Imagine the potential of India if women were given equal rights: Monique Villa

A survey of experts said last week that India, a country that has long been receiving ink for its economic feats in the global press, is the worst place to be a woman among the world's biggest economies. The survey of 370 gender experts by TrustLaw, a legal news service of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, held another surprise in that India was behind even Saudi Arabia, where women are still not allowed to drive and earned the right to vote only in 2011.Monique Villa, CEO, Thomson Reuters Foundation, tells Binoy Prabhakar that a combination of infanticide, child marriage and a feudal mindset pushed India to the bottom of the ranking. Excerpts:
What does the poll really say about India? Do you see women being abused only in pockets untouched by the benefits of India's economic progress or is it pervasive? India's economic boom over the last two decades has helped certainly empower women and change mindsets of how men see women. Increased job creation and opportunities have allowed the poor to pull themselves out of poverty to join a growing middle class, where more women are going out to work - making them appear as an asset to their families rather than the traditional perceived belief of a "burden". This has given them not only financial resources, but mobility and respect.
But discrimination and abuse against women is not caused by poverty. Poverty just exacerbates the situation for women - the root causes lie in the patriarchal mindsets which see women as inferior, as objects to be exploited and used for domestic/sexual/financial gain. Age-old feudal views see women as inferior, objects to be confined to homes and/or exploited for sexual and domestic servitude.
For example, foeticide is because people want a boy and also don't want the burden of dowry and having to look after a girl in case she elopes and falls in love with the wrong kind of man and/or is raped, which will bring shame on the family. As a result of this, 12 million girls have been aborted over the last three decades, according to a 2011 study by The Lancet. The curse of dowry continues even after marriage. One bride was murdered every hour over dowry demands in 2010, says the National Crime Records Bureau.
Another custom is child marriage. According to the International Center for Research on Women, almost 45 per cent of girls in India are married below 18 years old. The practice is one of the worst as it cuts across every part of woman's development -creating a vicious cycle of malnutrition, poor health and illiteracy. A child bride is more likely to drop out of school and have serious complications during pregnancy and childbirth. Her children are also more likely to be underweight and lucky to survive beyond the age of five.
Poverty exacerbates the situation for women, but is not the cause. The root is that girls are often seen as second-class citizens, not that they don't have money.
There are many examples in India - as in many other countries and notably, Saudi Arabia - that wealth does not necessarily equate with equal rights and respect for women. Some of the highest rates of female foeticide are amongst wealthy Indian middle class families due to their desire for a son. These are educated, wealthy families living in posh colonies of New Delhi. In fact, some of the wealthiest states, such as Haryana and Punjab, have the highest prevalence rates of female foeticide.
Also, in well-known areas of economic growth, such as Gurgaon and Noida, rape reports are common. As a result, Delhi and its environs have been given the unsavoury reputation as the "rape capital" of India. So, of course, women are still disrespected, abused and violated in rich regions as well as poor.