Women's rights are MEN’S rights
The Women, Peace and Security Index reports that Pakistan is ranked 167th out of 170 countries in terms of Women’s well-being and health. World Economic Forum on gender gaps ranks Pakistan 145 out of 146 states. According to a 2017-18 survey by Pakistan’s Demographic and Health, 28 percent of women aged between 15 to 49 had experienced intimate partner violence in their lifetimes.
The question arises why the country is witnessing an unprecedented level of atrocities, crimes, and violations of Human rights against women even though Constitution provides equal rights to women as men.
The lack of implementation of what is written in the constitution is causing an increasing number of crimes against women is a short statement to solve the problem but reality is often harsh. The executives should also have the attitude to solve problems accordingly because constructive and conservative views generate biasedness and lead to victim blaming and inaction. The former Prime Minister is a well-known example of constructive biasedness. Mr. Khan when asked during an interview with BBC regarding the sexual violence cases in Pakistan, to which he replied that in a place like Pakistan women need to cover themselves up to prevent temptation in society. However, later he apologized after Human rights groups criticized him. This patriarchal constructiveness does not bound itself to the powerful people who are in government with high positions but it continues from high strata classes to low. This includes influential clerics like Moulana Tariq Jameel as well; who during a television program bluntly blamed immodest women for the spread of the Pandemic however as a former he later apologized. Examples are countless of this constructivism.
But what is constructivism and why it is important to discuss?
According to Wikipedia “Constructivism is a theory of knowledge which argues that humans generate knowledge and meaning through world interactions and ideas”.
The so-called Head of the Society or Family; use outdated societal norms and constructivism holistically to preserve the values and traditions “which in many cases reject the rights that the constitution of Pakistan provides”. By stop sending girls to school, college, and universities and by constructing their minds that “Aurat Ghar Ki Rani Hai”. The woman is Queen of home and she should not raise her voice even if their husbands punish them for nothing. Men should be working outside not women and there are countless excuses just to preserve the patriarchal society. And from the same society, our politicians are born and do the same when they are in power.
Pakistan’s media industry is one of the biggest enterprises in Pakistan that should play a great role to eradicate the toxicity of patriarchal conservatism, is not playing that role. On the contrary, it is promoting the same patriarchal values and does not show the value of education for the women who are being alienated from the basic rights that constitution provides. As a result, the masses believe that this is how a family should be and this is the role of women in society as inferior, unlike men who are superior in every way. In Pakistani dramas, the women’s roles are defined as; those women who fulfill their roles as mother, sister a wife and are obedient to their counterparts male are virtuous otherwise who are not fulfilling the above roles are wicked. This kind of constructivism is very effective but at the same time dangerous, resultantly women are being forced to conceal their voices.
The culture of Victim blaming is another wave that is not slowing down at all which can be seen as last year SSP accused the victim who was gang raped at gunpoint for taking the wrong route and held the victim responsible for that. If powerful people like Khan and bureaucrats passes these kinds of statements it will not only causes trauma to be retriggered but also prevent other victims to speak up. The culture of blaming women needs to be addressed otherwise perpetrators will never stop doing these heinous crimes.
The government should address these issues on the ground level and for that, they should introduce reforms in the government’s administration and take strict actions against those who go against the laws. Further, they should build separate schools in rural areas for girls and boys as well. Separate schools are helpful and acceptable to some extent to the people of rural areas who will never admit their daughters to co-education schools because of the above-mentioned reasons. Through these Schools, they would be able to realize their rights. Also, the government should take strict measures against the media industry of Pakistan which is promoting patriarchy. Further, it should also take strict measures against the people, officials who blame victims rather than taking appropriate actions.
