Sonia Sotomayer once said , “Until we get equality , we do not have an equal society.” Gender equality is a human fight not a female fight. The term “Gender inequality” refers to the fact that men and women are not equal and that gender affects an individual’s living experience . Since July 2010 , the United Nations General Assembly has formulated the UN Women committee dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide.
Violence against women in The Republic of Pakistan is both a crime and a socially accepted norm. While there are laws that protect women from violence, the state has absolved itself of the responsibility to enforce these laws. This meant that women have an inherently paradoxical relationship with the state: on one hand the state gives women rights in the form of constitutional guarantees, international treaty commitments and progressive legislation while on the other hand it takes away these rights by refusing to implement these laws or take measures to create the conditions under which these rights could be formulated .
CAUSES :
As of 2017, the literacy rate among the men of Pakistan is about 71.12% and those among the women is even lower being 46.47% so from this data one could realise that one of the main reasons for the violences against women is the level of education . Situations of conflict and post conflicts may exacerbate existing the violence .The persistent gap between laws on paper and its practical implementation could be attributed to a dysfunctional government. It should also be attributed to the resistance of the state to pose any real challenge to patriarchy. Honour killing in the name of shame brought about by the family by a woman is also a typical form of violence commonly viewed in the majority of the developed , developing and underdeveloped countries especially at a high rate in The Republic of Pakistan .
Another important aspect which falls parallel to violence against women is the FGM(Female genital mutilation). Women who have faced this situation have undergone trauma of various kinds at different psychological levels. It has been suggested that women who have undergone genital mutilations have developed serious psychiatric illness as compared to the normal female population. It has led to causing a likely emotional disturbance that has steered a way for PTSD(Post Traumatic stress Disorder).
Violence against women has proved to be a bane for the country . Effective curbing of these situations are needed to change the perception of the world especially the men. The republic of Pakistan has adopted a few such strategies and laws to uphold women and curb the violence against them but implementation and execution of these laws and policies is not very swift or rapid.
CURRENT POLICY :
In 2005, the government enacted the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act (Act No 1 of 2005) to check the inhuman customary practices of honour killing, swara and vani. The law was passed by the Parliament and appeared in the official gazette on January 11, 2005. Through that law various amendments were made in the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). With the enactment of these acts the violence rates had decreased for a short span but still continued and prevailed despite these rules and regulations. Similarly, the inhuman practice of giving females to rival groups in marriages for settling blood feuds was also declared a penal offence punishable with up to 10 years rigorous imprisonment.
Subsequently, the Protection of Women (Criminal Laws Amendment) Act, 2006, commonly known as the Women Protection Act was enacted on Nov 30, 2006. Through that law changes were made in the controversial Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance, 1979, and adultery and fornication were turned into non-cognisable offences.
Two other laws were passed in 2010 aimed at checking harassment of women in public and at the workplace. The first law, Criminal law (Amendment) Act, 2010, was passed by the Parliament and given assent by the President of Pakistan on Jan 30, 2010. Several laws were enacted in the subsequent years for protection of violence against women. Another law, Criminal law (Third Amendment) Act, 2011, was introduced in Dec 2011. This law introduced certain amendments in the PPC and CrPC. It provided punishment for depriving women of their share on hereditary property; imposing forced marriage on a woman; and arranging marriage of a woman with the Quran. The law is also aimed at checking the practices of swara and vani, or otherwise giving females as badl-e-sulh.
The government has also passed laws such as Criminal Law (Amendment) (Offences in the name or pretext of Honour) Act 2016, through which more amendments were made in PPC and CrPC to prevent honour-related offences.
SOLUTIONS:
Enactment of most of these laws have shown positive results towards their aim of curbing gender equality and put a stop to the unjust practices against women. But it was believed that the laws that were enforced to prevent other pro- women violences like honour killing have still not seen a positive effect and have failed to achieve their goals.
For The Republic of Pakistan to get rid of these women and violences associated issues it is necessary to take a step of action other than just enforcement of laws or penalty for the same.
First and foremost increase the literacy rates among men and women and provide quality education so that they do not have an ego regarding their capabilities.
It is necessary that they must look into the consequences of the inhumane acts against women .
Understand the fact that men and women are equal and that women are as competent as men in all spheres.
Contemporaneously understand the drastic loss that the country has to face be it in the form of physical , emotional or sociocultural violences against women .
Last but not the least understand the ill effects of female genital mutilations and understand that these socioculturally driven beliefs do not hold a stake in the current situation and also necessarily get along with the knowledge of its drastic effect on the well being of a woman.
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