MONTH after month, the figures of crimes against women in the country indicate that our society is close to collapsing under the weight of its own disgrace, yet public outrage is absent. For starters, the Sustainable Social Development Organisation’s 2024 report, stating that while globally 20pc women face abuse, a shocking 90pc of Pakistan’s females endure violence, should have shaken us to the core. But the dire situation of women, despite progressive legislation, has been overlooked by the state. According to a Lahore police performance report for the first quarter of the ongoing year, over a 100 women were subjected to assault in the Punjab capital; the force claims that it arrested 110 suspects involved in attacks on 103 women along with others implicated in 40 cases, including murders of 15 women, and rescued 988 female abductees. As numbers swell in Lahore, data says that out of the 4,641 reported rape cases in Punjab, a dismal 20 resulted in convictions.

It is time for men and women to confront this rampant misogyny. Each statistic is a tragedy with lessons: prejudice, victim-shaming, poor access to justice and the sexist whataboutery by politicians have consolidated misogyny and brutalised society. While robust investigation and policing are crucial, these measures are weakened by the lack of unequivocal commitment to the issue from lawmakers and political parties. Parliamentarians need to use their positions to censure atrocities against women irrespective of class and ideology; maligning a woman for political point-scoring is not politics but perversion. Messaging in educational institutions and in homes across the country to convey that respecting women is a must should also gain momentum. Empathy and unity ensure equality and freedom from rigid chauvinistic structures through stringent enforcement of laws, and higher conviction rates with solid evidence collection. The state has to guarantee a humane environment and a life without violence for its female citizens.

Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2025