Agencies, New Delhi Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar today strongly advocated equality for women in society saying they cannot go on living in a dilemma as on one hand they were being treated as goddesses and on the other they were being given inhuman treatment.
Inaugurating a two-day meeting of the Inter-State Women Commission Dialogue here, the Lok sabha Speaker said dowry was still a cause of many woman-related problems in our country even after 65 years of independence.
‘’Only laws cannot do away with problems in the society. They are to be implemented sincerely,’’ she said adding that anti-dowry law was created 61 years ago but it seems nothing has changed on this front even today. ‘’Girls are being killed even before they are born…in most cases due to fear of dowry,’’ Ms Kumar said adding that she once happened to attend a marriage of a colleague’s daughter where she reached before time expecting to spend more time in the ceremony and she was surprised to see how the girl was being cursed by her family members.
‘’They were saying that she should not have been born…may be because they had to spend so much of money on her marriage,’’ Ms Kumar said. ‘’This needs to be changed…dowry has been a common phenomena which leads to several other problems for women,’’ the Lok Sabha Speaker said. Women, who form half of the population, must not feel weak as they have the maximum influence over the society and are very powerful to bring any change, she said.
She also expressed concern over the rising incidents of rapes and other crimes against women. Speaking on the occasion, Mamata Sharma chairperson, National Women Commission, said the rape incident of December 16 had shook the entire country and it was good to see the nation protesting. ‘’Now when Justice Verma Committee report has been submitted to the Government, efforts should be made that they are converted into laws,’’ she said.
