A man has been arrested for attempting to burn his wife alive in Gharo
ISLAMABAD: A man has been arrested for attempting to burn his wife alive in Gharo reportedly because she gave birth to a girl-child. Despite the fact the Pakistan is on the path of progress — with better economic growth and development, and a growing literacy rate — we still are unable to counter our age-old problem of sexism. Every year over a hundred girl-children are either aborted or abandoned — if they are lucky they may be left in cradles outside orphanages. Women are expected to give birth to boys only and if they are unable to meet this demand of their in-laws and husband, they are tortured to death or isolated.
There is a dire need to take stringent actions against the menace considering the frequent occurrence of such cases. A campaign similar to that of polio vaccination should be launched that work towards creating awareness about 1) gender of a child is determined by men, 2) a girl-child is not a burden and most importantly, 3) educate women about their right to seek help from the police if they are being pressured to give birth to a male child. Such a campaign should aim at using the door-to-door technique, preferably a team with a doctor for authenticity, and speak to families.
Sabahat Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, October 9th, 2017.
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