Judicial response to gender-based violence (Opinion)

Source: The News

Date: November 3, 2010

In a forced marriage, one or both parties are forced into wedlock without his or her consent or will. However, in the great majority of cases it is the woman's consent which is dispensed with. It is part of a societal setup where women are denied equality in the enjoyment of human rights, including the right to marry. This phenomenon is just one facet of a male-dominated society, where women are perceived as the property of the male members of the family. They are considered a symbol of honour for the men. To quote a character in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew:

"I will be master of what is mine own:

She is my goods, my chattels; she is my house,

My household stuff, my field, my barn,

My horse, my ox, my ass, my any thing.

The concepts of male status and of family status are of particular importance in such cultures. Men consider themselves protectors of the status and of family honour. A woman or girl who indulges in, or is suspected of committing, an act which is contrary to the male concept of the family status or honour could be a target of intimidation, violence and, at times, of death. Murders so committed are euphemistically called "honour killings". 
According to American psychologist Phyllis Chasler, 84 per cent of honour killings in the West from 1989 to 2009 were carried out by Muslims. Yet, the fact remains that honour killings exist all over the world. They are primarily outcomes of a tribal, feudal, caste-ridden and gender-biased mindset.
A recent case of caste-based honour killing took place in India in May. Nirupama Pathak, 22, a New Delhi-based journalist, was allegedly murdered by her own mother. Because the girl had wanted to marry a fellow journalist who belonged to a lower caste, and she was pregnant.
Activists say dozens of people, both women and men, are killed for "honour" every year, falling victim to the deeply entrenched caste system, which dictates an individual's social standing based on the caste they are born into. In India, the majority of these killings take place in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, where land ownership and caste go hand in hand and an honour culture thrives by maintaining caste and gender hierarchies. "The upper castes fiercely guard their hold over land and power in the community," says Ranbir Singh, a Haryana-based sociologist who is currently a consultant with the Haryana Institute of Rural Development. 

"These crimes against women occur in countries as varied as Bangladesh, Brazil, Ecuador, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan, Sweden, Turkey, Uganda and the United Kingdom. The United Nations Population Fund estimates that the annual worldwide number of 'honour' killing victims is 5,000 women. In a study on murders of females in Alexandria, Egypt, 47 per cent of the women were killed after the woman had been raped. In Jordan and Lebanon, 70-75 per cent of the perpetrators of these 'honour' killings are the women's brothers." ("Facts and Figures on Harmful Traditional Practices, 2007," compiled by the United Nations Development Fund for Women, UNIFEM.)

View details: http://www.thenews.com.pk/03-11-2010/opinion/13468.htm