Women and Child Safety Revisited - Inputs

Dear Friends,

Early on, we had developed a whitepaper on Women and Child Safety which was submitted to Ministry of Women and Child Affairs.

At that time our circle was 1/3rd its current size. Before we do a follow up with the Ministry, we want to see any additional inputs that you might have.

Kindly review the Issues, Root Causes and Solutions below related to Women and Child Safety and add any additional comments you may have.

We will then add anything additional and resubmit this to the PMO and Ministries. It is critical that strong actions are taken by the Government at the earliest on this front.

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Women and Child Safety – Issues, Root Causes and Solutions


Key Issues Identified

1. Rapes
2. Killings
3. Assaults
4. Family Violence
5. Abuse (Physical and Verbal)
6. Human trafficking
7. Child abduction
8. Child molestation
9. Child labour

Root Causes Identified

1. Men are not sensitive enough about women needs and their place in civil society
2. Hard punishment is not given to offenders
3. Weak and time consuming judicial system
4. Not enough electronic surveillance around the cities
5. Non-existent/Ineffective emergency numbers and response mechanism to tackle women and child emergency situations
6. Lack of moral education in India’s education system
7. The Police is ineffective, has a bad image and considered not approachable
8. Lack of Women Toilets, special compartments, security in general.
9. Girl child is still treated as a taboo in various communities
10. Low literacy rates in rural India
11. Insufficient or Ineffective Self Help Groups
12. Child labor laws not implemented effectively
13. Electronic/print media projecting women as a commodity and an object of desire.


Solutions Identified

1. Reporting of crime against women to be made very quick and easy
2. Stricter censorship of the print and electronic media content
3. Sex education to be provided at school
4. Self-defence programs should be made mandatory for children at school
5. Counsellors in all government and private schools
6. A one-stop emergency helpline should be developed to help women/children in any distress
7. Setting up the dedicated, fast track benches in the existing courts with strict and harsh punishment for the offenders
8. Increase electronic surveillance
9. Women need to be empowered through Mobile and Social Media
10. Educating the society about gender discrimination
11. Better facilities for sanitation should be provided in rural areas
12. The image of police should be given a makeover and they should become easy to approach
13. More representation of Women and their participation in law making. more