India Back In The News For Rape

India is again in the news for violence against women. If you haven’t read about it, the summary of the story is four men accused of gang raping, then burning to death a woman, have been killed by police officers. The situation of their deaths is somewhat suspect, as they were allegedly gunned down during a reconstruction of their alleged crimes when they became aggressive and violent towards the police officers who took them there. 

Tragically, the rape and burning of the victim is nothing new. There is a systemic issue at play here. And women’s rights are squarely under attack. 

Let this statistic sink in for a moment: according to an article on the BBC (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-50682262) there are 92 reported rapes a day in India. 

92. Rapes. Per. Day. We should all be recoiling in horror at that statistic. Especially when you consider those are only the reported/registered cases to the police. Given the stigma associated with being a raped woman, we can only assume that number to be much higher. 

How can there be so little respect and basic human decency? What causes such little care and regard for another human being. 

India has the dubious reputation as being one of the unsafest places in the world to be a woman (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-rape-factbox/statistics-on-rape-in-india-and-some-well-known-cases-idUSKBN1YA0UV). Only around 25% of all rape cases in India lead to a conviction. It is easy to see why perhaps women would be inclined to not report, or have little to no hope of justice being served.

We need to talk about these realities. We need to stand behind our female counterparts half a world away. We need to support them and the people (women and men) who are working to change these biases. 

This isn’t a post to pick on one country. The rates of rape are similiarly horrifying in multiple other places around the world. India just happens to be highlighted right now because of what has transpired. And as a footnote to what the police did, the families of the original victim have reported satisfaction with the accused deaths because it’s a form of justice served. With a justice system so skewed towards low conviction rates, how can we blame them? 

We can’t change the world. But we can all make a difference. And your support of our small company helps to contribute to the betterment of gender equality, female opportunity and a better world all over. We humbly thank you for that. 

Keep the conversation on female and gender equality going! Together we can start to make a difference. 

Much love,

FEM Apparel Ltd.