By: Muneeba Munir, Special Projects Coordinator
We all know that violence against women is a serious issue; one does not need to go far and search because let’s face it, it’s all around us. But have we really stopped and thought about why this happens? Why are women treated poorly by men? I mean, really, is it because they’re supposed to be a certain way, treat their significant other the way they want to be treated, or just in general always try to please men? Believe it or not, but at least one woman in every three has been beaten, coerced into sex or has been abused in some other way in her lifetime and most often by someone she knows. U.N. development fund for Women (UNIFEM) reports that up to 70% of women experience physical or sexual violence from men in their lifetime – majority from husbands, partners or someone they know. Among women that are aged 15 to 44, acts of violence cause more death and disability than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents and war combined! This is a serious issue as it deals with one’s self-respect and can destroy lives of millions of women, not only in developing countries but also the developed world.
In some cases, women are abused because the culture around them is supposed to be one in which men dominate the household and if any woman speaks up against unfair decisions, there can be severe consequences for her. In other situations, it’s because she looks a certain way or at times it can be just for a man’s pleasure. Rape, throwing acid on the face and body, discrimination based on ethnicity, race, social status or class are all reasons women are abused. All these forms of violence can really harm a woman both psychologically and physically – after all, it does severely damage her self-respect and really restrict her choices. In many countries, if a woman is raped and the media talks about it, it’s really hard for her to get a job or even get married because society thinks there must be something wrong with her. In a lot of cases, men have thrown acid on a woman’s face because they did not want other men to look at her beauty. For a very long time, throwing acid did not even have any punishment and there was no law. This can be so hurtful for a woman’s image and we all really need to take action against it. Now, although this sounds like it would only happen in third world countries, it really is not the case because there are a lot of incidents of rape and abuse in the developed world. In today’s world, women are given equal rights as men in many countries, so why do we still have this problem? Women need to be protected and those who abuse women need to be punished because otherwise, this will continue to happen.
Violence, no matter in what form or way should be dealt with in a serious manner, it shouldn’t matter whether someone is a woman or a man, but the mere fact that a human being is being abused because they look or are a certain way is disturbingly unfair. And we know a lot of women don’t tell if they’ve been abused and this is mainly because they’re worried about how they will be perceived in society – will they still be able to get married? Have a good job? Be respected? Even if they inform their family, a lot of the times the family does not want anyone to find out and keeps it hidden from everyone because again, they’re worried about their reputation and worried that people will think that the woman in their family is flawed, not the man. These are constant worries that women struggle through in their life, so why don’t we help and protect their rights so they can be stronger women and live their lives according to how they want to live and what decisions they want to make for themselves – a life without having to depend on a man? They can be someone’s daughter, wife, mother, sister – but most importantly, and all that should matter is that of all they are human – and for the sake of humanity we need to help them and raise awareness.