Gender-based violence is a phenomenon that has existed since the origin of civilizations. Faced with a wide and varied landscape of cultures, within different societies, the primacy of man over women has remained and has become one of the main characteristics of its evolution, growth, or its stagnation. The manifesto of the status of women in the different countries of the world has depended properly on the independent development of their political, economic, religious, cultural and social orders.
By the beginning of 2025, United Nations aligned estimates indicate that approximately 33% of women worldwide have experienced physical and or sexual violence in public and or private spaces at some point in their lives (WHO, 2025). Therefore, the study of cases of gender-based violence that continue to occur and persist in the 21st century is elementary, given the importance of safeguarding the human rights of all people. Today, the task of accepting and recognizing that violence against women persists, even after the arduous struggle that has followed since the second half of the twentieth century for mitigation, is hard and difficult. There are cultures that find far away the possibilities of confronting the deplorable situation of their women, since they possess a cluster of customs and traditions deeply rooted in their cultures that promote aggression and disqualification towards the female gender.
Misinformation, lack of precision and ineptitude by national governments in many countries about the implementation of public policies under constant female protection and security, as well as clear favoring the male gender. However, the multiple efforts of the people of each nation and international society to find a solution to gender-based violence has not stopped. Since the middle of the last century, after World War II, multiple social movements took place, as well as the creation of international organizations and non-governmental organizations to ensure women's rights.
The goal of all of them together has been clear and remains, from the contemporary era, the submissive role of women vanished. There is no backtrack on prevailing and achieved gender equality sooner or later around the world. Undoubtedly, one of the most powerful parties that liberated women's chains in all populations in 1993 was the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women.
This Declaration specifies the meaning of violence against women in Article 1, "any act of violence to the female sex that causes physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women" including threats, coercion, arbitrary deprivation of freedom in both public and private life, (UN, 1993). After reading it, it is most logical to take the view that all countries that are part of the United Nations respect and promote what is established there.
However, at present, international law is not respected by all countries in the field of gender-based violence. While the various nations adhere and participate in comprehensive treaties and agreements for their eradication, most often they prefer to preserve and apply their national laws, while handing out established conventionality. The above, as indicated above, motivates the continued celebration of customs and traditions typical of their regions, which, taking into account their history, sometimes turn out to be a shield of violence and aggression towards women, as in the case of the Asian country, India.
The millennial Indian nation has been in a disadvantaged position for women, violence against its women, and the continuation of discriminatory practices on women has been going on for hundreds of years. While India is a forerunner and example for many others, with a fascinating mythical, religious, linguistic, political and social wealth, it has yet to generate real gender equality in its population and despite its efforts it is far from ending with violent culture towards the female gender in all areas (religious, political and social).
Being a developing country with high rates of poverty and limited economic resources, marginalization manifests itself in multiple forms and due to the rooting of old traditions and a deep resistance to cultural and social changes, acts against rights humans are per-mission by the authorities, as are the practices of violence against women, as the American diplomat Isobel Coleman states confirms, (Coleman, 2013). Consequently, while more research, criticism and all kinds of studies are carried out that provide clear and concise information on the aggressive problem in which it is located, the closer a factual solution is seen to the violence that has been exercised there towards gender since the construction of this Asian country.
Gender-basedviolence in India has evolved over time and has not declined today. Over time, the role of their women heralds the reason for the permanence of violence and discrimination against them. The beginning of Indian civilization, of matriarchal families, framed and revered women in their religions, worshipped multiple goddesses. In fact, Indian women were those intellectual companions of their husbands, so their presence was indispensable (Anantha, 2009, P. XIV). Later, in Vedic times, families became patriarchal, changing their preferential status, but retaining a privileged role against the rest, since they were responsible for teaching cultures and traditions to the members of their families.
The drastic change loomed in the post-Vedic era, along with the invasions of the Turks and Mughals. The role of the woman became a catastrophe, the woman went from being important to being one more property of man. Their freedom was taken from them and when treated as objects, sexual assaults on them became a custom and tradition. In addition, it was during this period that the position of individuals in India influenced the reversal of tasks that depending on the social class to which the families belonged, would have certain or no rights and obligations, which would harm the possible routes of departure with that women might have counted to get out of oppression.
The most prestigious tasks for the most powerful and the less recognized and difficult tasks for the disadvantaged class. This is how in women's activities there was a degradation, normalizing the conversion of their recognized domestic work into imposed obligations to which they were enslaved and had no choice but to be submissive. Their null role before society prevented them from even wanting to raise their voices. The habit of being treated as a thing nullified the possibility of understanding the reality that simply because they were women, they did not deserve what they suffered.
With the arrival of England in India, the deplorable landscape did not change much for the female gender. New Western ideas, modernity and liberalism, were not accessible to all. Only women, of a high social position and middle-class, were those who from the twentieth century, because of their greater access to education and the global changes of that time, succeeded in building the first female support associations, as they began to realize that continuing the customs and traditions that humiliated them was not right, (Golani, 2011, P.24).
It is necessary to acknowledge that, as in everything in this life, exceptions were given to the general rule of abiding by their family obligations, in this sense, some women belonging to the poorest classes, despite being forced into the silence of their violent lives, they were not settled for the aberrations they suffered and found a way to express their opinions through religious literature.
Kannada's hymns of Akkamahadevi, which concern a holy woman who rejects caste and gender
inequality, are a clear example of how Indian women raised their voices since the twentieth century and even a while ago,(Anantha, 2009, P. XIII). No one can withstand so much suffering, yet not all, it is a historical achievement that few women have left in writing their harsh experiences and the contradiction they lived for accepting gender inequity throughout their lives.
Now, we know that the last century was characterized by several series of wars and revolutions, as well as global problems, and India was clearly not spared the effects and consequences of that contemporary era. After its decolonization, India experienced political changes that favored the increase in poverty that already existed. This reinforced social differences and null and down the few avenues of progress that its population had made until 1950s.
The truth is that, although reality shows us today that any society can overcome its weaknesses, the main mission lies in the recognition of the mistakes and failures that have been made to achieve the proposition of factual solutions that give beneficial results to their problems. The dilemma arises when countries fall into falsehoods, India, for example, does not accept in its entirety, the ravages of the past. However, it is a fact that the permanence of social inequality is due, as the Researcher Rubén Campos refers, to the fact that, despite beginning to be democratic, and the castes of its structure have been dismantled since 1950, these persist. And, therefore, in the face of a cluster of continuing social problems, the sinking of its women has deepened, and not for, (Campos, 2011, P. 52).
Since then, we can assert the obvious opportunities that the Indian government has had for the promotion and safeguarding of women's rights, but as it was not its ultimate objectives, they were described, for much of its participants. However, thanks to the efforts of many, the achievement of women to be part of Indian politics meant that they became a symbol of freedom, which motivated revolutionary society in times of uncertainty, (Angma Dey Jhala, 2008, P. 166).
This stage seems to me to be a key point for understanding the current situation in which India finds itself in terms of gender-based violence. By the time the men faced a real threat of loss of power, they have dedicated the steadies to reinforcing their masculinity and position. Therefore, despite having been incorporated for 70 years and today continue to be added or reformed laws, agreements, treaties, both national and international, on the protection of women's human rights, it has not worked, yes, the innards of their population retain a grudge against the female gender that is dedicated to fostering generation after generation, (García-Arroyo, 2009).
The lack of economic resources, the high number of populations, the magnificent geographical area, the lack of accessibility to provide education for all people (illiteracy), as well as a weak measurable quality of life, as well as the poor social well-being of the Indian population, facilitates men to continue their cultural prominence, further causing women's deterioration, while making it impossible for them to seek an improvement in their position of subordination to men. But certainly, despite the difficult meaning that this deserves, it will have to be recognized as Engels points out, that the subjugation of the female gender has been part of the construction of the culture of India itself, so it cannot be denied, on the contrary, it must in order to understand its evolution over time, (Engels, 1989).
I strongly believe that, to eradicate gender-based violence, a society must have more information on its national situation regarding its ailments. Then at the international level, promotion must be achieved to support countries suffering from this kind of violence, and only in this way it can be a breakthrough. Well, India had it, and right now it counts on it. Efforts to improve and succeed have not ceased, the dilemma focuses, in my opinion, that when their effort began, the actions they carried out did not become very effective, given that only a part of the population knew that they were fighting for equality, that is, for respect for women's rights.
What I mean is that the struggle began on the initiative of the privileged women sector, and not all Indian women felt represented by protectionist acts and the efforts that others made for their safety, by the lack of awareness of the meaning of violence against them. In addition, the oppression of the female voice exercised by men at the time was very strong, which hindered female endeavor. There was no strong union between all women when these struggles for the recognition of their human rights were made, (Forbes, 2008, P. 189).
Against this backdrop, most women understood child marriages, commitments and dowries as normal (the girl or woman is offered as an object that becomes the property of the husband once the marriage was consummated), the marginalization of widows, and accepted sexual assault, harassment and abuse, as one more aspect man possessed. They silenced crimes, the sale and trafficking of persons, engaged in prostitution when they were forced, so they were unable to understand that all those actions were brutalities that violated their human rights.
In this context, it would be unfair to blame the lack of support on the part of the entire Indian women's community. How could women belonging to indigenous groups be asked to be able to see their misfortune, when throughout their lives, they had been instructed to obey, to shut up, and their mothers and grandmothers had suffered the same atrocities. It should be noted that this continues to happen, not all people know the abyss in which they are located, and many populations who have eventually understood the wrongness of their sufferings, do not resort to asking for help of fear, shame or simply because of the lack of places where they support them.
During the second half of the twentieth century, the fight against gender-based violence in India remained in writing, but it was not carried out in acts. Despite feminist movements, since 1970, men continued to impose their power and commit heinous acts against them, (Patwardhan and Krishnamurti, 2016). However, the beginning of the 90s brightened the Indian population with hope. Multiple efforts were noted by the Indian government, implementing and reforming laws to protect women's rights and impose penalties on aggressors.
In turn, international organizations that had developed since the post-war period reinforced the importance of respect for women's law by implementing new human rights security measures and policies. To be sure, emerging non-governmental organizations won the lead role, because through their projects they stressed the importance of the struggle that women needed to pursue to end the subordination of their role against the male gender and dedicated to assistance and support in rural areas.
The twenty-first century finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel, but... Gender-based violence resisted, men secured their power and they increased brutalities. The permission and normality of female aggressions followed, the control of the patriarchy remained intact and strengthened, not the silence of the woman. The voice, the demonstrations, along with the digital age and globalization, as well as the shared feelings in the international society to help India's women faced the new millennium. I am convinced that this situation caused conservative men and those more attached to their culture to refuse more forcefully to visualize a transition of oppression that their women's freedom retained, so they reinforced the commission of acts aberrant against women.
We will wonder how difficult it can be for a man who was born in a traditional environment to get the idea of no longer being the one who commands in absolutely everything. Well, the answer is a lot, reality denotes that changing the idea of a human being is an arduous task, and for them it has been devastating. The sad and complicated issue in India’s last 20 years, has been that the more families come to open their mindset to equality between men and women, leaving behind the violent culture of their ancestors, but outside, the conservative society, vision incorrectly for the way they act and think.
In 2012, the horrific gang-rape committed on a bus in New Delhi by 5 men to Jyoti Singh, a 23-year-old woman who returned home at night, marked the beginning of the current struggle that Indian society pursues to live fearlessly when a woman is born. The case was loudly sounded and shown by the media, one of thousands happening in India, (Chamberlain and Bhabani, 2017). A case of gender-based violence at its best, without further words. From there more women dared to express the rapes against them.
The implications and repercussions that this case caused internationally led the government to implement and reform the sanctions and penalties of the aggressors, (Ellis-Petersen, 2019). However, the changes to the laws were not enough and the crimes continued. In the face of this, it seems to me that the answer lies in what I have based at the beginning of this work, education is everything, but the culture of equality is informed at an early age, it is practically impossible to change the present and the future.
One of the best consequences that generated since that year was the improvement of feminist movements, the struggle does not end, if the mistreatment continues, (Patiño, 2018). But it's not as easy to practice it as it's easy to refer to. Modern contemporary women in India are not yet able to externalize their voice, and when they do, it is sometimes worse. The government takes lots of time to resolve cases, and during that period, society against change exacts revenge on those women who accuse and denounce violence.
An example of the above, we see it in the men who raped Jyoti: they were executed 8 years after his crime in 2020. Another case was one based of a woman who accused her aggressors of rape and on her way to one of the hearings, before arriving at the courthouse, she was burned. These are the reasons and the situations that motivate thousands of women to not go to testify the crimes of which they are victims. Another reason they prefer to shut up is the shame and sorrow they feel when they are raped by men, due to those customs of the obligation to reach virgins to marriage, so, after being raped, they themselves ensure that no one else will take them in account after the men know they are not pure anymore, so must women remain silent, (Krishnan, 2018).
The lack of awareness of the Indian population about gender-based violence makes it much more difficult to show their people that it is wrong what they endure, as I have referred. That is not life, it is not justice, it is quite the opposite, they are ruinous, cruel and violent acts against them. In recent years, another cause in which aggressors justify violence has been due to political and religious differences (Bhatia, 2018). In 2018, the dramatic case of Asifa Bano, an 8-year-old Muslim girl who was drugged, raped and murdered by a group of Hindu men in a Hindu temple in Kathua district, was killed for the simple excuse that she belonged to another religion and was at a site of another religious culture, so she deserved to be punished.
Human poverty sees no limits, lack of information and education either, with the Indian past that I have clarified from the outset it is understandable that in the farthest mountains of India these kinds of crimes continue to be committed and that many women are afraid of asking for help, but they cannot continue to be allowed to remain violent, the culture and tradition of assaulting women must end sooner or later, (Chesler and Datta, 2020). I will clarify that, speaking out against the sexist customs and traditions of India, do not mean I am trying to incentivize Indian culture to be disqualified.
One wrong does not justify another, the historical, cultural, religious, linguistic and mythical richness of India can be fully praised, but it must not be accepted or sought, that the discrimination that women there continue to be maintained in the black veil has had and has. On the contrary, we can generate or provide help, as little as we can, such as writing about it, in order to help the ending of Indian gender-based violence, providing realistic information. It is not possible that in this modern age there will persist to be heinous acts against women.
One idea that needs to be changed and expanded is that rape, abuse and sexual harassment are properly committed by people who know women victims. In my view, this is not always the truth nor the case, since in all areas gender-based violence can be assaulted, both in public and private spaces, it does not know economic or social barriers, it simply happens and is encouraged. But it is a fact that this kind of violence not only provokes rape, abuse and sexual harassment, it currently reinforces another of the heinous events that occur in India, human trafficking. Expressed by the sale of women, girls and adults, both for marriage celebrations, beginnings in prostitution, drug trafficking, or simply for sexual exploitation and entertainment of a few men, (Banerjee, 2011, P. 31).
In the globalized world in which we live, these kinds of activities unfortunately are also economically productive for aggressors and traffickers, because they can move them from one place to another, making a lot of money for it. If the places of extreme poverty in India are not improved, with illiteracy, they will be still the perfect spaces for the recruitment of women to be fostered. No one knows them more than their families and peoples, who are so poor, that when they disappear, they know that they will not be persecuted and thereby ensure their human trafficking activities.
During 2019, many women have organized, on their own, different social movements, with greater intensity to eradicate marginalization, and break the abuse of male power. Thanks to NGOs and social media, equality draws closer to Indian women regardless of their place of origin, or low and high social strata. The #MeToo movement, for example, fights for the dignity and empowerment of Indian women. In addition, another key factor has been the globalization we find ourselves in, as women have had access to know the error of continuing to live in unsafe situations in all their environments.
The duty to continue today in India is at the individual, organizational, and community level, not only for women but also for men. Some still point out that the solution is to tighten laws, in my opinion, as a lawyer, no matter how much more laws a country establishes, but if there remains a critical endowed of ethics and a civic culture from an early age to follow them, it does not work.
For this reason, I emphasize that eradicating gender-based violence must be started by families, it is elemental that children grow up knowing their culture, their past, and perceive the world with equality, treated in the same way. Otherwise growing with the same inequality education as today will turn more difficult the further changes everyone wants to have in order to put an end to a culture of violence and discrimination against women.
Beyond remaining in the stagnation of the past, it is necessary to look toward the present and the future, to adopt existing guidelines and measures, implement them from early childhood, and encourage young women not to reproduce cycles of violence when forming families. At the same time, it is essential to promote human rights related to freedom of expression and gender equality. Particular attention must be given to the urgent need to eradicate digital violence, including the circulation of content that trivializes or sexualizes girls and women in India, as well as the dissemination of videos portraying forced marriages. Such practices perpetuate harm, normalize abuse, and must be actively confronted and eliminated through legal, educational, and social measures.
If you have experienced emotional, physical, digital, or any other form of harm that has left you feeling vulnerable, remember that you do not have to go through it alone.
At Amarelille, we are with you to support you, guide you, and offer a safe space grounded in sisterhood, active listening, and the defense of your rights. Because a life free from violence is not a distant ideal: it is a right.
Amarelille stands with you!
¡Amarelille va contigo!
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