Misogyny: parliamentary endorsement

In an ideal world, we would learn to respect one another regardless of our gender differences or how each of us looked or spoke. Since that is not happening any time soon, in a world that is not ideal, but still not too bad, one would hope that if one of us would let his or her guard of decency down, we would quickly condemn it and distance ourselves from such vile actions. Apparently, even that is a bar too high for us, so one would hope that at the very least, when we display our misogyny and indecency, we would apologise unconditionally and with sincerity. Unfortunately even this lowest level of decency is too much to ask. Instead, what we have is a situation where the colleagues of a sitting leader and ‘seasoned’ parliamentarian clap when he verbally abuses a female colleague in the National Assembly, the speaker does not do anything to stop the minister and an apology is rendered that is more of defiance and a deflection of guilt than an apology. The rule here is: party unity above decency, politics above integrity.

In a country where the news of murdering innocent girls never seem to stop, and collective shame of not being able to protect our female population has all but disappeared, the actions of the minister are deeply depressing and troubling. Such actions not only show our rotting core, but also erase the actions of those who have worked so hard to increase understanding and respect. Not only has he taken the low road of attacking another parliamentarian on her appearance and voice, he has also sent a reminder to aspiring female politicians that the highest house in the land is made up of a nasty, personal and an indecent environment. If we look among our political leaders, it does not take advanced mathematics to figure out that we have a gender representation problem. Parties do little to encourage women leaders, aspiring leaders or potential leaders. The goal of increasing gender diversity in political leadership has become even more difficult thanks to the attitude of the minister and his supporters in the treasury benches. In our tribal society, where a woman is rarely given the opportunity to think for herself and a small minority of females are allowed to choose their own paths, this is grave disservice to so many who may have thought of seeking a public office. The consequence of these vile words, and the actions of those who support such words, are tragic and long term.

Another dimension is our image and judgment problem. We subject women to arbitrary and nasty criterion of how they should look, act and speak. The criterion has no basis, moral or otherwise. No such criterion is ever applied to the male counterparts. Previously, these misogynistic criteria and vile jokes were part of dinner parties and all-male gupshup. Now they have endorsement from parliament as well. I wish that the incident last week in parliament was a one-off. I wish that the minister and his colleagues who thumped the desks in full support of his misogyny were the only ones who demonstrated the absence of human decency and dignity. But the actions of a senator, another representative, on television, this last week showed that no one has a monopoly on misogyny. The senator verbally abused the female guest on the show and physically threatened her. Once again, his party chose to stay silent.

I recognise that the low road of foul language has been taken by many political leaders in the recent and distant past, in and outside of parliament, and none of that can or should be defended. However, the issue is not simply of foul language here, it is the mentality that leads to the social mess that we all live in today. We should have zero tolerance, individually and collectively, for misogyny, whether it is in our own house or in the house of representatives. Our world may be far from being ideal, but there is little reason for us not to try to make it more inclusive, peaceful and respectful of all.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 14^th, 2016.

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