India is now the most dangerous country for women: report

• Around 550 women's issues experts from around the world were asked to rank the top 10 amongst the 193 United Nations member states.
• India came in first followed by Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia and Saudi Arabia.
• Cases of crimes against women rose by nearly 40% to a staggering 338954 cases between 2012 and 2016.
  

Another feather has been added to India’s cap of shame. The country topped the list of ‘10 most dangerous countries for women’, based on a survey by Thomson Reuters Foundation.



Around 550 women's issues experts from around the world — that included academics, health workers, policy-makers and NGO workers, of which 43 are based in India — were asked to rank the top 10 amongst the 193 United Nations member states based on six main categories: healthcare, discrimination, cultural traditions, sexual violence, and human trafficking. Of these, India has managed to bag the first position in three categories -

• Cultural traditions that include acid attacks, female genital mutilation, child marriage, forced marriage, stoning, physical abuse or mutilation as a form of punishment/retribution and female infanticide.
• Sexual violence that includes rape as a weapon of war, domestic rape, rape by a stranger, the lack of access to justice in rape cases, sexual harassment and coercion into sex as a form of corruption.
• Human trafficking that includes domestic servitude, forced labour, bonded labour, forced marriage and sexual slavery.

"The way they look at girls. The way they check you out. The way they follow you. It's kind of disgusting."

Women in India share their stories as our poll finds the country is the world's most dangerous for females. Read more on this here: https://t.co/0EoZ6E6Xrl #WorseForWomen pic.twitter.com/dAIBeAfo4l

— Thomson Reuters Foundation News (@AlertNet) June 26, 2018

This survey is a repeat of the one conducted seven years ago, in 2011. The respondents at that time were asked to pick the top five countries that are dangerous for women in which India featured in the fourth position. This time, however, the nation has managed to surpass war-torn Afghanistan and Syria, Somalia and even Saudi Arabia, a country that granted women permission to drive just this week. Pakistan, India’s neighbour, has managed to wriggle out of the top 5 (good for them) and now holds the sixth position in this list.



What is perhaps truly disturbing is despite the outcry that followed the 2012 Delhi gangrape and the recent Kathua child rape incident and many more reports of crimes against women, there's little by way of noticeable moves from authorities.

Though new laws have been brought into place and/or dated laws have been updated, big changes are yet to be seen on the ground. In fact, according to the National Crime Records Bureau data, from 2016, cases of crimes against women rose by nearly 40% to a staggering 338954 cases between 2012 and 2016.