Why Kerala college asking women students not to close doors is crossing all limits of indecency
The girl students in a college hostel in Kerala have been asked not to lock doors even when they are changing clothes. Reason: The college principal thinks that would prevent the girls from indulging in homosexual activities.
In what sounds like another bizarre attempt at reinforcing patriarchy by controlling the lives and choices of young adult women, the new set of regressive rules in Kerala's Upasana College of Nursing have not just been terrorising the students, but also denying them basic human dignity.
“Girls in the hostel have been instructed not to lock their doors even while changing clothes. The principal says we are closing rooms to secretly use mobile phones or because we are homosexuals. We have been told to just keep a chair near the door, but we can’t close it,” Veena VS, a fourth-year student was quoted as saying by The News Minute.
The female students have been staging a protest since last Friday, demanding principal MP Jessykutty's resignation for suffocating them with ridiculous rules and heavy fines.
According to the students, the principal also abuses them with casteist slurs besides imposing unnecessary fines.
While it's impossible to gauge what's made the principal come up with such a "bright" idea, this is not the first time that students have been at the centre of such sexist attack against women. The horrific epidemic that threatens to disempower women completely only seems be spreading across campuses.
Kollam (Kerala): Students of Upasana College of Nursing protest against college authorities alleging mistreatment & misogynistic statements pic.twitter.com/YCqx1c6r5B
— ANI (@ANI_news) March 7, 2017
College managements in various cities have time and again made news with strange codes of conduct for women students — night curfews, dress codes, don't talk to boys, don't laugh out loud, don't celebrate birthdays.
In 2015, a well-known engineering college in Tamil Nadu, Sri Sai Ram Engineering College, had asked girls not to wear leggings, tight pants or tops and heavy earrings. It had even barred the students from celebrating birthdays on the college campus, and girls were instructed not to talk to boys.
But can you blame the college managements alone, especially when their views are echoed by our government representatives as well.
Women and child development minister Maneka Gandhi has also justified early curfew for girls in hostel, saying it is needed to protect them from their own “hormonal outbursts".
And perhaps the principal of Upasana College too thinks that unless the raging hormones are controlled it will lead to homosexuality. Why not? If chowmein can lead to hormonal imbalance and rape, closed doors too will lead to homosexuality.
Who is going to tell them that homosexuality or same-sex attraction is not a result of sharing rooms or changing clothes behind closed doors.
Moreover, homosexuality is not a disease, but homophobia is certainly a serious mental condition.
The main reason driving this kind of discrimination and attack on women's liberty and dignity is the social stigma attached to homosexuality in India, which still lives in a state of denial about the existence of same-sex relationships. A society that looks at women as subordinate to men, acceptance of the third gender in Indian colleges and schools seems light years away.
Even after the Supreme Court recognised the third gender in 2014, neither universities nor colleges are liberal to the third gender when it comes to pursuing higher education.
Following the apex court's decision, the University Grants Commission (UGC) had notified transgender people as the third gender in 2014 to enable them to avail benefits of all scholarship schemes and fellowship programmes in institutes of higher education.
While the Bangalore University was the first to modify its application form to include the category, Delhi University too introduced the "third gender" category in postgraduate application forms in 2014 and for undergraduate courses in 2015.
But that has not stopped the discrimination against the third gender who are almost missing from regular courses. Also missing are separate washrooms and hostel facilities for them.
University and college administrators have not tried to formulate policies to make campuses more friendly for such students mainly because of their lack of awareness about the complexities related to the understanding of the third sex.
It's time our policy-makers take a serious look at the existing rules and come up with gender inclusive guidelines and facilities rather than imposing regressive rules on students.
Institutes of higher education are supposed to give wings to young women and help them realise their dreams, and not cage them in prisons guarded by misogynists.