There are whispers on the street about the record-breaking book ‘Chup – Breaking the
silence of India’s women’, by Dr Deepa Narayan, who interacted with the
audience in a book reading session organised by Literati recently. The session
also involved the author in conversation with Kurt Bento, former journalist,
and Diviya Kapur, who was a practising lawyer in the fields of women’s and
human rights.
Deepa Narayan is the author of ‘Chup’ and
17 other books on poverty and empowerment of poor people. She was formerly
Senior Adviser on poverty policies at the World Bank and has won many awards
including being named by the Foreign Policy Magazine as one of 100 most
influential policy thinkers. She serves on boards of NGOs and provides training
on unconscious gender bias to women and men.
The whole drive of the book ‘Chup’ comes
down to a phenomenal, purposeful and passionate woman. She is driven by her
thoughts and makes her thoughts into words, breaking the silence. “We thought
when woman become educated they would be valued, free and unafraid, they are
not,” she said.
The #MeToo movement in India has finally drawn national
attention to the systemic sexual abuse and harassment of women by many men in
the workplace across industries, from the film industry to journalism and
academia. While legal redress is one way of justice, the larger issue of
creating safety and respect for women in India still needs to be addressed. Dr
Deepa Narayan, in her new book ‘Chup: Breaking The Silence About India’s Women’
based on interviews with over 600 educated women and men in Delhi, Mumbai,
Bangalore and Ahmadabad, argues that the problem will not go away unless we
address the deeper cultural issues that define what it means to be a good woman
and man, which unconsciously set up behavior patterns into adulthood that harm
women and men that persist despite education, employment and wealth.
The behaviors of baring the pain and not voicing out against
injustice shown may seem harmless, but each one has enormous impact, and means
only one thing – that Indian women are trained to habitually delete themselves.
Based on the 600 detailed interviews with women and some men across India’s
metros, social scientist Deepa Narayan identifies seven key habits that may
dominate women’s everyday lives, despite their education, success, financial
status and family background.
She
describes the impact of her book in short, “Shocking, troubling and
revolutionary, the book Chup will hold a mirror to yourself – and you may not
like what you see.”
