34% parents blame girls' behaviour, dressing for sexual abuse: Survey

A survey conducted by a government-appointed panel to understand attitudes and perceptions towards gender has revealed that at least 34% of parents feel that the main cause of sexual abuse is “the behaviour and dressing style” of girls.

Some 35% of teachers feel that the behaviour and dress of a girl caused sexual abuse.

“This is reflective of society’s perception that women are responsible for the harassment that occurs to them,” the committee has said in its National Education Policy (NEP) position paper submitted to the government.

The committee, headed by a Mangaluru-based freelance consultant, has made recommendations on gender education.

The ‘dip-stick’ survey had 20 questions answered by 1,070 teachers, 404 parents and 221 students.

“Though it is not an in-depth study, it helped in understanding the pulse of the people in their perception of gender and provided certain insights in framing the recommendations for gender education,” the paper stated.

Further, the paper highlighted that parents feel that a person belonging to any gender can be sexually harassed and the majority of the parents feel that girls should have the freedom to dress in the way they like.

“A few questions were asked to understand whether the teachers accept gender stereotypes or think differently. For example, distribution of roles and responsibilities among teachers, gender-specific professions, participation of girls and boys and their educational achievements. It is heartening to see that most of the teachers have started thinking differently from set patterns,” the paper said.

“As for teachers, 45% of them feel that they should not conduct special classes for girls after 5 pm. This projects the stereotypical concern that girls should reach home before dusk,” the paper pointed out.

Around 40% of the teachers agree that they assign tasks related to decoration to girls and tangible physical tasks to boys.

This strongly suggests that when it comes to the distribution of roles and responsibilities, teachers must go beyond the framework of gendered roles.