THE PLIGHT OF RURAL WOMEN IN PAKISTAN 

Asim Hayat

The condition of women in our country, especially the ones who constitute the rural masses is far from fair, or morally and ethically correct. This fact has been highlighted on numerous occasions by the ill treatment of women in rural areas. One often hears of disturbing and tragic incidents in the news, such as the one a few months ago where a few village women were made to strip off their clothes and walk through a crowded bazaar, or the killing of a young village woman on mere suspicions of her being a "bad" girl and consequently a disgrace to the whole clan, or the gang assault and battery on women, including rape and later disposal of their mortal remains to conceal any living proof of such an incident. We can safely assume that these incidents are merely the tip of the iceberg as far as such violations, and injustices are concerned. 

One shudders to think of all the tyrannies these poor, simple peasant women have to endure, simply because they were born of the wrong sex in a male-dominated culture. Such unfortunate victims don't have a voice. They usually suffer judgements passed on their fates with nothing more than pious silence. It is the taboos we hold sacred to this day, fifty years on after independence, about sex, the use of contraceptives, showing a woman as a victim of assault, the ability to talk about child labour, or child abuse, that prevent the media from producing well made serials based on real life human rights violations. I feel that we as a nation try to conceal our problems, by pushing them under the rug, to solve another day. Such a philosophy of procrastination can only lead to a compounding of problems. Ill-treatment of women arises from our male dominated society's perception of women as having the relatively low-key role of child bearer, homemaker, and an asset. But perception is the reality here. A severe turnaround in the perception of the status of women in Pakistan is required. This turnaround in attitude will require a big investment by the government in the area of education for all, and in the judicial system, for bringing the perpetrators of these often violent crimes against women to justice. It is common knowledge that in rural Pakistan it is the law of the jungle rather than that of a civilised country, which prevails. The masses are downtrodden by a few for personal good and enrichment. Women, of course, are very much treated like property, similar to land, or a cow, or a tube well. Its the unwritten rights that the landowners possess in the rural areas that make the situation and plight of women a lot worse, simply because these parasites of our society have a strong hold on everything which claims to be living or dead on their name bearing lands. Rural Pakistani women have long been the third rate citizens of a third world country, but unfortunately their plight is no better today than when the country was painfully conceived. Years of submission and sacrifice by the poorer women of the communities has conditioned them to accept their fate, to not raise their voice lest they be abused more, to not point fingers at the sadist perpetrators, who tend to be called the respected, landlords. I wonder if anybody can experience the anguish, shame, and humiliation they must feel at seeing their criminals walk free, and seeing these callous criminals even trumpeting their achievements. Perhaps a real life example will enforce the point. 

During my school days in Lahore, a colleague of mine invited me and a few others to come and visit his land and farms over the winter break. I was naturally quite interested to see what life would be like in that environment, as I had lived in the city all my young life. But then, to show off, he boasted that he could get all of us "laid", without any problems with the girls of our choice, from the selection of village girls, as his father was a big "zamindaar". It was simply outrageous and abominable, but intriguing and exciting too for the others. I tried to brush off his boast as mere hot air, but the said gentleman continued to relate his experiences with the village girls, two of whom he had gotten pregnant. His dad had paid off the girls' fathers to have them aborted, and also given the men some concessions, as his father was a "kind and generous" man. It was frightening and disgusting to hear him talk in a calm and composed manner, a sub-human degenerate. He further went on proudly to describe that the village girls were not much fun, as they would not react or display their emotions i.e. would not groan or sigh in pleasure which he was providing them. For how could the girls do that, they were being raped by this privileged son of an influential man, and that animal wanted the simple village girls to display their pleasure and make noises so that he could think of himself as a big stud. Pathetic yes, surprising not indeed!! For I had indeed the displeasure and awful misfortune of having met similarly minded elite during my time at one of the supposedly better schools in Pakistan. Is there any hope for a society, which cannot be monitored or held responsible for its operation, where a woman cannot even raise a finger to point out her oppressors/rapists. I know not where or how to address such injustices, but at least I can have my conscience clear that I have done what little I could envisage, at the very least to condemn a wrong act, and make others aware of my experience on such an issue. However it is mere solace and self-deception to say that I have done as much as I could, for where is one even to begin to resolve such madness, such disorder, such antipathy, such hopelessness... I read an article in one of the newspapers, which discussed the story about the women I quoted in my first paragraph, which sums up the topic very eloquently: "...There is no cause for self-satisfaction, what to say of self-adulation, in our public (and even private), treatment of women. We may flaunt our sophisticated foreign education; we may take pride in our individual positions in a progressing society, but unless we bring about a radical change in our entire thinking on the subject of women we shall continue to carry the stigma of a backward nation. It is no crime to be backward in material progress and in scientific and technological development. But it is certainly both a crime and a sin to be intellectually retrogressive. That is the true backwardness..."