Pakistan fails to tackle surge in gender-based violence

Islamabad [Pakistan], August 1 : Over 22,000 incidents of gender-based violence have been reported in Pakistan in the last six years however the country has failed miserably to combat the surge, media reports said.
This could be because of the lack of education, lack of awareness, poverty, and rampant misogyny in the country.
According to a Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) recent report, at least 11 rape cases are reported daily in the country with over 22,000 such incidents reported to police in the last six years, notably from 2015-21, reported The Daily Times.
In a bid to tackle these issues, the Pakistani government had passed two anti-rape ordinances - the Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial) Ordinance 2020 and the Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Ordinance 2020.
These expanded the definition of rape, included harsher punishments for perpetrators, and called for the establishment of special courts and rape crisis centres.
However, despite the toughening of anti-rape laws, many activists say Pakistan continues to fail its women, perhaps due to the lack of implementation of legislation. Although policies and laws are in place, they are not acted upon and perpetrators rarely face consequences.
Gender-based violence in Pakistan highlights the state's inability to protect its citizens.
There has been a sharp rise in the number of cases of gender-based violence. The irony, on the other hand, is that the overall conviction rate is less than one per cent. "Only 77 accused of the 22,000 cases were found to be convicted and the conviction rate is around 0.3 per cent," noted the report.
Child sexual abuse is yet another grim concern. Assault on children have surged by nearly a third in the country last year. In a report titled "Cruel Numbers", the Sahil organization, a group that tracks child sexual abuse and works on child protection programs, states that there were 3,852 cases of child sexual abuse in 2021 in Pakistan.
The majority of those committing the assaults were family acquaintances or otherwise known to the children, said the report.
Several clinical experts said that Pakistan's outlook on women is meek which leads to these kinds of incidents. Clinical psychologist, Akchah Taj, explained, "It is mainly because of cognitive dissonance that these criminal acts are increasing in our country: we are raised with the idea that women and children need to be controlled, that others have authority and control over them."
"We live in a patriarchal model where the male figure is in charge of taking care of finances. Because of the financial support that the male figure provides to the family, he thinks, and society justifies the fact that he can emotionally, physically, psychologically and sexually abuse those for whom he is earning. Financial support is used as a currency to explain and allow abusive and aggressive behaviour."
Mumtaz Mughal, the Director of Programs at Aurat Foundation provides another reason for the recent proliferation of sexual violence, stating, "Domestic violence has increased due to economic reasons and recent inflation after Covid. Men were forced to stay at home instead of going to work and thus, many took out their frustration on their wives and children."
Pakistan was ranked 153rd out of 156 nations by the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap 2021 index; it was placed 151st out of 153 in 2020.
Revealing a grim picture of the state of women in Pakistan, a report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) has ranked Pakistan as the second-worst country in terms of gender parity, a media report said.
The ranking in 2022 was not better either. In the Global Gender Gap Report which was released by WEF on Wednesday, Pakistan is placed in the 145th spot in a survey of 146 countries.
Pakistan has 107 million women and the country closed at 56.4 per cent in the report's gender gap index. As per the report, "this is the highest overall level of parity Pakistan has posted" since the launch of the global gender gap report by WEF in 2006.
Pakistan was among five countries with a gender gap greater than five per cent.
Pakistan's ranking in other parameters also exposes the country's sorry state of affairs. The country ranked 145th in terms of economic participation and opportunity; 135th in educational attainment; 143rd in health and survival; and 95th in political empowerment.