Category: Blog

The Syria-Turkey border crisis triggered by the US continues to create political reverberations in the rising powers. On October 7, 2019, United States President Donald Trump abruptly announced that he intended to withdraw US troops from Syria: “[I]t is time for us to get out of these ridiculous Endless Wars [sic], many of them being tribal, and bring our soldiers home. […] Turkey, Europe, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Russia and the Kurds will now have to figure the situation out”. At a press conference later that day, President Trump confirmed his plans as “a firm decision.” Two days later, Turkey launched an assault on Syria, with plans to clear a stretch of land to resettle Syrian refugees. This action confirmed fears that the US withdrawal left its Kurdish allies at risk. On October 17, US and Turkey brokered a 120-hour ceasefire to allow Kurdish forces time to withdraw. As the ceasefire was due to expire on October 22, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Moscow and successfully negotiated a longer ceasefire set to expire on October 29, which was supported by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Reports of violations of the ceasefire remain rampant, however. Despite the US’s announcement to withdraw from the region, on October 27, the US raided a compound in northwestern Syria and killed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a key leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist organization. In announcing the outcome of the raid, Trump thanked “the nations of Russia, Turkey, Syria and Iraq, and […] the Syrian Kurds” for their support in the operation. Read the full Policy Alert here. 

The dates were announced late and the meeting was dubbed an informal summit, but on October 11-12, 2019, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met for their second such meeting in Chennai, India. The meeting was President Xi’s first trip abroad since the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China on October 1. The first informal summit was held in April 2018 in Wuhan, China, following the tense stand-off between the two rising powers at the disputed border in Doklam in August 2017. While their bilateral ties got a small boost from the face-to-face discussions, a number of issues remain unresolved, including the proposed China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, China’s support of Pakistan over the Kashmir dispute at the United Nations Security Council, and the conditions of ASEAN’s Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) multilateral trade agreement, which India had delayed joining due to domestic opposition. Read the full Policy Alert here.

The 74th Assembly of the United Nations General Assembly opened on September 17, 2019, with the high-level debates following on September 24. The first Youth Climate Summit and Climate Action Summit convened ahead of the high-level debates, and Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg’s impassioned speech to world leaders at the Climate Action Summit set the stage for heated debate both at the UN and domestically over the issue. United States President Donald Trump kicked-off high-spirited exchange with his international counterparts with his speech to the General Assembly, in which he asserted that “The future does not belong to globalists. The future belongs to patriots,” critiqued the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) classification of China as a developing country, and criticized China for its handling of protests in Hong Kong and Iran for its “violent and unprovoked aggression.” In this Rising Powers Policy Alert, we review the developments in bilateral and multilateral cooperation and discord at the largest annual meeting of world leaders that concluded September 30. Read the full Policy Alert here.

 

RPI Director Deepa M. Ollapally gave a talk entitled “Comparative Foreign Policies of Rising Powers” to more than 200 students and faculty at Christ University in Bangalore, India on September 9, 2019, at the invitation of the Department of International Studies and History.

 

 

 

On September 14, 2019, a large oil processing facility in Saudi Arabia was incapacitated in a drone attack. The Saudi Aramco facility in Abqaiq is one of the world’s largest processing centers for crude oil, with some estimates of its capacity at five million barrels per day. Houthi rebels based in Yemen claimed responsibility for the attack and called for an end to the ongoing civil war in the country, in which the Houthi rebels are backed by Iran and the Yemeni government are supported by Saudi Arabia. Despite the claim, both Saudi Arabia and the United States have accused Iran of perpetrating the attack. With tensions in the region already running high with the US’s withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and reinstatement of economic sanctions against Iran and its trade partners, the Rising Powers are bracing themselves for ripple effects. Read the full Policy Alert here.

In the field of early childhood development, the wellbeing of primary caregivers has increasingly received attention as a means to ensure that they are providing the best environments and routines for raising young children. Findings on the connection between maternal wellbeing and child wellbeing have emphasized the need for policymakers to develop services such as home visitations, training programs, and provision of nutritional supplements. These services help expose mothers to research-based practices that can assist their young children connect with and learn about the people and world around them.  Still, the work that any mother puts into raising her child requires a lot of energy, and even with the provision of assistance services, the immediate network around the mother—e.g., the child’s father, her parents, in-laws, siblings, friends, and neighbors—can be a more powerful influence in a mother’s decisions with regards to raising her child.

 

For my research, I decided to focus specifically on the views and influence of grandmothers in relation to those of mothers on the topic of raising young children. Recent studies emphasize intergenerational differences and learnings between mothers and grandmothers especially. My own capstone project is inspired in part by Sharma et al.’s 2009 studyon mothers’ and grandmothers’ perspectives on early childhood education in the Jammu district of Jammu and Kashmir. USAID and US foreign embassies have recognized the importance of the connections of external family members such as grandmothers, and have collaborated with local groups such as Grandmothers Raising Grandchildrenin Kenya and The Grandmother Projectin multiple countries. In the context of West Bengal, India, the family structure norms across social classes are no longer mainly those of joint families but now include nuclear families, migrant families where grandparents may serve as primary caregivers, and single parent families. As such, the role of grandmothers in a child’s life is shifting from having less presence in the lives of their grandchildren to being more involved in a child’s day-to-day care than her own parents due to larger social and economic changes in the state. While the majority of programming for families of young children targets mothers, the incentive to direct more programming to extended family members such as grandmothers has several driving factors:

• Mothers’ experiences with raising young children will be impacted by what they experienced as young children themselves; in this way, understanding how grandmothers raised their children and how they want to rear their own grandchildren can help service providers learn about mothers’ attitudes toward childrearing practices. In Birbhum district for example, Santal mothers who had participated in the non-profit program as children would cite both their personal experience in the program and their own mother’s decision to enroll them in the program as motivation to support their children’s attendance at formal schools and to pursue greater academic opportunities than they had growing up.
• For grandmothers who are more involved in caregiving for young children – such as when both parents are working outside the home – their perspectives and practices are crucial for service providers to understand what a child’s environment and routines are like and how service providers can provide appropriate resources to assist grandmothers. Many of the grandmothers I interviewed in Kolkata mentioned that it is rare for non-profit and public programs and formal schools to reach out to them for their input on caring for their young grandchildren. As a result, grandmothers may only have limited interactions with program staff, and any information that is given to parents may not always be shared with the grandmothers. Given the increasing instances in which grandmothers are taking on an increased caregiving role for young children, it is essential that they are included in servicer providers’ efforts to engage with family. Additionally, the US government’s international early childhood education initiatives that engage grandmothers can also address issues of elderly wellbeing and engagement.
• Both paternal and maternal grandmothers can be helpful in passing down positive childrearing advice to not only mothers, but to fathers as well. Several grandmothers I interviewed noted that they would use their wisdom to encourage their sons and son-in-laws, the fathers, to be active in their own children’s lives. As such, grandmothers and mothers alike described seeing fathers interact in positive ways with their children, like playing games, feeding, and conversing. This influence is important because of traditional socio-cultural that may not have encouraged fathers to be as engaged in childrearing.
• For mothers who look to both their own mothers and mother-in-laws for childrearing advice, delivering knowledge to grandmothers can help the mothers have certain knowledge reiterated to them by multiple voices and create a consensus amongst multiple family members about what is best for the child. When I interviewed mothers and grandmothers from the same family – regardless of if they were the paternal or maternal grandmother – it appeared concurrence on childrearing issues allowed them to both quickly process information received on different aspects of early childhood education and empowered the family members to be more discerning consumers of this information. Family members could collaborate to see what new information would mean for them and they wanted to adopt new practices.

Given that so many public and private sector service providers strive to impart positive childrearing practices to families of young children and generate positive outcomes for early childhood development, more effort is needed to reach out to extended family beyond mothers. Understanding the ways in which grandmothers can be part of promoting positive outcomes for their grandchildren would be beneficial for US policymakers. We require further research on the roles of grandmothers in different cultural contexts, such as that of India, and the best means to engage grandmothers as agents of change in the lives of young children.

 

By Paromita De, Sigur Center Field Research Grant Recipient for Summer 2019. De is a second-year student in the International Education Masters program at the George Washington University with a specialization in the economics of education.

In the past few years, my professional work and academic studies with specialization on early education exposed me to the importance of maternal/caregiver wellbeing and the professional development of early educators to the care of young children. My interviews with mothers and grandmothers in Kolkata and Birbhum districts of West Bengal, India supported by the Sigur Center’s Asian Field Research Fellowship, allowed me to acquire deeper knowledge on the hurdles for young children from marginalized backgrounds and prospects to assist them from public and private sector resources. Part of my inspiration for pursuing this study was the desire to connect mothers’ and grandmothers’ views on raising young children to the quality of professional early childhood services, including early education. Being able to learn about the ways that educators and families in West Bengal are working together to promote the welfare of young children has challenged me to think about potential ways to enhance early education in India, the United States, and the world more generally. The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs under the US State Department is known for its work supporting students, scholars, and professionals’ international exchange. Several of the bureau’s programs target cultural exchange between teachers in the US and other participating countries; however, these programs are more likely to target primary and secondary school teachers. An international exchange program for American and international early educators can be beneficial in a number of ways, including:

• Affirming a global commitment to quality early childhood development. Sustainable Development Goal 4 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child both are examples of international policy agendas that advocate for the interests of young children’s development and the importance of early childhood development because they are key to the growth of a country and the world. However, countries have addressed these agendas’ targets to varying degrees, with some countries demonstrating a lack in expertise about how they can better invest in early childhood. The mothers and grandmothers I interviewed in Kolkata and Birbhum districts were aware of the ways in their marginalization affected their children’s access to and quality of education. International exchange between early educators will encourage education systems of different countries to be more accountable for ways they can fulfill the goals of these policy agendas.
• Providing a forum for educators to brainstorm ways to improve early learning programs, both in the public and private sectors, from a cross-cultural perspective. The values that families and educators alike bring to early learning experiences differ across cultures. Questions regarding the age at which a child should ideally enroll in formal early learning opportunities, whether early learning opportunities should be more or less structured and more or less academic, and how to serve children from marginalized groups are questions that early educators grapple with all over the world. Mothers and grandmothers I interviewed in Kolkata and Birbhum districts often discussed how matters that are often considered supplementary items to early learning – such as the length and duration of a program, the language of instruction, and positive forms of child discipline – were factors that determined whether or not they would even send their child to a pre-primary program. By observing and participating in early childhood education training in another context and seeing how others construct learning experiences for the young children they work with, early educators can weigh the pros and cons of how they shape the experiences for the young children in their home countries. Additionally, such a forum may bolster more research and innovation in the field of early education to understand what factors that pertain to the early learning setting add value to a child’s socio-emotional, physical, and cognitive development.
• Improving the professional status of early educators worldwide. Despite global recognition of the importance of early learning as a critical process to prepare children for a healthy and prosperous life, early educators worldwide often do not receive enough resources and support to conduct their jobs effectively. Shortages of early educators, low barriers for entry into the profession, a lack of education and training opportunities for educators, and a lack of appropriate compensation can lead to low numbers of early educators who are highly qualified and issues with early educator retention. These issues hinder the career trajectories of early educators, especially in contexts in which they serve disadvantaged populations. This means that caregivers, such as the mothers and grandmothers I interviewed in Kolkata and Birbhum districts, are not able to learn about how formal early learning opportunities can guide their children and families. Additionally, these mothers and grandmothers in Kolkata and Birbhum districts discussed how early educators were not only resources of their children’s early learning, but also their health and safety as well. Early educators have specialized knowledge that is necessary to give young children a suitable environment in which to realize their potential and establish a solid base for future growth. An international exchange of early educators would be a prestigious opportunity for participants and would encourage stakeholders in the early childhood space – especially governments – to consider how they cultivate their early education teaching force.

My field research in West Bengal, India provided me the opportunity to consider the rationale and means by which the United States could champion early education worldwide and learn from other countries’ practices to improve its own early education programs. An international early educator exchange would enable American early childhood educators, policymakers, and international partners to grow and reflect on best practices.

 

By Paromita De, Sigur Center Field Research Grant Recipient for Summer 2019. De is a second-year student in the International Education Masters Program at the George Washington University with a specialization in the economics of education.

Heads of state from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States convened in Biarritz, France, for the annual  Group of Seven (G7) summit August 24-26, 2019. Following last year’s tumultuous summit in Canada, in which US President Donald Trump refused to sign the summit’s joint communique, French President Emmanuel Macron appeared determined to restore order to the G7. In lieu of the traditional communique, a one-page Leaders’ Declaration briefly outlined the members’ shared positions on the state of global trade, crumbling relations with Iran over its nuclear program, ongoing tension between Russia and the Ukraine, conflict in Libya, and protests in Hong Kong. To these ends, Macron met with Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of the G7 Summit and invited Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to Biarritz in a failed attempt to facilitate talks with the US. Nevertheless, the summit wrestled with sideline drama that included President Trump’s off-the-cuff suggestion that Russia rejoin the group, as well as his grandstanding on US-China trade negotiations, and a tense exchange with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro over raging wildfires in the Amazon. In this RPI Policy Alert, we review the Rising Powers’ reactions to the 2019 G7 Summit. Read it here. 

Increased use of contraception can delay childbearing, space births, and limit completed family size. This results in a decline in fertility leading to economic improvements, better health outcomes for women and children, and improved gender equality (Bongaarts, 2016). Therefore, reducing unmetneed for contraceptives is a top priority for organizations working in global health and international development (FP, 2020, UN, 2017). Specifically, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is pursuing an increase in adoption of family planning as one of the key mechanisms to improve gender equality (Equal is Greater, 2019).

Despite billions of dollars that have gone into this effort worldwide, contraceptive use remains lower than its potential. According to the Demographic Health Survey, the primary reason for non-use of contraceptives is “method related health concerns” (Sedgh and Hussein, 2014) and within this broad category, the belief that using contraception will cause infertility is common (Payne, Sundstrom & DeMaria, 2016; Richardson et al., 2016; Küçük, Aksu, & Sezer S, 2012).

This belief extends to low-, middle-, and high-income countries across the world. Studies in Bangladesh (Henry et al., 2015; Shahabuddin et al., 2016) and Vietnam (Nguyen et al., 2006) report that this fear is a major barrier to contraception use. A systematic review of barriers to contraception use among young people in low- to middle- income countries reported that the belief that contraception use would cause infertility was the most cited reason for non-use (Williamson et al., 2012). Despite the fact that this belief is well-documented, there are few interventions or communication campaigns that directly address it. Interventionists may be fearful that addressing it could exacerbate this misperception, but we know that ignoring it already has deleterious effects on contraceptive use.

It is critical for policy- and behavior-change program designers to understand and mitigate the impact that the fear of infertility has on a woman’s desire to use contraception. If interventions succeed in reducing the prevalence of the belief that contraceptives cause infertility, this could increase use of contraceptives and reduce unmet need for contraception. This would have positive economic, health impacts, and gender equality impacts.

Debunking misperceptions is not easy, but to move the needle on contraceptive use and to ensure that women are armed with accurate information, it is critical to properly address it. Extensive formative research with communities before a communication campaign takes place is a logical first step to ensure that messages resonate. Furthermore, real time monitoring and rigorous evaluations of contraceptive uptake will take effort but could move the needle to get closer to reaching the Family Planning 2020 goals (FP, 2020).

By Erica Sedlander, Sigur Center Field Research Grant Recipient for Summer 2019. Her work strives to improve women’s health both in the U.S. and globally. She uses mixed methods to examine multi-level factors that affect behavior changes. She serves as a Research Scientist in the Department of Prevention and Community Health and is a Doctoral Candidate in the Milken Institute School of Public Health. Erica’s work on women’s behavioral health can be found here.

References:

Bongaarts, J. (2016). Slow down population growth. Nature, 530: 409–412.

Equal is greater. (2019).https://www.gatesfoundation.org/equal-is-greater/

Family planning. (2020). http://progress.familyplanning2020.org/

Henry, E., Lehnertz, N., Alam, A., Ali, N., Williams, E., Rahman, M., Ahmed, S., El Arifeen, S., Baqui, A., & Winch, P. (2015). Sociocultural factors perpetuating the practices of early marriage and childbirth in Sylhet District, Bangladesh. International Health,7(3): 212–217.

Küçük, M, Aksu H, & Sezer S. (2012). Misconceptions about the side effects of combined oral contraceptive pills. Gynecological Endocrinology, 28(4): 282-285.

Nguyen, H., Liamputtong, L., & Murphy, G. (2006). Knowledge of contraceptives and sexually transmitted diseases and contraceptive practices amongst young people in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Health Care for Women International, 27(5): 399-417.

Payne, J.B., Sundstrom B., DeMaria, A.L. (2016). A qualitative study of young women’s beliefs about intrauterine devices: Fear of infertility. Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health,61:482-488.

Richardson, E., Allison, K., Gesink, D., & Berry, A. (2016). Barriers to accessing and using contraception in highland Guatemala: The development of a family planning self-efficacy scale. Open Access Journal of Contraception, 77.

Sedgh, G., & Hussain, R. (2014). Reasons for contraceptive nonuse among women having unmet need for contraception in developing countries. Studies in Family Planning, 45(2): 151–169.

Shahabuddin, A. S. M., Nöstlinger, C., Delvaux, T., Sarker, M., Bardají, A., Brouwere, V. D., & Broerse, J. E. W. (2016). What influences adolescent girls’ decision-making regarding contraceptive methods use and childbearing? A qualitative exploratory study in Rangpur District, Bangladesh. PLOS ONE,11(6): e0157664.

United Nations Foundation. (2017). Family Planning 2020. http;//www.familyplanning2020.org/about.

Williamson, L.M., Parkes, A., Wight, D., Petticrew, M., & Hart, G.J. (2009). Limits to modern contraceptive use among young women in developing countries: A systematic review of qualitative research. Reproductive Health, 6(3).

Over half of women and almost a quarter of men in India are anemic.Although pregnant women have the highest prevalence of anemia and are often targeted for anemia reduction interventions, non-pregnant women make up the largest number of individuals with anemia. Anemia affects both work capacity and productivity. Therefore, reducing anemia may also contribute to reducing gender wage gaps and women’s economic livelihood. Achieving gender inequality and empowering women and girls by 2030 is one of the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs) set in 2015.

In pregnant women, anemia can also lead to increased risk of premature birth, low birth weight, and maternal mortality.Iron deficiency during pregnancy and early childhood causes permanent reductions in children’s cognitive capacity and socio-emotional functioning that can impact their productive capacity across the life course.

In India, gender inequalities negatively affect women through male-dominated decision-making, economic and educational disparities, and the socialization of women to be “other oriented” at the expense of their own health.Research in low-/middle-income countries suggests that gender inequalities can affect preventive health behaviors, like contraception use, cervical cancer screening, and immunizations. Inequitablegender norms, or expectations around how men and womenare expected to behave, may also affect the intake of iron-rich foods and iron supplements, thus contributing to a higher prevalence of anemia among women.

Some of the ways that gender inequality has been shown to contribute higher rates of anemia is through male power and control over when and if a woman can leave the house. This may affect her ability to go to the health center to obtain iron folic acid supplements. Additionally, cultural norms around eating order, particularly in India, have been shown to affect anemia rates. Women often eat last in the family after the husband, in-laws, and children have eaten. Eating last may mean eating less altogether and specifically less iron-rich food such as meat, fish, and dark leafy vegetables, contributing to higher rates of anemia among women.

It is critical to understand the interconnectedness of anemia and gender inequality. Gender inequities exacerbate high rates of anemia among women and subsequently anemia affects a woman’s earning potential increasing gender inequities even more. Reducing gender inequities may ultimately reduce anemia and vice versa. Gender norms are increasingly globally recognized as critical drivers for overall health.

By Erica Sedlander, Sigur Center Field Research Grant Recipient for Summer 2019. Her work strives to improve women’s health both in the U.S. and globally. She uses mixed methods to examine multi-level factors that affect behavior changes. She serves as a Research Scientist in the Department of Prevention and Community Health and is a Doctoral Candidate in the Milken Institute School of Public Health. Erica’s work on women’s behavioral health can be found here. 

The police are a primary stakeholders when it comes to mitigating violence against women (VAW), such as rape, sexual assault, and domestic violence. More importantly, the police are also the first point of contact for women who seek remedy for violence. How crime is reported and whether it is redressed or not largely depends on the police. In our research, we recognise the important role played by the police in our civil society and conducted in-depth interviews with police officials who strive to resolve such crimes on a daily basis.

After the infamous Nirbhaya gang rape in 2012, in which a young physiotherapist student was gang raped on a moving bus in Delhi, and the resulting public outcry, the Indian policing and judicial system underwent several changes. These included stricter rape laws, the introduction of the Fast Track Courts, increased police vigilance through more patrolling, and the installation of home-guards. Many operational changes were also implemented, such as compulsory filing of a case upon receipt of a complaint on VAW, a provision for registration of complaints online, increased number of police officers on-the-ground, and the sensitisation of the police force towards VAW.

To capture the essence of these changes, we conducted semi-structured interviews with police personnel of varying ranks, especially those who are directly involved in case-handling and interacting with complainants. These interviews introduced us to cases we’d never imagined, and left me quite unnerved. My colleague and I visited the police station at Shahdara (a district in eastern part of Delhi). The day unveiled many interesting facts and insights from the field.

After a long cab journey, a small and rocky road led us into the gates of the Shahdara Police station, where we headed to the Deputy Commissioner of Police’s (DCP) office. As opposed to my stereotypical mental image of a small, dingy space (thanks to the cultivation of this concept in my mind by the Indian Cinema), the whole office building was spacious, well-lit and well-ventilated. I took a minute to soak everything in and headed to the DCP’s room, where we introduced our research study to her, which was greeted very warmly. We were able to get the required permissions from her and then moved on to our first interview.

Our first interview with an inspector stationed at the Shahdara Police Station was an extensive one, in which he provided very hands-on information about the locality. He informed us that the region faces two key socio-economic problems: poverty and unemployment. Both are cited as the main reason for the high crime rate in the region, which includes petty economic crimes like chain-snatching and thefts of cars or bikes.

With regard to VAW, one of the most interesting points raised was that after the Nirbhaya incident, the police was a sort of “fix.” The officer stated that he suspects misuse of the directive on compulsory registration of cases on VAW. Since case registry has become compulsory, some women have made it their “profession” to con men into paying them money by filing a rape case against them. This has become a problem for the police because their previous ability to dismiss false charges has been curtailed. This counter-intuitive outcome to the directive, which was otherwise well-intended, provides ample food for thought.

After completing the first interview, we wanted to interview female constables. This is when our otherwise smooth journey came to a screeching halt. The female constables, unlike the inspector, seemed rather uninterested in our research. Perhaps this was because they were on a lunch break and their shifts could last up to twelve hours. We decided to break for lunch ourselves and headed to the police canteen, where we had a hearty and humble meal. After lunch, we made our way to another police station (in a neighbourhood called Seemapuri) situated at the border of  Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. It has a reputation as a notorious locality because of the prevalence of petty crimes.

At the second police station, we first met the head of the police station, the station house office (SHO). The SHO informed us that the locality was particularly challenging to work in; it had the highest population density in India with a population of 6.5 lakhs. He asked one of his junior officers to show us around the police station. We visited multiple desks including the public facilitation desk (where a complainant is first directed to when s/he comes to register a complaint), record-keeping room (where all police files are maintained), and computer room (where online complaints are received). As we visited these rooms, we briefly crossed two lockups, one for males and one for females. Stopping in front of the lockups sent a shiver down my spine, and I was silently grateful that they were empty the day we decided to visit the police station.

Next, we were warmly greeted by a female sub-inspector. She informed us that since she was a female inspector, many cases of crimes against women came to her. This was an indication of some implicit gender-segregation on case-handling within the police station. Ideally, one would expect that both men and women would be sensitive and capable of handling VAW cases. Through the interview, we were acquainted with the rarest and most gruesome of cases, many of which are not picked up by the media or public-discussion. For example, in one case, a mother claimed her young daughter had been raped, but the girl would not disclose the perpetrator. After a thorough investigation, it was found that the rapist was her own father, who had fled from Delhi. The case is still open because the father remains at large.

Our last stop at Seemapuri police station was Crime Against Women cell. The cell primarily handles cases on domestic violence and marital discord. There, we encountered women constables who were responsible for filing the complaint as reported by the survivor. We witnessed a case requesting divorce, but the details of the reason were unknown to us. We later learned that the family was trying to settle the case through monetary transactionsoutside of the court, which the police also favoured. The Inspector of the Crime Against Women Cell told us that such settlements are commonplace and that it is better to not get into the ropes of the judiciary, so a settlement outside the court seems like the best option for an “easy” divorce.

Furthermore, our interaction with the officer in-charge of the women’s cell also demonstrated a streak of paternalism that underlies the system; one which endeavours to rehabilitate the survivor within the perpetrator’s family for the greater good of her future life, especially when the couple has a child. The officer told us that they do not believe in splitting families and instead try to help in resolving conflict through counselling and mediation. We also noticed that there was only one counsellor present at the time we were there, which seemed insufficient given the large number of cases coming in everyday. However, it was inspiring to see how much the officer believed in the system.

After a long day of interviewing police personnel, we made our way to the office of Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Shahdara. The ACP greeted us with a bright smiled and signalled us to sit. His table was decorated with his name plate alongside a picture of him from a deployment when he was part of the UN Peace Corps. He began by introducing us to the socio-economic situation of the locality, and his comments suggested that issues of relative deprivation contribute to deviance and crimes (cf. Merton, 1938).

Our interview with the ACP was a lengthy one that was full of interesting details and anecdotes. Quite interestingly, he told us about a case in which a boy had asked to be arrested just to get two square meals a day and a proper room to live in. The ACP also spoke at length about the key changes that the Nirbhaya incident had brought about in the police force. Firstly, the police is now highly sensitized towards cases of VAW. Secondly, survivors are now neither afraid nor hesitant in reporting crimes. This interview in particular gave us powerful insights into the lives of the people who stay in the Shahdara area and how the plight they endure makes committing an economic crime a matter of life and death.

After eight hours of fieldwork, we took our time to process all the conversations. I learnt that it is easy to be an outsider who blames the police for not taking action at the right time. Even with this small snapshot into the lives of these people, I realized it is important for us to be sensitive and understand the police’s standpoint in the same way that we expect them to be sympathetic towards a complainant’s situation. While we interacted with a range of officers across ranks, differing backgrounds, and their exposure to varying types cases, we found one thing common among all them: their passion and desire to work for the greater good of society.

Reference:

Merton, R. K. (1938). Social structure and Anomie. American Sociological Review, 3, 672-682.

By Abhilasha Sahay and Lakshita Ashwini Iyer. Abhilasha Sahay a Sigur Center Field Research Grant Recipient for Summer 2019, and a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Economics at the George Washington University. She studies the intersection of development economics and public policy, with key focus on topics in gender. Abhilasha also works at the World Bank’s Gender Innovation Lab. Lakshita Ashwini Iyer is a research associate in the Qualitative Study on Violence Against Women Project.

 

One of most the exciting things about going to the field is the anticipation: you meet new people, visit new places, have new conversations, and get the chance to uncover new stories. We were particularly excited, given that the topic at hand, violence against women (VAW), is so central and pressing. We set out to examine two questions pertaining to VAW: (i) what are the information channels through which people receive information on instances of local crimes, including VAW, and (ii) what sorts of attitudes and behaviors do people have towards VAW and, more broadly, gender norms.

We conducted a series of in-depth interviews with men and women from the local community using semi-structured questionnaires. The target population included adults residing in urban slums of Delhi. To access our respondents, we forged partnerships with NGOs and local partners who had been closely working in urban slums and had established networks within the community. This was not an easy route to take, as most NGOs are extremely busy and have constraints on manpower and time. After almost a month of planning and strategizing, we were able to collaborate with two NGOs in two different parts of Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR): Voice of Slum and Model Rural Youth Development Organization (MRYDO). We were also able to access two other communities in South Delhi and Gurgaon (one of the adjoining areas in Delhi).

The sample varied throughout our study, but what bound them together was their united contempt for VAW. While the respondents had diverse views on VAW and how we can ensure women’s safety, they were equivocal in stating that “women have the right to feel safe in society.”

One of the male respondents interviewed, Manohar* from Nehru Nagar commented, “Aurato ko surakshit rakhna samaj ki zimmadari hain. (It is the society’s responsibility to keep the women safe).”

However, he continued to say, this “safety” is also contingent on women’s behavior and clothes. Similarly, Shamali*, a mother of two children (both daughters) and a resident of Chhalera, opined that women should dress appropriately in order to avoid “unwanted” advances from men. “Larkiyo ki bhi zimmadari banti hain ki atche se kapre pehne. Meri bhi betiyan hain, ab mein unko sikhaungi ki atche se kapre pehne. (It is the responsibility of girls to wear decent clothes. I also have daughters; I am going to teach them to dress properly).”  There were also those who feel that it is not just women’s “responsibility” to safeguard themselves, but also that of the society. Ananya*, an undergraduate student and resident of Kapashera, jokingly said that women would feel safe if “men were not around.”

As part of our study, we included questions in reference to the infamous Delhi gang rape incident (also referred to as Nirbhaya, which means fearless). The incident itself was one of the most brutal acts of sexual assault on women and had spurred a series of protests nation-wide. We asked our respondents about the incident and if they thought there have been any positive changes in strengthening women’s safety after the incident. The responses were mixed.

On one hand, Ananya felt that the role of the police has not changed much since 2012. “Agar police ki bhumika mein koi badlav aya hota toh itne julm nhi hote aurato ke khilaaf. Abhi bhi aye din kuch na kuch hote rehta hain. (If the role of the police had changed, then there would not have been so many crimes against women even now. Something or the other happens every other day).” On the other, Shamali stated that after the Nirbhaya incident, women are at leastheard. “Police wale ab auroton ki baat sunte hain. (The police listen to the women now).”

Our interviews revealed a difference between recognition of violence perpetrated by strangers and violence committed by someone who the survivor may know. While violence by strangers is recognized and condemned as such, that by family members is not. Intimate partner violence or domestic abuse, for instance, is largely normalized. Both men and women report that it is not a “big deal” if the husband hits his wife.

“Mujhe bura lagega agar mera pati mujh pe haath uthayega toh, lekin mein kisiko bataungi nahi. Ye humare aapas ka mamla hain. (I will feel bad if my husband hits me, but I will not tell anyone. It is between us),” said Reeta*, who would be getting married soon. She has known her husband since childhood as they used to play together, but thinks it is “fine” if he hits her after marriage. Even Ananya, who believes in gender equality, said that before breaking off a marriage because of domestic violence, a woman must understand the man’s perspective as well: “Agar koi pati apne biwi pe achanak se haath utha rahe ho, toh patni ko bhi samajhna chahiye ki kya hua. Pehle toh wo waise nahi the. (If a husband starts beating up his wife suddenly, she should also understand what happened. It was not like this before).”

While information on cases of domestic violence is generally hushed as “internal family matters,” knowledge of local crimes and violence against women by strangers is spread through conversations. In fact, conversations among family members, friends, and neighbors is one of the key mechanisms through which information on VAW is passed on. “Hume baton baton se sab pata chal jata hain(we get to know everything through hearsay),” said Jyoti*, who relies on conversations with her mother and friends for all her “information.” The other popular choice of information is the television (TV). In fact, once news is received through the TV, there are discussions on them.

These attitudes and their impact on information about safety and domestic violence are reflected in the perceptions that people have about gender roles. While the men are perceived to be the “breadwinners,” the women’s prime responsibility is to be the “homemaker.” Manohar, for example, said that in his community, women do not work outside: “Agar apni biwi se bahar kaam karwaubga, log taane denge. (If I make my wife work outside, people will taunt me).” This is connected to the belief that women “require protection” and should confine themselves to four walls of their house. Thus, notions of safety and perceptions about women’s work are inter-linked.

To conclude, the multiplicity of voices on VAW, while recognizing its heinousness, places the onus of its prevention either on the woman herself (and consequently imposing restrictions on her mobility and overall life) or on the institutions and instruments of the state.

*All names have been changed to protect participants’ privacy.

By Abhilasha Sahay and Rituparna Patgiri. Abhilasha Sahay is a Sigur Center Field Research Grant Recipient for Summer 2019 and a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Economics at the George Washington University. She studies the intersection of development economics and public policy, with key focus on topics in gender. Abhilasha also works at the World Bank’s Gender Innovation Lab. Rituparna Patgiri is a research associate in the Qualitative Study on Violence Against Women project, and a Ph.D. Student in the Center for the Study of Social Systems (CSSS) at Jawaharlal Nehru University.  

 

On July 10-11, 2019, representatives from China, Russia, and the United States convened in Beijing to discuss and coordinate their efforts in the Afghan Peace Process–the third such meeting between the three countries on the issue. The meeting also follows failed negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban hosted by Moscow in May, and a more successful meeting hosted by Germany and Qatar in Doha earlier this month. Notably, Pakistan was also invited to join this most recent round in Beijing, which prompted concerns that India was being purposefully snubbed from the process. The Afghanistan government itself sits precariously, waiting for the big powers to kickstart the intra-Afghan dialogue. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump’s outburst on July 22 that he could have Afghanistan “wiped off the face of the Earth” led to consternation in Kabul about US commitment to enduring peace in the country. Rising powers China and India had the most commentary on what the new equation of countries involved in the peace process means, with China ostensibly gaining ground. To read the full RPI Policy Alert, click here.

RPI Director Deepa Ollapally spoke at a Women in International Security roundtable entitled “Gender and Great Power Competition Policy” at the Embassy of Liechtenstein on July 11, 2019.

On June 28-29, 2019, delegations from the member states of the Group of Twenty (G20) convened in Osaka, Japan, for their annual summit amidst heightened tensions between various members over tariffs, territorial disputes, accusations of meddling in domestic elections, and the United States’ unilateral efforts to dissolve the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran. Bilateral and multilateral meetings on the sidelines of the event included meetings of the BRICS bloc (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), three corners of the Indo-Pacific Quad (India, Japan, and the United States), as well as much-anticipated bilateral meetings between China and the US, Russia and the US, and Russia and Japan. In this RPI Policy Alert, we review the Rising Powers’ scorecards from this year’s G20 Summit. Read the full Policy Alert here.