The focus of the recent gang-rape and murder of two poor lower caste girls in India followed by the disgusting refusal by the police to investigate this heinous crime, has been largely on their gender. But this shameful incident reveals the fate of those who belong to a demographic where three of the worst categories converge in a developing nation like India - 1. Poor, 2. Low-caste, 3. Female. Of these arguably the least worst is to be poor - because hard as it may be, a person at least has hope of advancing their financial status in life. Next worst is to be a low-caste. Because while the caste system reigns supreme in a village, birth matters little in large and arch-capitalistic cities like Mumbai which know but only one color - green (money, not the environment). Its the equivalent of New York City for a person of color in the US. But the WORST of all, is to be born a woman in a developing country in Asia. For that has neither to do with financial or social status. It is an indelible mark of inferiority that a person can never be rid of neither by moving location nor by achieving higher income status. It is a shameful mark that pervades women of all economic and social status, high or low caste, rich or poor. Never mind all the boasts about culture and tradition, to condemn half of humanity to subhuman status is the darkest and most sinful stain on the soul of a nation.
Posted on: Sun, 01 Jun 2014 15:34:36 +0000
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