Unfair and unlovely

Column for Mathrubhumi

(Translated in Malayalam)

If you replace the word "Fair" with "Glow", is it proof that you are not concerned about skin colour? Thanks to the Black Lives Movement in the US, which has drawn attention to the pernicious problem of race, here in India multinational companies have been compelled to question the content of their marketing campaigns and the nature of their products. 

One multinational company, Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), which has raked in millions of dollars selling the dream of a fair skin to generations of Indian women, wants us to believe that it has had a change of heart by changing one word in its product. The reality, however, is very different.

For decades, women's groups have objected to the very idea of a cream that will turn darker women fair and in turn, make them more attractive, more successful and certainly more presentable for the marriage market.  They argued that such a concept is not just racist, because it decides a person's worth according to skin colour but in the Indian context it is also casteist, as the marginalised castes are always represented as being darker.  For women, this kind of equation of skin colour and self-worth is even worse in a society where they are regarded and treated as second class citizens because of their gender.

Despite these campaigns, the company went ahead selling the product with the same message: fairer is lovelier.  It made a few changes in its advertising campaign, trying to show so-called "empowered" women but it made no change in either the formulation of the cream, or its name. 

Its success in India only goes to illustrate how our society continues to believe, and reinforce in so many ways, that fair is beautiful and dark is ugly. Generations of little girls grow up believing this, seeing pictures in books, in films, in advertising that always show beautiful women as fair.  Even actresses who have darker skins are forced to take steps to look fairer in order to be successful.

The main objection to this type of product and the message it was sending came from women who were fighting for the rights of women as human beings.  They argued that the worth of a woman should not be reduced to the colour of her skin, or the shape of her body.  Women ought to be respected as citizens, as individuals who have capabilities and talents like anyone else.

Yet, the disease of fairness, that is deeply rooted not just in our colonial past but also in the entrenched system of caste that differentiates between people, will not disappear.  Girls born with a darker skin are always made to feel as if they are inferior.  Their fair-skinned counterparts grow up being liked and applauded for something they did not achieve but something they were born with.  Even if a darker skinned girl is more talented, and indeed more beautiful, she has to struggle much harder to gain recognition than a girl with a light skin, even if she is less intelligent or talented. 

In the US, companies are withdrawing products that promote fair skin.  This is what we need in India, not just a name change.  Only then can companies that have manufactured and promoted such products convince us that they have understood the message that the Black Lives Movement is sending. 

That message is that the colour of your skin should not decide you destiny. That societies that discriminate against their citizens on the basis of their skin colour are racist and unequal. And that to build a just society, the scourge of racial discrimination, and in our case in India also caste discrimination must end.

Getting to the top

The Hindu, Sunday Magazine, May 17, 2009


THE OTHER HALF



The people of Sehore, a small town in Madhya Pradesh just 35 km away from Bhopal, have another reason to be proud. Until a few weeks ago, the local people would boast of two things: one, that in 1824, the man who fought and died in what they believe is India’s first war of Independence against the British, Kunwar Chain Singh, lies buried in their town. And two, that former Vice President, Justice Mohammed Hidayatullah, studied in Sehore. Now they have another boast, that a young woman, daughter of a laid-off worker, has got into the Indian Administrative Service.

Priti Maithil might not be one amongst the three women who topped this year’s examination to the civil services but even holding the 92nd position is an incredible achievement. At 23, she got through the examination in the first attempt. Her father, Santosh Kumar, has been unemployed since 2002 when the Bhopal Sugar Industries where he worked closed down. One of the principal reasons for the closure, locals tell you, is because there is no water in Sehore. So how can industries run? This is the story of so many smaller towns where sources of employment dry up even as basic services such as water and electricity evaporate.

Bleak prospects

Yet, towns like Sehore have so much going for them, apart from history. They boast of a good education system, one that can produce people like Priti. But the tragedy is that scores of young people emerge from similar towns, with education and dreams, but few prospects.

But coming back to this year’s civil service examinations, it is interesting that the media made much of the success of the three women who held the top three ranks. Shubhra Saxena, Sharandeep Brar and Kiran Kaushal were interviewed and featured on front pages of many newspapers. But will this alter the realities they will face once they enter the service?

Not all women in the Indian Administrative Service think that gender is a problem. But many do. Some of them have openly spoken about it in the media. In some States, like Maharashtra, the women officers have come together at various times when they have felt that they are being overlooked for promotions. At such times, the issue of their status within the service becomes the subject of some discussion. But whether it leads to sustainable change in the way the service is run is still an open question.

Welcome changes

Some things have changed. Veena Sikri, who was in the Indian Foreign Service, writes about how, in 1971, when she entered the service, married women were not allowed. She had to get special permission to get married! She says that many women left the service when they got married.

Just 30 years ago, women officers like C.B. Muthamma had to fight long legal battles that went up to the Supreme Court because they were denied promotions to the rank of Secretary. Veena Sikri was also superseded to the post of Foreign Secretary and she has still not been given the reason why the government did this. She now teaches at Jamia Milia University in New Delhi.

The success of the three women toppers has also brought into the public realm the views of women in the services. Many of them remind us that it is still tough for them to succeed. The issue is not just of the double burden they must carry — of being wives and mothers and professionals. They have to confront a bias that has everything to do with their being women and nothing to do with their competence.

An IAS officer from UP is quoted in Asian Age (May 10, 2009) as saying: “All this talk of women making their presence felt in cadre services is humbug. Women are still discriminated against by their male colleagues in States like Uttar Pradesh. If a woman officer interacts with her male political boss for official purposes, she is linked romantically with him, but when male officers interact with a woman politician, there is no such allegation. A woman officer is made to work twice as hard to prove that she is half as good as her male colleagues.”

The views of this particular officer might not be universal and there are many women who deny facing any discrimination. Yet even a few voices like this suggest that it is not entirely a level playing field once women enter even though they get in through open competition and without any special concessions made to them because of their gender.

Yet, even if women officers face problems, there is no doubt that the civil service still provides a unique opportunity for real “service”. An honest and concerned officer can make a spectacular difference to the lives of people, especially when posted in the districts. Whenever you travel to district towns, you constantly hear stories of such officers. They are long remembered even after they have moved on to other posts.

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