Women

The declining sex ratio of Indian cities, even the capital city of Delhi

The problem of an adverse sex ratio is a ticking time bomb that has already been exploding in some parts of India. It is a social problem that has been present now for decades, and the Government claims that it is doing everything it can to bring about equality. This includes education programs for people to ensure that they respect the girl child, money incentives to ensure that people bring up their girl child (which also ensures that people get a lump sum at the time of the marriage of their girl children), and removal of the ways in which people learned that the baby in the womb was a girl, and did an abortion. As the last step, the determination of whether the foetus was a girl through ultrasound is banned throughout India, and anybody who helps or asks for sex determination is liable for prosecution.
However, all these measures do not seem to be working. In many parts of North India, and in the cities where you expect more value for the girl child and more education, the sex ratio seems to be falling. A result of what a bleak sex ratio can be seen in many parts of Haryana and Rajasthan where there are no more brides for many of the eligible bachelors and they have to import brides from Bihar and other parts of the country. Even in a city that is seemingly the center of power, and where you would expect a lot of education, Delhi seems to be falling behind, and the sex ratio is really worrisome (link to article):
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Chief Justice of India makes a different suggestion – let rape victim marry the accused if she wants

Typically in India, the criminal justice system has not been handling the crime of rape very well. The confidentiality of victims is not maintained by either the media or by the judicial system, cases take a long time to happen (if you leave aside the fast track cases, which are an exception); the medical examination in the police process or the cross examination in the courtroom are not fully cognizant of ensuring that the victim’s sensitivities are kept in mind (with some cross examination being distinctly hostile, in some cases, implying that the victims were asking for it). Then, when the actual case is going on, natural principles of justice are given a go-by; this happens when the testimony of the alleged victim is enough to incriminate the accused (with the moralistic attitude that no lady would accuse rape unless it was true). However, this is not enough, since such a slant in favor of the alleged victim can be mis-used in many cases (with judges and courts getting swayed by the testimony of a defenceless victim and deciding to convict the dastardly villain even if the circumstances are questionable and the evidence is not enough to convict the accused beyond a reasonable level of doubt).
One area where morality and law were setting out on a conflict was in terms of a future relationship. The morality in India says that because the honor of the victim has been sullied, no one will take her, and maybe it is easiest for everybody if she marries the accused (and any child that may be born of the crime also has the natural father). This has been objected to very strongly by many organizations, by the courts, and by the media, since this assumption of a loss in honor of the victim, along with the effort to marry her off, would imply that she has no self-respect; further, this does not take into account the fact that she had been subject to an incredible humiliation by the accused, and that any person who did this to her could not be trusted with her future. He would be just trying to save himself from a sentence, and once free, would be free to subject her to more torture and even forced sexual interaction. Courts have also been refusing to entertain such requests by the accused in rape cases and throwing out their efforts.

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Law subjugates Shia women in Afghanistan

In April, there was wide-spread international condemnation when a legislation catering to the Shia sect in Afghanistan was passed. This legislation tilted the gender balance very strongly towards men, something not uncommon in Islamic countries. However, since Afghanistan was a place where troops from many nations were fighting the Taliban, and many of these troops were losing their lives, there was more outrage. How could a country have such a law if the Government of the country was dependent on foreign aid and foreign support. At that time, the President of Afghanistan, Karzai, shook off the criticism by claiming that he had not read the legislation clearly before signing it, and he would take steps to revert. However, seems like nothing really happened after that (link to article):

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