Rupi kuar about rape culture12/16/2023 ![]() It is crucial to understand the context in which we analyze crimes against women throughout South Asia movements have indeed emerged and led to reform. People carry signs against a gang rape that occurred along a highway and to condemn violence against women and girls, during a protest in Karachi, Pakistan September 12, 2020. ![]() After the Noakhali gang-rape last year, when activists pointed out statistics that 975 rape cases against women were recorded during the first nine months of 2020 alone and anti-rape protests occurred across the country, officials were quick to adopt the death penalty as punishment. Meanwhile, though Bangladesh boasts significant progress in gender parity-such as the relatively high female workforce participation in comparison to its neighbors India and Pakistan–the country too faces major issues concerning violent crimes against women. These slogans have caused nationwide debates on mainstream platforms, both on the streets and primetime television. The recent Pakistani #MeToo movement, which has involved increasingly vociferous and controversial women’s rights marches being held on International Women’s Day every year, has even adopted the feminist slogan of “ my body, my choice” in response to issues such as marital rape. However, her quest for justice was met with mass opprobrium. Only eighteen years previously, Mukhtaran Mai made international headlines after she was gang-raped in 2002 as “penance” for her brother’s alleged adultery. This was a welcome departure from the usual response to similar incidents of violence against women. These protests directly challenged themes of casteism in addition to crimes against women and, at first glance, seem to have led to meaningful reform.Īcross the border in Pakistan, there was national uproar against the victim-blaming comments of Lahore’s top police official regarding the gang-rape of a mother in front of her two young children. In the summer of 2020, the Black Lives Matter protests in the United States prompted conversations on the subjugation of low-caste Hindu Dalits and police brutality in India, with many civil rights activists adopting “ Dalit Lives Matter” as a slogan to highlight parallel oppressive structures and rally against the age-old suppression of Dalits in India. This includes counseling services and access to lawyers who work specifically on women’s issues. The advent of the #MeToo movement also propelled female lawyers in multiple South Asian countries to establish mediums that would provide quick and secure assistance to survivors. Public pressure in India was also monumental in leading to a harsher anti-rape Criminal Law in 2013 following the protests. In 2012, the Nirbhaya rape case in India sparked an unprecedented public outcry digital forums were flooded with horrific details of the crime, galvanizing people to occupy streets and public spaces in protest for crimes against women. On the surface, one could argue that steps have been taken towards changing laws related to the protection of women after societal demands were made to address the cross-cutting issues of GBV and rape culture. ![]() Taking stock of previous legal steps and actions taken to fight GBV and rape culture While, on the surface, one may notice an increased promotion of gender empowerment in the region, we point out that a deeper analysis of the ground realities in these countries reflects an appallingly different story. ![]() We then suggest policy recommendations to curtail GBV and shift societal norms away from the normalization of rape culture and the objectification of women in South Asia. In this piece, we examine the true depth and commonality of GBV in India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan-as well as review previous steps taken to address this issue. Political discourse in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh is deeply misguided regarding such issues, often leading to systematic victim-blaming which-knowingly or unknowingly-helps the perpetrators. Countless examples of gender-based violence (GBV) in South Asia from last year raise significant concerns about the so-called “progress” made in improving women’s standing and fighting rape culture in the region. However, this is not an isolated occurrence. The January 2021 rape and murder of a high school student in Bangladesh left the nation in shock yet again.
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