[sacw] sacw dispatch (17 April 00)

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Web Dispatch
17 April 2000
_________________________
#1. India: Feminist Activist From the Ranks of the Working Class
#2. Pakistan: Crimes Against women: within Chaddar & Chardiwari
_________________________

#1.

Source: IPS Gender Bulletin/
Women as Leaders Series
3 April 2000

INDIA: Feminist Activist From the Ranks of the Working Class

By Laxmi Murthy

NEW DELHI, 31 Mar (IPS) - From breaking stones under the blazing desert sun
in India's northwestern Rajasthan State, Shanti has defied convention at
every stage of her life.

"Oh that one!" exclaims the keeper of a small shop in the lane near her
modest home, "she's not a woman, she's a storm."

Shanti has her own explanation for the transformation of her life, from a
village woman to a fiery feminist activist crusading for the rights of
"single" women, a category she has helped to broaden to include deserted,
divorced and widowed women.

"My personal situation forced me to search for answers and led to an
understanding of 'single women' as a category," she says. Aged "somewhere
in my fifties", Shanti has been a widow for the last 14 years. But she
refused to either wear widow's white or take help from her brothers.

Her in-laws tried to grab her one-room house, but she waged a long battle
to assert her claim, standing up to the "double standards" in Indian
society that simultaneously sees widows as "vulnerable" (to pressure) and
sexually "available" (to male members of the family).

Shanti has always been a rebel. Born into a poor family, which sometimes
could afford only dry 'rotis' (bread), she was married at 14 to a man twice
her age, but she refused to go to her husband's home, which was unthinkable
40 years ago.

A shocked village retaliated by ex-communicating Shanti when she married a
young man of her choice. They took refuge in the anonymity of Delhi,
settling down in Dakshinpuri, a soul-less resettlement colony for the
working class on the outskirts of the city.

Here in the crowded warrens of the 'basti', where one-roomed homes open
into identical one-roomed homes, the alienated womenfolk, all migrants like
Shanti, gravitated to her to chat, to share their sorrow or just for a good
laugh. Shanti's knowledge of herbs and medicinal plants, as well as
experience as a mid-wife only added to her stature in the local community.

Inevitably this natural vitality and dynamism drew her into the women's
movement; those were the early eighties, a time of great ferment when
"women's liberation" and "feminism" were not mere words but movements for
women emerging into their own.

"I was completely ignorant about the women's movement, until an older women
>from my 'basti' who was working in a women's group introduced me to her
work," reminisces Shanti.

A training workshop was her first exposure to feminist ideas and to women
questioning every aspect of their lives. Shanti says what struck her most
about the meeting was the strong linkages between women, whether they were
rich or poor.

Before long she had joined as a full time worker with the 'Sabla Sangh'
women's group. At Subhash Camp, near her home, she interacted with hundreds
of women, assisting in their daily problems and battles with the
authorities and family.

Although the most common problems were the lack of regular supplies of
drinking water, public toilets and the menace of liquor vends where the
menfolk drank away their meagre wages, Shanti forced open the issue of
domestic violence.

For the first time, cases were registered with the police, while abusive
husbands and fathers were ostracised by the community. Abused women who
said they wanted to build a new life for themselves were given moral
support.

Shanti's rock-solid presence, and that of a supportive womens groups right
in their midst, helped many women break the silence around wife-battering.
What the women's movement gave each one was a sense of self-worth. By
asserting the right of "single" women to register houses and ration cards
in their names, Shanti says they've succeeded in making public the many
women-headed households in 'bastis' like Dakshinpuri.

Local leaders have grown to respect, albeit grudgingly, this assertive
woman who has little regard for social norms.

"She is not what you would call the "ideal Indian woman", but she certainly
knows what the women of the basti want," is the opinion of the
representative of a right-wing political party, which holds extremely
atriarchal views.

Over the years, inspired by Shanti, many women from the 'basti' have
enlisted as activists. Inevitably, the politicisation process has led to
their questioning the mainstream women's movement.

Shanti offers a critique from below: feminist theorists, she says, are busy
attending seminars and workshops, and write books about our experience
while we still struggle with our lives.

As if to illustrate her point, a desperate woman arrives at the Single
Women's Centre run by Jagori, which Shanti joined five years ago.

The woman says her daughter was very ill, and she needs 5,000 rupees for an
operation. "If I don't lend her the money, her daughter will probably die.
For us this is the dilemma -- provide help or work only at changing the
larger picture."

Not for one moment does Shanti regret the years she has spent working with
women, although she wonders about its effect on her six children.

"Full-time feminism leaves little scope for child rearing. My notions of
motherhood underwent a sea change." But her innate optimism pushes away the
misgivings. "It is always tough to swim against the tide ... My women
friends in the basti are my true support," she says.

As she rejoins a group of women at their weekly meeting, Shanti breaks into
a song she has composed: "Alone I haul the domestic cart. Let the world
dare to call me weak...". (END/IPS/lm/an/sm/00)
_________

#2.
News on Sunday / The News International
15 April 2000

CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN: WITHIN CHADDAR AND CHARDIWARI

The Marital Rape --

Violence sanctified under contractual legitimacy

by Shafqat Munir

Rape is a serious crime against women whether it happens in or outside
marriage. But, it is not

acknowledged as crime when happens in marriage. Like incest, we are not
bold enough to accept

the fact that marital rape takes place in routine in most of the families.
Normally, people involved in
marital rape do not even realise that they used to rape their wives. The
victims of the marital rape

even do not know whether they are being subjected to this sort of rape
rather they feel that

whatever is being done is permitted in marriage contract.

Marital rape is the worst form of domestic and gender based violence
against married women.

Though no scientifically documented data is available on the marital rape
in Pakistan, a vast

majority of Pakistan's male spouses (husbands) assume that they are the
masters of their wives.

They do not give importance to consent and choice of their wives while
having sex or taking any

decision to have babies. An overwhelming majority of husbands, under one
or the other pretext,

do not like to share moments of enjoyment which is otherwise protected
under the UN Convention

on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
Generally, it is

viewed rather preached that women's enjoyment do not matter while having
sex with husbands

and she is supposed to satisfy the male partner. This sort of
discrimination against women

violates the principles of equality of rights and respect for human
dignity. Article 16 of the

CEDAW which deals with marriage and family reads as: "Women shall have
equal rights and

responsibilities with men in matters relating to marriage and family
relations in particular:

* To enter into marriage; * To choose a spouse; * During the marriage and
its dissolution; * As

parents, irrespective of marital status; * To choose freely the number and
spacing of their children

and to have access to the information, education and means to enable them
to exercise these

rights * With regard to guardianship, wardship, trusteeship and adoption
of children; * The same

personal rights as husband and wife, including the right to choose a
family name, profession and

occupation; * With regard to ownership, acquisition management,
administration, enjoyment and

disposition of property. In daily life, due to shyness and traditions, our
women do not speak out

or report sexual abuse by husbands considering they are entitled to do so
and the victims are

destined to obey. Though another worst abuse of women is not found in
Pakistani society, in

some parts of primitive Arab society, circumcision of women is a well
established tradition. Under

this inhuman act, they use to cut off the labia minora or clitoris of a
female to what they call

cleanse her from sin. They do this cruel act just to make their wives
'pure' by depriving them of the

part of skin or bodies which cause pleasure or sexual enjoyment for women.

But in societies where women are not circumcised, they are deprived of
having enjoyment by
resorting to one-way sexual intercourse. This tantamount to marital rape.
Some sadists go to the

extent of inserting outside objects in genitals of women. This is worst
kind of marital rape. A

human rights watchdog organisation Human Rights Watch in its report "Crime
or custom?

-Violence Against Women in Pakistan" has presented a set of
recommendations to the

government of Pakistan on human rights violations of women. It said: "The
Offence of Zina

Ordinance, which codifies Pakistan's current law on rape and
adultery/fornication, does not

provide an adequate legal avenue for victims of rape to obtain justice and
should be repealed."

Analysing the situation on ground, the recommendations say The Zina
Ordinance discourages

rape victims from filing charges by presenting the threat of potential
prosecution for adultery.

These laws are also seriously flawed because they fail to criminalise
marital rape and to establish

the crime of statutory rape or sex with or without the consent of a minor.
Furthermore, the

definition of rape encompassed by the Zina Ordinance is incomplete; the
definition of rape should

include anal and oral penetrations as well as penetration by foreign
objects such as sticks, bottles,

or knives. The Human Rights Watch recommends that the former provisions of
the Pakistan Penal

Code on rape should be re-enacted into law with amendments to make marital
rape a criminal

offense and to incorporate the broader definition of rape given above.

According to the Human Rights Watch report, it is estimated that eight
women are raped every 24

hours in Pakistan and 70 to 95 percent of women have experienced domestic
violence. Few women

report the crimes and fewer still see their attackers brought to justice.
Though the report did not

particularly given data about marital rape, it can easily be calculated
that when 70 to 95 percent

women face domestic violence (visible), most of them usually face marital
rape (invisible). Rapes

are reported to some extent, but marital rapes are not reported as both
the attackers (husbands)

and the victims (wives) usually do not realise that rape (sexual
intercourse without consent of

wives being the one sided pleasure game) is being done in routine. This
has been commonly

observed that those husbands who commit domestic violence against their
wives use to have sex

with them even if they (the victims) do not like. Such sort of marital
rape is common in our society,

but it is not reported or complained about due to legal lacuna and social
and legal protection to

wives. In Pakistan, a horrible case of marital rape and abuse was
unearthed in February, 1994 in

which one Qari Muhammad Sharif, Imam of a local mosque in village Jhammat
in Attock district

committed the worst kind of sexual torture and raped his wive Zainab Noor.
According to the

medical evidence authenticated by a Speedy Trial Court in Rawalpindi, the
victim had lost atleast

three organs of her body--vagina, anus and urinary bladder. Moreover she
lost her honour. The

Speedy Trial Court awarded 30 years rigorous imprisonment to Qari Sharif.
Her life became

miserable as she lives on artificial system that too after her
reconstructive surgery in London. She

was sent to UK on the directives of the then prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Zainab Noor had narrated her tale in a dying voice: "I was beaten and
dragged in the house for

hours till late in the evening. Then he (Qari) took me to bed, tied my
hands and legs with a rope,

inserted two iron rods in ... attached two electric wires with each of the
two iron rods and

connected them with the switch board. There was no electricity due to
loadshedding. The moment

electricity came, he switched it on and played havoc.{ Though ill-fated
Zainab survived but with

only a miserable life, an abnormal life. This case had created a lot of
debate in Pakistan. The human

rights activists and international women bodies condemned this act. With
this case, a weak voice

against marital rape and torture was raised which became louder and the
Human Rights Watch
mentioned marital rape in its recommendations for declaring it a crime. The
vulnerable women, the

poor illiterate house-servants, used to face threats by their husbands on
suspicions. One such

survived victim told this columnist that her husband has threatened her of
dire consequences for

suspicions that she might have some outside relations. "One day, my
husband tortured me in the

day and at night, he asked me for a sex. On my refusal, he brought an iron
rod and threatened that

he would do what Qari had done with Zainab Noor. As soon as he positioned
the rod, I managed

to escape and called in neighbours," she said. Many more cases could be
documented which

relate to violence and sexual abuse in marriage. Since, there is no law
which guarantees women

against marital rape, no victim even reports such rape to close relatives.
That is why the Human

Rights Watch on the basis of a research in Pakistan's two major cities
Lahore and Karachi has

recommended to declare marital rape as crime so that the victims can report.

There seems to be two sorts of marital rapes. One in torturous and
intentional manner and the

other in terms of having one-sided sexual act in which woman has no role.
There is need to change

approach towards women's sexual feelings and needs. Fulfilment of these
needs, as in case of men

is done, is not against the spirit of religion or law rather depriving
women of their enjoyment in

either way is clear violation of basic rights of women. In any case, the
married women be protected

against marital rape and torture. Their right to choose and consent must
be honoured as they are

not a commodity in custody rather they are fully grown human beings who
enjoy all rights equal

to men.