BBC OS Conversations: Women's safety in India

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 24 August 2024

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The recent rape and murder of a trainee doctor after a 36-hour hospital shift has, according to India’s top court, “shocked the conscience of the nation". It has produced protests, strikes and outrage and has focussed conversations on what it is like to be female in India, both at work and during everyday life. Arunima, for instance, lives close to the hospital, in Kolkata, where the murder happened. For her, even travelling on public transport has been traumatising after being touched inappropriately by another passenger. “That person was a father,” she said. “He had his own daughter literally sitting right on his lap". Host Luke Jones also hears from women doctors about security issues at their own hospitals in Ahmedabad, Gujarat - such as inadequate facilities to change scrubs or to sleep after long shifts. And two men share their thoughts on what is to blame for how some Indian men treat women and what changes they feel need to be made.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello I'm Luke Jones. Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service.
0:04.0	In BBC OS conversations, we bring people together to share their experiences.
0:08.4	This time we hear from women and men in India, discussing the issue of women's safety.
0:17.2	After the rape and murder of a trainee doctor after a hospital shift
0:20.1	there have been intense protests on the streets. It's put a spotlight once again on how
0:26.0	women are regarded within Indian society.
0:28.8	If any guy teases you or cat calls you, you are not supposed to do anything, you're just supposed to ignore it look down and
0:34.8	move on because if you ever try to like put up a fight or say something there is a
0:40.2	huge chance that they would be violent towards you.
0:42.8	So we are taught since childhood to shut up.
0:49.0	It was a crime that shocked people in India and around the world.
0:52.4	Just to warn you, this story does contain some upsetting details.
0:56.0	On the 9th of August, a 31-year-old trainee doctor had just finished a grueling 36-hour hospital shift in the city of Kolkata. Due to the lack of a designated
1:05.1	rest area, she'd fallen asleep in a seminar room. The next morning, colleagues discovered
1:09.7	her half-naked body bearing extensive injuries
1:12.6	she'd been raped and murdered.
1:15.6	Since then, tens of thousands of people have been taking part in protests,
1:19.8	calling for an end to violence against women in India.
1:22.4	They want swift legal action and save a work. calling for an end to violence against women in India.
1:22.6	They want swift legal action and safer workplaces.
1:26.4	Doctors across the country also observed a strike called by the Indian Medical Association
1:31.0	and a small group of men broke into and vandalise the hospital in
	...

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