The brutal rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor at R.G. Khar Medical College in Kolkata this summer sparked countrywide public outrage, rekindling the fury that India witnessed after the 2012 Nirbhaya case. Despite India’s impressive economic growth and growing influence internationally, heinous crimes like these remind the world of an uncomfortable reality: for all its progress, India is considered one of the most unsafe places for women. This persistent and entrenched violence is not only a domestic failure but also casts a long shadow over India’s global image and aspirations to be seen as a world leader. To address this challenge, India must embrace a policy that incorporates gender equality into both its foreign and domestic policy frameworks.
The harsh realities of sexual harassment, gender-based violence, and low conviction rates of perpetrators that plague Indian society stand in contrast to India’s global aspirations.
Surveying the Landscape Today
India is the world’s most populous democracy, the fifth-largest economy, and has a Gross Domestic Product of over USD $2.7 trillion. On the diplomatic front, India is an active player in regional organizations like SAARC and BIMSTEC, in global forums like G-20, BRICS, and the Quad, and has voiced its desire to be a global player and a leader of the Global South. However, the harsh realities of sexual harassment, gender-based violence, and low conviction rates of perpetrators that plague Indian society stand in contrast to India’s global aspirations.
India’s treatment of women has evidently raised concerns abroad. Public rage in response to the rape in Kolkata spread beyond India’s borders, with more than 130 cities in 25 nations joining the protests. While demonstrations started small in Singapore, Australia, Japan, and Taiwan on September 8, 2024, they soon expanded to cities across numerous European nations as well as the United States, calling for accountability and justice for the victim. Last year, the Australian High Commissioner to India expressed concern over women’s safety in India and indicated Canberra’s interest in collaborating on initiatives that promote women’s empowerment and address gender-based violence. After the Kathua incident, UN Secretary-General António Guterres denounced the gang rape and killing of an eight-year-old girl. Recently, Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar addressed the widespread outrage over the Kolkata doctor’s rape, acknowledging that women’s safety is a critical issue in India. Given that India’s leadership as well as interactions with the international community are premised on ensuring equitable growth and opportunity for all peoples and regions, India’s track record on women’s safety and inclusion weakens its credentials.
As per the National Crime Records Bureau’s latest report, India recorded a startling 4 percent increase in crimes against women between 2021 and 2022, at 445,256 incidents, which translates to 51 offenses every hour. The distribution of crimes is alarming as well: rape accounts for seven percent of all cases, while other violent crimes, including abuse by spouses or family members (31 percent), kidnapping and abduction (19 percent), and assault with the intention of shocking modesty (19 percent), account for a majority of recorded cases.
Violence against women is a product of a larger system of gender-based discrimination in India. Since the 2012 Nirbhaya rape case in New Delhi, not much has changed. This troubling pattern stems from a systemic failure to safeguard women and hold perpetrators accountable. Ongoing rape and murder incidents including Badaun (2014), Unnao (2017), Kathua (2018), and Hyderabad (2019) highlight such failures of the state. Furthermore, despite the progress in women’s labor force participation for instance, India remains well behind other major nations, with a participation rate of 33 percent in 2023, compared to 27 percent a decade earlier. Comparatively speaking, the rates in the United States, China, Japan, and Germany are more than 20 percent higher.
In India, rape culture is a product of deeply ingrained misogyny and patriarchy, which not only feed negative gender stereotypes but also normalize violence against women. The vicious cycle of impunity that permits offenders to avoid punishment is one of the most unsettling facts of rape in India. Law enforcement personnel frequently engage in complicity, through carelessness or apathy. Political pressure is often the driving force behind such complicity, particularly when the offenders have ties with influential people or organizations, as in the case of former lawmaker Kuldeep Sengar in the high-profile Unnao rape case. Rape numbers have remained high despite harsher penalties, such as a minimum term of ten years that can go up to life imprisonment or the death penalty (if the victim is younger than twelve). This is largely because, according to senior criminal lawyer Rebecca M. John, there is an absence of fear of the law due to its inconsistent application and poor policing, leading to a belief by many perpetrators that they can evade justice.
Towards Gender Mainstreaming in Domestic and Foreign Policy
India has made various strides in securing the rights and interest of its women. For instance, India has worked to ensure the political representation of women through affirmative action, starting from local institutions, through the 73rd Amendment Act, 1992. With the passing of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam in September 2023, this has been extended to the lower house of Parliament and state assemblies. More than one million women are currently serving in India’s gram panchayats. India’s standing with respect to women’s issues has also improved internationally. According to the Gender Inequality Index 2022, which tracks gender through reproductive health, empowerment, and the labor market, India is ranked 108th out of 193 countries, a considerable 14-rank increase from 2021. However, despite this progress, India still struggles with deep-seated structural barriers. Domestically, India needs to do more to improve its law and order enforcement as well as sensitizing its agencies to appropriately handle crimes against women. But a purely domestic or law and order focus is not enough–India needs to apply a gender lens to all areas of policymaking if it wants to achieve gender equity as well as honor its international commitments. One way to do this is to mainstream gender in all decisionmaking and consider a feminist policy in areas such as trade, development, and foreign affairs.
By embracing gender mainstreaming in both its domestic and foreign policies, India can not only provide a safer and more equitable environment for women at home but also strengthen its credentials of being a regional and global leader that fights for the rights of all peoples.
In the Indian context, applying a feminist lens to policy would focus on incorporating an intersectional approach that prioritizes the perspectives of women and marginalized groups in decisionmaking. In foreign affairs, it would challenge traditional security paradigms by emphasizing human security, gender equity, and the rights of those historically excluded from the global governance framework. Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has advocated for a gender-balanced foreign policy and has stressed the need for greater female engagement, inclusion of women’s interests, and the adoption of a feminist perspective in foreign policy. As such, a gender-sensitive foreign policy would complement and reinforce domestic initiatives to achieve India’s goals of providing safety and equality to its women, generating both awareness for and transparency about Indian commitments.
India can also work with its democratic partners to jointly achieve the goal of protecting and championing women’s rights and interests at home and globally. The United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, and Mexico are among the nations that have adopted a feminist approach to their trade, development, or foreign policy. India can work with these countries to exchange notes on best practices to ensure gender equity such as integrating gender in economic development initiatives, strengthening international collaboration to address gender-based violence, and ensuring a more favorable gender representation in the diplomatic corps.
As India seeks to increase its influence in global forums like the G20, BRICS, and the United Nations, gender equality as a core policy objective can strengthen its negotiating position and align its interests with other major powers committed to these principles. By embracing gender mainstreaming in both its domestic and foreign policies, India can not only provide a safer and more equitable environment for women at home but also strengthen its credentials of being a regional and global leader that fights for the rights of all peoples.
Also Read: Gendering the Indo-Pacific Dialogue: Opportunities for India and Australia
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Image 1: UN Women/Arachika Kapoor via Flickr
Image 2: Government of India G-20 website
