Domestic Violence Against Women In SouthAsia With Reference To Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh
#ESSAY
Introduction
As per researches from throughout the globe, females from ethnic & minority communities endure disproportionately greater levels of violence and are victims of peace and conflict scenarios (Minority Rights Group., 2021). As a consequence of prejudice towards minorities across the world, women are frequently subjected to physical assault. Indigenous & minority women are particularly susceptible since they generally reside in rural places and come from low social classes. They have restricted access to the courts and, in many situations, the courts as well as law enforcement agencies discriminate against them because of their femininity as well as minority statuses. Women minorities' plight is not unique to a particular nation; religious minorities in South Asia have long endured geopolitical, societal, as well as cultural exclusion, as well as domestic issues (Minority Rights Group., 2021). As a consequence
of their sexuality, caste, & social rank, Dalit
indian women endure varied degrees of violence. As per a paper on Dalit indian
women, they face everyday rape, murders, gang rape, as well as torturing in
detention centers all over the world. According to the National Crime Record
Bureau (NCRB), women in the Dalit caste been raped 3,486 times in 2019.
(Equality Now., 2020). Minority & indigenous women, like the majority of
women, are subjected to abuse in their communities and households. Because of
poverty, low literacy, & socioeconomic marginalization, domestic abuse is
more widespread amongst minorities & indigenous populations. As Dalit women
are really a minority, they bear a "triple weight of inferiority"
caste based, class, as well as sexuality. Due to a mix of institutional
circumstances, Dalit women are subject to some of the most heinous types of
physical assault.
Because Dalits continue to have a poor position
among India's general public, officials frequently overlook or downplay
violence against them. For Dalit indian women, homicide, rape (often gang
rape), torture in jail, and later stripping as well as parading are all typical
events. The principal culprits of sexual and physical abuse are males from the
ruling caste, and also personnel of the India police service, men in other
social leadership positions & authority, plus males from the Dalit
community. Although law exists in India to safeguard Dalits as well as other
minorities from prejudice, poor access to justice & pervasive social
marginalization render legal routes of justice mostly ineffectual for Dalits
who have been victims of violence (Minority Rights Group, 2021). Domestic abuse
and generalized violence towards women have grown tenfold (in excess of 3000)
over a duration of time, as per statistics from the State Commission for Women
in Jammu and Kashmir, a dissolved government entity created to defend the
rights of women and girls and ensure quick prosecution. Previously, in 2016
through 2017, there was a crackdown. In Pakistan, Hindus are also targeted for
violence. Muslim males abduct Hindu females, many of whom are minors, then
compel them to convert to Islam
& marry their captors in Sindh. They are exposed to verbal and physical
abuse, as well as being pressured to abandon friendships (Justice.gov., 2020).
In Pakistan, authors, reporters, & human rights organisations who defend
minority rights & freedom of speech while also espousing liberal viewpoints
are increasingly restricted. Small and large media outlets, as well as
freelancing journalists, have been increasingly harassed, intimidated, and
criminalized (Justice.gov., 2020).
In 2018, Afghan girls and women were imprisoned for
"moral offences," such as "running away" from house as well
as performing or trying to commit Zina (sex outside marriage). Aggressive anal
& vaginal exams by Afghan government physicians, ostensibly to assess if a
girl or woman is a virgin, were also undertaken by police & attorneys,
despite scientific evidence to the contrary (Human Rights Watch, 2019).
Despite a 2017 Ministry of Public Health policy
prohibiting government health personnel from participating in these
examinations and a 2018 change to the Penal Code requiring a court warrant or
authorization from the individual under inquiry, these tests continue to be
performed. This practice is still going on, according to the "Afghanistan
Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC)." The AIHRC has surveyed 129
females who have undergone so-called "virginity tests" since the Penal
Code was updated. As per the research, in 92 percent of the cases, there was no
permission or court ruling (Barr, H., 2020). According to four respondents, the
inquiry was carried out by a male, which is against Afghanistan's Criminal
Procedure Code. This study is about domestic problems faced by female
minorities in South Asian countries specifically Pakistan. The study focussed
on racial ,caste and religious minorities, focused on domestic issues like
forceful change of religion and other domestic problems.
#RESEARCH
Literature Review
According to a research by Prabha, R., and Manjula, A., 2018, social media is playing an authoritarian role in the domestic problems of Dalit indian women, constituting the most disregarded and least cared vulnerable groups. The mainstream press did not place an emphasis on explaining domestic abuse towards women or providing a venue for them to share their issues. Nevertheless, social media is the sole prominent place for first-generation Dalit pupils to express their worries. The paper is based on a qualitative evaluation of the available evidence on the issue. The most contemporary research is focused on the politicization of crimes against women in general, but also against Dalit women, in modern India, and also the portrayal and coverage of topics on social media. Social networks, a relatively new innovation, play a vital role in the globalization of communication, but they also serve a role in the development of fanaticism. The media treats the crimes and issues of Dalit women in the same way and does not give them priority publicity. The report's strength is in demonstrating how social media has benefitted women in India's Dalit minority. The study's failure might be due to a lack of media narratives explaining why Dalit concerns are not being addressed.
Minorityrights.org's recent report of 2020, which examines the situation of shared environment for minorities in South Asia (particularly ethnic minority females), is an important and persuasive example of how civil society and rights groups have been attempting to fill the hole created by the lack of a regional human rights structure and a regional structure of intergovernmental cooperation in this territory. The research is based on a qualitative primary and secondary analysis of the subject's findings. The research focuses on doing a desk study as well as examining resources and papers on civic space for minorities in each locale. It examines the guidelines and laws that regulate public space, as well as the legislation proposals that have been proposed through the years and depict the government's overall attitude toward civil society, particularly minorities, through time. An online poll of specialists was used to gather primary data on public perceptions of minority civic space in India, Afghanistan, Nepal, as well as Pakistan. Despite the fact that equivalent surveys were done in both nations, the pandemic, as well as other factors, resulted in a small number of responses, casting doubt on the findings. The study's merit is that it allows regional states to reform incorrect laws towards minorities using evidence-based, well-researched, and illuminating data. The purpose of this research is to provide a venue for conversation between civil society groups, international institutions, civil & minority democratic human rights advocates, and humanitarian organizations in order to enlighten and inform the public as well as provide advice on regional policies and programs. The study's sole drawback was that, because to the epidemic, content was limited to Internet-based tools.
According to a research by Maheshwary, S., 2020, Hindu minority women of the scheduled caste confront safety, societal, & cultural challenges, and their religious heritage further hampers their life. The silence is deafening when it comes to abuse against women and girls. "Hindu women" face "gender abuse" in both community and their homes. In the employment, Hindu women face more hurdles than males in similar roles, as they are frequently subjected to gender discrimination and abuse in many forms based on their religious identity. Of course, regulations and regulations alone will not be adequate to prevent religious minorities' females in Pakistan from being abused. The study is quantitative, with primary tests such as interviews being used. This study looks at the lives of underprivileged Hindu women in Karachi, Pakistan's Sindh provincial capital, and evaluates perceptions about them, many of whom work in low-wage manual labor. The study's major goal is to learn more about impoverished Hindu women's perspectives and how they differ from those of other "non-Hindu women as well as poor Hindu males." It demonstrates how impoverished Hindu women in Pakistan differ in their everyday lives from males of the same religious ancestry. Hindus & females from other ethnic groups are outnumbered in national and municipal governance. Furthermore, when minorities have quotas, only men are elected. As a result, the study's merit was the collecting of quantitative data on the topic. The information gathered does not constitute a thorough scenario analysis since the focus groups do not represent a big and diversified sample of the public. Instead, they reveal info about Hindu women and children's lives and perspectives in Sindh, which is generally overlooked.
Methodology
The research was conducted in a qualitative manner.
Qualitative research design, as per Merriam, S. B., and Grenier, R. S. (Eds.).
(2019), is superior at acquiring knowledge regarding attitudes, beliefs, as
well as intentions. This sort of design, according to a study, allows the
researcher to gather data on numerous elements in a systematic manner while
without limiting the respondents' ability to supply the information needed for
the study. The study utilized questionnaire method for analysis of findings.
The study utilized SPSS for chi square testing for hypothesis and analysis of
questionnaire.
Research Questions
Q1: What
kind of violence you have faced or facing?
Q2: Do
you think you face these problem because you belong to a minority?
Q3: Do you think lack of awareness regarding basic rights is on the rise?
Discussion
There is no disputing the reality that men are
given preferential treatment over women in a variety of situations. Unofficial
hiring rules exist in both private and public organizations, as it is often
assumed that women will either get married and depart, or take time off or
leave throughout their maternity periods. This is outright discrimination, and
it deprives women of many good chances, putting them at a disadvantage in
societies of South Asia including Pakistan. The questionnaire of this research
revealed some critical results regarding domestic problems faced by the female
minorities in Pakistan.
As a result of qualitative questionnaire, of the total 217 respondents, 39.2% said that they are aware of domestic violence, 28.1% said no, and 32.7% said may be. Of the total respondents, 32.7% said that they have faced domestic violence, 30% said no, and 37.3% said may be. Of the total respondents, 29% said that they have been victims of domestic abuse twice, 33.2% said once, and 37.8% said more than that. Of the total respondents, 29% said that not listening to the male members is generally the reason of domestic violence, 40.6% said being a minority was the reason, and 30.4% said being a female was the reason. Of the total respondents, 28.6% said that the violence affected them socially, 43.8% said it affected them psychologically, and 27.6% said it affected them physically. Of the total respondents, 37.3% said that they would like to stop the violence against female minority, 31.8% said no, and 27.6% said may be.Of the total respondents, 33.6% said that they faced verbal violence, 31.3% said physical, and 35% said both. Of the total respondents, 27.6% said that they see self-realization as their future, 32.3% said they will remain same as before, and 40.1% said they hope of change. Of the total respondents, 40.6% said that they face these problems because they belong to a minority, 33.2% said no, and 26.3% said may be. Of the total respondents, 38.7% said that they think lack of awareness regarding basic rights is on the rise, 30% said no, and 31.3% said may be. Of the total respondents, 37.8% said that they have been given awareness regarding basic rights, 33.2% said no, and 29% said may be.
Conclusion
As a consequence of prejudice towards minorities across the world, women are frequently subjected to physical assault. Indigenous & minority women are particularly susceptible since they generally reside in rural places and come from low social classes. They have restricted access to the courts and, in many situations, the courts as well as law enforcement agencies discriminate against them because of their femininity as well as minority statuses. Women minorities' plight is not unique to a particular nation; religious minorities in South Asia have long endured geopolitical, societal, as well as cultural exclusion, as well as domestic issues (Minority Rights Group., 2021). There is no disputing the reality that men are given preferential treatment over women in a variety of situations. The questionnaire of this research revealed some critical results regarding domestic problems faced by the female minorities in Pakistan. The research revealed that verbal violence is more dominant among the forms of domestic violence faced by minority women and that women do face these problems because they belong to a minority. The study will be of great help for researchers students and academics regarding this topic of domestic problems faced by minority females of South Asia in particular Pakistan.
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