The Muslim Woman

Perhaps, we would never know what’s buried behind those veils, which have metamorphosed into their graves now! For years, women in Pakistan have been denied the enjoyment of a whole range of rights including economic, social, civil and political. However, they are being victimized by an overwhelming level of violence. When would they be given human status and when they would be treated equally and humanly? If you ask this to a Pakistani woman, apparently, she would say, NEVER. The problem in Pakistan is not that women are not conscious of their rights, some of you might ponder what rights we’re talking about, it’s not that they are too meek to fight back, it’s not that they have never tried to break the chains, it’s simply because the muscles of the fundamentalist regime are too strong to consider their existence. In the absence of democracy, women not only in this part of the world, rather anywhere, would never be able to make ends meet. The rulers, or dictators to be precise, right now have other important issues like avenging the thirst for power, rather giving heed to cries of a few lumps of fleshes down the drain. Nearly 80% of the women folk experience domestic violence including, beatings, acid attacks and burnings by fire. In addition, Continue reading “No end to violence against women in Pakistan” »

The situation of women in Pakistan is uncertain today. If we look at the statistics, it seems that there is no end to incidents of violence against women. Eighty per cent of the violence against women cases are pending in lower courts in Pakistan involve family members. Around 1,000 women are sexually abused in the country every year but they go un-reported because women know they cannot survive with such a stigma. Figuratively: 1. Estimates of the percentage of women who experience spousal abuse alone range from 70 to upwards of 90 percent. 2. As many as eight women – half of them minors – are raped in Pakistan everyday. 3. Both reported and unreported rapes indicated the number of victims to be over 10,000 a year. 4. The women crises center received only 201 cases of violence against women since it was set up two years ago, forming only 15 per cent of the actual number. 5. Nearly, 85% of the cases were not reported by women because of the predominant male-dominated society and illiteracy. 6. 87 cases out of 201 cases were related to domestic violence followed by physical torture and abuse, dowry, financial problems and harassment. Women in Pakistan face staggeringly high rates of rape, sexual assault, and domestic violence while their attackers largely go unpunished owing to rampant incompetence, corruption, and biases against women throughout the criminal justice system. The crimes involved ranged from murder, honour killing, gang rape, non-registration of FIR, non-arrest of the accused, kidnapping, abduction and domestic violence. Bottom line A strong feudal and patriarchal social structure, cultural bias against women and the acceptance of traditional customary laws have created an environment that is not conducive to the aspirations of the contemporary women. A fundamental issue has to be resolved – the fate of law making. Is it going to be based on principles of equality or politicized in the name of Islam? However, it must be kept in mind, if Pakistan wants to maintain its image as a civilized and progressive country, women’s issues must addressed immediately.

The State shall guarantee coordination between a woman’s duties toward her family and her work in the society, considering her equal to man in the political, social, cultural and economic spheres without detriment to the rules of Islamic jurisprudence (Shari’a). -Article 11, Constitution of the Arab Republic of Egypt Despite the fact that women in Egypt were granted citizenship and full political rights in the 1956 Constitution, the social and economic environment in the country has worked against women exercising their political rights. Violence against women: Violence against women in Egypt continues to be a major issue with 35 percent of women in Egypt reported as being beaten by their husbands. Honor killings, whereby women who are suspected of tarnishing the family’s reputation through their sexual indiscretions are murdered by male family members, are also carried out periodically but the Egyptian government isn’t interested in researching or providing statistics. Most rural women take gender-related disadvantages for granted, as they have been told from birth that their only role in life is to marry and have children. Girls’ education is seen as a luxury. Traditional notions: The prevalence of certain traditional notions in some communities, like the Bedouins in Egypt or some tribes in Jordan, Egypt, and Lebanon, sometimes prevents women from going out or from mixing with men. The endurance or tolerance of violence or even its perception as such is also socially determined. Circumcision in Egypt is a practice which is greatly tolerated by women who perceive it as the right thing to do and greatly rejected by women who recognize a violation in it. The same women who agree to the procedure that is meant to control woman’s desire until her marriage, admit to the woman’s right to enjoy her sexual life within marriage, and in fact do enjoy this life. Women are less educated: Egyptian Organization for Human Rights has revealed that nearly half of the population in the region is illiterate, with women occupying the major ratios. Illiteracy predominantly centers on rural areas among underprivileged women between the ages of 15 and 45. Girls here are actively discouraged from going to school with some schools failing to provide girls’ toilets and, in many cases, with female students being relegated to the back of classes. Discriminatory Personal Status Laws: The situation for Egyptian women in the workforce has improved somewhat as increasing numbers leave menial and low-paying blue-collar jobs in factories and offices, and as street cleaners, janitors, hospital aides, and domestic servants. However, despite more women joining professions including education, engineering, and medicine, they are still in the minority, and their numbers are well below those of men employed in the same categories. In addition, the Egyptian government’s obstruction of a woman’s right to divorce exemplifies its unwillingness to grant women legal equality. Profoundly discriminatory family, penal, and civil laws reinforce the unequal status of women in the family and in Egyptian society. Laws condoning domestic violence and policies that exclude women from the judicial bench foster and perpetuate women’s second-class status. Bottom line The issue of violence against women must go beyond legal action. Although relevant laws have been improved, however, there were still many weaknesses in the way the issues of domestic violence, rape and genital mutilation were dealt with. Policies in that regard were somewhat gender blind and this requires changing the attitude of people behind the scene which cannot be done in a single go, it’ll be a gradual process and will take time. Image: [1], [2] Read

What would a woman get if she dares to hold a professional job? Abduction, rape and murder, yes this is what she would receive at least in Iraq! Religious extremists in the southern Iraqi city of Basra are busy slaughtering the women folk who are going against their religious doctrines by stepping out of the four walls of their house just to earn their livelihood. In some parts of Baghdad, women were being prevented to go to the markets alone. Parents are frightened to send their daughters to school and university. They are constantly being subjected to threats, intimidation and even murder. Perpetrators tend to justify their inhuman deeds of killing a woman by leaving a piece of paper on her or dress her in indecent clothes. Atmosphere is saturated with threat till an extent that the women folk dare not move out in the streets without proper dress code. Grim figures suggest slaughtering of 42 women between July and September alone in the region this year. Abusers have created a kind of propaganda by painting graffiti on walls all across the streets. Women have been receiving warning, while there are cases, when the gunmen themselves are coming to their houses and slaughtering them, in front of their own kids. They are not in a position to spill out their outlook towards life, leave alone going out to work. They have been forced to breathe within a set paradigm of the chauvinistic ridden man made laws across Iraq by Islamist militants, both Sunni and Shia. They live in fear of their husbands, too, as women’s rights have been undermined by the country’s postwar constitution that has taken power from the family courts and given it to clerics. Lack of security, law and order has curtailed all aspects of women’s life, for them constructing a safe haven is nothing than a mirage in the arid desert of the province…a wasteland that would never expect a shower of rain. At least this is what an impression I could get from the contemporary times. Image

Britain is one of the few countries known for possessing higher civilian ethics and supporting human rights in the best possible way. However, quite shocking it’s to know that here too women are subjected to brutality, sometimes in the name of religion or sometimes in the name of customs. The issue takes a more gruesome turn when it comes to Muslim women. It’s shameful to say that this brutality is a part of 21st century Britain. Yes! You got it right. No doubt, in the Muslim community, this brutality is prevalent for a long time after it started approximately 2000 years ago. However, one is certainly shocked to know that countries like Britain are also part of it. Here I am talking about a very brutal form of custom called Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) If you think that FGM is just like male circumcision, in which a small part of thin foreskin is snipped off then you are wrong because it is a surgery of the cruelest kind that involves: • The removal of the tip of the clitoris, which is very sensitive because it contains the most nerve endings • Total removal of the clitoris and surrounding labia • The removal of the clitoris and labia and the sewing up of the vagina, leaving only a small opening for urine and menstrual blood – a process known as infibulations. Conservative estimates show that 66,000 women and girls living in Britain have been mutilated so far and the practice is still on. It provides a glimpse of the horrific practice, still prevalent in a developed countries like Britain, but the situation is no less than a nightmare in many developing countries. For instance, in around 28 countries in central Africa, it is widely practiced. Defining it as one of the cruelest surgery, won’t be wrong. However, it’s ironic that instruments normally used for conducting FGM include razor, blade, broken glass, a tin lid and any other sharp-edged glass. In most cases, untrained mid-wives conduct entire procedure, exposing the victim to fatal repercussions like – serious infections, HIV, abscesses and small benign tumors, hemorrhages, shock, clitoral cysts, etc. The main logic behind such horrendous practice is that it makes women calm and enables her to provide more satisfaction during sexual intercourse. Isn’t it bullshit just, especially at a time when old shackles regarding virginity, abstinence are fast losing their importance? Moreover, such barbaric customs or traditions makes mockery of the very concept of modernization, which we all feel proud of. Isn’t it? Image Source