Gender-based violence

Violence against women will continue to haunt newer generations until a restructuring of mindsets is achieved. The problem is not single-tiered. There are many levels to injustices towards women, including physical, verbal, emotional, societal, economic, and educational. Luckily, awareness and concern among the corridors of power are building. Recently, a seminar on reducing violence against women by enforcing the Police Act 2017 took place in Mansehra. While some flawed thinking was shared at the session, the attention given to the issue is welcome. Likewise, Dr Shireen Mazari vowing to reduce disparities and provide better access to differently-abled women in the public sphere is refreshing.

It bodes well in the face of all of this that our human rights minister is a woman and one who further recognises that discrimination against women became institutionalised because of family and societal mindsets as opposed to certain unjust laws. Although that point is debatable to say we have inequitable laws that favour men, it is a relief that Dr Mazari is working on new legislation to reduce discrimination. A strong focus needs to be on restructuring the mindsets of men responsible for creating and enforcing these laws, however. At the seminar in Mansehra, the district Nazim reported that crimes against women had reduced after more women were elected. This suggests that in order to reduce the incidence of such violence, women need to be voted into power. While women’s empowerment in government is crucial, there is a dichotomy here. Female participation in government should not be tied to affording women basic rights to safety.

Enforcing laws and making examples of criminals is the need of the hour. This needs to start with the body responsible for enforcement being trained to view the gravity of such crimes as they are, rather than brushing them off as petty incidents.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 9^th, 2018.

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