Move On From Ranveer Singh: Here Are 25 Things Worth Taking Offense At

There is a huge outcry against the nude photos of actor Ranveer Singh. Some women and men say they are offended by the sight of these photos, that maybe the case. But are we taking offense with the right things?

Instead of Ranveer Singh's Photos here are 25 things we should definitely take offense at:

1. The latest NCRB report that reveals a woman is raped every 16 minutes in India.
2. The worker population ratio in India across all the age groups presents a poor picture of women’s participation. It is 53.9% for men as compared to 21.8% for women.
3. The representation of women in legislature in India is dismal. The overall percentage of women in legislatures is around 9%. This is well below the aimed representation of 33% as envisioned under the Women’s Reservation Bill- Constitution Bill, 2008.
4. The policing of women regarding their choice of clothes, everyone is quick to point out that the neckline is too low, the hemline is too high, the top is too transparent, the bra straps are showing.
5. A dowry death occurs every hour as a result of Dowry related harassment – either murdered, or compelled to end her life. According NCRB the annual figure rising upwards of 7,000.
6. Why aren’t we offended when society tells women not to laugh too loudly, talk too loudly, to sit in a certain way.
7. In India, 30 percent of women have experienced domestic violence at least once from when they were aged 15, and around 4 percent of ever-pregnant women have experienced spousal violence during a pregnancy.
8. One woman faces acid attack almost every two days.
9. Estimates which suggest that each year, at least 1.5 million girls under 18 get married in India, which makes it home to the largest number of child brides in the world - accounting for a third of the global total. Nearly 16 per cent adolescent girls aged 15-19 are currently married.

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10. Why aren’t we offended when our public transport and roads become unsafe for women in the evenings and night? Remember one of Nirbhaya’s perpetrators had mentioned this as one of the reasons to teach her a lesson.
11. A woman is gang-raped and murdered every 30 hours in India.
12. National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5) report suggests that only 41 per cent of women (15-49 years) have 10 or more years of schooling as opposed to 50.2 per cent of men, as per NFHS-5.
13. Why aren’t we offended when educated and career women once married are asked to become homemakers? Even her own parents will ask her to do so.
14. Startling 59.1 per cent of women were reported to be anaemic as opposed to 31.1 per cent anaemic men. According to the experts, an anaemic woman is likely to give birth to an anaemic and undernourished child.
15. Why aren’t we offended when women are asked to look married by adorning things like mangalsutras, sindoor, bichiyas, covering her head etc.

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16. The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index benchmarks the evolution of gender-based gaps among four key dimensions (Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment) and tracks progress towards closing these gaps over time. The Global Gender Gap Report of 2021 was the 15th edition in which India ranked 140 out of 156 countries assessed. It’s a drop of 28 positions from 2020 when 153 countries were covered.
17. Why aren’t we offended when a family with only a girl-child is considered incomplete?
18. India is the only large country in the world where more baby girls die than baby boys. The gender differential in child survival is currently 11 per cent, states UNICEF. Statistics reflect community attitudes with fewer hospital admissions for girls than boys, showing that parents sometimes give less attention to newborn girls. In 2017 alone 1,50,000 fewer girls were admitted to Special Newborn Care Units (SNCUs) than boys.
19. Why aren’t we offended when society tells women not drink, smoke or go to bars and clubs, while no such restrictions are put on men? If it’s bad for women then its bad for men as well.
20. Female foeticide is due to strong preference for a male child, the practice of dowry and the patrilineal necessity of heir. The census of 2011 has recorded the lowest ever sex ratio of 914 in the age group 0-6 years with 3 million missing girls; from 78.8 million in 2001 to 75.8 million in 2011.
21. A poll of 370 gender specialists around the world that voted India the worst place to be a woman out of all the G20 countries. It stung – especially as Saudi Arabia was at the second-worst.
22. Research from UNICEF in 2012found that 52% of adolescent girls and 57% of adolescent boys think it is justifiable for a man to beat his wife.
23. Why aren’t we offended when our daughters are ill-treated in their marital home by her husband and in-laws? Why do we ask her to compromise and bear for the sake of her marriage and kids?
24. Why are we not offended when women are called out when they choose not to get married or bear children?
25. Why aren’t we offended when a woman is not respected for earning more than a man?

Yes, these are some issues we should be really offended by and there should be TV debates on and not on some actor’s decision to do a photo-shoot in his skin.

The views expressed are the author's own.