New Delhi, March 9 (IANSlife) If you saw an act of violencebeing committed against a woman in a public space, would you step up andintervene? As per data from a recent report by Breakthrough India, 55.3 percent have observed the discomfort of the woman/girl facing violence, and almostas many have intervened in an incident of violence against women in a publicspace.
"What I understand by bystander action is, you seesomething happening to someone and you're not comfortable with it, it might beovert or not, but at that point of time, speak out or try to come between theperpetrator and victim through some strategic move. Ally with the person goingthrough the suffering," Sohini Bhattacharya, President and CEO,Breakthrough, explained to IANSlife. A swift and effective action by anonlooker can, then, prevent acts of violence, and possibly injury and evendeath.
A good example of this is Breakthrough's popular 'BellBajao' or 'Ring The Bell' campaign from 2008, which showed men and boysstepping up and ringing the bell to interrupt when they overheard domesticviolence behind closed doors.
The latest survey on bystander intervention was conducted instates such as Jharkhand (Hazaribagh district), Bihar (Gaya district), Haryana(Jhajjar district), Delhi, Maharashtra (Mumbai), Telangana (Hyderabad) andKolkata, covering over 721 respondents. Most participants, particularly women,identified violence as a broad term, consisting of physical, mental, verbal,and sexual abuse.
In the survey, 78.4 per cent respondents say that they haveexperienced violence in public spaces, while almost 7 out of 10 experiencedviolence in public transport.
Why do people intervene? The survey found that the urge todo the 'right' thing often drives bystanders to intervene. A handful ofrespondents revealed that they were victims of child sexual abuse and domesticviolence. But they could not resist their perpetrators at that time. It wasthis unresolved rage at their own helplessness that pushed them to intervenelater in their lives. The respondents also said that better knowledge andawareness about gender issues also helped them intervene.
When it comes to techniques of bystander intervention, thesurvey revealed some interesting methods: swapping seats with the survivors/victims;giving one's mobile number to connect later; taking the survivor for medicalhelp; physically escorting someone home when she is being harassed; andemploying patriarchal scripts like "Don't you have a mother andsister?".
As per Bhattacharya, it is very important to know how toactually intervene, based on the situation's specific context. "It doesn'thave to direct calling out, always".
"Often, we think someone else is going to take action,and that stops us from taking action. If more and more people have this urge todo the 'right thing', maybe the rates of daily sexual harassment which is oftennormalised, will come down," said Bhattacharya.
The survey also reveals that building safer public spacesfor women requires work at several structural and systemic levels. An importantaspect among them is bystander support. The lack of positive action frombystanders is not just because they do not care. The fear of being blamed forthe violence, of getting stuck in police and legal processes are some challengesthat stop people. Not knowing what to do in such situations is another hurdlethat bystanders often face.
"The survey respondents who have had the experiences ofbystander intervention expressed their exasperation at the 'silence' of mostvictims of abuse and sexual violence. A few of the respondents acknowledged thecritical role played by structural and social conditioning in influencingfemale behaviour and choices. They pointed out how girls were taught fromchildhood to be submissive and not challenge their surroundings, at least notovertly. The silence of the victims often discourages bystander intervention inpublic spaces," says Breakthrough.