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Violence against women prompts a religious challenge

Violence against women prompts a religious challenge

The brutal gang rape and murder of the Indian student in Delhi shook me to my core. Even worse is the realisation that gang rape is common enough in India to be a cause for public protest. And that is not all. The world’s largest democracy is awash with violence towards women. Apart from rape there are dowry murders and acid attacks stemming from the fact that brides are viewed as commodities.

Of course, violence against women is not limited to India. It is a universal phenomenon across cultures. And much of the blame for perverse attitudes towards women falls squarely on the shoulders of major religions. Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism and Islam — all have a “problem” with women. All major religions are inherently deficient in their attitudes to women.

Jewish women may not walk on the street lest they disturb the religious purity of ultra-Orthodox men. Anglicans find it difficult to accept women as bishops. Catholics deny all possibility of ordination for women. The Taleban shoot girls for daring to demand education. The Hindu caste system places women among the lowest of the low. In certain varieties of Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism, a woman’s actions can bring shame to a whole family and lead to “honour” killing.

Notice how quickly the Indian religious authorities moved to blame the victim. One spiritual leader, Asaram Bapu, declared that the 23-year-old student was “as guilty as her rapist”. Jamaat-e-Islami, one of the main Islamic organisations of India, called for abolition of co-education and asked women to wear “sober and dignified” dress.

It is not women but men who need to change. Violence against women is not a “problem of women”. It is a problem of men. To describe atrocious behaviour by men as a “women’s issue” is a category mistake that places the emphasis on the powerlessness of the victims and potential victims. Theology and tradition are nourishing a kind of misogynist man who sees women as inherently weak, agents of immorality, commodities to be exploited and unsuitable for religious office. The sooner the terminology accurately locates the root of the problem the better.

Ziauddin Sardar | This article can be read in full at thetime.co.uk

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