Skylab Sahu - Gender, Violence and Governmentality: Legal and Policy Initiatives in India

This book critically examines gender-based violence in India and interrogates the legal and policy discourse surrounding it. It discusses various forms of violence faced by women such as sex-selective abortion, trafficking, rape, domestic violence, as well as the violence faced by female sex workers and transgenders in India. It draws on in-depth interviews and case studies to highlight the socio-economic conditions of the survivors who find themselves forced to contend with legal and policy framework that is inadequate to deal with these issues. The author analyses the major laws against violence and the policies introduced to ameliorate the condition of survivors to understand the potential and challenges of these initiatives from a postmodern and feminist perspective. The book also addresses the survivors realisation of agency and resistance, which is seen to be expressed both sporadically and on day-to-day basis.

An important and timely contribution, this book will be indispensable to students and researchers of gender and sexuality, feminism, minority studies, sociology and social policy, politics, law, human rights and South Asian studies. It will also be of interest to policymakers, government agencies, think tanks and NGOs working in the area.

Skylab Sahu is Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science, Miranda House, University of Delhi, India. She specialises in gender studies, political theory, and Indian government and politics. Her research articles have been published in several national and international peer-reviewed journals such as Studies in Indian Politics, Sociological Bulletin, Journal of Social and Economic Development, Journal of Health Management, Indian Journal of Political Science, and Indian Journal of Social Work, among others. She is the author of Gender, Sexuality, and HIV/AIDS: Exploring Politics of Womens Health in India (2015).

First published 2021

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017

2021 Skylab Sahu

The right of Skylab Sahu to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Sahu, Skylab, author.
Title: Gender, violence and governmentality : legal and policy initiatives in India / Skylab Sahu.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Summary: This book critically examines gender-based violence in India and interrogates the legal and policy discourse surrounding it. It discusses various forms of violence faced by women such as sex selective abortion, trafficking, rape, domestic violence, as well as the violence faced by female sex workers and transgenders in India. It draws on in-depth interviews and case studies to highlight the socio-economic conditions of the survivors who find themselves forced to contend with legal and policy framework that is inadequate to deal with these issues. The author analyses the major laws against violence and the policies introduced to ameliorate the condition of survivors in order to understand the potential and challenges of these initiatives from a postmodern and feminist perspective. The book also addresses the survivors realisation of agency and resistance which is expressed both sporadically and on day-to-day basis. An important and timely contribution, this book will be indispensable to students and researchers of gender and sexuality, feminism, minority studies, sociology and social policy, politics, law, human rights and South Asian studies. It will also be of interest to policymakers, government agencies, think tanks and NGOs working in the area Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020034000 (print) | LCCN 2020034001 (ebook) | ISBN 9780815351092 (hardback) | ISBN 9781003133131 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: WomenViolence againstIndia. | WomenCrimes againstIndia. | WomenLegal status, laws, etc.India. | WomenGovernment policyIndia.
Classification: LCC HV6250.4.W65 S2426 2021 (print) | LCC HV6250.4.W65 (ebook) | DDC 362.88082/0954dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020034000
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020034001

ISBN: 978-0-8153-5109-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-13313-1 (ebk)

Typeset in Sabon
by codeMantra

2.1 State Government Policies of India to Arrest Sex Selective Abortion

4.1 Alcohol Use and Spousal Physical and Sexual Violence

4.2 Caste and Education of Respondents

4.3 Respondents Religion and Class

4.4 Nature of Work of Respondents

Indian Penal Code (IPC)

Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP)

Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC-PNDT)

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS)

Indian Evidence Act (IEA)

The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO)

National AIDS Control Programmes (NACP)

National Family Health Survey (NFHS)

The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (PWDV)

Child Sex Ratio (CSR)

National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)

Intimate Partners Violence (IPV)

Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girls Act (SITA)

The Immoral Traffic Prevention Act (ITPA)

Female Sex Worker (FSW)

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual or Allied (LGBTQIA)

Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH)

Forum against Sex Determination and Sex-Pre-Selection (FASDSP)

All India Network of Sex Workers (AINSW)

The Karnataka Sex Workers Union (KSWU)

Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC)

Gendered citizenship is a socio-cultural and political construction that segregates society into diffracted identities with different values and citizenships. The identity of the gender is constructed and formulated differently for men, women and transgenders. Women are often treated as second-class citizens, and transgenders are largely perceived as non-subjects in the society. Socio-cultural construction takes place through various socio-political institutions, discourse of knowledge, religions and media that help in the creation of certain kind of graded subjectivity (Geeta 2006). The gender identity in a patriarchal system not only recognises the status of femininity, masculinity and the transgender in a structured way, but also constructs the gendered notion of the body, sexuality, production and reproduction. Gender identity at times operates as a distinct character and at other, functions along with other multiple marginalities creating a sense of graded powerlessness through class, caste and ethnicity by making a particular gender of the community more vulnerable and powerless to others.