You pick up a local newspaper on a lazy Sunday morning and start going through some random news around the state while sipping your chai slowly.
You will definitely find news about some female being tortured by the males of her family. You will certainly find the cover story of a rape victim, and you will surely find the sensational news of the murder of a female in the name of dignity and respect (ghairat). You put the paper back – frustrated and exhausted – and switch on your television. You will find similar news. Every headline will include at least one such story. And that is certainly not something that you wanted to watch.
Therefore, you turn it off and pick up your mobile phone. You’ll find disturbing videos, some videos of so-called intellectuals criticizing “Aurat March” for being un-Islamic, unethical and uncultured. All you will find is criticism and hatred.
Women ought not to act as the enemies of other strong and independent women.
Surprisingly, you’ll find a video by someone saying, “Kapray tang see day darzi, mera jism meri marzi,” while not even realizing the meaning and essence of this slogan. Moreover, you’ll find comments saying MashAllah and SubhanAllah…..
Forced abortions, forced pregnancies, blackmailing, Quran marriages, wanni, acid throwing, use of force and aggression against women are so common these days that a lot of people would not even consider it news. They would just scroll it as a routine matter.
Initially, people used to raise their voices. Some put statuses on Facebook, and some used to put specific display pictures to be a part of a digital protest in favour of certain victims, but, now, since it has started happening so frequently, people tend to ignore it. In the contemporary world, no one will talk about marital rape, the right to inheritance and the right to education.
As a matter of fact, women are the second most vulnerable victims of Fundamental Human Rights in Pakistan after transgenders. Instead of providing them with security, education and inheritance, we are giving them traumas. We don’t raise our voices for domestic violence or workplace harassment. We blame victims for their rapes. And then we give it a religious look to attract more like-minded people.
We would never talk about the rights that were given to women by the Prophet (SAWW) in his last sermon. We would make them sacrifice and surrender their rights of inheritance, then invest that money and showcase a plate saying “Haza min fazl e Rabi.”
This is the hypocritical face of our society. And the primary reason in my humble opinion is the lack of education. A few days back, a woman was frightened to death by some so-called safeguards of sharia, having said that they didn’t even know what was written on her dress. It is so normal and easy to criticize women and harass them. They are raped, beaten and even killed, yet, they are asked to keep quiet.
At the same time, some of them are given all the rights they deserve. Some men know how to play the roles of a supportive father, a loving brother and a caring husband. We are not to blame the whole male section of society, but we’re certainly to highlight the flaws in our social fabric. The culprits must be punished to give birth to a sane society.
First, we need to correct the wrongdoings in our surroundings. We need to provide women with education and awareness. Secondly, the clergy has to take the responsibility of curbing the misinterpretation of certain clauses. Last but not least, the state needs to ensure the strict implementation of the women’s protection laws. We have got all the necessary and the required legislation.
We just need to implement them. Only then will our women get space to breathe. We need to give them more wings to fly instead of clipping their existing wings. And it has been rightly said, “Empowered women empower women.” Women ought not to act as the enemies of other strong and independent women around. In a nutshell, if we consider women as humans, and we provide their rights to them, we would be able to flourish as a society.
Little deeds of kindness
Little words of love
Make this earth an Eden
Like the heaven above!!
The writer is a Gender Studies Mentor and Anchorperson at Pakistan Television.