MANY people in Pakistan raise a lot of hue and cry when someone talks about femi-nism and women’s rights. These people believe that a meagre set of rights are enough for women. Men in many conser-vative regions across the country define women’s jurisdictions, confine them to live within those boundaries, and raise voice on their behalf, if at all needed.

On the other hand, some people, mostly in urban areas, want to promote the real idea of feminism, its actual message, actual themes, and why this movement was initiated in the first place.

A report recently released by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on gender-based violence should have set off alarm bells in the country, but that has not been the case largely. The report must be discussed in educational institutions throughout the country if we really want practical solutions to these problems. Changing attitudes at a young age is essential for a long-term move towards rationality on the matter.

The UN report highlighted that 40 per cent of ever-married women in Pakistan have experienced physical, sexual or emotional abuse at the hands of their spouses. A staggering 32pc of women have experienced physical violence in their lives.

These statistics suggest that there are three types of men in our society. The first group consists of those who know and accept the faults of the existing patriarchal system, and condemn its dominance over vulnerable segments of society. These people try to empower marginalised communities and strive to end women’s plight that has gone from bad to worse with the passage of time.

The second group consists of those who know the flaws of this patriarchal society and understand its structure, but do not try to do anything about what at best may be called loopholes. For a variety of reasons, they are not interested in raising their voice against traditional misogyny in society.

The third, and unfortunately the largest, group comprises those who happily subjugate the women and deprive them of their rights.

A number of laws have been enacted in the country to protect the rights of women, but are not implemented in their true spirit. People consider domestic violence to be a personal and private matter in which no one has the right to interfere, including the government. In such a scenario, majority of women, especially in rural areas, do not resist or protest against any injustice because they have been trained and tamed to remain silent.

Fear of divorce, based on the social stigma attached to it, also compels women to bear all kinds of excesses, brutalities and atrocities of their spouses. Lack of financial independence of women is another major contributing factor.

While the urban areas of the country have reported progress, the ideology of gender-equality has failed to penetrate the rural areas of Pakistan even after all these years. It is an understatement to say that women in rural areas live in vulnerable conditions.

There is no magical solution to these misogynistic approaches. Equal oppor-tunities and meritocratic systems for all human beings can address the disparities between the male-dominated setup and the marginalised segments.

If the government is genuinely interested in eradicating gender-based violence and misogynistic mindset, it needs to educate the young generation and hold awareness campaigns in areas where women are the most affected. Indeed, this centuries-old patriarchal society cannot transform within minutes; it will take time and strenuous efforts to end the misery of our womenfolk. But the time to make an informed and sincere beginning is now.

Faislan Shafa Isfahani
Lahore

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2022