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Ordinary folk battle against degradation of women
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
October 11, 2000
Bangkok - Consider what happened to "Kusuma" (not her real name), a 21-year-old
woman living in rural Sri Lanka. She was assaulted and gang-raped by five men
one October morning as she was on her way to work.
But Kusuma refused to be a victim. She felt compelled to take on her attackers,
one of whom she knew, and this consequently led to their arrest by the police.
Likewise, take note of the defiant spirit displayed by Rani Padamsee, the first
woman in Bangladesh to hold a black belt in karate. She has helped carve a new
image of femininity in her country - a Bangladeshi woman who is confident,
strong and prepared to defend herself.
Such women, writes Ruth Finney Hayward, the former deputy regional director of
the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) in South Asia, convey a powerful
message - the commitment to fight for their rights. In her recently published
book, Breaking the Earthenware Jar, Hayward takes up the stories of others,
both women and men in South Asia, who have displayed similar acts of courage.
They range from academics to playwrights, activists to lawyers, doctors to
policemen, journalists to social workers and farmers to slum dwellers.
Each of them, Hayward writes, is doing something significant to stall the
spread of violence directed at women and girls. As a result, they have
collectively emerged as "an unstoppable movement [that] has started to flow and
gather force in South Asia". What is more, argues Hayward, this emerging drive
needs to be fostered if the women and girls of South Asia are to live a life of
freedom and equality. She encourages this drive in her book, assessing such
activism and making it the central thesis of her narrative.
Yet the cast of characters who make up her heroes and heroines has quite a
struggle on their hands, given how pervasive violence against women and girls
are in the region. The challenge for them is more daunting since much of the
abuse prevails within homes and within families - in private realms where men
dominate, where patriarchy is supreme. The evidence Hayward has unearthed
drives home this point.
One comes across stories of women who have been victims of assault and battery,
of torture, of acid attacks, of rape and of stove-burnings. In addition, one
also learns of dowry-related deaths, of honor killings and sati, a medieval
Hindu ritual where a widow is compelled to throw herself into the burning pyre
of her dead husband. The leading perpetrators in many of these painful stories
are either husbands or male relatives.
Girls, for their part, suffer violence ranging from incest and rape by family
members, foeticide and infanticide, recruitment by family members into
prostitution to neglect by family members, even to the point of death. Such
accounts are amplified by the studies Hayward quotes, revealing the frequency
and extent of abuse in homes and communities.
In Bangladesh, for instance, a survey conducted in two sub-districts of Dhaka,
the capital, showed that nearly two-thirds of the 845 women questioned admitted
to "physical violence at some point in their lives".
In India, some 730 of the 1,840 women surveyed between 15 to 39 years in two
states admitted to having been beaten by their husbands.
In Nepal, a study among males and females in five districts revealed that 82
percent knew "of at least one incident in which a woman had been beaten by her
husband".
Why has the family in South Asia become "a particularly dangerous place or
women and girls"?
A Pakistani researcher cited by Hayward offers one answer. "The vital thing
missing is the recognition of women as individuals," he says. "Women are always
seen in the perspective of their relationship with men. This is the fundamental
violence against women. Women's entity as an individual human being is simply
not accepted."
Others featured in the book echo this sentiment, referring to the lowly state
women are reduced to during the cycle of life. "It is a peculiarity of South
Asia that the female sex is denied the right to be born, to survive after
birth, and to live a healthy life," asserts the writer Leela Dube, author of
the book Women and Kinship: Comparative Perspectives on Gender in South and
Southeast Asia.
A culture of silence also obscures much of the grim realities. As a result, it
is common for the police to "look the other way" or not to take "domestic
cases" seriously, despite severe violence being involved. Often, laments
Hayward, such abuses are "justified" in the name of culture or religion.
Nevertheless, Breaking the Earthenware Jar sheds light on the room for hope and
those responsible for it - the emerging number of women and men determined to
bring the walls of silence down, to expose this darker side of South Asia, and
to help chart a new course for its women and girls.
Thus, the book tells the story of "Lalita" (not her real name), a Nepali woman
who Hayward describes as "the woman who would not be beaten". After enduring
years of abuse by her husband, she walked out on him to pursue a life of her
own. In her new role as an independent woman, she has been helping other women
to combat and triumph over domestic violence.
There is also the Bangladeshi policeman affectionately dubbed Bai Sab (Big
Brother). He has no sympathy for male behavior that leads to abuse of women and
girls, and he admits that his outrage against such violence once overcame his
professional ethics. On that occasion, he had witnessed a moulavi (religious
teacher) raping a child who had come to learn the Koran.
Hayward offers other profiles, too, like those of the women and men who have
turned to the law, who are trying to gather strength from international statues
on the rights of girls and women, to challenge the prevailing order.
But the hurdles they are up against will not be easy to surmount. Any lift, no
doubt, will be welcome and Hayward's book urges such activism on.
Nevertheless, there are aspects of Breaking the Earthenware Jar that are
wanting. Its absence of new insight and fresh information, for instance. Those
who go seeking such features will be disappointed to learn that after 393
pages, this book has recycled old stories and familiar arguments.
What is more, Hayward's account also suffers in its tone. It is very clinical,
at times, and lacks a sense of warmth. What a pity, given the painful issues
the author touches - the violated girls and women of South Asia.
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India's
women continue to tread water
9-14-2000
Breaking
the silence
3-2-2000
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