We must acknowledge the sufferings of women and act against them in order to protect the fabric of our society.
LAHORE: A horrifying case of domestic abuse recently surfaced in the media. The initial reaction was shock, followed by outrage at the nature of the crime committed against the victim. While this is often the reaction such cases receive, we as a society do not acknowledge our role in these crimes. We allow women to be verbally and emotionally abused by their husbands, and refuse to take a stand against it by deeming it as a personal problem between the couple. We fail to realise what starts off with taunts and abuses being hurled at the woman often escalates to such horrific incidents.
The recent Aurat March was a protest against all sorts of abuse faced by women in the public and private sphere. However, it was criticised heavily for “promoting vulgarity and bringing women into the public sphere” — which is deemed shameful by many conservative people. In reality, the Aurat March spoke up against roles that have been prescribed to women and often result in violence against them. For instance, the slogan of ‘heat your own food’ was prompted by an instance where a woman was killed by her husband because the dinner she had served him had turned cold. We must change the mindsets prevalent in our society and be as vocal about the abuse we see around us, as we are in our criticism of events like Aurat March. We must acknowledge the sufferings of women and act against them in order to protect the fabric of our society.
Arshia Syed
Published in The Express Tribune, March 29th, 2019.
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