Data dive: Can India overcome the cycle of sexual violence?

Legislative attempts to curb sexual violence have been made. The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act of 2013, passed after the 2012 Delhi rape case, aimed to tighten laws against sexual violence. That same year, the Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, or PoSH Act, was introduced to safeguard women’s right to work with dignity. However, over a decade later, its effectiveness is still in question. Economist Mitali Nikore, who specializes in gender issues, notes that while policies exist, the core challenge remains the allocation of adequate resources for proper implementation. Even the Supreme Court has raised concerns over "serious lapses" in enforcing the PoSH Act.

Raising awareness about women's rights has empowered more women to speak out about workplace harassment, but the resolution of these cases has not kept pace. According to an analysis by the Centre for Economic Data and Analysis at Ashoka University, which examined 300 National Stock Exchange-listed companies across the top, middle, and bottom tiers of market capitalization, only 81 out of the 300 reported any cases of harassment in 2022-23.

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The issue extends beyond corporate settings—following the wrestlers’ protests, an Indian Express investigation revealed that 16 out of 30 national sports federations in India had failed to establish an internal complaints committee (ICC) as required by law. 

For women in the informal sector, such protections are even more elusive.

More laws or better implementation?

In the wake of outrage over the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at a hospital in Kolkata, West Bengal’s state assembly responded by unanimously passing legislation that introduced compulsory death sentences for rapes resulting in death or permanent injury.

While high-profile cases often spark legislative action, as seen after the 2012 Delhi gangrape, underreporting of cases and poor enforcement of existing laws remain persistent issues. According to the latest data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), nearly 450,000 cases of crimes against women were recorded in 2022, including rape, murder, dowry deaths, abetment to suicide, acid attack, and cruelty of husbands and relatives.

While crime rates vary across states, fewer reported cases don’t necessarily indicate lower crime levels; they may reflect a lack of confidence in the legal system among survivors. Delhi recorded the highest crime rate at 1,444 per million, compared to the national rate of 664 per million, but experts suggest this may partly be due to more women coming forward to report incidents.

More dialogue on women’s rights can bring about much-needed changes in society and its treatment of women. The partial release of the Justice Hema Committee report, which examined sexual harassment and gender discrimination in Malayalam cinema, is seen as a significant step toward addressing widespread exploitation. The report’s findings triggered mass resignations of leading stars from a prominent artistes' association and intensified calls for the release of a similar report in the Telugu film industry, which has been delayed for two years. While regional cinema is making slow progress, many cases in the Hindi film industry have been swept under the carpet.

Shrinking space

Crimes against women often impose burdens on the victims, from returning home before dark to spending more on transportation for safety or even quitting their jobs to avoid harassment. As justice remains elusive, many women globally are hesitant to report non-inclusive behaviors, such as microaggressions, due to concerns over career repercussions. A Deloitte survey found that only a small fraction of women feel confident they can report these incidents without negative impacts.

These reporting gaps, coupled with fears of career repercussions and workplace judgement, often deter women from disclosing incidents of sexual misconduct. While women's professional opportunities have expanded, India still has fewer working women compared to other populous countries.

A few studies even suggest that poor female workforce participation has been exacerbated by fear of violence. A 2022 study by Zahra Siddique, an economics professor at the University of Bristol, found that increased media reports of sexual assaults in a woman's local area significantly reduced her likelihood of working outside the home. A 2021 discussion paper by Tanika Chakraborty and Nafisa Lohawala, published by the Institute of Labour Economics and based on urban samples from the National Sample Survey and crime data from the NCRB, indicates that women’s labour supply declines by about 9.4% for each additional crime per 10,000 women.

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Given that crimes against women are pervasive across all societal segments, passing legislation alone cannot solve the issue. The problem is compounded by politics, where many elected officials face charges of crimes against women. A recent analysis of 4,693 lawmakers by the Association for Democratic Reforms revealed that as many as 150 sitting members of Parliament and state legislative assemblies have declared cases related to crimes against women.

Ensuring women’s full participation in public life without fear will require not just better laws, but their rigorous enforcement, along with shifting the burden of responsibility for such crimes from women to the perpetrators.