Women’s rights? A mere joke!
Trigger Warning: Mention of Sexual Harassment.
Few days ago, while I was commuting back from my university, I was subjected to sexual harassment. Since I was traveling alone, the harasser followed me all the way till my home and kept flashing repeatedly. This occurrence left me in an unexplainable trauma, and I reached home with a racing heartbeat and trembling limbs. What’s even more haunting is that I was harassed in broad daylight and on roads that were jampacked with traffic. Being a female, I’m assured that I am not the only one who has gone through this horrific occurrence and it’s unfortunate how frequently such incidents take pace. Such traumatising events can have long lasting effects on the victims including significant psychological effects, such as anxiety, depression, headaches, sleep disorders, weight loss or gain, nausea, and lowered self-esteem.
The question to be asked is: when will the state provide us with the protection of our fundamental human rights?
It’s tiring and burdensome to be a woman in this country every day where we must be calculative and strategic with each step we take and yet there is no guaranteed shielding. We are neither safe outside the boundaries of our homes nor within the confines of our homes. And before the impractical discourse on the choice of clothing of women and justification of the abysmal actions of the harasser begin, me and many other women who are covered from head to toe become the victim of pestering as frequently. Harassment is not limited to only the women who chose to dress ‘immodestly’ as per societal standards. Neither is it limited to a certain age group. Women of all ages are subjected to sexual, emotional and physical abuse and harassment every day. The problem doesn’t lie with women, but rather with the persecutors.
As someone who travels every day for university, I am prone to constant stares from men the moment I step out the house. But following women to their homes, gesturing inappropriate actions and harassing them is absurd. And there should be no justification for it. And even if we, women, create a scene and take an action then and there, no one comes to help the victim and that leaves the woman in question in an even more threatening condition where she can even get mobbed and the chances of escalation of events increases.
Lately there has been a rise in cases involving sexual assault and harassment against women in Karachi. The city’s alarming trend of harassment against women tends to be unceasing. When will the authorities concerned realize their responsibilities? We have become alarmingly callous collectively.
Several steps are needed to improve safety for women and other gender minorities in Pakistan who are routinely subjected to harassment everywhere; first being the accountability of authorities, and second being the amendments in harassment laws. It’s about time we review and moderate the existing laws. The purpose of harassment laws is to address gender-based discrimination and not to limit it to sexual forms of harassment.
Sexual harassment as gender-based discrimination is gender-based hostility, which creates a hostile environment. It is a reflection of the unequal power relations between men and women which translates into a form of abuse exploitation and intimidation which makes it a violation of a basic human right. The uprising cases of harassment are gradually getting uncountable and is currently a form of crisis. Pakistan has always struggled to protect human rights, but more specifically women’s rights, according to international standards. 4,734 women have been sexually abused and over 15,000 cases of honors crimes were registered in Pakistan between 2004 to 2016 as per White Ribbon Pakistan [1]. Additionally, a periodical report revealed a 200 percent increase in cases of violence against women in Pakistan in the first three months of 2020.
Despite all efforts that have been made in recent years, the law serves only as a piece of paper and faces implementational hurdles, cases often linger on in courts for years and no timely relief is provided. This discourages women and many prefer not to file complaints. Furthermore, many women and men are still unable to stand up for themselves, mainly due to the fear of social stigma or sometimes the lack of awareness of their rights, which is why we are failing to address the issue of harassment once and for all.
It is not just the government that can be blamed for this situation; the whole of society will have to come forward to solve it. All sections of society, particularly the police and the judiciary, will have to play their role which may include:
- Awareness seminars regarding harassment laws and the rights of individuals.
- Implementation of a judicial sensitization program on dealing with victims of sexual violence and harassment.
- Establishing one government universal access distress line for women countrywide.
- Making all efforts to ensure more holistic discussions on the nature of harassment, consent, and victim blaming, which can be achieved by state-sponsored televised programs, advertisements, radio broadcasts, etc.
- The government needs to get serious about curbing gendered online harassment of women and the power structure that controls the investigative agency.
- Establishing state sponsored bodies to provide psychological and physical treatment to survivors of sexual violence.
- Providing swift, affordable, and accessible administration of justice in all harassment cases in the two-month time frame as provided under the law, through the constitution of women’s courts and provision of free legal aid where required.
Hello, I am a third year undergraduate student at Karachi University, and a novice writer with modicum published articles.
[1] : https://www.humanrightspulse.com/mastercontentblog/harassment-of-womens-rights-in-pakistan