Alas, Newsweek wasn’t much off the mark when they declared us the most dangerous country of the world as we have now earned the dubious distinction for being the third most dangerous country in the world for women (following Afghanistan and Congo) according to the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
We didn’t need these 213 experts to tell us this fact. Much of our country is a virtual war-zone and it is a fact well-known that women, children and the elderly living in conflict-ridden areas are in double jeopardy relative to the average middle-aged male.
The unfortunate thing is that Pakistan hasn’t earned its stripes courtesy the wreckage of terrorism alone. It is owed to many of the deviant cultural and tribal practices that perpetuate violence against women. While almost 1159 people lost their lives to terrorism in Pakistan during 2010, 1790 women lost their lives to violence (HRCP). Thus, this brutality against women that percolates through our society proved to be more deadly to the fairer sex than those deadlier blasts all over town.
Dismal is an understatement when it comes to the statistics: 2903 cases of rape, 791 honour killings, 373 cases of domestic violence, 30 acid attacks. Given the fact that there is underreporting of these instances, it is a surprise that we weren’t a notch or even two above in the rankings.
The fact that this cause has found many champions has not concretised into any change. Aside from the fact that this bleak state is due to culturally embedded practices, much of the effort (both state and non-state) is marred by tokenism. The Ministry of Women Development is a khudday-line ministry and the numbers of women legislators have not translated into as much women-friendly legislation as was expected (ironically owing to the fact that it is just these woman MNAs who are supposed to bear the burden of this cause rather than work as well-rounded lawmakers). The functioning of NGOs too is despoiled by internal inconsistencies, heavy-handed dealings and functioning in a far-from-enabling environment.
Gender is one of several fault-lines (class, ethnicity etc) that accentuate suffering in our country. This society may be bad for women but is no great shakes for men either. Only when we work for betterment of society as a whole will it become a safer place for all – women and men.
