"Women's Rights in Pakistan"

[bloom]

http://www.fiscalstudy.com/2005-global-photo/0308-womens-rights-in-pakistan.php




About Women's Rights in Pakistan
For years, women in Pakistan have been denied the enjoyment of a whole range of rights - economic, social, civil and political. Women are denied not only the right to education, but also the right to decide matters relating to their marriage and divorce. Those denied these rights are more likely to be deprived of the right to legal redress. Often abuses are compounded: poor girls and women are trafficked and subject to forced marriage, forced prostitution or exploitative work situations such as bonded labor. These deprivations are manifestations of discrimination against women and girls in Pakistan.

Domestic violence and physical abuse, which includes rape, acid throwing, burning, and "honor" killings is still widespread in Pakistan. Acid-throwing is on the increase. The government has done little to restrict the sale of acid or to punish those who use it to injure women. "Honor" killings continue to be reported daily. Pakistan is also both a country of origin and a transit country for the trafficking of women for domestic labor, forced marriage and prostitution. This form of slavery is organized by crime networks that span South Asia. Some women, both local and trafficked, are killed if they refuse to earn money in prostitution. Forced marriage of young girls continues to be reported and while slavery is illegal in Pakistan, girls and women continue to be traded to settle debts or conflicts. The open sale of girls and women in markets is reported in underdeveloped areas such as parts of Balochistan.

Physical abuse of women in custody continues to be rife in Pakistan. Despite promises of police reform, police continue to use torture to intimidate, harass and humiliate detainees to extract money or information.

Since publishing our 1999 report, Pakistan: Violence against Women in the Name of Honor", very few positive changes have taken place for women's rights and the government in Pakistan still by and large fails to provide adequate protection for women against abuses in the custody of the state and in the family and community. In fact, the number of victims of violence appears to have risen. There is a paucity of legal remedies for women fleeing honor killing and other domestic violence, a lack of safe houses for women, or even couples at risk, an absence of reliable mediation mechanisms to interceded with parents who do not understand or accept women's rights to freedom of choice in marriage, and an absence of reliable and prompt protection by the state... <more>

[PDJane]

1. Women's rights

are non-existent in a great portion of the world.

The difficulty is that the fastest way to raise the standard of living is education.....but NOT of the men. Educate women, and the standard of living increases almost immediately.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

2. Educating women also reduces the birth rate

The countries that have achieved zero population growth are all countries where the majority of women have the equivalent of a high school education.

[bothwell]

3. The ties are too strong

My wife who works in social housing was running an education seminar for muslim women recently and to start and get everyone relaxed the co sponsor had a list of what she thought would be fun questions to loosen evyone up. Question 3 was "What film star or public figure did they find most attractive". 12 answers "My Husband".

My wife asked the co sponsor (A hindu woman) afterwards about this and was infromed that because each woman had other muslima present that would be the only answer they would DARE give becuase if it got back to the family retribution would be not only swift but probably violent.

This was not in Lahore but right here in the UK with second generation women who have been brought up and educated here. In the past year alone we have had at least 6 "Honour" killings, young women killed usually by brothers or fathers because they dishonoured the family!!!

[Ally McLesbian]

4. You don't even have to be in the UK...

The same holds true in the immigrant communities in the US too, ignored by the white liberals. And it doesn't even limit itself to just the Muslim cultures.

Honor killings are not unheard of either in Christian and Confucian cultures as well. I know of a Korean transgender woman in Texas who was asked to kill herself to protect her family honor; she ran away to a godmother instead. And normally one thinks of the Koreans as being advanced and modern enough to blanket America with cars and cell phones...

[FES2009]

6. PDJane reply

You should start by educating yourself. Talk like that is as bad as anti-racists who trash talk whites. You need to educate both, its ridiculous to say that educating one is more beneficial than educating the other. Saying "women do not need to be educated" is ignorant, but what you said in your post is just as ignorant.

[FES2009]

5. Progressive logic

...So What, Who cares? Its none of our business what they do over there. It doesn't affect us here, we should not get involved in there affairs. Why do we have the right to tell other people and other cultures how to live? ....but then again thats your kind of logic not mine.

[Scout]

7. tombstone after 8 posts ... was it even worth signing up?? n/t