“The women, dissatisfied as they are with this form of government, that enforces taxation without representation, that compels them to obey laws to which they have never given their consent , that imprisons and hangs them without a trial by a jury of their peers, that robs them in marriage, of the custody of their own persons, wages and children - are this half of the people left wholly at the mercy of the other half, in direct violation of the spirit and letter of the declarations of the framers of this government , every one of which was based on the immutable principle of equal rights to all.” Susan B. Anthony.
The rights of women have been a highly controversial issue since long ago all round the world. Moreover, violence against them is being inflicted in every nook and cranny of the universe. In both Islamic and non-Islamic countries, honour-killing is a well documented phenomenon. For instance, if robotic women are invented for satiating the carnal desire of men, it affects women also. On the one hand they lose their human gender worth, and on the other hand they face a smaller scope of finding access to a life-partner. The second effect is the same as that resulting from legalizing homosexuality in Europe. Generally, women’s rights are on the tip of every one’s tongue, however, in practice she is disrespected and her right is violated on one way or another.
It is also said that in every twenty seconds one woman falls victim to sexual assault in India and in every five seconds one woman is assaulted sexually in America. On the other hand, in some Arabic countries, women are sent to Syria to fulfill the carnal desire of the insurgent groups under the name of Jihad Nikah. Hence, the rights of women are not only violated by radical groups or in non-democratic countries but also in democratic ones.
Afghanistan is one of the countries where violence against women is rampant. In other words, Afghan women suffer from domestic and social violence. For example, within the current month, two Afghan policewomen were murdered. One of them, who took a trip to Pakistan to her daughter’s home, was taken out and killed by unknown men. Moreover, Sabza, another policewoman, was killed by her husband with an axe in Baghlan province on Thursday.
In the patriarchal society of Afghanistan, women are expected to adopt a second position. Traditionally, they have to endure the bitterness of life without a word of protest. Their husbands are their full-authorized masters who can always order them around and treat them as slaves.
The erosion of religious values, absence of humanity and decline of moral standards are the great tragedies in our social and individual life. We are deep in cruelty and vice. The current violence taking place against women demonstrates our real characters. Can you ever imagine shedding the blood of one with whom you lived for a long time under the same roof?
In the stereotyped mindset of religious extremists, women are sinful creatures. Their bursts of laughter in the streets, their charming feminine voices, their beautiful faces, all make them sinful. They are doomed to hide behind a sad façade, repress their sentiments and conceal their smile, since they are not men. Of course, in conservative social ideology women are inferior to men and they are ineligible for many priorities.
The tragic story of Sitara, a 30-year-old woman in Herat, still haunts in the minds of our women. Her lips and nose were lopped off by her addict husband when she refused to give him money by selling her jewelries. When her picture was posted to the cyberspace of Facebooks, Afghan people, especially women, were shocked heavily by the news and expressed their great concern over the issue.
Furthermore, a day after Sitara’s tragedy, a dead body of a 19-year-old girl, Maryam, was found in the same province. Reportedly, Maryam, an engaged girl, was suffocated by a rope in her home. Following the incident, the head of Herat court said that during the current year 180 cases of violence against women have been registered which included 19 deaths.
In addition, at the time of Taliban regime, Afghan women were treated as pariah and a creature to sit behind closed doors and be used as a mere tool for satisfying the carnal desire of men. Sometimes, as only bread-winners for their children, when they dared come out for finding a morsel of bread, they were shrouded in burqa. Going to school was a big crime for them. Women were flogged and killed in desert courts for breaking the norms which were necessarily considered by the Taliban. In other words, coming out without burqa or with the men who were not the close members of their families were crime and they deserved serious punishment. After the fall of Taliban’s regime, Afghan women sighed deeply with relief thinking that violence has been ended against them and now they are equal to men. But unfortunately, equality of rights was no more than a dream and they were being tortured by their spouses, fathers, etc.
It is worthy of mention that in Islam it is forbidden to discriminate on grounds of race, sex or feature, and the violence against women has no link with the religion, rather it is linked to social norms and cultural traits. Still some superstations and bias based on wrong traditions are ruling the societies and sometimes even traditions are given priority over religious laws by some conservative or illiterate people and sometimes a woman or girl is treated as the black sheep of a family which is really insulting and puts an adverse effect in their minds. Islam gives equal rights to both and never considers women as an inferior creature. Hence, nothing is wrong with the religion but with our dealings with the religious rules.