Sankar Halder’s Speech on Trafficking of Women

A weak economy, ravaged by frequent cyclones, is mainly responsible for the trafficking of women in the Sundarbans.

Trafficking also arises from a sense of ownership: Men may view women as objects to be possessed and ruled (physical ownership); Women are economically subjugated due to pay inequalities in the labor market and inequalities in the institution of marriage (economic ownership); Women are denied the power of knowledge/information due to the dominance of men in fields of education.

But a healthy society is created by the equal partnership of men and women. Besides the physiological differences necessary for reproduction, men and women are equal in their thinking, consciousness, and ideology. So where is the inequality? By keeping women behind, we are taking society behind. Ideologically strong social workers like ourselves can overcome this imbalance among thousands of other men and women. We can catalyze the equitable distribution of wealth and resources among men and women. International studies show that even though women perform 66% of total work, yet 99% of salary goes to men, and 95% of resources are under the possession of men.

Now I will explain how these issues, along with natural disasters, are affecting the women of Sundarban. I hope you all know that the hot spot of trafficking are the areas of Sinthee and Sundarban. When the economy of the Sundarbans collapses due to repeated natural disasters, fathers are forced to hand over their daughters to the wrong people in the name of marriage. They are mainly married off to Delhi and Haryana, where prostitution is rampant. After having two or three children, the girls are thrown out of the house. Unable to return home, they are forced to take refuge in slums and live as prostitutes. Social workers need to be aware of this, and be responsible about equal rights and equal pay for men and women in the workplace, equal proportions of boys and girls in education, equal numbers of men and women leaders, and equal distribution of relief. We, the social workers, will try to improve the lives of all by eliminating this discrimination.