Why India Must Join Pakistan’s Fight Over ‘Lightly Beating Wives’
A bill that says it’s okay to gently beat wives has created a stir in Pakistan. Why is India silent?
Two different countries. Two different sets of reasons for outrage.
In India, you can poke fun at anybody but Sachin Tendulkar and Lata Mangeshkar.
In Pakistan, apart from eggs and coffee, you can now also beat your wives.
Or at least that’s what the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) thinks.
In a bill proposed on Thursday, as a response to the Punjab Protection of Women Against Violence Bill 2015, the body comprising all these old, extremely religious men, outlined the ‘ideal’ protection of womankind – Beat ‘em up, folks.
Arrey wait you hyper-active feminist, hold that anger. They HAVE added a qualifier.
Beat them up. But “lightly,” of course. And only “if needed.”
Also Read: Pakistani Husbands Can ‘Lightly Beat’ Wives, Says Islamic Council
Pakistani Women Are Not Amused
The CII thinks that it’s legitimate to beat wives if they show any signs of dissent from a “moral” code of conduct, prescribed to them over years and years of patriarchy.
But Pakistani women have put their foot down.
They have taken to trends like #trybeatingmelightly and #lightlybeating on the social media to express their disgust. Some with disdain, others with a livid sense of outrage.
Both men and women in Pakistan have expressed their (much needed) views on the discourse of naturalising domestic violence on women. Some re-contextualised “beating”and construed it in a different way.
Statistically, four out of five Pakistani women go through some form of violence in their homes. The Global Gender Gap of 2014 placed Pakistan as the second lowest performing country in the world in terms of gender equality.
These figures read in the context of “lightly beating wives” are not only a reiteration of the abysmal status of skewed gender representations, but also how easily somebody can open their mouth and validate violence against women.
Pakistani Media Has Joined the Fight
Online campaigns protesting against the idea of the bill have found a strange accomplice.
The media has been doing its own share of critique and challenging the propagation of “lightly beating” in the name of religion in conservative Pakistan.
They are asking questions.
Does the “lightly beating” imply one slap on the cheek and an accompanying punch or hurling a plate at the woman for not cooking good food and then beating her up some more, because, well, you can.
Dawn critiqued the bill with a satire piece, listing a comprehensive overview of all the things men can beat, apart from a women.
From dirty carpets, to crumbs on your bed, the piece went viral with its take on the issue.
Dawn also carried a video piece called ‘Do Pakistani men condemn or condone wife-beating.’ It reveals, not much surprisingly, the psychology of Pakistani men.
The Express Tribune also carried several pieces, critiquing the bill.
Where Are the Indians?
This nation always wants to know, is always angry, and is always expressing outrage over things that matter.
What, then, can possibly explain the silence over the Pakistani bill?
Marital rape, ladies and gents, is not a crime here.
Indian women have had their share of victim-blaming in cases of rape, or fringe groups asserting that chote kapde lead to harassment. Remember that time when you were told by a khap panchayat that noodles trigger rape?
The idea that men are natural ‘caretakers’ of women and their bodies, which snatches any sense of agency from the female, is not experienced by Pakistani women alone. So why are they alone expressing their anger?
As a nation reeling with regression in terms of the treatment of women, why aren’t we agitated, or even bothered?
It’s funny that we take more offence to satirical videos than to somebody saying, ‘go ahead, beat that wife of yours’.
What’s not funny is that getting beaten up is a reality for countless women, and their stories will, more often than not, go unnoticed.
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