Anti-dowry campaigners and activists on Monday discussed traditional marriage practices that are adversely affecting society as part of the annual 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence campaign, which is marked from November 25 to December 10.
The session started with poet Kishwar Naheed reciting verses on the theme of women’s empowerment.
Participants said in many areas of the country, dowry display was an essential part of wedding ceremonies, adding that dowry was not the issue of a particular class, as it is also prevailing in the upper classes. The dowry versus inheritance battle had also been going on for centuries, they said.
“I know female university students who demand dowry instead of an inheritance,” said a participant.
Mariam Bibi, who hailed from Waziristan, said girls in her area were sold for marriage at different rates. “It might be a shock for many Pakistanis, but it is a norm in the tribal areas. In our tribe, we are questioned how much the daughter was sold for. My mother was sold for Rs50 at the time of her marriage,” she said.
Up to 70 per cent of women in Pakistan experience physical and sexual violence by an intimate partner at some point in their lives, it was revealed at the discussion. Sexual violence is widespread in settings of conflict, post-conflict and displacement. In armed conflicts, the breakdown of social support structures, families, and communities, and the disruption of services leave women and children vulnerable to sexual violence, including rape by combatants and intimate partners, and sexual exploitation by humanitarian actors. Women may submit to sexual abuse to obtain food and other basic life necessities. Engaging men and boys in preventing violence against women and promoting gender equality can have positive effects, the speakers agreed.
Dr Rakhshinda Perveen said dowry was a part of an even strong patriarchal cum elitist consensus. “There has been no legislation to check the practice,” she said, adding that work was under way on a draft bill, however.
She sated that TV industry was promoting and commercialising dowry through commercials, shows and advertisements. “When a gift is a demand, it eventually leads violence,” she said.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 25th, 2014.
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