Indian Council of World Affairs

Smt Vijaya Rahatkarji, Chairperson, National Commission for Women,

Distinguished Experts and Friends!

In our present world today, power is political; so are gender relations. Power is economic; that is why financial independence for women is touted as a mark of social progress. Power is also derived from social factors; that is why men control women's bodies through Purdah, Prostitution, Polygamy, Pornography and the like - themes which we will discuss today and tomorrow. And that is why crime and violence against women is so rampant today in every part of the world.

Gender power play is also mental - the imagery and propaganda around male masculinity, the arrogant and crass use of body strength to inflict physical violence against women, the verbal tirades that inflict mental violence on women, the insensitivity and moral bankruptcy that permits the relentless suffocation of female spirit - all go to show how gender relations have hit the nadir in our world today.

So if gender relations are about power, they really can't remain untouched by today's geo-politics and the vertical of power in international relations. On the contrary, current geo-political churn and the global shifts underway are giving space for improved gender relations to emerge all along the local-global continuum. The talk of a world transitioning between Orders, of a world moving towards a New World Order cannot be bereft of the opportunities it presents for putting in place a just and equal gender relations framework at the global or national level through norm setting accompanied by resolute implementation and promotion of good behaviour at the micro level - in short new rules of the game – a new social contract. Surely, we cannot have a New World Order that doesn't give women their rightful place with dignity and respect or that let's men continue to be the decider of their destiny.

And, who will put the New World Order in place? Who will shape it? Surely, women have to be equal contributors in this process, if not more. Our world today which is ridden with conflicts, not only inter-racial, inter-faith, inter-state but also replete with fractured societies, dysfunctional families and broken lives, needs heeling. Dare I say that men haven’t done a good job! So yes, the world needs heeling. And what's better for that than a woman's touch and a woman's embrace. The biggest challenge that the world faces today is of human insecurity and mobilizing women to address this challenge seems to my mind a plausible if not the only solution.

Women's role in ameliorating violence, radicalism, extremism, militancy, hatred can prove to be vital for our world in transition today and beyond. It is woman's inherent strength and urge for change coupled by an enabling environment that will serve as the drivers to make this possible for herself and others. This despite of course the work burden she carries many times over than men and despite the fact that she finds herself on most occasions amidst insufficient means and disease – a matrix which of course should too cease to exist.

What kind of women do we need to power this transformation to a New World Order with creativity, feeling and thought? Not Women who behave as men, but women who behave as women; not women who imitate men's way of decision-making and leading, but women who act by their own conscience, their feelings; not women who bear a false sense of liberty, but women who standby their firm conviction in human dignity and equality of all human beings; not by women who go by men's projection and depiction of power, but by their own understanding of the world around them; not by women corrupted in their management of inter-personal relations, but by women who know how to harness their maternal or womanly instincts of care, share and giving; and last, but not the least, not by women who only know how to argue about their rights, but by women who also equally well understand their responsibilities in different settings. 

The next obvious question that arises is - What should be a woman's place in the New World Order? You will all agree with me that it has to be one that leads and not merely follows, where she is a rule-maker rather than just a rule-taker, and where she enjoys decision-making agency. It has to be one that has emerged from the shadows, casting aside millennia of oppression. It has to be one that gives free expression to feminine values and thought, let's them flourish, let's the women follow their intuition and instincts. It has to be one that gives the role to a woman as a teacher, a nurturer, a giver. Women are natural glues in a family; the New World Order will promote them to be their natural self - as glue for the family, neighborhoods, communities, societies, countries, and for relations across countries and geographies. This is important if not critical in a world that is falling apart.

In this world in a transition, and in their emergence, in their coming on their own, women will find men supporting them - not out of option but because there is no option. There is a growing realization that women-led social progress and development, placing women in key political, economic and social roles, harnessing their mental capacities and emotional strengths for the greater good as well as their own good, treating them with equal respect and dignity if not more can lead not only to the emancipation of women themselves but also of societies and nations at large.

We are all aware of the general reticence of Governments in acknowledging the prevalence of degenerate and decadent women issues domestically in international fora. That is why we thought of doing an academic international conference on the subject to draw out voices on themes such as purdah, prostitution, polygamy, age of consent, widow remarriage which are live issues for our societies but aren't really on the agenda of institutions of global or regional governance for a dialogue or exchange of views or best practices in countering, prohibiting or eliminating them. The issues selected for deliberation in the conference reflect the very real social concerns of different regions of the world, yet there is an under-pinning of inter-connectedness across regions. In conceptualizing this Conference, we have tried to be global in our outlook - that is why the title 'Women Across Geographies: Issues & Perspectives'.

The objective of our deliberations is to enhance cross-cultural understanding of women's issues and chart out future trajectories in ameliorating these challenges. We have amidst us a cross-disciplinary set of speakers comprising gender studies experts and teachers, international relations experts, psychologists, lawyers, media, representatives of the armed forces from India, Kazakhstan, Russia, US, UK, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Africa, and Argentina – representing 9 countries across five continents. By ensuring the presence of both male and female speakers, this Conference also advocates to make men strong partners in women’s equality, upliftment, empowerment and in just gender relations.

Some of you may wonder why are we talking about a new paradigm for gender relations, a new social contract, for a New World Order when very few in the world seem to be even taking note of it amidst all the focus on conflicts - even the possibility of a World War III? To answer that I would like to quote Sarojini Naidu, India's leading woman freedom struggle exponent against colonial oppression and herself a renowned poetess, she said “Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark”.

With this, I look forward to the deliberations of this Conference which I am sure will focus on the positive and brighter side of the possibilities before us.

It is now my privilege to invite Smt. Vijaya K. Rahatkar, Chairperson, National Commission for Women to deliver the Special Address of our Conference.

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