Sexual Violence: A Global Pandemic/4th to 11th August 2018

Sexual violence is a global pandemic. One in three women experiences sexual or physical violence – most likely from their intimate partner, according to a report from the World Health Organization. There is an urgent need to increase sensitization regarding sexual violence and the awareness of consent and sexual violence amongst persons at large. In this series, we examine sexual violence and related issues that have come up in the news, on a weekly basis, published every Saturday. This is an attempt to improve awareness regarding incidents of sexual violence and related matters, so that we, as a society can take steps towards collective action to reduce its incidence. It is an effort to ensure that we acknowledge the rampant sexual violence that exists, lest we forget.

This issue looks at news from 4th to 11th August 2018.

1. Japanese medical school admits rigging exams to favour men

Japan’s medical profession has come under heavy scrutiny this week as the country responded with furore to a confession by a prominent medical school that it had systematically rigged its entrance exams against female applicants for more than a decade. In 2015, the share of female doctors in Japan stood at 20.3 percent, the lowest among 34 countries according to data compiled by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The reason for discrimination being that women tend to quit as doctors after starting families.

2. Women protesting in the Argentina abortion debate

The proposal, which would allow women to legally terminate a pregnancy in the first 14 weeks, passed the lower house by a narrow margin in mid-June, after a feverish 22-hour session.

The bill would make Argentina the third Latin American country to broadly legalise abortion, after Cuba and Uruguay.

The vote is anticipated to be tight in the conservative 72-member Senate.

3. Crimes against women up 34% in four years; most reports from UP, Maharashtra, West Bengal

Crimes against women increased 34 percent over the last four years to 2015, with cruelty by husbands and relatives being the most widely reported crime, according to the latest data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

The rate of crime against women – defined as crimes reported divided by total women population – has gone up from 41.7 to 53.9 between 2012 and 2015.

4. 8-month Pregnant Woman Gang-raped by 8 Men in Maharashtra

An eight-month pregnant woman from Satara was allegedly gang-raped by eight men in Sangli, following which Maharashtra’s women’s panel on Thursday took a serious note amid widespread condemnation and sought a report from police, an official said.The attackers tied the husband, gagged and locked him inside his vehicle and allegedly gang-raped the woman even as she pleaded with them to let her go due to her condition.

The attackers even threatened the couple against informing police, claiming that “they were very influential and nobody will listen to the couple”.

5. Don’t Rape a Woman, Her Father Will Feel Bad: This is What a Billboard in India Tells Us

 Don’t Rape a Woman, Her Father Will Feel Bad is what a Billboard in India Tells Us. A poster stating how when you rape a woman, you end up raping more people has surfaced.It is high time that India realise it’s not necessary to be anyone’s relative for a person to be treated as human being.The poster has left us thinking about the mindset of the Indians towards rape and what still needs to be changed.

This article was first published on Safecity, as a part of the blogging team by Blessy Varghese.