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Gender-Based Violence – A War Without Boundaries

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Gender-Based Violence – A War Without Boundaries

It is high time the state discard outmoded norms that violate the rights of one-half of the population.

The Gender-Based Violence is a war without boundaries and seemingly without end. A UN report on Femicide released on November 25, the international day for the elimination of violence against women, reveals that every 11 minutes a woman or girl is killed by an intimate partner or family member. Patriarchal societies like Pakistan, with notions of honor, predicated on how a woman’s behavior and appearance may be perceived by other’s have a particular deep-rooted problem.

Domestic violence is still largely seen as a private issue, even a male ‘privilege’. Reported data indicates that 34 pc of ever-married women in Pakistan have experienced physical, sexual or emotional violence at the hands of their spouses.

Every province now has legislation against domestic violence but implementation varies from weak to non-existent although some recent, particularly horrific cases of femicide, have led to gender-based violence being more openly discussed with perpetrators publicly censured. Legislation against honor killing, an age-old form of violence against females, has been strengthened during the past few years. However, as the acquittal of the killer of social media star Qandeel Baloch illustrates, loopholes in the law can be exploited by misogynistic mindsets.

Sexual harassment of women at workplace is a more insidious form of gender-based violence but again patriarchal notions about the public space belonging to men with the women merely interlopers, often stymies implementation of the law against it.

It is high time the state discard outmoded norms that violate the rights of one-half of the population.

Komal Samo

Karachi Sindh

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