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Discuss the major recent social movements related to the physical rights of women in various countries of the world. 20 Marks. (UPSC CSE Mains 2024- Political Science and International Relations, Paper 2).
Women’s physical integrity rights include the rights without discrimination to: equality, dignity, autonomy, information, bodily integrity, respect for private life, the highest attainable standard of health, including sexual and reproductive health, and freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. The right of a woman or girl to make autonomous decisions about her own body and reproductive functions is at the core of her basic rights to equality, privacy, and bodily integrity.
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- The #MeToo movement founded in 2006 by Tarana Burke supports survivors of sexual violence, particularly young women of color from low-wealth communities, to find pathways to healing. The movement’s vision from the beginning has been to address both the dearth of resources for survivors of sexual violence and to build a robust community of advocates and allies. In October 2017, the movement went global as the #MeToo hashtag went viral and survivors across the world came forward about their experiences with sexual assault.
- The Gulabi Gang in India started by Sampat Pal Devi has now catapulted into an organisation of international fame. This group protects women from physical attack and punishes abusive husbands.
Dr Denis Mukwege campaigns globally to bring the use of rape as a weapon of war to an end. He was awarded the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize for his activism and received numerous other awards for his outstanding services to survivors of rape. He has repeatedly condemned impunity for mass rape and criticised the Congolese government and other countries for not doing enough to stop the use of sexual violence against women as a strategy and weapon of war. The WoMin Alliance, a group that advocates for women''s rights in South Africa, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The abortion rights movement advocates for legal access to abortion services and opposes anti-abortion movements. They argue that abortion is a personal choice that should be free from legal and social barriers. The reproductive justice movement demands that states address social, economic and political inequalities which prevent people from the most marginalised communities from being able to exercise their sexual and reproductive rights. Women’s movements made incredible gains in Chile and Ireland, where abortion—previously banned completely in both countries—was decriminalized. And in Argentina, after decades of activism, women’s groups galvanized public and political support and helped bring an abortion rights law closer to passing than ever before.
By the 1960s and 70s, most Western countries criminalised marital rape by removing statutory exemptions from the definition of rape or by explicitly defining marital rape as a criminal offence. The first country to criminalise marital rape was the Soviet Union (1922) and the UK (1991) and the US (1993) were amongst the last Western nations to do so.
There have been some major steps forward, but women and girls are still being harmed by laws which mean they cannot make choices about their own bodies.
POSTED ON 16-02-2025 BY ADMIN
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