VIOLENCE against women and girls is the most pervasive human right violation in the world. The scale of violence and discrimination against women is chilling and often goes unnoticed, or in some societies it is approved and accepted by women as part of their plight. According to the UN General Assembly Resolution 48/104 (20 December 1993) on Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, violence against women means “any act of gender-based violence against women which results or is likely to result in physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life.”
Discrimination against women manifests itself in most traditional as well as modern societies as a structural feature. Differences between the life situations and the opportunities of women and men still arise from unequal opportunities of access to employment, income, economic resources, health care, food, education, training, tradition and cultural inhibitions. Attitudes have to change and this could only be achieved by education and creation of awareness that women are also human beings and have the same rights as men. In the end it is the women themselves who must stand up for their rights and for their rightful place in society. American civil rights activist Maya Angelou once said that “each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it’s possible, without claiming it, she stands up for all women.”
The issue of violence has to be seriously taken up by workers’ trade unions. If a woman worker comes to work after having suffered a battering at home, her comrades must counsel her and, if possible, go to her house and sort out the issue. Similarly, sexual harassment should be tackled. There is a need for a clarion call for solidarity with all struggles based on women’s issues. Interestingly, preaching and practice have different outlooks. How can change be brought out when the male leadership, which is in majority, rarely listens to what the women have to say? This mindset must be condemned so that it does not continue to become the standard.
Sexual harassment affects an individual’s work. It is an expression of power, authority, or control through sex. Sexual harassment is offensive to the worker involved, causes the worker to feel insecure, threatened, humiliated, patronized, or harassed, it interferes with the woman’s job performance, undermines job security, and creates an unpleasant working environment. Sexual harassment can take a number of different forms. It can be expressed, visual, verbal, physical, or psychological terms, a leering look, a “friendly” pat on a sensitive part of the body, pinch or squeeze, an off-color joke, pin ups of women in offensive poses placed in work areas or in canteens, spotting a woman alone and making objectionable advances, uttering lewd remarks, etc. The affected women usually do not complain because of shame and the stigma attached to it.
Discrimination against women manifests itself in most traditional as well as modern societies as a structural characteristic. Differences between the daily life situations and the opportunities of women still arise from unequal opportunities of access to employment, income, economic resources, education, training, and traditional and cultural inhibitions. However, there have been a number of progressive transformations during the last few decades with regard to women. In some countries, women have been able to push binding legislation in order to guarantee their strong participation in political administration, corporate sector, and trade unions. Within the concepts of “empowerment” and “re-distribution” of power, women who getting more organized and more determined. Encouraging women’s economic empowerment acts as a great strategy to eliminate violence against women in many ways. Ensuring women’s economic empowerment means giving them equal opportunities in economic activities like jobs and business.
A staggering 32% of women have experienced physical violence in Pakistan and 40% of married women have suffered from spousal abuse at some point in their life. (The Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey). However, these statistics do not accurately represent the full extent of cases. In June 2019, at the ILO International Labor Conference in Geneva, the ILO Convention 190 (Violence and Harassment in the World of Work) was adopted (this writer attended the ILC and voted for its adoption) but unfortunately, only 39 countries, but not Pakistan, have so far ratified it.
There are several ways in which violence manifests: sexual, physical, psychological, social, or financial violence. Sexual violence is one form of gender-based violence and an expression of discrimination. Women are not only discriminated on the basis of their gender but they are often subjected to additional forms of discrimination, such as racism, homophobia or ableism that influence and fortify each other.
Psychological violence refers to actions which lead to emotional and mental injuries for those affected and manifests itself as intimidation through looks, gestures or shouting, in coercion and in threats, such as the threat of taking children away or resort to physical violence. Humiliation, derogatory and discriminatory comments, and public ridicule are also forms of psychological violence. Emotional violence is often accompanied by controlling or dominating behavior, extreme jealousy, or the isolation of the affected. Nowadays, psychological violence occurs online in the form of ‘cyber violence’.
Violence can result in severe physical, sexual, and social consequences, or even death. Outcomes of sexual violence can include sexually transmitted diseases, trauma, depression, anxiety and panic attacks. One of the reasons for emotional complaints is the suppression of the experience of violence, something many women see themselves as being forced to do. Women are frequently blamed for provoking the violence, or not believed, or stigmatized in their social environment. Violence against women should not be treated as a personal issue, but rather as a societal problem that can and must be prevented.
The Beijing Declaration adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, in September 1995, declared that “violence against women is an obstacle to the achievement of the objectives of equality, development and peace. Violence against women both violates and impairs or nullifies the enjoyment by women of their human rights and fundamental freedoms. The fear of violence, including harassment, is a permanent constraint on the mobility of women and limits their access to resources and basic activities. Violence against women is one of the crucial social mechanisms by which women are forced into a subordinate position compared with men.” Former Secretary General Ban KI-moon very poignantly remarked that “there is one universal truth, applicable to all countries, cultures and communities; violence against women is never acceptable, never excusable, never tolerable.”
—The writer is Former President, Employers Federation of Pakistan, based in Karachi.
