TOPIC - Gang Rape

 The gang rape of an Indian student has put woman’s treatment by society in the world’s mind. In Europe with the small proportion of successful prosecutions for rape, with few women in parliaments or on company boards etc… are we much better?

We’re off to a running start here! Watch out Stephen Nolan! Causeway U3A are on to you! Of course the action of gang rape in India was unanimously deplored but in a weird way there was also a certain sense of relief that the topic was finally out in the open again. Modern Western society has almost put a glass ceiling on women’s rights and young people in particular no longer give the matter any real attention. There is an alarming complacency towards women’s safety in everyday activity in this country and it was agreed that date rape and rape by parties known to the victim were much more common place than freely admitted in our society. From the 300,000 rapes reported each year there were only ever a few hundred successful convictions. Does that make us any better than our Indian counterpoints? The caste system, male dominance and cultural attitudes may play a part in India where women are undeniably disempowered in comparison with the Western World. However women here still have a battle to fight in terms of their right to walk the streets at night in safety, to date, and even at times to exist within a family without being prey to the violence of rape. Rape continues to be a major issue in any society and perhaps now we should be grateful that India is the chosen battleground. Let’s not be complacent that the battle has been won in the west. That is generally recognised as far from the truth. 

The discussion ventured into the domain of gender roles in society. Were some jobs more suitable for men than women? It was felt by some that physique may on occasion dictate the appropriateness of some jobs for women. For example intensive labouring may not suit everyone. However advances in mechanisation meant that more jobs were open to more people. What was unanimously decided was that we should all, irrespective of gender, have the right to choose. To have the capacity to choose our profession, our capability, our work/life balance, our goals, our personal ceiling, that is what is important. In our willingness to advance human rights to all genders we would not in any way want to impose our Western values on other societies.

So if we then recognise that the empowerment of women continues to be an issue in our society do we not then have a responsibility to do what we can to support the debate in whatever ways we can? Social networking has had some success in bringing these issues to the fore and this was perhaps where we could best support our colleagues worldwide.