EDITORIAL: It is a pervasive and perverse feature of this patriarchal society. Gender-based violence (GBV) occurs in many different forms, including sexual, physical and mental hurt inflicted in private or public.
A recently released report of the National Commission on Human Rights (NCHR) reveals registration of around 63,000 cases of GBV over the past three years. 80 percent of these cases were related to domestic violence, while 47 percent of them involved rape and married women experiencing sexual abuse.
In times of crisis the risk of violence for women and girls increases manifold. As the present report notes, in the first half of 2020 when lockdowns were imposed to curb spread of coronavirus, some 4,000 cases of sexual violence were reported.
Since the Commission’s statistics are based on reported cases, they reflect only a small part of the problem. And although it is not mentioned, during displacements caused by last year’s devastating floods, women and girls suffered disproportionally.
Most victims suffer in silence because domestic violence is mostly seen as a private affair. The problem is deeply rooted in oppressive cultural norms and misconceptions about religious teachings that require women and girls to behave in a certain manner, and give men a sense of entitlement to treat them whichever way they like, even kill them to ‘save’ family honour.
Many women endure abusive marriages because they are economically dependent on their husbands, and in the case of a divorce, on fathers or brothers. Fear of economic hardships, and where children are involved, losing their custody prevent battered married women from raising their voices outside the confines of homes.
All these issues arise from a power imbalance between the sexes. Thanks to activism of female legislators across party lines, a bill to end domestic violence was introduced in Parliament way back in 2004, further emended in 2020, but it still awaits enactment.
The Punjab Assembly, nonetheless, did pass a similar law, which has been duly endorsed by the Federal Shariat Court as being “in line with Islamic injunctions and constitutional fundamental rights.” But the real challenge is in changing social attitudes towards all womankind.
The NCHR report calls for support to victims, awareness campaigns against GVB, promotion of education, sensitisation of the judiciary on gender issues as well as redress mechanism for victims.
All this is important, but setting the gender balance right can happen only when more and more women are provided with better educational facilities and/or are equipped with special skills to attain economic independence.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023