Seminar on womens rights held

CHENNAI: Unlike many other ancient civilisations that treated women as property, the Indian civilisation had a history of respecting women’s rights, said M Swaminathan, Chairman of the Ethiraj College for Women, speaking at a seminar on Wednesday.The seminar titled ‘Women society and law in the new millennium — an international dialogue’, was an attempt to explore various provisions on women’s rights enshrined in the US legal systems with experts from the US discussing its pros and cons. Shoshanna Ehrlich, assistant professor of women’s studies at the University of Massachusetts, discussed the various aspects and history of American gender rights movements. The US Consul General, Jennifer A McIntyre presided over the seminar.According to Shoshanna, “The laws in America in the 1800s allowed the husband to use some force to secure the obedience of his wife.” Violence against women in America has not just been restricted to married relationships but has also affected dating relationships, according to Shoshanna. “However, as many women continued to retract from filing legal cases against their spouses or violators of rights, the American legal system brought in the no-drop policy which prevents a woman from backing out of a case.” Comparing the case with India, M Swaminathan pointed out that most of the women’s rights violations and abuse  happened in India within the family. “A national study points that in a state like Uttar Pradesh, more than 32 per cent of crimes against women has happened within their families by close relatives including husbands, in laws and siblings. This combined with harassment and abuse for dowry related cases put the number at above 50 per cent.” However, pointing to case studies like Kerala, where the violence against women has been steadily reducing, Swaminathan said that policy initiatives like access and right to property for women will ensure betterment of situation and guarantee of rights.“Women rights related laws have become so strong in America that there is currently a movement going on there for protection of men’s rights from the abuse of these stringent laws,” concluded Shoshanna.