Misogyny — in the Sindh Assembly

It is unfortunate that the Muslims have refused to liberate its female population.

A male PPP member of the Sindh Assembly on March 10 chose to parade his ignorance of women’s plight in society when he interrupted a resolution on domestic violence tabled by a female party colleague to say that “men are equal victims of this menace”. The resolution required the House to form a special committee to study the root causes of domestic violence against women. We don’t know how much thought the honourable MPA gave to the statement he made, or whether he was at all bothered by the effect his opinion would have on the reputation of his already benighted party, but he was rash enough to confound all social research by further commenting that “in rural areas, it is the women who are tortured by their male family, but in towns and cities, it’s the other way round”.

The remark was so blatantly defiant of reality and misogynistic that the House responded with shouts of “shame, shame”, but what tragically followed was a man-versus-women exchange of slogans, which brought little honour to the men involved. It must, however, be appreciated that most male members stood by the resolution proposed by the female PPP MPA and it was eventually passed. The irony is that the MPA who made the inappropriate remark in the first place may have thought that he was joking, and that the entire nation would laugh with him, but that is not really the case since such male chauvinism is too obvious to ignore.

In Pakistan, the typical male has what is called a ‘macho’ outlook towards life. This approach has little or no connection with civilisation or culture — one is obviously saying this after some degree of generalisation — which is expressed through women. If there is any doubt about this truth, one should glance at the examination results of professional and non-professional educational institutions in Pakistan, where by and large female candidates outdo their male counterparts. It is for this reason that a consensus has emerged over getting more and more women to be members of the country’s legislatures, provided male politicians are not permitted to cherry-pick ladies of their bullied households.

As for the male PPP MPA, he would be dismayed to know that violence against women is ever-present in the cities of Pakistan as well. Perhaps, research should be conducted on the role urban wives, daughters and sisters play in Pakistani society to see how crucial they have become for their husbands and children. Invariably, the wife in a poor household is more intelligent and the husband, more often than not, beats her and/or takes her earnings from her and squanders it on gambling and what not. Furthermore, his wife and daughters are targets of his irrational conduct, while his sons run wild in the streets.

One should look at the statistics of wife-beating in the cities before speaking. One should also scan the statistics of crime to realise that almost all crime is committed by men. Women in prisons across the country are often subjects of sexual crime and are rotting in jail because they dared to report it to the police. There are laws on the statute book that victimise raped women. Domestic violence mostly goes unrecorded because of the dependent status of the wife and the unwelcome and deeply misogynistic attitude of the police.

As for ‘mental torture’ inflicted by the wife on her husband, one can only ask the polygamous MPAs of Sindh as to why they insist on marrying again and again if there is suffering involved in this pastime? We don’t at all mean that upon reading this text they should immediately set about relieving their suffering by getting rid of their multiple wives; we simply ask them to develop some sympathy for a majority of the country’s population that includes their mothers, daughters and sisters.

It is unfortunate that the Muslim world has refused to liberate its female population to enable women to contribute to national advancement. Other religions, like Judaism and Christianity, began by imposing disabilities on women; their civilisation has progressed impressively only after they freed them from the shackles of domestic oppression.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 12^th, 2011.