Essay by Mominah Junaid
She was an educator. Before that she had been a journalist for 10 years and before that a student of international relations. We had just concluded an intriguing discussion about approaches to education. I marveled at her wisdom. Yet the moment the conversation turned to women’s rights, my relative said something that immediately chilled me to the bone.
“Rape isn’t real”.
Is rape culture clearly not the biggest challenge women face in Pakistan when even the educated among us consider rape a fabrication? This is the result of a system that is entrenched in society, prevalent across all classes and social strata. It is not only a stumbling obstacle but a manacle clasped around every female in the country, threatening her safety and prohibiting her progress.
This is an ancient and insidious societal disease; the manifestation of its symptoms is not always obvious. It strikes in living rooms when a sister is told to ignore the jeers and taunts of her brother, to bear his aggression with silence. It strikes in offices when a woman is harassed by her employer and then fired for resisting his advances. It weaves itself into every extra inch of cloth women are told to wear to “shield” themselves from the male gaze. It is the rape jokes teenagers with expensive private school educations crack, appallingly nonchalant. It is the acid that women are burned with for rejecting marriage proposals, the violation and assault they are subjected to whenever a man wants to assert his power. It is when that woman is told her suffering is her fault.
Despite the rare exception, the vast majority of women have been sentenced to struggle daily against a system that blames the victim for the perpetrator’s actions. My conversation with my relative exemplified this. Here was a “progressive” woman emphatically insisting that a woman’s rape is her own fault because she shouldn’t have been alone with a man in the first place.
It comes as no surprise, however, that a world class education is no deterrent to a culture so ingrained. Rape culture in Pakistan is systemic. It has historically been integrated into this country’s institutions and upheld by unchecked male privilege. In rural areas, where the patriarchal community structure is most deeply established, it is not uncommon for ‘Jirgas’ and ‘Panchayats’ (village councils) to order the rape of women as punishment for their male relatives’ crimes. A recent such case was the Jirga-sanctioned revenge rape of a sixteen year old girl in Multan. In cases like these women, more often than not, are encouraged to be silent about their ordeal to protect “family honour”, frequently by their female family members who have internalized misogyny.
Where the Jirga does not uphold rape culture, the male religious authority takes the responsibility upon himself. Preaching to the masses and often conveniently distorting religious teachings, imams and religious leaders in many communities strictly police women’s conduct and behavior. They reinforce the widely held notion that it is a woman’s job to protect herself from male lewdness, that rape is the justified tool for the moral correctitude of a wanton jezebel. This feeds into the victim blaming culture and male privilege. A man who has been brought up on ideals of toxic masculinity feels he can treat women as he pleases with next to no accountability.
Attaining justice is yet another struggle. The structural framework for rape and harassment legal action in flawed, and women aren’t included at the top policy-making levels. This lack of representation and consideration at a legislative level unofficially legalizes rape culture and systemically enables a system that restricts women’s liberty, and the police and judicial system are institutionally complicit.
For a problem this extensive there are no easy solutions. A slow overhaul of societal values is needed for the effects of rape culture to be diminished. This must happen in the classroom and the home, as parents and teachers take a holistic approach in making children sensitive and compassionate citizens. Education is key here, but this education must begin domestically with the dismantling of toxic masculinity, with young boys being taught to respect consent and being held accountable for their misdemeanors. Institutions corroded by rape culture must also be corrected; female legislators must be encouraged to take the reins of policy making, while employees in public service and healthcare should receive sensitivity training.
War must be waged on this country’s misogynistic mindset so that its women can have the freedom that is their human right.