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Sabah Hussain

Abstract

One of the primary contradictions in the administration of power consists of inequalities between women and men. The attitudes, behaviours, and roles which societies prescribe as congruous for the construction of ‘gender’ can be the consequence, the root, and structure of power relations, involving the very intimate domain of the domestic to the utmost levels of the political sphere and decision-making. As the COVID-19 crisis deepens economic and social strain combined with social isolation measures and constricted movement, the instances of gender-based violence also started to rise exponentially. Many women were being forced to 'lockdown' in the domestic setting with their abusers at times when services to survivor’s support were being rendered disarrayed. The crowded homes, limited access to services, substance abuse, poverty, patriarchal norms, and reduced peer support have exacerbated these conditions (Meerambika Mahapatro 2021). In the case of India, which is a highly patriarchal society, already having poor records of gender-based violence and a lack of support networks for the same has shown an exponential increase in the cases of domestic violence during the period of 2020- 2021. As per the data of the National Commission for Women, Delhi; the rise in the cases against women in domestic settings can be categorised in three categories as: to secure the right to live with dignity (36%); domestic violence cases (21.6%); and matters of harassment of married women including dowry persecution (15%). These are only the institutionally reported cases, there is an abundance of cases which have not been even reported. This deepens the classification and the politics of the public and private sphere for Muslim women even more. In this paper, I am using the framework of intersectionality to read the perpetration of violence against Muslim women in India which were reported to the National Commission of women and the experiences of workers of BMMA in the above-mentioned three categories using Routine Activity Theory. This paper also studies the Post- Covid changes in the bargaining of Muslim women in the political and private spheres, hence choosing economic mobility and political agency as the important variables of the study.

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