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.
And this is what we call Pakistan. We keep on saying that our society is better than say west, but all of us know what we actually are. Its not the only problem with our society which is a result of sexual and economical frustration. In my opinion, the major problems in Pakistan will be solved once we educate our society and develop the different concepts like women empowerment and equality.
Qandeel,
Pakistan had, and apparently still adhere to (??)
a “muslim ” culture, although the media propaganda
is very corrupt in this regards, the behaviours of actors and actresses hugging, bosah-bazi, fahashi in the name of
fashion shows etc etc , IT DOES HAVE AN IMPACT ON
ALL AGE AUDIENCE. CAN ANY ONE DENY THAT ????
Now. since Pakistan is forced to follow the west
blindly, what ever comes from the liberal or
progressive so called social and “moral” false values
are foolishly adopted. In the western values, unlike
Pakistan, men have the right to stare, desire, contact
and offer to female to go to bed with him ( sex essentially),
I do’nt know why the hell we hinder Pakistani men to
do the same???. for the reason I just mentionned before.
I must add here, that girls or women have the same rights
here in Europe, but they decline to take such initiatives,
because, they dare not go against hypocratic European
artificial morality left only 0.9 grms in the society.
Scandinavians, germanic, latin or anglosaxon, am I telling
you something new?????
The more women is exposed any where, her vulnerability
is blatant and beyond “protection”, we have now a days
Associations to protect men’s rights, and its ravaging !
Pakistanis must stop pretending what they are NOT.!!
By the way, I think it’s important to address those people who insist that economic/poverty issues must be fixed before sexual attitudes can be discussed. I would point out that that low education of women/disabling their earning power/keeping them living behind doors in fear/etc, directly leads to the poor financial performance of the country, overpopulation, and so on. When half the population is illiterate, unemployed, in poor health how can the economy do well? If the status of women improved, so would the status of the economy. This has been proven again and again. The problems of women must be first priority, not last as some are insisting (not to mention it is just inhumane and cruel to suggest that anybody’s basic rights as a human be relegated to last priority).
BTW, as we can see in Saudi, if a country becomes rich it does not mean that the problem of women’s rights is going to fix itself.
Thanks JayJay, I love your comments, good to see you as a contributor.
Men will commit sexual harrassment in whatever environment they feel allows them to get away with it. The cultural and legal acceptance of sexual discrimination are what enables men in Pakistan to behave so badly.
There are many Pakistanis living abroad, and while in a country like England, Pakistanis and Muslims generally do populate the prisons out of proportion to their numbers in the population, most do learn to live in accordance with the laws of their new country.
The men simply learn very quickly that their familiar behaviors don’t fly in their new society. So they keep their women-bashing at home or they learn to act differently. So Pakistani men treat women badly as a conscious choice.
Comprehensive set of laws which are fairly enforced would start to change the trend. However, how is Pakistan going to get this? Pakistan cannot even end medieval feudalism.
I have travelled around a few countries and I have not seen the condition of women anywhere else as pathetic as in Pakistan – probably Afghanistan is an exception.
The prime argument given by desi obscurantists is that since women belong to the house and that islam gives all the rights to women the conclusion is that women in pakistan have the best of everything.
This is obviously non sense.
Making paper laws for work place harassment etc are useless and good for drawing room discussion.
What is fundamentally required is that the Goverment assures equal opportunities in education, strict enforcement of legal rights and opprtunities of work for women.
Enabling women withing the family and within the society is required.
Commuting to work or school is a common example. Public transport is pathetic. On top of that, for women there are few seats available while men can cling to a door / window or sit on top of the roof of a bus / van. With poor transport available, the commute from work to home is a struggle. Just providing good public transportation would enable many working and middle class women and people overall to improve their productivity and income.
The basic problem is the mindset in our culture – the perception that women are any less in ability and need any less in resources in order to be happy with their lives. We waste prescious human resources while clinging to stupid cultural norms and value systems.
In spite of difficult conditions, some women are able to succeed and perform in their lives. I think its pretty tough being a woman in a country like Pakistan – I would hate to be one for sure.
jnzi