India

Introduction

A woman's body is constantly being exploited by the society. Prostitution is a form of sexual exploitation. In surrogacy there is a contract, whereby the woman agrees to bear child for someone who is unable to do so. The end of both the acts is money. Surrogacy can be termed exploitative as it is a priceless act; and for such they aren't even paid accurately. This article commentates on the antiquity of status of women in the past and how prostitution existed back then, along with the development of the Surrogacy in India. The statistics of women getting involved in both the occupation is escalating on the positive side of the graph. India has become a hub for Sex Tourism as well as Medical Tourism. There are no specific Acts which regulate them. However, Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act, 1956 controls prostitution in a limited sense. The Surrogacy Regulation Bill is yet to be passed. Ambiguity whether Surrogacy is a type of Positive Prostitution stems, as there is use of woman's body in return of money. Procreation is the difference it serves. However, it would be vague to compare them both; as there is no use of force in the latter and a surrogate can easily withdraw to serve, unlike a prostitute.

When we search, in Wikipedia for, the meaning of a Woman it says a Female ‘human being'. But how far has ‘the human' practically been applicable to a woman? People residing in the modern era of the psychology and society would say to a greater extend but truth is beyond imagination. The world has been a Patriarch since time immemorial, wherein the woman was considered merely slaves or sex objects. They were a part of the property and were bought and sold whenever the man wished. Many social reformers and feminists worked on changing this perspective. Today, definitely many social evils have been eradicated; but the new forms of profiteering have come up into the picture. The worst part is that there has been exponential growth of exploitation of women throughout years, exploitation of her body being the finest. The astonishing fact is that there has been consensual exploitation of her body by the means of Prostitution and Surrogacy.

History of Prostitution

The introduction of Manu Smriti by the King Manu was the peripeteia of human society. Through the inception of Varna system the Brahmins were placed on the high citadels whereas the Sudras were the most oppressed one. Not only had the Brahmin male discriminated with the Sudras, but also with the women. The women of the high class societies were expected to manage the household affairs and to procreate and nurture the child. Education was just a chimera. Manusmriti leaves no room of dignity of women. The following are the verses that humiliates the women at ground level:

(i) It is the nature of women to seduce men in this world; for that reason the wise are never unguarded in the company of females. (ii) One should not marry women who has have reddish hair, redundant parts of the body [such as six fingers], one who is often sick, one without hair or having excessive hair and one who has red eyes. (iii) Wise men should marry only women who are free from bodily defects, with beautiful names, grace/gait like an elephant, moderate hair on the head and body, soft limbs and small teeth. (iv) Wise people should avoid sitting alone with one's mother, daughter or sister. Since carnal desire is always strong, it can lead to temptation. The above mentioned verses are just a brevity of what Manusmriti contains. It depicts how a woman isonly about her bodily appearance. It was believed that a woman who was beautiful, charming and attractivecould not only acquire a piece of land but also can conquer castles and kingdoms and thus, it was advisable to a wise man to stay away from woman of such virtue as she may be a lady of vice in disguise. It was only because of such ideology that the role of women as Prostitutes came into picture. Kautilya (4thCentury BCE), an eminent King-maker and Machiavelli of the west, in hisArthashastra has a special mention of Prostitutesorganikasin practice and hence the profession can be regarded as one of theoldest profession. He, by all hooks and cooks, would achieve what he aimed for. Tales speak of how prostitute aided him, who contained venom on her tongue, to kill an emperor. Arthashastra categorized ganikas intothree kinds: (i)theganika who practised within a state controlled establishment (ii) therupajivaor an independent who could practice prostitution outside the sphere of state and (iii) the pumsachalior the concubine. A woman's body is constantly being exploited by the society. Prostitution is a form of sexual exploitation. In surrogacy there is a contract, whereby the woman agrees to bear child for someone who is unable to do so. The end of both the acts is money. Surrogacy can be termed exploitative as it is a priceless act; and for such they aren't even paid accurately. This article commentates on the antiquity of status of women in the past and how prostitution existed back then, along with the development of the Surrogacy in India. The statistics of women getting involved in both the occupation is escalating on the positive side of the graph. India has become a hub for Sex Tourism as well as Medical Tourism. There are no specific Acts which regulate them. However, Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act, 1956 controls prostitution in a limited sense. The Surrogacy Regulation Bill is yet to be passed. Ambiguity whether Surrogacy is a type of Positive Prostitution stems, as there is use of woman's body in return of money. Procreation is the difference it serves. However, it would be vague to compare them both; as there is no use of force in the latter and a surrogate can easily withdraw to serve, unlike a prostitute. When we search, in Wikipedia for, the meaning of a Woman it says a Female ‘human being'. But how far has ‘the human' practically been applicable to a woman? People residing in the modern era of the psychology and society would say to a greater extend but truth is beyond imagination. The world has been a Patriarch since time immemorial, wherein the woman was considered merely slaves or sex objects. They were a part of the property and were bought and sold whenever the man wished. Many social reformers and feminists worked on changing this perspective. Today, definitely many social evils have been eradicated; but the new forms of profiteering have come up into the picture. The worst part is that there has been exponential growth of exploitation of women throughout years, exploitation of her body being the finest. The astonishing fact is that there has been consensual exploitation of her body by the means of Prostitution and Surrogacy.

Commercial Surrogacy

Commercial Surrogacy serves as one of the Profit generating industries of India. For the poor, it serves as an easy way of earning money within a short span of time. As majority of customers are from the foreign countries, where surrogacy is prohibited, the income generated is in dollars denoting huge monetary gains. A contract is made between the parties, viz. the Intended parents and the surrogate, wherein a sum is assured for the delivery of baby as well as for the services to be rendered during the pregnancy. Many of the Surrogacy centres impersonate themselves as Legal IVF centres and carry out such operations.The reasons why India has been emerging as the ‘Surrogacy capital of the world'are,because the women in India are less likely to get indulged into drugs, drinking or smokingi.e.they maintain good health condition. India has been a country of cultural values where intake of alcohol and smoking is considered unethical. The only women coddled are the fewer middle class and mostly that of upper class women. The rural women are hardly into such activities. Secondly, the Indians believe in marriage at an early age and therefore, the surrogates can gestate at her early 20s, giving birth to a healthy child. Child marriage has been practiced in India since the time immemorial. Although there has been aged limitation imposed, the people in the rural areas tend to get their children married soon after they attain pubic age. Lastly, the costs of conducting surrogacy in India are comparatively less than those charged in other countries. The amount charged for performing surrogacy is less than one tenth of what it is charged in the US and the UK. Also, the government ensures effortless providence of birth certificate as well as visa for the baby. A woman's body is constantly being exploited by the society. Prostitution is a form of sexual exploitation. In surrogacy there is a contract, whereby the woman agrees to bear child for someone who is unable to do so. The end of both the acts is money. Surrogacy can be termed exploitative as it is a priceless act; and for such they aren't even paid accurately. This article commentates on the antiquity of status of women in the past and how prostitution existed back then, along with the development of the Surrogacy in India. The statistics of women getting involved in both the occupation is escalating on the positive side of the graph. India has become a hub for Sex Tourism as well as Medical Tourism. There are no specific Acts which regulate them. However, Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act, 1956 controls prostitution in a limited sense. The Surrogacy Regulation Bill is yet to be passed. Ambiguity whether Surrogacy is a type of Positive Prostitution stems, as there is use of woman's body in return of money. Procreation is the difference it serves. However, it would be vague to compare them both; as there is no use of force in the latter and a surrogate can easily withdraw to serve, unlike a prostitute. When we search, in Wikipedia for, the meaning of a Woman it says a Female ‘human being'. But how far has ‘the human' practically been applicable to a woman? People residing in the modern era of the psychology and society would say to a greater extend but truth is beyond imagination. The world has been a Patriarch since time immemorial, wherein the woman was considered merely slaves or sex objects. They were a part of the property and were bought and sold whenever the man wished. Many social reformers and feminists worked on changing this perspective. Today, definitely many social evils have been eradicated; but the new forms of profiteering have come up into the picture. The worst part is that there has been exponential growth of exploitation of women throughout years, exploitation of her body being the finest. The astonishing fact is that there has been consensual exploitation of her body by the means of Prostitution and Surrogacy.

Present Condition and Statistics

Prostitution and surrogacy serves as a medium of livelihood not only for the poor and low income groups but also sometimes for women who have been abandoned or separated by their families due to various reasons. The uneducated and the unskilled women are left with no other alternative then to plight for such occupation. According to World Bank Report of 2014, about 27 crores of Indians lives in poverty i.e. 1 of every 5 Indian is a poor. India now has a greater share of the world's poorest than it did thirty years ago. Then it was home to one fifth of the world's poorest people, but today it's ignominious accounting for one-third.80% of them are from the rural areas. Most of the money spent by the people of rural areas is on food, fuel and electricity. Only 6% of the gross income is spent on education. Conservative rural families do not reckon on educating the girl child. Birth of girl child, in the first place, is considered as burden to the family. However, she is constrained into domestic activities and is married as soon as she attains puberty; wherein the age of the groom is often neglected. In the process of getting rid of the girl child, they intentionally or unintentionally are forced into the market of Sex trafficking. Also, the traffickers, in a disguised manner of well-wishers, quack about the job opportunities to the family and sculpt the ways in which they can score a lump sum of money from the Metro cities. The family with a blind fold sends the girl off board with the traffickers. Sometimes neither the girl returns nor does the money promised.

Effects of Legalization and Criminalization

The question which has been in judicial debate for a long time is:‘Whether Prostitution be legalized or criminalized?'Well, criminalization of Prostitution will do little for the society. As we know there are thousands of prostitutes who are engaged in this profession. Taking away their profession would lead in rise of poverty. Being into prostitution for a longer time makes it is difficult finding new jobs as they are uneducated and unskilled and have least knowledge of the world outside. Also, criminalization of it will open doors of increment of illegal sex scams and make all women vulnerable to violence. Prostitution has been a mode by which the patriarchs enforce power over the prostitutes to show their dominancy. If these are removed or banned from the society, there will be more instances of rape on common women. In a way, the prostitution saves a number of women from horrendous crimes such as rape, molestation, etc. There shouldn't be complete legalization of Prostitution as it will pave way for extensive smuggling of women in it. Nonetheless, there should be laws framed which would protect the prostitutes from rape and violence by the clients and imposition on the executive as well as judicial authority to take speedy actions on such complaints. Legalization of prostitution will also usher in more revenues in the government funds. Talking about the appropriate effects on Surrogacy's statuson passage of the Surrogacy Regulation Bill, it will surely decrease the Medical tourism as the Bill states that anyone indulged in the act of Commercial Surrogacy or advertisement of the same or carrying out racket of supplying gametes for surrogacy will be an offender; punishable with imprisonment of not less than 10years or fine or both (Section 35(2) of the Bill). The bill only supports altruistic surrogacy and commercial aid shall be restricted only for the service provided during gestation period. If the Bill becomes an Act, it will affect poor women's life. There will be stability of their condition and nil hopes of improvisation of their standard of living. However, there shall be less exploitation through this and surrogacy will be, in a true sense, an act in good faith and selflessness.