Pakistani Woman: The Face of Inequality

The face of inequality

Coming from a society in which men allegedly claim to mark their ‘terror-tory’ and tell the weaker half who’s boss, there is very little scope for a woman of Pakistani descent and culture to try to make her mark. From the likes of Benazir Bhutto to honour killings and gang-rape victims of Pakistan, women have been told time and again by the society that being strong and in equality with a male is not possible.

More sickening are the frustrated minds of men in this society who claim to be the stronger sex, yet fall weak and succumb to their evil desires. With world-wide access to social media, Pakistani men made their mark by uploading videos of a gang-rape that recently occurred in the most shameful of ways.

The woman was later made to stay at home and discontinue her profession as a respectable teacher; discontinued to see people or even step out of the house. Apparently, that is the future of a woman if she has been victimised in this society.

A round of applause should also go to the men who have been sharing this video and making the mission of these gang-rapists successful. These very men are the sick mentality evil-doers who in turn, go on to rape more girls and come up with fruitful ideas to share their ‘manly acts’ with their friends.

According to recent figures released by the police officials of Punjab, 1,651 rape cases were registered in Punjab alone in the first half of 2014, with challans issued for 990, with zero convictions later

Banning YouTube and inaccessibility to porn websites will do the society no good, as proxys are available everywhere and the onanism continues.

In a country where mullahs preach self-tolerance and where a woman who steps out of the house is looked upon as prey, it is no surprise that men continue to commit these horrendous crimes, despite knowing the ‘saza’ for them in Islam. There is no law to set these criminals on fire, or to cut off their genitals and burn them; setting an example for others to not think of these crimes in the first place, let alone commit them.

Going back to youtube bans and porn inaccessibility, what’s more confusing is the easy accessibility to cable programmes with R-rated content that is being viewed in even the smallest of ‘dhabas’ all across the country. Indian movies and Punjabi/Pakhtun films are being watched with the cameras rolling across the woman’s entire body, and these are made easy available to view. The double standards amuse Pakistani people who really need to use social media for information gathering or learning experiences.

Gang-rape culprits have been put into jail, due to BBC outlining the issue. Otherwise, in most cases, these culprits are released by bail or when they aren’t under the watchful eye anymore. Media attention can only stay upon a story for so long, and sooner or later our ‘immune’ society tends to forget these cases as they don’t affect them or people they value.

In Pakistan, what one man is doing the other will do also and follow blindly. Taking the example of traffic signals, or criminal activity; looting banks, raping women, murdering out of personal enmity: everything has become so easy due to the law-makers failing to take matters into their own hands and providing the correct verdict and giving the right punishment for the crimes.

According to recent figures released by the police officials of Punjab, 1,651 rape cases were registered in Punjab alone in the first half of 2014, with challans issued for 990, with zero convictions later.

There are no follow-ups to crimes, and criminals roam around freely, chin-up, as they are well aware of the punishments for their actions — none.

World-over they say women are responsible for being raped because of the ‘clothes they wear to provoke men’, however, these sexual assaults in a supposedly ‘Muslim’ majority country prove that clothes are not a standard by which we can conclude a reason for rape — otherwise a covered woman from a remote village would not have gotten such a brutal treatment.

In an otherwise modern Pakistan (particularly the urban areas), women dress up and go out with men; roaming around in social circles freely and having respectable designations at work. How safe are these women if they work late hours or drive home by themselves? The answer to that remains a mystery.

World-over they say women are responsible for being raped because of the ‘clothes they wear to provoke men’, however, these sexual assaults in a supposedly ‘Muslim’ majority country prove that clothes are not a standard by which we can conclude a reason for rape

Pakistan, unfortunately, has no laws to restrict sharing of images/videos on social media that defame/harm an individual. Bluetooth and whatsApp sharing have become so common amongst our society that anything and everything gets shared, no matter what the consequences are.

The sad state of affairs makes us realise that protection to rich MNA’s and MPA’s is mandatory while the common civilians suffer murders and live as an insecure third-grade citizen in own country.

Where we blame other communities and media for bringing social evils into our culture, it is our very own people who sell drugs and alcohol to teenagers/schools/university students for a living. Farmhouse parties are no less than those discotheques shown in Indian movies, and we, due our double standards, always blame others for our own mistakes.

Women are to be blamed partially for what happens to them in these parties, too. The ‘tightened’ environment that they get at home mixed with the liberal treatment they get in co-education school environments and at parties that they want to test their limits, going for these drugs and men.

At least Pakistan gets the number one position for something, state reports claiming that it tops the list in searching for ‘porn’ online.

Amidst the instability of the government, facing daily attacks/blasts and protecting our society and children from getting harmed by militants, another social issue that exists and has remained since time immemorial is the place that a woman has to find in the society: as a human, as an equal, as a working individual, and as a female, in the face of inequality.