Pakistan
Those polled cited cultural, tribal and religious
practices harmful to women, including acid attacks, child and forced marriage
and punishment or retribution by stoning or other physical abuse.
More than 1,000 women and girls are victims of
“honour killings” every year, according to Pakistan’s Human Rights Commission.
90% of women in Pakistan face domestic violence.
According to a 2001 poll of experts by the Thomson Reuters Foundation Poll, Pakistan is
the third most dangerous country for women in the world. It cited the more than
1,000 women and girls murdered in "honor killings" every year and
reported that 90 percent of Pakistani women suffer from domestic violence.
Westerners usually associate the plight of Pakistani
women with religious oppression, but the reality is far more complicated. A
certain mentality is deeply ingrained in strictly patriarchal societies like
Pakistan. Poor and uneducated women must struggle daily for basic rights,
recognition, and respect. They must live in a culture that defines them by the
male figures in their lives, even though these women are often the breadwinners
for their families.
Quietly, slowly, in piecemeal legal reforms, female
empowerment is coming in Pakistan. You meet inspiring women daily here.
Sympathetic employers sometimes give protection and assistance, as do other
women who've fared better. NGOs and charitable organizations try to help
empower women, but not all women take advantage of these resources. They fear
their husbands, attracting unwanted attention, somehow hurting the honor of
their families, or, often, they simply do not know that help exists. With
female literacy at 36% many women are too uneducated to know their rights.
A difficult irony for women in Pakistan is that,
should a victim speak up about physical or sexual abuse, she is seen as having
lost her and her family's dignity. Many rapes go unreported as the victim fears
she will become worthless in Pakistani society. Often, women will turn to their
employers; families they can trust. It's a typically unnoticed form of charity
but one that can be crucial to their survival.
These are the stories of six poor, working women of
different ages, backgrounds, and life experiences in the Pakistani city of
Karachi, where I grew up and where I met them. In interviews, which I have
translated, edited, and condensed below, they told me about their lives and
struggles within a cycle of poverty and, often times, violence.
These women have consented to share the stories and
photos so that the world might better understand the challenges they face. For
their safety, I have not used their full names.
Ayesha,
age 18
Every poor girl wishes for more education, for the
opportunity to learn and go to school; for a childhood. But many of us are not
that fortunate. The day my brother was born was bittersweet; I was no longer
allowed to go to school. Due to the increased household responsibilities, my
father told me that I must stay home and eventually begin to work.
On the night of his birth, while my whole family was
celebrating, I went to my uncle's house to get more bread. I didn't know a
young man was there. In the empty home, he took advantage of me; he did things
that I didn't understand; he touched my chest. Before I could realize, there
was a cloth over my mouth and I was being raped. I was having trouble walking
back home; I felt faint and I had a headache. This happens a lot in villages.
Young girls are raped, murdered, and buried. No one is able to trace them after
their disappearance. If a woman is not chaste, she is unworthy of marriage. All
he did is ask for forgiveness and they let him go as it was best to avoid
having others find out what had happened. He didn't receive any punishment even
though he ruined me. People may have forgotten what he did, but I never forgot.
Now, he is married and living his life happily. I blame my own fate; I am just
unlucky that this happened to me.
When I began working, I was afraid. I guess it was
natural, I was only ten. I consider myself lucky though. In the homes where I
worked, I was responsible taking care of the children; getting them ready,
feeding them and playing with them. I used to have so much fun. I felt like I
was a child among them. I was able to relive my own childhood. Soon, I became
so used to working that I began feeling safer and happier at work than in my
own home and village. Our village is full of intoxication and indecent and
disrespectful men; men like my own father.
At the moment, we live in Karachi in a small home
with one room and the floor is broken. Whenever I would visit my parents,
either I would witness abusive arguments between them or something far more
disturbing. Since I was young, my father had always beaten my mother
shamelessly. My entire family is aware of my father's abuse; it is no secret.
My mother is very obedient; she never says no to my father. She leaves home for
work at 8 am and only returns at midnight. Even if she is tired, she does
everything to make him happy; she runs our home and cooks whatever he wishes.
All the men in our village beat their wives, it is a norm and women continue to
let it happen. Maybe it is fear, maybe it is desperation, I never quite
understood.
