Pattern Terminology Initiative for Dignity of Women

Pattern Terminology Initiative for Dignity of Women

Mains Exam: General Studies Paper 2

(Social Justice)

21 August, 2023

Why In News:

• Recently, a booklet titled 'Handbook on Combating Gender Stereotypes' has been published at the initiative of the Chief Justice of India, which lists gender-neutral words for women and girls.

Handbook on Combating Gender Stereotypes:

key points:

• Objective: To assist judges and the legal community in identifying, understanding and combating stereotypes, particularly towards women.
• It is a glossary of alternative words used by judges and lawyers to avoid writing judgments or filing cases before the courts.
• It shows some of the commonly used terms in the context of women and sexual crimes.
• Also suggests alternative words or sentences to be used in their place.
• The initiative was conceptualized by Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud's idea.
• Alternative words substituted in the Handbook:

• The use of words such as slut, whore, harlot, seductress, degenerate, woman of natural virtue, Indian woman or Western woman will now be called 'woman'.
• Feelings like virtuous woman, fallen woman, career woman will also remain only 'woman'.
• Calling the wife dutiful, faithful and obedient has also been replaced by the expression 'wife'.
• Housewife will be referred to as homemaker, affair as extramarital affair, prostitute as sex worker and molestation as street sexual harassment.
• Whereas, in the case of children or adolescents, the glossary lists words such as marriageable age, child prostitution, etc. that should be avoided.

• However, this handbook is not mandatory for judges and lawyers.
• But this handbook underlines the need for justice to be served fairly and equitably by avoiding the words used in the past.
• To meet the judiciary's goal of eliminating "preconceived gender stereotypes" in judicial discourse, especially relating to women.
• This book tries to break the commonly accepted but perverted stereotypes present in the society which pervades the judgments given by the courts.
• It may be noted that a digital copy of this Handbook is also available on the website of the Supreme Court.
• This gender-neutral terminology has been prepared by a committee headed by Calcutta High Court Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya.
• This committee has made an outline of words according to dignity and dignity, so that in future, when the courts give their decisions, when the laws, crimes and provisions related to women are taught in law classes, this dignified vocabulary should be used.
• It will prove helpful in uplifting the society from its prejudices, conservatism, biased thinking and taking it forward.

Analysis:

• To call a woman emotional, weak and irrational for being a woman is to deny her individuality.
• This booklet, while proving all kinds of apprehensions to be eradicated, presents this aspect in a very positive way that one can get rid of such stereotyped beliefs. That is, while writing judicial decisions, while debating women's issues, teaching in law classes and during ongoing debates in the society, it has to be kept in mind that we should avoid the manifestation of conservative thinking.
• Whether it is society, sociologist, criminologist or any other branch of study, there specific explanation of concepts is done through definitions only. We habitually keep on defining person, thing, behavior, action, reaction etc. Definitions force the thinking of our brain to be interpreted, analyzed and evaluated by tying it within a certain perimeter. That is why postmodern thinkers also tried to loosen the shackles of definitions.
• The need for such a booklet was being felt for a long time, because the indirect effect of the conservative thinking that creates the social fabric is visible in the socialization of the people. Your thinking is biased and one-sided, you don't even know, because how it keeps affecting the conscious mind-brain from unconscious and from subconscious, we don't even know about it and as a result we can't control our functioning, our home and outside. In practice, they keep on using it unknowingly. The irony is that we started seeing such language-style and wording in judicial decisions as well. Therefore, considering the need of the hour, this booklet was prepared.
• However, there is also a question in the mind of some people that what will happen if the proposed terminology is not used? Will any law be made to make it binding as well? For these apprehensions, it can only be said that maximum use of the words used in this booklet will make it a language of practice. Preambles are considered to be the key to the documents.
• The foreword of this booklet has been written by the Chief Justice himself and has tried to remind what is meant by the oath of justice. When a Justice takes oath, he makes sure that he will discharge his duties without fear, favor or tainted mind. He has tried to maintain very strongly that each case should be decided on its own merits and not on the basis of pre-conceived notions.
• Pointing out the importance of language in the life of law, he has also said that words are the wheels through which we are able to communicate the values of law. When a judge uses these words, he does not just interpret the law, but also expresses his understanding of the society. So when he will use gender just words from a gender point of view, it will have a positive effect on the whole society and then people in the society will use those words.
• This handbook has been prepared to address gender stereotypes and to assist judges and the legal community in identifying such terms and understanding their negative effects and making efforts to address them. Now extra-marital relations or relations without marriage are also being formed in the society. When the level of division increases in the society, then there comes a situation of 'anamy', which Durkheim called paradigmlessness. Its dictionary meaning is 'lack of respect for or lack of respect for social and moral values'. Both men and women are victims of this patternlessness.
• In this context, the famous writer Simone de Bouva had said that 'women are not born, but are made.' We create the definition of a woman and keep tightening her on one criterion throughout life. Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar had also said that 'in the name of rites, women are bound in superstitions, from which they are not freed for life.' In a section of this booklet, such decisions have also been mentioned, due to which these beliefs have been changed. Attempts have been made to subvert it, be it the 'Vishaka' guidelines post-Bhanwari Devi case, which later led to legislation to prevent sexual harassment at workplace, or the Joseph Shine case, in which sodomy An attempt was made to keep him out of the purview of the crime.
• There have been many such decisions in the past, which have had a far-reaching impact on the welfare of women. Even though Sushil Sharma's death sentence in the Naina Sahni Tandoor case was commuted to life imprisonment, it was said that Naina Sahni was an educated and ambitious woman, she was not a poor and helpless woman. Even in the case of Shabnam's hanging, it was said that a daughter who kills her father, who is expected to respect her father for life, cannot be offered any punishment less than death.

Conclusions:

• This booklet, while proving all kinds of apprehensions to be eradicated, presents this aspect in a very positive way that one can get rid of such stereotyped beliefs. That is, while writing judicial decisions, while debating women's issues, teaching in law classes and during ongoing debates in the society, it has to be kept in mind that we should avoid the manifestation of conservative thinking. Don't define the behavior of women with prejudiced thinking and modify your language to create a healthy society and keep motivating people as well.

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Mains Exam Question

Recently, the Supreme Court has initiated the paradigm terminology for the dignity of women. Mention the far-reaching implications of this initiative.