December 24, 2017

How civilised a culture is depends on how it treats women

located:	Afghanistan, Pakistan, India
editor:	Shadi Khan Saif

Afghanistan, Pakistan and India are three neighbours that differ from each other in many aspects, but when it comes to how they treat women and girls within their societies, they share myriad reasons to be ashamed of their policies and cultures.

This of course doesn’t necessarily mean they are inferior from the rest of the world, yet the men in those countries, more often than not, have no respect for the opposite sex. After all, it was the son of this soil, Abdul Ghafar Khan also known as Bacha Khan, who once said: “If you wish to know how civilised a culture is, look at how they treat its women”. The question remains: despite very clear understandings around women's rights within some members of society, why do we continue to witness shocking atrocities – with no respite – towards women and girls?

A 12 year old girl was discovered by the police in Ghor province this week, with more than 100 marks of torture on her body, including on her genitals. The young girl was married off three years ago, at the mere age of 9, and her in-laws used to feed her together with the dogs they had to look after the livestock, officials said.

In Pakistan, two months ago, so-called village elders forced a 14 year old girl to walk naked in the Dera Ismael Khan district of the country. This is, unfortunetaly, just another incident of a girl or woman used – or dare I say sacrificed – by the men to settle a dispute. She was ‘punished’ for an extramarital affair her brother had.

Now, in India, a country regarded as the largest democracy in the world, and with one of the world’s most praised constitutions that guarantees many basic rights for the citizens. Earlier this week, a 20 year old woman from West Bengal's Bolpur region succumbed to her injuries after she tried setting herself ablaze, following blackmail and alleged rape by a construction worker. While the capital, New Delhi, has already earned the title of ‘rape capital of the world’.

These are not a handful of rare incidents, but a systemic issue that has been going on for too long, exposing the apathy of the governments and people alike. The women’s rights movement in these countries is mostly centered in urban areas where the argument is mainly on for empowerment, and lacks the flare to intensely call for an end to such violent and oppressive behaviour towards women and girls in the countryside, hence there seems no end to this savagery in sight.