The Domestic Violence Bill 2021

by admin | Oct 22, 2022 | Uncategorized

When the federal government introduced a bill to prevent violence against women, the people of Pakistan were hopeful that it would help lessen the ever-increasing cases of domestic abuse and provide refuge to people from physical or emotional assault. But the opposition saw the contents of the Bill to be challenging patriarchal violence too brazenly, and so the Islamic Ideological Council deliberately rejected the bill. It seems that the people in charge aren’t just complicit in but are actively contributing to Pakistan’s problems.

The Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill 2021 was introduced to punish all acts of physical, emotional, psychological, sexual and economic abuse against women, children and other vulnerable persons, or any other person with whom the respondent is or has been in a domestic relationship. The main aims of the Bill were to provide relief and rehabilitation for victims of domestic abuse and any other vulnerable people such as the elderly, assist victims in distancing themselves from abuse through the creation of a Protection Committee and allow Courts to grant interim orders, protection custody, and financial compensation to victims.

According to the Bill, stalking, invasion of privacy, character assassination and insults would also be classified as forms of domestic violence. Therefore, the Bill provided a much wider scope for protection of women, covering forms of abuse beyond just physical harassment. The Bill also included imprisonment of up to three years and a fine of up to Rs. 100,000 for domestic violence. Another recommendation of the Bill was the recruitment of Protection Officers who would be responsible for reporting domestic violence cases and collecting data.

On April 19th, 2021, Shireen Mazari, the Human Rights Minister, moved the Bill in the National Assembly and, on the same day, it passed in the lower house. The Opposition sent the Bill to a standing committee who were then asked by the Senate to submit a report on it. Their report suggested multiple amendments to the Bill. It was then referred back to the Lower House of Parliament. However, in June, the Opposition began to raise concerns over the Bill.

Babar Awan, adviser to the Prime Minister on parliamentary affairs, wrote to Asad Qaiser, National Assembly speaker, to raise concerns over the content of the Bill. The letter stated that the Bill should be referred to the Islamic Council to ensure it is in line with the Constitution of Paksitan and the principles of Islam. However, many people have criticized this decision as the Council, in 2016, proposed a law that would allow a husband to lightly beat his wife. There is an established precedent of the Islamic Ideological Council encouraging men who are violent towards their partners, and then safeguarding them after their crime has been committed. Religious groups have also criticized the definition of domestic violence as stated in the Bill as being too vague and too broad. They claim that having such a broad definition can lead to the legislation being misused. Even though countless women die every year due to domestic violence in Pakistan, our leaders have failed to take decisive action to protect them, let alone to punish their abusers. .

According to research, around 70 to 90% of Pakistani women are subjected to domestic violence. As the pandemic continues, this issue is becoming increasingly prevalent. In Sindh, where the Domestic Violence Bill is already legislated, was it able to save Qurat-ul-Ain from being beaten to death by her husband? How could she take refuge in the law, given the social structures that protect men and villainise women who dare speak up? These laws are nonetheless the first step needed to ensure the safety and rehabilitation of victims and the punishment of abusers, and to establish a precedent of our leaders actually caring about the violence that affects women disproportionately. The recent domestic violence cases in Pakistan have only emphasized the dire need for the Bill – a hope for top-down decisive action to punish those that we as a society have failed to hold accountable.

Lack of Education and Domestic Violence

by admin | Oct 22, 2022 | Uncategorized

Most research concerning risk factors has indicated that lack of education is a risk factor for domestic violence. Lack of education is generally defined as having earned less than a high school diploma, although some studies include those with less than a college degree in their definition. It has been noted that women with less education experience domestic violence at higher rates than women who have achieved a higher level of education. This does not mean that people with higher levels of education cannot be victims of domestic violence; it simply means that the risk of being a victim of domestic violence is greater for those with less than a high school or college education.

Lack of education leads to a lack of employment. If abuse already exists in a relationship, the lack of education and strained income of the victim provides the abuser with an upper hand in feeding upon the victim’s vulnerability. Many victims of domestic violence stay in their situations due to feelings of necessity. The victim has often been isolated from friends and family by the abuser, and this unequal financial arrangement further fuels her sense of dependency and reluctance to leave. The victim may be unable to seek employment which makes leaving the relationship financially feasible, or unable to seek any employment at all.

Education provides one with opportunities to learn new things. Knowledge is not the only advantage to an increased educational level. Education in safe and inspiring learning environments is one of the best ways to empower girls and reduce harmful practices like child marriage and female genital mutilation. An educated girl will understand her rights; have the confidence to claim them and make her own choices about her future.

Ending violence against women will require major and far-reaching social change. The history of respectful relationships or gender-based violence education indicates that schools can play a significant role in this process. But it is short-term, inadequately funded approaches that do little to recognize the complexity of change and the time it takes to bring an education community to a common understanding, awareness, and commitment to change. So, we should all start educating our girls to empower them, as this is the only way to save them from domestic violence or the fear of being left alone.

How do gender roles, stereotypes, and sexism shape domestic violence?

by admin | Oct 22, 2022 | Uncategorized

Rigid gender roles and stereotypes mean such fixed beliefs and assumptions which determine that men and women are naturally suited to different tasks and responsibilities or have likes, dislikes, desires, interests, and abilities that aren’t based on their personalities but their gender. Examples include:

• Assuming women will only do the household tasks
• Viewing men as the primary breadwinner, and women as the primary home keeper/child career.
• Thinking men are ‘naturally’ more violent or driven by uncontrollable sexual urges.

Gender roles are implanted in our brains right after we are born. This implanting is done by our family, friends, advertisements, and the media. So, children naturally take up the limited and stereotyped gender roles and identities. These gender norms become internalized as part of the natural order of their lives. For instance, it is generally believed that men should not cry, instead should be dominant and tough which generally means that boys and men shouldn’t show emotions or demonstrate abilities to play comforting roles. On the other hand, it is believed that women should be nurturing, ‘lady-like or sexually appealing means women and girls are often pressurized to behave in specific ways to meet society’s expectations.

Stereotypes are at the core of discrimination. Stereotypes are very harmful because they result in violations of basic human rights and fundamental freedom. Men’s and women’s potential to develop their abilities, pursue their professional careers are all affected by such stereotypes. Stereotypes can be explicitly hostile (e.g. women are unreasonable, feeble, etc.) or can appear harmless (e.g. women are nurturing, social, etc.), but encourage discriminatory ideas. With respect to violence against women, it is stereotypes and beliefs about what women should or should not do that often place blame on the victim in a rape, rather than maintaining the focus on the perpetrator and holding him accountable for the crime he has committed.

Gender role expectations of women and men are a major contributor to domestic violence. Gender roles are not only different but produce unequal outcomes, with men positioned as dominant and women positioned as subordinate in family, social and cultural life. This occurs through expectations that women will:

• be concerned only about their family and catering to others even at the expense of their wellbeing
• be pleasing in physical appearance, and accept others’ judgments about their appearance without question.
• avoid conflict and accept responsibility for mending any conflicts
• have few ambitions outside of romance, family, and caring, and to prioritize the needs of others over their ambitions
• support the social and economic advancement of men

Assumptions and expectations of men which largely contribute to the widespread domestic violence include:

• using aggression towards women, children, and other men to have their needs and wants met, and to fulfill their ambitions
• dominating over others
• acting as the ‘head of the household’, making major decisions and controlling the household finances
• being sexually aggressive, and dominating sexual interactions
• demonstrating leadership in public and social life
• Controlling and disciplining the sexuality of women and girls close to them in order to ‘protect’ them from other men

Defining and Addressing Toxic Masculinity

by admin | Oct 22, 2022 | Uncategorized

How Pakistan’s culture reinforces for domestic violence?

by admin | Oct 22, 2022 | Uncategorized

Culture is a set of ideas, believes and acts of people of a specific land. Culture is about how things work. People learn their beliefs and identities through the channel of culture. They are rewarded by the people of their society for attitude that is coherent with their culture and bashed for doing things that are not in line with culture. Pakistani culture is a mixed one. Different ethnicities, different sects and different people speaking different languages make the face of Pakistan. Our culture is not completely violent but it will not be wrong to say that there are some harmful cultural beliefs that give birth to violent practices. It is unfortunately true that our culture models reinforces violence, some of the examples are given below:

Violence Against Women: Violence against women is a very diverse topic. In our culture, mainly, the rights of women are violated because they are considered to be fragile and submissive. Majority of men in this country are of the view that women are made as “mere helpers” of men and they are not equal companions. Boys try to control their sisters at very young ages. Parents of boys consider their daughters to be more safe and guarded when their brothers are around (even if the brother is four years old). Husbands consider that they have full control over their wives. That their wives are “made” to follow all of their orders regardless of being right or wrong. This idea makes men think that they are superior than women. Religious misinterpretations further strengthen this idea.

The Concept of Honour:  The concepts of honour in some parts of Pakistan has taken away many lives. The whole weight of honour of family is put on the shoulders of daughters and daughter in laws. If the daughters and daughter in laws of family do something that is against the honour of family, the least punishment they get is that they are beaten up or forcefully married to someone who is not liked by them while the highest punishment is death. The idea of honour is modeled in the brains of young boys and reinforced by rewarding boys on protecting their family’s honour by punishing their sisters or wives.

Divorce and Dowry: Dowry is the only guarantee of getting respected in the in-laws in some parts of Pakistan. Women in some parts of Pakistan face violence for not bringing dowry. Divorced women also sometimes face violence.

Domestic Violence: Domestic violence is one of the highly unattended problems of Pakistan. It is still considered as an “internal matter” culturally.

Books and Movies: Books, Movies, and songs in our culture are not well sensitized and they sow the seeds of violence in young minds. It is shown in movies that boys who have guns are cool. Guns are a symbol of violence. Consent of women is not considered: In our culture, NO of woman is considered as yes. Her consent is not important. This results in incidents of acid attacks, rape, sexual harrassment and other violence.

Victim Blaming: Rape victims are blamed in our culture. This behaviour encourages the perpetrators to be more violent.

Domestic violence is not limited to women and girls. It affects generations and whole of the society at large. It is being observed that children have a live exposure to domestic violence and they learn violence at homes. It is very difficult for a domestic violence victim to come to normal life especially when he culture breeds violence. It’s high time to we resew our societal fabric and eradicate harmful and anti-women cultural norms from our society.