It is an age old stigma on women that this particular strata of the humankind deserves lesser than its male counterpart. The evidences of this injustice can be found even in history. Since times immortal, countless atrocities gave been committed against women, the depths of which would literally tear apart even its readers.
Recently, While going through an article recently, I realized that women, belonging to any and every background, no matter where they reside, face this problem of violations of rights. Till now I’ve been thinking that women rights are only violated in Pakistan, the place I live, but unfortunately that not the case.
There is a silent scream inside every second woman because of so many different reasons, she may not even have words for.
Women around us face thousands of problems daily and they are so many that if i kept writing them, an entire life would fall short. Every new moment, thousands of women are victimized by increasing violence and abuse. Women whether married or spinster, teenager or adult, face violence in every part of world either by strangers or it is there own known people who drag them to misery, some to even death. The main cause of this problem is gender discrimination. Women have always been considered as a weaker sex because of their physique. Living here in Pakistan, I’ve always thought that it is us Pakistani women that face gender discrimination and domestic violence but studies show that there are similar victims all around the world.
It is so so obvious that the world we live in doesn’t entirely value women. If it would’ve happened, below given examples wouldn’t exist.
This is from Nigeria, where 200 girls were kidnapped and sold to slavery because they just attempted to go to school.
An american University campus has become the hub of rapes and assault and the administration of the institute cares a damn.
A writer Catherine McKinnon writes in ‘Are women Human?’ that every year, in America, the same number of women die as a result of violence, as they did in the event of 9/11. So who are the terrorists now?
These examples may feel disconnected from our individual lives, but they’re not. There is a direct connection between women being undervalued and women internalizing this attitude and undervaluing themselves. There is a direct link between women’s freedom and human rights not being respected, and moreover, tolerating relationships and violence at their workplaces where their needs and voices aren’t heard or subdued.
My question is, is the caliber of that American University more important than the individual lives of women raped there, that even after receiving the complaints the issue is not acted upon promptly? Or is it a sin to get your daughters educated as in the case of Nigerian girls or is slavery more beneficial to them, where they will be beaten and abused to death?
I guess its high time now that we stop the ongoing massacres before the time passes out. We should act rather than sitt twiddling our thumbs and waiting for that “someone” to come and eradicate such vices. And if there is nothing we can do, than we can at least value the women around us because valuing one woman means valuing the entire society. And always bear this in mind; women aren’t powerless creatures. The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world is in fact true. Its just the time and the society we live in that compels them to become get low on self esteem and thereby feel weak and powerless.
If all of us do our part well, eventually, I hope for the day to come and soon, when the ideas that age old global revolutionaries have envisaged about women empowerment will be realized in their true essence. Its only a matter of time.
by Rohayl Varind (Pakistan)
Oxford Brooke University
