The gruesome incident in Kolkata on 9 August, when a young doctor was brutally raped and murdered, yet again highlights the violence that women face everywhere in our country. The Mumbai Regional Committee of the CGPI organised a meeting to discuss the gravity of the problem, the root cause and what should be done to change the situation. After the initiating presentations there was vigorous discussion, in which everyone participated.
There were presentations which sharply brought out various aspects of the problem faced by our people with respect to the health system. They vividly showed the abysmal condition of the health system as a result of the very low government spending on health infrastructure and human resources in the sector, and the drive to privatise the health system. Other presentations explained the origin of the prevailing patriarchal social order, how it is kept alive by the capitalist ruling class in our country and how every arm of the state – the political parties of the bourgeoisie, the executive including the police, the legislature and the judiciary perpetuate this social order. The discussions that followed focused on understanding the root cause of the violence against women and the way to end the oppression of women.
The presentations on the crisis in our health system brought out how successive governments which have no qualms about giving lakhs of crores of rupees to the capitalists, have systematically grudged the amounts spent on public health. India’s healthcare spending as a percentage of GDP is low, ranking 78th in the world.
This directly impacts both patients and the medical staff. India has 1.3 beds per 1,000 people, which is less than half the global average. Patients are often crowded together on the same bed or have to lie on the floor! Nearly all government hospitals lack basic equipment and resources.
India has a shortage of health workers. Resident doctors are often forced to work more than 100 hours per week, despite being paid for only 48 hours. Some interns are not even paid. Their shifts can be as long as 24 hours to 48 hours! They are deprived of rest and human living and working conditions.
The working people in rural and urban India lack access to medical facilities and cannot afford timely treatment. Often, they are able to reach a hospital only when it is too late. As a result of the overcrowding, lack of hygiene, overworked doctors and hospital staff and lack of adequate facilities, many patients succumb to diseases that are entirely curable. This happens despite the dedication and superhuman efforts of the doctors and medical staff. When patients die, it is the doctors and other staff who, for no fault of theirs, have to face the anger of relatives of the patients.
Medical education is excessively costly and this puts an additional stress on lakhs of medical students. All this takes a heavy toll on the lives of doctors. It is surprising but true, that the average lifespan of a doctor in India is 55–59 years, which is almost 10 years less than the general population’s average lifespan of 69–72 years. Medical professionals have a higher suicide risk, 2.5 times more than the general population!
This anti-people health system is a reflection of the overall system prevailing in our country which is geared to fulfilling the interests of the ruling bourgeoisie at the expense of the working people.
The presentations on the source of oppression of women pointed out that women are victims of patriarchal ideas which run deep in our country. These ideas are held not only by men, but also by women who are conditioned from childhood by the prevailing culture to accept their secondary status.
As Engels has explained in his well-known work, “The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State”, patriarchy developed when private property came into existence, when society split up into different classes.
Patriarchy is preserved and backward ideas that foster the inferior status of women are further spread and strengthened because the ruling capitalist class benefits by it.
Paying women less than men enables capitalist employers to lower the general level of wages and intensify the exploitation of labour.
Backward ideas about the position of women in society and threats to their safety keep crores of women confined to their homes and away from public life. The low participation of women in the workforce depletes the strength of the working class as a whole.
Pornography is rampant in capitalist society everywhere in the world and India is no exception. The bourgeoisie looks at women as objects of sexual gratification.
The struggle of women and all progressive sections of society over decades, against patriarchy, pornography, violence and sexual harassment has succeeded in getting some laws passed to restrict crimes against women. However, most of the laws are not implemented as there are no mechanisms to enforce their implementation. It is important to understand that the perpetuation of the oppression of women is an integral part of the system of exploitation and oppression prevalent in our country.
The presentations pointed out that we cannot afford to have illusions about the state and its different organs like the police, armed forces, judiciary, parliament and state legislatures, and the bourgeois political parties, all of whom are responsible for the increasing violence against women. More laws or more police and courts are not the solution. The presentations provided numerous examples to show how women are shamed and stripped of their dignity in police stations and courts while those guilty are blatantly exonerated.
Similarly, having greater representation of women in the legislatures, or women political leaders have not contributed to reducing crimes against women or eliminating patriarchy in society. These evils cannot be eliminated as long as the capitalist system prevails.
The presentations clarified that it is essential that backward ideas that treat women as objects or as inferior to men should be opposed uncompromisingly. Our Party relentlessly fights against all backward ideas that demean the position of women and girls.
Women and men are fighting bravely against the exploitation and oppression of women. In the course of this struggle, our Party strives to dispel illusions amongst the fighting people that we can rely on the state and its different organs to uphold the rights and dignity of women.
The source of the oppression and subjugation of women is the existing exploitative and oppressive system. Therefore our Party fights for the emancipation of women as an integral part of the struggle of the emancipation of the working class and the whole of society from all forms of exploitation and oppression of persons by persons.
Only such a system that will do away with private property can create the conditions that are necessary for the liberation of women from exploitation, oppression and violence. The experience of the Soviet Union was discussed. The socialist state created the objective conditions that freed women from the burden and sole responsibility of looking after the home and family. Conditions were created for women to participate fully in public life. Punishment for attacks on women were severe and acted as real deterrents.
The discussion concluded with the necessity of building and strengthening the organisations of the people, as organisations that will fight ideas and actions that demean women, and defend the rights and dignity of women on a daily basis. We have to wage the struggle in defence of the rights and dignity of women as an integral part of the struggle to replace the existing capitalist system with workers’ and peasants’ rule, and build a society free from all forms of exploitation of persons by persons.