Karnataka health minister K Sudhakar reinforcing gender roles, must apologise to women, say activists

BENGALURU: Karnataka health minister K Sudhakar said on Monday that his statement on ‘modern Indian women’ was grossly misunderstood and taken out of context as he came under criticism by women’s rights activists and health experts, who called his comments ‘regressive’.
At a Nimhans event, the minister had said that he regretted the choices made by Indian women, who “want to stay single.Even if they get married, they don’t want to give birth; they want surrogacy.”
Sudhakar said he wanted to emphasise how the family value system can address current mental health issues.
“It is unfortunate a small part of my 19.5-minute address is taken out of context and thereby losing out on the larger point I was trying to make,” his statement read.
Activists and experts demanded apology from him.
Doctors said surrogacy is “a medical, legal option for women” to conceive when they are not able to bear a child on their own. Nimhans professors said the speech came as a shocker for researchers, who have been working on destigmatising mental health issues.
Several women’s rights activists, progressive thinkers, gynaecologists and mental health experts in the state have criticised what they called “regressive statements” made by health and medical education minister K Sudhakar on “the choices of modern women” in India.
The minister in his speech at a World Mental Health Day event on Sunday had said, “Sorry to say this. Today a lot of modern women in India want to stay single. Even if they get married, they don’t want to give birth, they want surrogacy.”
Tara Krishnaswamy, co-founder, Citizens For Bengaluru, who is also a political analyst, said: “What’s shocking is that he is a young man and a doctor. What does he think of women like Akkamahadevi and Andal who chose to remain childless?”
Vimala KS, vice-president, All India Democratic women’s Association, Karnataka, said the minister’s speech reinforced the stereotypical notion about women and regressive thinking of the patriarchal mindset. “He must apologise to all women, as nobody can accept what he said,” she said.
“There may be a section of people who may not want to get married and not want to deliver a baby. But that’s an individual’s right... His statements are anti-Constitutional. Across the world, there is respect and acceptance for the movement ‘My body My right’. We condemn the perception of women as child-bearing machines,” Vimala said.
Terming the minister’s statement “sexist”, Jayanagar MLA Soumya Reddy said it reflected the mindset of the government. “It’s very appalling that the minister is objecting to women’s choices at a time when cases of violence increased during the pandemic. Don’t women have their own choices with their bodies? People have no idea what a woman goes through. Sudhakar needs counselling and people like him must resign,” she said.
Activists TOI spoke with regretted that the minister’s statement comes at a time when women are stigmatised for not being able to give birth to a child and that itself is leading to depression and mental health issues.
Gynaecologists, meanwhile, have taken exception to the minister’s statement about surrogacy. They say surrogacy is a medical, legal option for women to conceive when they are not able to bear a child on their own.
“But as it is an expensive proposition, how many couples battling infertility have chosen surrogacy? Generalising one or two instances of star couples going for surrogacy to all women is just not acceptable. With his statement, he is further adding stigma to the very concept of surrogacy, the couples who go for it and children born through surrogacy,” said a leading gynaecologist.
Professors from Nimhans, where Sudhakar made the remarks, said the minister’s speech came as a shocker for researchers who have been working on destigmatising mental health issues.
“It’s the reflection of gender roles that we see every day in our OPDs, when women unable to conceive suffer from infertility and depression and finally come to us seeking help. We are fighting against the stereotypical expectations that women end up suffering from. But on World Mental Health Day, this is what we had to hear from the minister, which was awful,” a doctor said.
A professor said that the minister’s speech showed the true levels of mental health literacy among the leaders themselves and the urgent need for mental health education for all, while all that another professor could say was, “words matter.”
"I could understand and perhaps even forgive an ordinary man for making such a statement, but it is unacceptable that a state’s health minister can state something like this in public. His statement reflects the regressive mindset of the government that sanctions and legitimises gender stereotyping, discrimination and violence. It reinforces the misogynistic stereotype that women are primarily baby-making machines. It also reinforces the stereotypes that a woman who speaks out, who does not marry or decides to not have kids is a "bad" woman. We have worked so hard to establish that marriage and children have to do with women's choice and rights and not that of the State or society. It is neither a crime nor a sin if a woman does not want to get married. Are women only meant to be carriers of your culture or your seed or your lineage? You can’t deprive women of making basic choices that impact their bodies, their minds and their emotions."
- Madhu Bhushan, independent women's rights activist and researcher associated with Gamana Mahila Samuha
"The minister's statement is not based on any facts and is made to show women in poor light. His statement is a reflection of how women's agency and reproductive rights are barely respected. Women are constantly policed about their bodies and the choices they make. When politicians give voice to the ugliest forms of misogyny, sexism it is especially important to fight back, so that the majority voice of the women is not silenced."
- Nisha Gulur, President, Swaraj India Bengaluru Urban District Unit
"As men, we are unqualified to speak about this. We do not have a uterus and that alone is a reason for us to not speak on this. For ages, men have spoken, made decisions for women. Especially in our country which has either had women being glorified as gods or second class citizens. We have no business speaking about their body and the choices they make for their life. It is appalling for someone in a position like his to be making such irresponsible statements.
- Ravikiran Rajendran, Actor & Theatre Director
“To make such a statement on World Mental Health Day is unlike a Health Minister’s Duty. In today’s day and age, women have the autonomy to make the choices and it is insensitive to continue to view women through such a narrow lens. The comment on women not wanting to be mothers was uncalled for as well. He should have taken a gender sensitivity course before becoming a minister."
- Sreya Vittaldev, a marketing professional
"The statement is horrendous, misogynistic and unacceptable. It demonstrates the absolute insensitivity of the person speaking on such a subject as a public servant. We are trying to progress and in the last 70 years, the government of India has made so many laws to protect women and this statement denies women all that progress. It demonstrates the feudal mindset of the person. I think the government must clarify and chastise him for making such a statement. He should tender his apology for saying it."
- B T Venkatesh, Former state public prosecutor High court of Karnataka, Human Rights advocate, Founder ReachLawyer
“The minister's comments on women reveal the patriarchal assumptions and paternalistic expectations imposed on women and what their role should be. To people who agree with his comments, I would encourage reflection - to examine their own deeply held beliefs and sexism that is limiting their ability to accept that women are free agents able to choose their lives, as they see fit. It is unfortunate that people need to be reminded that women are full human beings with equal rights and freedoms even in 2021."
- Sneha Visakha, legal researcher based in Bengaluru
From Twitter
T M Krishna, singer, author
"And then we wonder why in India rape, sexual harassment and abuse is normalised. Such people should not be allowed to hold public office.
Shruti Seth, actor
"But men can want to stay single, get married not want to have kids; but how dare a woman to live her life on her own terms??? Modern women are the root of all problems clearly!"