After the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean, a term called “tsunami marriages” was in use to describe ‘forced early marriages’ of young girls to older men. There were reports of girls who survived the disaster being under pressure to have more children to replace those who died.
Similar consequences were meted out to the women survivors of the Union Carbide Gas Leak in 1984 in Bhopal that is seen as the world’s worst industrial disaster. Some who became infertile as a consequence were even beaten and abused.
Disasters affect everyone, but they always affect women and girls disproportionately, and the coronavirus pandemic is no different.
According to a UNESCO estimate, nearly 321 million children are staying at home since the nationwide lockdown has been imposed to stop the spread of the virus.
Despite a temporary loss of learning, it is young girls, especially from vulnerable groups, who are going to be the worst hit. Several studies show that closure of schools has only increased physical and sexual abuse of young girls with India recording a 100% rise in domestic violence.
In a country with an already dismal level of learning, COVID-19 outbreak could only mean that these girls might never return to school.
With the loss of livelihood due to the lockdown for most of the disadvantaged groups, families will only look for alternate modes of earning, and priority will shift towards income generation. Economic vulnerability, coupled with the ever-existing patriarchal codes, will only mean that families look at the opportunity costs and affordability of sending their girls to school. As a result, the focus will automatically shift to income generation, and girls’ education will be their least priority. In a country where patriarchy seeps deep, access to education itself is a struggle.
Lives of girls who come from the lower sections of the social pyramid are congealed systematically to servitude, humiliation and exploitation. They attract a whole other kind of violence, protection risks and vulnerabilities.
Dalit and Adivasi girls bear the triple burden of caste, class and gender. The suppression is systemic, which actively prevents them from getting access to education and subsequent liberation.
Patriarchy asserts and reasserts itself. Our laws and social codes of conduct are embedded in these systemic gender imbalances. There is always a strong concern for modesty and the desire to forever control girls from a young age through isolating, veiling and other such limitations.
Society, at large cherishes the institution of marriage that conditions girls to assume domestic responsibilities at a very young age and economic dependency on men. Our social codes of conduct uphold patriarchy. Girls are stripped off every iota of independence over their life and made to pedestalize familial love and happiness.
Education as a basic right was recognized globally 74 years ago with Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, yet seven decades later, two-third of the worlds’ illiterate adults are women.
India made the Right to Education a Fundamental Right in 2010. It did make a difference in the number of girls attending schools in terms of the enrollment rates. What the law did not address is why girls are unable to attend schools—domestic responsibilities. At the secondary level, the exclusion rates go up steadily.
Data shows that the enrollment rates drop soon after girls attain the age of 14, up to where the government ensures free education. After this age, they are dragged back to household chores, and families don’t prefer spending further on their education. According to a report by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, 40% of girls drop out after the age of 14, and among them, 65% are engaged in household chores.
This inadequacy has cracked open even more on the face of the pandemic. As a result of this, there is a high possibility that gender disparity will only sharpen. Consequently, millions of girls will be forced to lead even more unequal lives in India after the pandemic.
In sum, even before this humanitarian crisis, the majority of the girls live pre-decided lives, and when these girls try to overcome these norms and rules, it invites violence. Our society’s functioning preys on the vulnerabilities of women.
Therefore, to bring back these young girls, we have to address the systemic indifference to the needs of girls. Education response, especially post-COVID-19, should prioritize and address the needs of adolescent girls.
Research shows that women’s education can effectively help break the cycles of structural poverty. But in India, women contribute only 18% to the GDP, one of the lowest in the world. Thus, it becomes essential to focus on female education in ‘aspiring’ countries like India. There should be a constitutional provision that ensures free and compulsory girls education even at the secondary level and provisions to allow girls who dropped out to be able to continue schooling.
Children from marginalized communities have to be engaged with directly. There is a need to de-congeal the already congeal lives of Dalit and Adivasi girls.
We need to move beyond catchy lines and policies and have a gender-responsive and context-based schemes and policies. On the one hand, we may aspire to be a superpower, but on the other hand, millions of girls in India are battling to get their basic human entitlement.