Entrepreneur Vineeta Singh has slammed new guidelines for West Bengal doctors that states "night duty may be avoided for women to extent possible". The 41-year-old businesswoman described the move, taken in the aftermath of the rape and murder of a 31-year-old doctor at a Kolkata hospital, as "convenient". "Put thousands of MORE restrictions on girls because of course, boys with be boys!"
Ms Singh, co-founder and CEO of SUGAR cosmetics, said in the Instagram post that this is not the change women are seeking.
A former judge on Shark Tank India, she feared institutions across the country would follow this example. "Eventually we can create these giant protective cages for women like the ones used for doing research on sharks, because men will be men! This is NOT the change women are seeking!," she said.
"Parents of little daughters are already paranoid and protective as they live in fear. Can we not add to that burden with institutional curbs on girls? Every additional restriction is a subtle message to young girls that for their own survival they should not even expect to be treated equally and that freedom and opportunities will always be discounted for them," she said further.
She also said that the onus is on "us" to be better and not burden women by placing more restrictions.
"As a parent of two boys, I want this additional burden of responsibility to instead be on us. It is high time we raise our boys as kind humans who understand the true meaning of equality, respect and consent. If there are going to be curbs, they should be on boys so they don't cross the finer lines before bad behaviour becomes a habit, not on girls. Cages are meant for predators, not for the prey," she said.
An average of nearly 90 rapes a day were reported in 2022 in the country.
