countless incidents of Indian males staring me down when I walk around Toronto. Pretending like I don’t understand what they are saying is the best way to ignore their crude comments on the street. Even though Indian people have been fully integrated into the Canadian society, have they adopted Western principles like gender equality? I don’t think so because I don’t see it around me.

Feticide is a widely recognized issue even in Canada. Boys are favored over girls in many walks of life. Boys are given more freedom than girls in the Indian community. We may have traveled a long distance from our home and roots to escape the social injustices, but have we really come that far?

This photo is from a silent march held outside the Indian consulate in Toronto on January 3, 2013, demanding two things: stricter laws and effective implementation of these laws, and a social change in the mindset of the people. The fundamental change that needs to be seen in the Indian society is how young boys are raised and taught to treat women. If they see their mothers being treated poorly by their fathers, they’ll think it’s OK to do so. If they see that they are being favored over their sisters, they’ll think male preference is normal. Respect for women needs to be instilled in the mind of every young Indian boy from the very first day in order to change the social system of gender inequality and injustice towards women.

They have announced that buses can’t have tinted windows in New Delhi anymore (the girl was raped in a bus by the bus driver, his brother and friends). Similarly auto rickshaws can’t have a curtain on one side that protects the passengers from wind and rain. All this isn’t going to reduce the rape rate in India. A transformation in the way Indians think will. It looks like that transformation has started, but there is a still a long way to go.