Twinkle twinkle little hope

Public opinion about Women Protection Act

Pakistan has always been a patriarchal society. I would not call it a completely conservative state; rather I would term it in an embryonic stage of transformation into a progressive state. A progressive state, by definition, is one advocating change and progress. And while many might deny my statement, I would clarify here that I am not calling Pakistan a progressive state. I am terming it as one in an embryonic stage in this domain.

Yes, we have a bunch of people who hate anything to do with progress, especially when it comes to human rights. We have been manipulating Islam to make sure that women are kept in their place. We have been making sure that our sons do not get overly smothered by our daughter-in-laws. We always tell our daughters at the time of their weddings that leaving her house and not compromising would be a sin of sorts. Our relationships are based on compromise for the sake of compromise, and ironically this compromise has to come from the woman of the house, as the man is the head of the household, and his masculinity might get affected if he is considerate or weak in other words.

While listing down these dark facts, why am I talking about hope? Punjab Women Protection Act is a tiny ray of hope for the women of the country. Yes, it has been badly criticised by the opposition. But that is fine, because the opposition needs to stay busy even if that means criticising for no reason. Our religious right has clearly rejected the notion of such an Act. After all protecting the family system is important. Does it even matter if there is the presence of some sort of violence? This is life after all. And Islam calls for absolute and uncontested authority of the husband. Excuse me, what does Islam say about women rights? Please ponder a bit.

However, the opposition and religious right are just a minority. Even many religious scholars are in favour of this law, which is a pleasant sight. As religion is not necessarily what the right wing says. It is what is written in the Quran and the Hadith, and women are supposed to be absolutely protected in Islam.

The youth determines the future and how hopeful it is. Therefore a survey was conducted on social media to see how many people think the religious right is justified in its opposition to the bill. Here are the promising results.

So, well we can see some hope.

Moreover, opinions were collected from people belonging to different spheres of life, and their opinions sounded very promising.

The Act – good or bad?

The first question arises about how good or not good this law is. This was almost unanimous that passing this bill is a positive step in the right direction.

Anam Faryal Afzal is a doctor based in Pakpattan. She thinks pretty highly of this bill.

“I definitely support this bill. I was not this sure earlier. However, when I went through the contents of this bill I found it very thorough and very well thought out. It includes everything.”

However, it is natural that most of the women would support such an act. So what do the guys think?

Hussaan Tariq is an HR professional based in Rawalpindi, and he too considers it a positive development.

“The bill is a positive step towards bringing progressive change in society. I’m not saying this bill is perfect, however this was a much needed step that had been taken,” he commented.

However, this is not all. There is another point of view that centres on a cost-benefit analysis and ends up with the conclusion that more harm will arise, rather than benefit.

Bushra Fazal is a home-based teacher residing in Lahore. She holds the opinion that this bill will lead to problems.

“I am not in favour of this bill,” she said. “I think there will be more loss than gain eventually.”

Where all these opinions come from also needs to be scrutinised.

The divorce issue

One of the fundamental allegations whose brunt this law is bearing is the fact that it would increase the divorce rate and ruin the family system.

Bushra also narrated this reason for her disapproval of the bill.

“I am not against women but a Muslim man has power and privilege,” she clarified.

“He can divorce women in just three words. Recently I came across news in which a woman complained against her husband, filing a case about violence. But what did she achieve as her husband got bail after two days and suddenly divorced her?”

The fundamental reason therefore is the stigma of divorce that can shatter the life of any woman, and hence bearing with violence is a more sensible and desirable thing to do. However, not everyone thinks this way.

Khizra Raza is a banker based in Lahore and she considers it not-a-good-enough a reason.

“Ok, so this woman who got divorced might be feeling very guilty and helpless because she stood up,” she said.

“I am sure there might be a lot of people telling her and making her realise every second that she should not have done so. However, to me a divorced woman is better off than a woman in an abusive relationship. I mean, is she supposed to save the relationship even after being abused by her husband?”

She finds it absurd that since a relationship is a two-way thing, our society still puts all the onus of responsibility on the woman.

“It doesn’t make any sense, since running a relationship is the job of both,” she added. “So yes, these cases will emerge, but these steps have to be taken for the greater good. Things are not going to change immediately, but they will eventually. Therefore, the government needs to stick to the bill rather than succumbing to pressure.”

Usman Farooq is an IT consultant based in Lahore and thinks along the same lines.

“You cannot clap with one hand. You have to use both hands, only then you can hear the noise,” he said.

However these things are easier said than done and it requires time to empower women enough.

The flip side – the hurdles and the flaws

Laws are crafted very carefully and with a lot of hope. However, we need to consider that no law can be implemented this simply. There are certain hurdles that bar the implantation of any law.

According to Usman, its implantation is possible but the manipulation of religion is a big hurdle.

“As per me, it is definitely possible to implement this bill,” he said.

“But we have to stop listening to the religious right to make this sure.”

“They do not let anything progressive happen in the country,” he went on.

“There are two reasons behind it; their current power over the country, and then their desire for grabbing more power. Any change is unpredictable. It might be good, it might be bad. If we do bring about such a progressive change in the country by upholding the rights of women, then this change might not be good for them. That is why they are opposing it.”

Usman also gave examples from American and European history that change has been very difficult to implement in other lands as well.

Dr Anum also thinks that there are implementation issues.

“The problem I find with this bill is that it is so wide that its implementation seems doubtful in Pakistan,” she opined.

“There are issues in the society. When a woman faces violence, she is told, rather dictated, by her family to stay quiet and compromise. It makes me feel that many women won’t even report. I work at the population welfare department and I interact with rural women on a daily basis. They don’t even know their basic rights and you expect them to complain.”

She also pointed at flaws in the messages the media is throwing about this law.

“I don’t like the media campaign. They are just focusing on two things; the GPS bracelets and then the fact that husband will have to leave. But there is so much more to this bill. Why are they focusing on the extreme cases? There are many reconciliatory steps that will be taken as per this bill before reaching the extreme. Why aren’t those highlighted?”

Anum Bint Sagheer is an economics graduate based in Karachi. She thinks that we need to look broader than just demonisation of men and victimisation of women.

“We need to keep one thing in mind. It is not just the husband who is involved in scenarios against women; rather the entire family is involved,” she highlighted.

“The in-laws play a pivotal role in destroying a healthy relationship. At times, the families of the men give them such hard time that he is forced to take out his frustration on his wife. This is also a major cause. ”

She also fears the risk of exploitation. She cited examples of the ban on disciplining children in the west and the exploitation consequently. She thinks women might exploit this bill.

“I am afraid that women might start exploiting this bill,” she registered her doubt. “We should go easy on blaming men by the way. No husband in my circle has been abusive till date. Yes, women have been made inferior in many cases, but she has also been given a lot of importance. Just look around!”

She also thinks that laws can only help normal people. Psychopaths, who are the main culprits behind violence against women, remain unaffected.

What next?

Where do we head from here, and how do we make sure that this law is implemented rather than being drowned in criticism?

Hussaan thinks it is very important that the disagreements are recorded in a constructive way, rather than getting engaged in a volley of blame games.

“The entire response and the outcry are very immature,” he complained. “I mean you can bring up your concerns in an appropriate way, but threatening protests and asking for annulment is not what we need at the moment. Let’s sort out things in some other way.”

He thinks that for this law to be successful, women empowerment and a shift in the media narrative are very important.

“It depends on individual behaviour, which eventually makes up societal behaviour. There is a need to change the thought that prevails. Empowering and educating your daughters, and teaching them to be strong enough to stand up for their rights and principles, is the key.”

He went on giving his opinion.

“Media has a big role to play, and it has played a very negative role until this point. Look at our TV shows. What are we showing? We generally equate a wife who stays silent in the face of oppression as a good wife. These stereotypes and belief sets are so deeply rooted in our society now that we need to get rid of them first to bring about any real change.”

However, can we really empower women without bringing up educated sons? Anum Bint Sagheer thinks it is important not just to empower daughters, but to up bring better sons.

“I think the right upbringing of men is more important than the right upbringing of women.”

Is change possible?

“I do see change in the future,” Dr Anam Faryal sounded positive.” As more and more women are educated, they are becoming aware of their rights.”

While we as a society might have many flaws, it is promising to have a group of young adults, both men and women, all in their late twenties, with such insight about women rights and protection. You never know we might be in embryonic stage already, as these people represent a faction of our society that is to develop more and have families of their own.