All cultures, primitive and modern, share what can be described as a historically evolved specific notion of woman. What are the elements that constitute such a notion universally embedded in the male psyche?
Firstly, there is consensus at the subterranean level among men that women by being women are lesser human beings. The root of this almost unshakeable perception lies in not so hidden a bio-physiological difference that obviously exists between male and female.
Female body being comparatively delicate is taken as a sign of natural weakness. This simply means that humanness is being defined and measured purely in terms of physical strength and bodily toughness.
Having a stronger and tougher body inclines male to believe in his physical superiority which has resulted in his misperceived sense of overall male superiority. Superiority in practical life implies little if it does not lead to a position of dominance.
All male efforts in the domain of gender relations consciously and sub-consciously are directed to prove at social level the validity of what is already “proven” by nature.
Secondly, though delicate and weak, woman has her position of undeniable strength; her crucial role in the process of procreation that ensures the continuity of human race and provides a proof of man’s manliness in the form of offspring.
Continuity of human race is guaranteed to a large measure by institution of family which has an inexorable link with property. Family like property has to be managed and owned.
One who is best suited to manage and own the family is none other than that who has the power to do so, i.e. the man.
Property and family, if left unprotected, are at the risk of being appropriated by someone else in a world where possession is the norm that regulates tangible and intangible assets.
So in a historical process underpinned by socially created urge to own, woman, who holds a pivotal position within it, has been reduced to a piece of property. Woman when reduced into a chattel can be used and abused at will.
Since property has been turned into something sacred, a fetish, it is respected by one who happens to own it. Respect is linked with ownership which is ostentatiously displayed when it comes to women.
“We respect our women, they respect theirs” is what we witness as a matter of socio-cultural practice. Our women are sacrosanct because they belong to us; they are our possession that cannot be violated. Women who are not ours are not our property. Hence we are not bound to respect them the way we respect our property.
So our women and their women are treated differently notwithstanding the fact that woman per se is treated as less than human by both “us” and “them”.
If you need any evidence of what is being asserted here, you can find it amply in the current spat between rival political parties in the aftermath of recent public molestation of women who participated in Islamabad and Lahore’s recent political rallies.
For the opposition political party the women harassed and molested are “our women” and for their rivals they are “their women”.
The victims ceased to be women. They are either “ours” or “theirs” though the matter of fact is that the women have publically been disgraced by seedy young men.
The simple question is this: does molesting women if they are “theirs” make it less despicable? Does sexual harassment becomes a lesser crime if the harassed are other than your own women?
All those who tend to make it a mud-slinging match between political foes need to be shaken rudely that a selective naming and shaming will lead us nowhere.
The matter is too serious to be left to politicians if we desire to have a society that upholds the concept of gender dignity and equality.
The opposition party claims that the ruling party sent its goons with the insidious intent of scaring away women who were present in a large number at its rally. It carries not so subliminal a message for politically inclined women that this is how they would be treated in future at public political gatherings.
The ruling party claims that the ruffians were from the ranks of the cadres whom the party holding the rally could not discipline which is little more than a bunch of callow slogan mongers. Ultra conservatives gloat over the pain the women suffered for their “sinful” coming out in public.
Does it really matter which party the perverts were from? What matters is the fact that they sexually assaulted women in a public space, the space that belonged to all regardless of gender.
The matter however shameful should not be brushed under the carpet. It needs to be discussed and debated publically. Naming and shaming though necessary is not sufficient.
All the conscious women from all the political parties and civil society along with conscientious men must come out and demand concrete socio-political and administrative measures that guarantee safety of women in public spaces.
Pakistani women have struggled long to create a space for themselves. Their presence at the national landscape should not prove a mere nova. That would be a grievous societal loss.
Let us try to stop the misogynists who gleefully continue to rattle our women with their braggadocio. — soofi01@hotmail.com
Published in Dawn, May 13th, 2016