by JayJay
The life of a Pakistani woman is not easy. It is not a hidden fact that she is subjected to discrimination and harassment, within and without the so-called sanctuary of her home. However, harassment and bullying becomes more intense and blatant when she steps out of her home for work or education. From catcalls to verbal innuendo to physical harassment, she has to endure it all, mostly at the hands of strangers, on the streets and on public transport. This harassment does not stop, or rather become more palpable in many cases, at her place of work. The act of harassing women, with sexual tones and motives, by fellow employees or supervisors/managers is referred to sexual harassment. Wikipedia defines sexual harassment as:
Harassment or unwelcome attention of a sexual nature. It includes a range of behavior from mild transgressions and annoyances to serious abuses, which can even involve forced sexual activity. Sexual harassment is considered a form of illegal discrimination in many countries, and is a form of abuse (sexual and psychological) and bullying.
An editorial from The News on October 1 has summed up the issue well, by pointing out to the absence of appropriate legislation to deal with this growing phenomenon. Offering some the broad suggestions, the editorial reads:
As a first step, the government and the private sector should join hands to start a campaign in which sexual harassment in the workplace is defined. This will make working women understand what is acceptable and what is not acceptable behavior in a workplace. The second step in this national exercise would be to ask employers to put into place a proper policy that defines sexual harassment and clearly spells out what action is to be taken against someone found guilty of it. In addition to this, employers need to have a mechanism which enables any employee subjected to such harassment to approach an appropriate forum for filing a complaint. The complaint should be treated confidentially and investigated, and if guilty the offender should be punished according to the employer’s code of ethics for employees. Of course, given that many companies have an environment which is more or less male-dominated and where men are in most decision-making senior roles, it may be a bit much to expect that things will change overnight. However, to do nothing would also be a sign that we as a nation are not willing to evolve and provide justice to those who are victims of this menace.The menace of sexual harassment at the place of work has been comprehensively and effectively addressed by the West where workplaces are no longer the sole domain of men. Pakistan has a lot to catch up on this matter, and quickly so, as more and more women are entering workforce. It makes economic sense both for employers and the government to have an effective and clear legislation and corporate policies to protect women against harassment. Not only skills and talent of education women can be brought to use more effectively by attracting them in a safe workplace but it has been seen worldwide that presence of women in offices helps boost productivity, besides infusing fresh ideas and way of thinking.
While enacting a piece of legislation and formulating policies is most critical step, a concerted awareness campaign is necessary to influence general attitudes and social behaviors. Without bringing about change to prevalent perception of working women in Pakistan, there is little chance of success in overcoming the problem of sexual harassment. The fact of matter is that most women in Pakistan brave into men-dominated workplaces out of economic necessity, rather than to fulfill career aspirations. The position of women in workplace in Europe, North American and even South East Asia has become entrenched, still it is not odd to come across a public service announcement to press the message on the issue. Such public service announcements are even more necessary in a society like Pakistan where we leg behind even comparable countries in accepting the role of women at work.
@thinker, thanks for your support.
@tina, i never advocated the ignorant/criminal people (anywhere, including pakistan) that exploits/harrass women, but at the same time I cant admire feminists (like you);
what you are advocating something that is is not natural, one cant go against nature … how can you change your genetic makup. the things that a woman can do cant be done by man, similarly things that a man can do cannot be done by woman.
what you are presenting is not the pakistaniat, your ideology is different and is conflicting with the ideology, culture and civilization … possessed by pakistanis;
see the difference I too have lived in west for long time, and earned high tech education there .. and have worked in hi tech organizations …. and know many people there …. have many friends there …. but not at the cost of the culture and values I own …
I find it hilarious that the Thinker and Sultan use some western doctorates to justify their arguments while refute others at their own whim and fancy. To thinker and Sultan. Dress up as a woman, wear even a burqa, and try travelling on Karachi busses, lets say to a hospital (that is as innocent of a senario as I can think of) then return in a bus at night to your home. Repeat for a week and tell me your reactions.
About your justification based on Britaney Spears, I guess the mountain top dances and songs in lollywood are a good indicator of your life and relationships then too. May be if you yourself were not watching western tv so much you would be more aware of the plight of women in your own society. Its funny we live in a society where we would rather see women beg at the side of a street than be treated with respect in a work place. (please don’t start quoting me statistics here how the west also has beggers etc. it is not a compitition it is about realizing a problem and fixing it)
Now you are giving rare examples of mentally sick people who should have been sent to a shrink in the first place. You replies are ao chaotic that they seem fabricated. I remember my class mate from school she wanted to become a doctor and now she is a heart specialist. I always admired her and still do. Noone restricts women in our country, you are portraying a false image of Pakistan on purpose. You are giving long justifications for things that are so obviously wrong, like you have all the time in the world and like you are payed to do it. Every society has problems but don’t think that every society needs the same solutions. West has their ways we have ours.
Anyway. Sultan made his point and I think he is right; you just need some fresh air and a lot of work and effort to rethink your philosophy.
What woman could get through life without a chip on her shoulder after hearing the kinds of things posted on this thread? What if we had a post labeling all men as evil, in great detail and allowing for no exceptions–would not men angrily respond? What would we think of the mentality of the women posting?
You are right, there is a lot of frustration and rage, but keeping women in the restricted circumstances that generated those feelings in the first place isn’t going to help–quite the opposite.
I end up thinking of Andrea Yates, a conservative, modestly dressed, quiet religious woman who drowned her five children in a fit of depression. Her meds, by the way, were yanked by a Pakistani doctor who thought the “nice little mother” didn’t need them. I think it’s quite possible he thought the way Sultan does, hence he couldn’t really believe that homeschooling five children and living under a bullying husband was any kind of a “real” problem.
My mother was a modestly dressed/religious woman who abused all of her children in ways that are too horrible to recount. All of us, but myself especially because I was “too strong willed”. I believe she did this because of her frustration, her anger at her limitations in life, and yes, her early marriage, having to leave school for the marriage, and teenage pregnancy.
The suppression of women you are supporting is what has killed and crippled millions of lives. Pop singers are silly, but they don’t drown little kids.
Something to think about.
tina if you love the west so much then you live there, change the name of this site from pakistaniat to maghribiat. And live happily ever after.
You are giving examples of Americans, Germans etc etc. they are groomed in a different way, they have different beliefs you cannot expect a German man to settle in with seven children. He is afraid of responsibilty, he is afraid to share everything a woman. He doesn’t want the women then to ask for divorce and take half of everything.
Have an open mind and see what is right and what is wrong. Don’t blindly take everything the west does as bible. They have a lot of social evils; by bringing in their ways we will infect our societies with the ills that the west has. There is no harm in adopting good things; they have adopted a lot from Islam too, about which majority of you liberals don’t know. But don’t just say that everything is good in west and lets transform our society into a western society. Now the intellectuals in west like the ones pointed out by Ghori are thinking that they made mistakes and now they are paying the price. You are talking about making the same mistakes. I would never let that happen to my country.
Sultan,
you are a victim of the propaganda that says all Western women are by definition whores. This is so loathsome by itself that I don’t need to say much about it. Go up to an American woman the next time you see her and offer her a lot of money for her body. See how long you stay out of jail.
If you think Western women are so unhappy why aren’t they flooding into Pakistan in great numbers and begging to live the good life there? Can you answer this? Are you willing to be honest and admit that most people who read the above sentence will laugh out loud at the very absurdity of the thought?
I want very much to be independent and have a “permanent private life”. I don’t want children to be the focus of my life forever and ever. What do you propose to do with women like myself? Would you like to imprison me, impose your twisted ideas on me, or just kill me? You clearly cannot accept me. In the West, happily, that’s your problem and not mine. In Pakistan it becomes my problem. Hence the “brain drain” as people of education and means desert the country.
As for the birth rates in the West, again, it’s a non problem except for in the minds of hysterical conservatives and anti-immigration racists. In spite of the rate of infertility being higher in less developed countries, the population continues to grow because infertility is not the cause of population decline. Number of children per woman among the vast majority of fertile women sets the rate of population growth. You should have a grasp of the concept before you say something.
Women in the West have fewer children because they DO NOT want them, not because they can’t have them–please get this through your head. Their male partners want to use birth control also. Ask a German man if he expects to support and educate and settle in life seven children, he will be appalled. The men too are exercising their choices. They want some quality of life for themselves and the children they do have.
I don’t know why you are on this thread if you just want to insult women and spout the party line which by the way is a bunch of lies. And you still didn’t answer my question of why anything I said in previous post was negative.
I don’t understand your point about the Nazis at all. Should I love Nazis? I know plenty of Pakistanis admire them, but that is off topic and I won’t get into that.
Here is another one…
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Feminism: A flawed concept
The victory of capitalistic democracy over other economic and political systems has shaped the face of the world to what it is today. The global monopoly of capitalism has paved the way for a new world order, where other socio-economic and political systems like Islam and left overs of Communism are considered as a threat to a single system in the world. Nations now are run like businesses and people are used like labor. If one sits back and see, the world seems like a pyramid where an average man and majority is at the bottom and the handful of bankers with all the money are right at the top. The effort-input of the people doubles the profit of the bankers who have a strangle hold on the people through credit, interests and taxes. The more people work the more profitable the business is. Every nation in general has a balance between both sexes in terms of numbers. No business man wants 50% of his work force to sit in the houses and do nothing. So this is where “feminism” comes into play.
The women are now being tempted in different ways to come out of the houses and run the machines with men; tricked out of having families and becoming slaves to the new world order. Being lightly dressed and having more sexual partners is considered as a sign of freedom and independence for the women. Feminism appeals to women and makes them want to have easy money, being in bed with different men and looking like a model with little or no clothes. Men on the other hand are restricted with stupid laws to so-called protect the right of women. With these laws a woman can fearlessly be as lightly dressed as she wants to and sleep with any man she wants; without the fear of any criticism or action against her. This unnatural and one-sided view of equality in feminism is destroying the family system and promoting individualism where both sexes instead of depending on each other are now being isolated. The religious and moral values now are being considered as ancient and unnecessary. The beautiful ideas of love, marriage and family are now being replaced with unnatural, depraved and deplorable philosophies.
These new immoral and false concepts, which appeal to women, are being promoted by bankers with liberal fascists. I am not against women with careers; I am just against the idea of feminism that is bringing in a lot of social evils, immorality and destroying the family system that is the basis of a good society. Feminism is like taking a step backwards then moving forwards, it makes the woman as an item for bid in a show case and degrades a woman and lessens the respect for her. By nature there is no plain and simple equality between a man and a women; nature created them different for different reasons, but there exists a balance between both sexes that makes them equal. We just need to understand this natural balance; if we as human beings recognize our responsibilities, if are taught well enough the moral and religious values and social ethics from the start then we would never need ugly philosophies like feminism.
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Feminism teaches woman that feminine nature has resulted in “oppression” and that she should convert to male behavior instead. The result: a confused and aggressive woman with a large chip on her shoulder, unfit to become a wife or mother.
Spot on!