The Plight of Rural Women in Pakistan

The condition of women in our country, especially the ones who
constitute the rural masses is far from fair, or morally and ethically
correct. This fact has been highlighted on numerous occasions by the
ill treatment of women in rural areas. One often hears of disturbing
and tragic incidents in the news, such as the one a few months ago
where a few village women were made to strip off their clothes and
walk through a crowded bazaar, or the killing of a young village woman
on mere suspicions of her being a "bad" girl and consequently a
disgrace to the whole clan, or the gang assault and battery on women,
including rape and later disposal of their mortal remains to conceal
any living proof of such an incident. We can safely assume that these
incidents are merely the tip of the iceberg as far as such violations,
and injustices are concerned. One shudders to think of all the
tyrannies these poor, simple peasant women have to endure, simply
because they were born of the wrong sex in a male-dominated
culture. Such unfortunate victims don't have a voice. They usually
suffer judgements passed on their fates with nothing more than pious
silence.


I believe that the coverage of such horror stories should be initiated
as part of an awareness campaign by the media, especially
television. I have, in the 17 odd years I spent in Pakistan, never
seen such crimes against women being reported on television main
news. But what I do remember most vividly from my childhood days, was
that we all loved the sloppy, romantic "stuff" they kept dishing out,
stuff written by the likes of Fatima Surriya Bajia, whom I used to
think was great at making emotional melodramas.


Looking back, I feel that PTV could have done much better with the
immense potential it has for raising awareness of this issue, by
reaching out to the masses. Defining a problem can only lead to a
solution. PTV dramas are still very popular, as I witnessed on a
recent trip. But they have a long way to go to truly portray the
condition of women in Pakistan. It is the taboos we hold sacred to
this day, fifty years on after independence, about sex, the use of
contraceptives, showing a woman as a victim of assault, the ability to
talk about child labour, or child abuse, that prevent the media from
producing well made serials based on real life human rights
violations. I feel that we as a nation try to conceal our problems,
by pushing them under the rug, to solve another day. Such a philosophy
of procrastination can only lead to a compounding of problems.


Television can create dramas with messages a bit like the American
comedy series', where at the end of 25 minutes the characters all
learn a moral lesson. That might be an extreme view, but I would like
to see programming in which after one hour of watching a drama, the
viewer has a better perspective on some social or moral dilemma facing
rural women. That's what Award-winning media coverage should
be all about. It should serve as an eye opener and thought provoker
for those who watch. The trouble is that most of the dramas made
today cater to the middle classes, with an inherent boy meets girl,
boy falls in love with girl, boy marries girl scenario, very bland and
severely banal age old theme. This is infinitely more acceptable, it
seems, to the broadcast authorities than to tackle real issues,
including, though not limited to, the plight of women.


Ill-treatment of women arises from our male dominated society's
perception of women as having the relatively low key role of child
bearer, home maker, and an asset. But perception is the reality
here. A severe turnaround in the perception of the status of women in
Pakistan is required. This turnaround in attitude will require a big
investment by the government in the area of education for all, and in
the judicial system, for bringing the perpetrators of these often
violent crimes against women to justice. Unfortunately in Pakistan, it
appears that the law is not conducted by the blindfolded lady of
justice with scales in her hands, but by the wide-eyed lady who
stretches out her hand for the biggest hand-out... and then voila,
scales the tip in that party's favour.


It is common knowledge that in rural Pakistan it is the law of the
jungle rather than that of a civilised country which prevails. The
masses are downtrodden by a few for personal good and enrichment. Women, of
course, are very much treated like property, similar to land, or a cow,
or a tube well. Its the unwritten rights that the landowners possess
in the rural areas that make the situation and plight of women a lot
worse, simply because these parasites of our society have a strong
hold on everything which claims to be living or dead on their name
bearing lands.


Rural Pakistani women have long been the third rate citizens of a
third world country, but unfortunately their plight is no better today
than when the country was painfully conceived 50 years ago. is a
difficult procedure. Years of submission and sacrifice by the poorer
women of the communities has conditioned them to accept their fate, to
not raise their voice lest they be abused more, to not point fingers
at the sadist perpetrators, who tend to be called the respected,
landlords. I wonder if anybody can experience the anguish, shame,
and humiliation they must feel at seeing their criminals walk
free, and seeing these callous criminals even trumpeting their
achievements.


Perhaps a real life example will enforce the point. During my school
days in Lahore, a colleague of mine invited me and a few others to
come and visit his land and farms over the winter break. I was
naturally quite interested to see what life would be like in that
environment, as I had lived in the city all my young life. But then,
to show off, he boasted that he could get all of us "laid", without
any problems with the girls of our choice, from the selection of
village girls, as his father was a big "zamindaar". It was simply
outrageous and abominable, but intriguing and exciting too for the
others. I tried to brush off his boast as mere hot air, but the said
gentleman continued to relate his experiences with the village girls,
two of whom he had gotten pregnant. His dad had paid off the girls'
fathers to have them aborted, and also given the men some concessions,
as his father was a "kind and generous" man. It was frightening and
disgusting to hear him talk in a calm and composed manner, a sub-human
degenerate. He further went on proudly to describe that the village
girls were not much fun, as they would not react or display their
emotions i.e would not groan or sigh in pleasure which he was
providing them. For how could the girls do that, they were being raped
by this privileged son of an influential man, and that animal wanted
the simple village girls to display their pleasure and make noises so
that he could think of himself as a big stud. Pathetic yes, surprising
not indeed!! For I had indeed the displeasure and awful misfortune of
having met similarly minded elite during my time at one of the
supposedly better schools in Pakistan.


Is there any hope for a society which cannot be monitored or held
responsible for its operation, where a woman cannot even raise a
finger to point out her oppressors/rapists. I know not where or how to
address such injustices, but at least I can have my conscience clear
that I have done what little I could envisage, at the very least to
condemn a wrong act, and make others aware of my experience on such an
issue. However it is mere solace and self deception to say that I have
done as much as I could, for where is one even to begin to resolve
such madness, such disorder, such antipathy, such hopelessness...


I read an article in one of the newspapers which discussed the story
about the women I quoted in my first paragraph, which sums up the
topic very eloquently:


".......There is no cause for self-satisfaction, what to say of
self-adulation, in our public (and even private), treatment of
women. We may flaunt our sophisticated foreign education; we may take
pride in our individual positions in a progressing society, but unless
we bring about a radical change in our entire thinking on the subject
of women we shall continue to carry the stigma of a backward
nation. It is no crime to be backward in material progress and in
scientific and technological development. But it is certainly both a
crime and a sin to be intellectually retrogressive. That is the true
backwardness......."


Reading the Chowk fills me with hope, that there are concerned,
responsible people out there, maybe people in a position of having the
authority, and the conscience to do something good for our land and
people.