INTRODUCTION:

“Speechless “is basically tells the story of poor creature that totally dependent on male in our so typical and dominant personality called in our society by “Mard” Violence against women and children is a serious public health concern, with costs at multiple levels of society. Although violence is a threat to everyone, women and children are particularly susceptible to victimization because they often have fewer rights or lack appropriate means of protection. In some societies certain types of violence are deemed socially or legally acceptable, thereby contributing further to the risk to women and children. In the past decade research has documented the growing magnitude of such violence, but gaps in the data still remain. Victims of violence of any type fear stigmatization or societal condemnation and thus often hesitate to report crimes. The issue is compounded by the fact that for women and children the perpetrators are often people they know and because some countries lack laws or regulations protecting victims.

About Author:

Rida Bashir is known Pakistani column writer, activist & social scientist known for her writings about violence against women in typical Pakistani & Indian culture, doing research on global forums, eagerly want to raise voice for victimized women suffered domestic and other type of violence in response to the male dominance of mainstream criminology.

Speechless:

The wheel of time turned fast. Days changed from weeks to weeks to months and months to years. The sun and the moon kept coming and going at their appointed times and also changed a lot.

TV has been replaced by LEDs. Modern state-of-the-art amazing machinery has come but it has come to a standstill and the needle of my brain has stopped moving. Are we all doing what Islam commands? And the Lord gave. The daughter whom Allah sent as a mercy. How much trouble she was made.

Fig no:1

Suppose a woman's position is the four walls of the house, but believe me, women who work outside the home are not bad characters who need to pick up the Qur'an to present their character's cleanliness, and a man who talks to you about character cleansing. But there is no weaker support than this. And a better woman than such support should take an animal that does not ask you for the purification of your character.There is no one more ruthless than time and no one greater ointment than time. Nor will it stop for anyone. Buses run like the waves of the river and the unbridled horse. If I go through the windows of thoughts in the corridor of the past. If I go to the light coming from the closed room above the stairs, then believe me, this light belongs to Islam. There is no more modern religion than Islam. Islam gives rights and rights, so what are we human beings and what is our status? Go to those who use Sunnah for their own benefit, may Allah ask you.

God forbid your daughters know why? Because they will have a sense of understanding and thinking and will begin to feel. Having done so much good by reading and writing that it does not even count, then handing it over to a person whose caste and thought is as filthy and smelly as a gutter, starting from there and ending in "I" of one's own caste. Daughters do not settle there, daughters become and have become mentally ill there. Psychiatric patients thinking about tomorrow who are surrounded by depression. Parents are crutches, they are the support. When these supports become weak, they fall on their faces with pride. Are gone.

I myself am part of a society where self-expression is considered a form of disobedience. Being part of a well-educated family is not a source of pride for many girls because of the angles of their family's thinking. We go to the same people where it is said, "Now we are saying goodbye to you. If you leave your father-in-law, then your funeral will come out, not you."

My religion was not like that, nor did my prophet say such a thing.

‘The term violence against women means any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life.’

“The intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation.”

While there is no single definition, the central elements of domestic violence include:

"Acts of violence that occur between people who have, or have had, an intimate relationship."

Fig no:2

Rates of Violence Against Women

Some of the data that have been collected suggest that rates of violence against women range from 15 to 71 percent in some countries and that rates of violence against children top 80 percent. These data demonstrate that violence poses a high burden on global health and that violence against women and children is common.

Fig no:3

Misconception:

There are a number of misconceptions surrounding violence against women, including how and why it occurs. We need to address these misconceptions to be successful in our responses to violence against women and their children.

Types of Violence against Women:

Violence against women does not mean only physical violence. It is much broader and includes:

· Sexual

· Emotional

· Psychological

· Financial abuse

Main Types:

The National Plan targets two main types of violence against women

1. Domestic and family violence:

2. Sexual assault

An ongoing pattern of behavior aimed at controlling a partner through fear.

Explaination of Types

1. Behaviourial Violence:

By using behavior which is violent and threatening. In most cases, the violent behavior is part of a range of tactics to exercise power and control over women and their children, and can be both Criminal non-criminality INCLUDES and the threatening or violent behavior can comprise of physical, sexual, emotional, psychological and financial abuse.

2. Physical Violence:

Physical violence can include:

· Slaps

· Shoves

· Hits

· Punches

· Pushes

· Being thrown down stairs or across the room

· Kicking

· Twisting of arms

· Choking

· Being burnt OR stabbed.

Fig no:4

3. Emotional Violence:

Psychological and emotional abuse can include a range of controlling behaviors such as control of finances;

i.Isolation from family and friends

ii. Continual humiliation

iii. Chreats against children

iv.Being threatened with injury or death.

4. Financial Violence:

Financial or economic abuse includes forcibly controlling another person’s money or other assets. It can also involve

I.Stealing Cash:

II. Not allowing a victim to take part in any financial decisions

III. Preventing a victim from having a job

5. Family Violence:

"Family violence is a broader term that refers to violence between family members, as well as violence between intimate partners."

It involves the same sorts of behaviors as described for domestic violence. As with domestic violence, the National Plan recognizes that although only some aspects of family violence are criminal offences, any behavior that causes the victim to live in fear is unacceptable. The term ‘family violence’ is the most widely used term to identify the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, because it includes the broad range of marital and kinship relationships in which violence may occur.

6. Sexual Violence:

Sexual assault or sexual violence can include rape, sexual assault with implements, being forced to watch or engage in pornography, enforced prostitution, and being made to have sex with friends of the perpetrator. Research has demonstrated that violence against women often involves a continuum of violence from psychological, economic and emotional abuse through to physical and sexual violence.

Causes

Many of the misconceptions surrounding violence again women center on its causes. There are a number of myths that exist, such as:

· Men can’t control their anger or sexual urges;

· Alcohol causes men to be violent;

· Women could leave violent partners if they wanted to

· Men experience equal, if not greater, levels of violence perpetrated by their partners or former partners.

Two Main Causes:

Research has shown that the significant drivers of violence against women include:

i. The unequal distribution of power and resources between men and women

ii. An adherence to rigidly defined gender roles and identities i.e., what it means to be masculine and feminine.

Attitudes:

Attitudes that condone or tolerate violence are recognized as playing a central role in shaping the way individuals, organizations and communities respond to violence. VicHealth has summarized five key categories of violence supportive attitudes that arise from research.

These include attitudes that:

· Justify violence against women, based on the notion that it is legitimate for a man to use violence against a woman

· Excuse violence by attributing it to external factors (such as stress) or proposing that men cannot be held fully responsible for violent behavior (for example, because of anger or sexual urges)

· Trivialize the impact of violence, based on the view that the impacts of violence are not serious or are not sufficiently serious to warrant action by women themselves, the community or public agencies

· Minimize violence by denying its seriousness, denying that it occurs or denying that certain behaviors are indeed violence at all

· Shift blame for the violence from the perpetrator to the victim or hold women at least partially responsible for their victimization or for preventing victimization.

Fig no:5

Forms of Violence

When directed against women or children, this violence can take a number of forms, including,

· Sexual violence

· Centimeter partner violence

· Child abuse and neglect

· Bullying

· Teen dating violence

· Trafficking

· Elder abuse

Cycle of Violence:

The majority of violence against women and children is perpetrated by partners, family members, friends, or acquaintances, so that most violence against women and children takes place in the form of intimate partner violence, family violence, or school violence. These three types of violence, which are interconnected, are commonly referred to as being part of a “cycle of violence,” in which victims become perpetrators. The workshop's scope was narrowed to focus on these elements of the cycle as they relate to interrupting this transmission of violence.

Fig no:6

Preventions Strategies:

Intervention strategies include preventing violence before it starts as well as preventing recurrence, preventing adverse effects (such as trauma or the consequences of trauma), and preventing the spread of violence to the next generation or social level. Successful strategies consider the context of the violence, such as family, school, community, national, or regional settings, in order to determine the best programs.

Fig no: 7

Thus, the workshop operated in a multidimensional framework that integrated ecologic, public health, and trauma-informed paradigms to explore a comprehensive approach to violence prevention. The Forum on Global Violence Prevention was established to address a need to develop multisectoral collaboration amongst stakeholders.

Fig no:8

Prevention Against Violence:

Violence prevention is a cross-disciplinary field, which could benefit from increased dialogue between researchers, policy makers, funders, and practitioners. The forum members chose the issue of violence against women and children as the forum's first workshop theme because there is a pressing need to coordinate and collate the information in this area. As awareness of the insidious and pervasive nature of these types of violence grows, so too does the imperative to mitigate and prevent Violence against women and girls is a grave violation of human rights. Occurring in public and private places, it has many forms, ranging from domestic and intimate partner violence to sexual harassment and assault, trafficking, sexual violence and gender-related killing. Its impact spans from immediate to long-term multiple physical, sexual and mental consequences for women and girls, including death. It negatively affects women’s general well-being and prevents women from fully participating in society. Violence not only has negative consequences for women but also their families, the community and country.

Fig no: 8

It has tremendous costs, from greater health care and legal expenses, and losses in productivity, impacting national budgets and overall development.

Laws and Policies Against Violence:

Pakistan has several laws and policies against various forms of violence. Challenges remain however in implementing these measures. Many women still lack access to free or affordable essential services in sectors such as health, police, justice and social support to ensure their safety, protection and recovery. Not enough is done to prevent violence, which is the most challenging but also effective way to eliminate violence in a sustainable way. None Women will work with and support national and local stakeholders to ensure: Laws, policies and strategies are adopted and implemented to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls Evidence strategies and initiatives for safe and empowering public spaces for women and girls are adopted and implemented.

Fig no:9

Legal Education:

Women generally, presents a cruel contrast to her brilliant work, her efforts to educate on issues of gender, and her incredible humanity and ability, on both intellectual and human levels, to bring people together, to connect, to build and to transform. Her capacity to make connections with and between people, ideas, and institutions was passionate, intense, and profound. Her death in the context of her life's work underscores the urgency of the problem of violence against women and the need for institutional change in law schools so that gender and violence against women become central components of legal education.

Fig no:10

Unacceptable Violence:

Violence against women and girls is an unacceptable violation of basic human rights. It also is so widespread that ending it must be a global public health priority. An estimated one in three women is beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused by an intimate partner during her lifetime.

Hiv and Aids:

Intimate partner violence has been shown to increase the risk of HIV infection by around 50%, and violence (and the fear of violence) deters women and girls from seeking services for HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. Achieving zero tolerance for violence against women and girls is one of the main priorities for UNAIDS, because until that happens, we will never see the end of the AIDS epidemic. Women living with HIV who themselves have experienced violence know better than most how essential it is to address both of these issues together. The goals of seeing the end of the AIDS epidemic, realizing total gender equality and achieving zero tolerance for violence complement each other, and they all demand a place in the post-2015 development agenda. This is an opportunity to ensure that all women and girls reach their full potential, without the threat of violence, the risk of HIV or the violation of their sexual and reproductive rights.

Fig no:11

Role of Men:

Men play a key role in standing up against violence, as husbands and partners, brothers and sons. No one can tackle it alone, all must reach for shared dignity, mutual respect and a renewed commitment to end violence against women and girls. Unequal and often violent treatment of women has gone on for so long that many women and girls often just accept this as part of their culture.

Acid Attack:

Fig no:12

“Attacks on women and girls often result in emotional scarring, physical injury, disability and death. Women and girls face multiple forms of violence (including sexual violence), forced and early marriages, and emotional abuse. All of these increase our vulnerability to HIV."

Domestic Violence:

Fog no:13

While many gains have been made to improve and ensure access to prevention, treatment, care and support services for women and girls living with (and affected by) HIV, there still are significant barriers to women’s access to these services. This includes violence perpetrated against us within the health system, where the violations of our human rights include the negative attitudes of health-care workers, on-voluntary family planning methods, and sterilization that is forced and coerced because of our HIV status.

Women often lack bargaining power or economic independence. This, combined with the pervasive fear of ostracism, affects our ability to protect our sexual and reproductive health. Many cultural practices, such as:

· Widow Inheritance

· Child Marriages

· Female Genital Mutilation

Acknowledging the role that violence can play in increasing the vulnerability of women and girls to HIV, leaders in eastern and southern Africa have established laws and policies that protect them and offer redress for violence. These include national response frameworks to mitigate, prevent and end gender-based violence and HIV. Some countries in the region also have established victim support units within police stations and the court system, with officers who work in the units receiving conduct training. We know that our cultures are rich with love and solidarity, and it is upon these values that we must build to end violence against women and curb the HIV epidemic.

“Given how women in all our diversity experience violence differently, we need policy-makers to explore the visible and hidden epidemics of gender-based violence in order to shape and implement protective laws, policies and practices."

CONCLUSION:

Despite the news coverage and talk shows, the real fundamental nature of violence against women remains unexplored and often misunderstood. Understanding Violence Against Women provides direction for increasing knowledge that can help ameliorate this national problem.

REFERENCES:

1. Deshmukh-Ranadive, J. (2003) Placing Gender Equity in the Family Centre Stage: Use of ‘Kala Jatha’ Theatre, Economic and Political Weekly, 26 April 2003

2. http://www.unifem.org/global_spanner/index.php?f_loc=e_se_asia

3. Waterhouse, R. and Neville, S. (2005) Evaluation of DFID Development Assistance: Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment, Phase II Thematic Evaluation: Voice and Accountability. Department for International Development, UK (DFID) http://www.dfid.gov.uk/aboutdfid/performance/files/wp7.pdf

4. Kohen D. Women and mental health. Abingdon: Routledge, 2014

5. Commonwealth Foundation.Survey on challenges to women's political participation. 2014

6. United Nations Human Rights. General recommendation on women’s access to justice. 2015

Received on 23.07.2020 Modified on 21.09.2020

Res. J. Humanities and Social Sciences. 2021; 12(2):108-114.

DOI: 10.52711/2321-5828.2021.00016