Violence against women is now
well recognized as a public health problem and human rights violation of
worldwide significance. It is an important risk factor for women’s ill health,
with far reaching consequences for both their physical and mental health.
Women in Pakistan live in a world structured around strict religious, family and
tribal customs that essentially force them to live in submission and overall
fear. In a nation where Islamic law dictates traditional family values and is
enmeshed in the legal system, Pakistan’s government, law and society
discriminate against women and condone gender-based violence.
Pakistan has yet to integrate many of the Women’s Convention’s provisions into
domestic law and educate the Pakistani population of its responsibilities under
international law to promote women’s rights. Due to these failures, women’s
rights in Pakistan are progressively deteriorating.
Women are subjected to discrimination and violence on a daily basis due to the
cultural and religious norms that Pakistani society embraces. Pakistan’s
interpretation of Islam views women as needing protection, which essentially
results in their suppression physically, mentally and emotionally. Though they
constitute approximately forty-eight percent of the population, women have a low
percentage of participation in society outside of the family.
According to the 1999 report by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, only
two percent of Pakistani women participate in the formal sector of employment.
Ninety-three percent of rural women and seventy-two percent of urban women are
illiterate. Women are often confined to “char divari,” a term translated
literally to mean “the four walls of the house.” Men are the decision-makers,
especially in family matters such as marriage and divorce.
Male dominance and co modification subjects women to violence on a daily basis
in Pakistan. Approximately seventy-percent to ninety-percent of Pakistani women
are subjected to domestic violence.4 Typical violent acts include, but are not
limited to, murder in the name of “honor,” rape, spousal abuse including marital
rape, acid attacks, and being burned by family members (often labeled an
accident by family members). A rape occurs in Pakistan every two hours with one
in every 12,500 women being victims of rape. Five women per day are killed and
two women per day in the region of Punjab alone are kidnapped. Incidents of
women being burned by men throwing acid, an act that severely disfigures its
victims, has increased as well.
Women are killed in the name of honor due to society’s view that a woman’s every
action reflects upon a family’s honor, especially a man’s honor. Therefore, if
family members, especially a male family member, view that a woman’s action is
“dishonorable,” he feels that in order to restore that honor to him or his
family he must kill her. The decision to kill a female family member is often a
family or tribal decision. Many women are killed due to an unsubstantiated rumor
that has been passed around the community. Many men do not give women the
benefit of the doubt, or bother to find out her side of the story. Many young
women are killed due to the mere accusation of having sexual intercourse outside
of marriage, only to have been found to be virgins during autopsy.
Women in Pakistan continue to be victims of this senseless violence. Though
patriarchal family and tribal traditions exacerbate violence against women, it
is ultimately the responsibility of the Pakistani Government to protect these
women and to prosecute those who commit these horrible atrocities. Instead,
perpetrators of violence against women are provided with impunity by Pakistan’s
society, judicial system and overall the government. Pakistani women are left
with little, if any, protection from violence and discrimination.
Irum Fatima