Home environment plays a pivotal role
Disrespect is too lax a term to describe some of the gruesome incidents women have faced. In India, a girl who was gang-raped three years ago, was allegedly raped again by the same men, who were out on bail.
In Australia, nearly 35,000 posts and retweets on two hashtags were found to focus on intrusive photos of women, taken in public places like beaches. The users sharing such content were male, mostly aged 17 and under.
Such cases are a consequence of deeply entrenched gender inequality, which is not just domestic, but also systemic and societal. The rape case was likely the result of a patriarchal mind-set, where men see women as objects to be controlled.
The case with the inappropriate photographs of women is also a consequence of gender inequality.
Women are dehumanised and reduced to their body parts, through ways that are crucially out of their control.
This is not something that children would normally learn at home - they would learn from what’s happening outside the home too, in schools, on the internet and through movies and television.
However, one’s home environment must play a vital role in countering these influences. It’s not just men who must shoulder this responsibility.
Women have a duty as well, firstly to educate themselves and challenge their preset notions on gender inequality, and secondly, to inculcate gender-neutral values in their children. This is the only way to stop a culture of gender disrespect from being passed on through generations. From Ms Deepali Pattani Tax manager in a finance company, based in London, UK