Ayesha Noor Fatima is a student from NUST Business School passionate about serving Humanity in her best possible capacity. Her relatively recent albeit diverse voluntary experience of five years in community service ranging from teaching domestic workers to being an aspiring social entrepreneur working for advocacy and empowerment of vulnerable groups particularly the marginalized women and also being a policy contributor provided her a springboard for exercising leadership. This involved an ability to take initiatives, forge linkages with community and volunteer groups and raising voice at policy and discussion forums.

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Special Operation

Background:

According to the recent poll by Thomas Reuters in 2018, Pakistan today stands as the 6^th world’s most dangerous countries for women The patterns of gender based violence (GBV) more conspicuous in Pakistani society include honor killing, rape and sexual assault, sexual harassment, acid attacks, kidnapping, domestic violence, dowry murder,  custodial abuse and torture.

The undersigned conducted a focus group discussion on GBV at NUST H-9 campus, Islamabad. The participants comprised of five male and five female undergraduate students from various departments of NUST. The objective of discussion was to elicit gendered perspectives from the participants regarding GBV, Its precursors and ways to eliminate the menace at the individual, societal and governmental level. The discussion lasted for approx. 30 mins. The key themes that emerged from the discussion include:

1. Precursors of GBV
   1. Patriarchal society– that allows for male domination over women. This aspect is well reflected in public (institutions, organizations) as well as private spheres (family) of society. At the familial front Males exercise dominance and they take major decisions. Family honor is linked with women folk.
   1. Gendered roles & stereotypes: males are assigned gendered role as breadwinner and responsible for guarding honor of their family and womenfolk while females are primary care givers in family. Divorced women are generally blamed for failed marriage and don’t get much support. Women therefore remain trapped in ugly marriages and remain victims of domestic violence.
   1. Asymmetrical power and access to resources Males enjoy a majority in labor market.. Female vulnerability in the society in general is not only attributed to their sexuality but also owing to the fact that they are not financially independent and that there are not many female support structures in society for them (female counseling centers, female shelters and safe houses etc)
   1. Women as victims of war and violence. Women unfortunately had always been used either as a weapon or a shield in war zones. In either case they are disadvantaged.   
   1. Media frenzy Media had always objectified women Violence against women is well depicted. This has exacerbated a lust among the masses.
   1. Lack of Knowledge of religion  extremist groups present twisted version of religion where women are dehumanized and considered inferior to men  and made susceptible to violence
   1. Personality/psychological disorders individual psychological factors such as narcissism, antisocial personality etc. can also be a reason for GBV.

The participants concluded that males” also face violence in a form of rape, harassment, emotional abuse. Violence against anyone is not gendered specific. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere which needs to be addressed.

• Preventive Measures for GBV:

1. Individual Level

We need to exercise tolerance and develop acceptance for difference of opinion and diversity. If we witness any sort of violence we need to take a stand and speak out.

1. Meso Level (Societal)

Religious leaders and credible role models should play a pivotal role in advocating peace, respect and tolerance. Counseling centers and support groups must be activated.

1. Micro Level (Governmental, NGOs etc)

Conducive policies should be made to counter GBV. Strict penalties should be imposed for perpetrators. Advocacy campaigns promoting peace, respect and tolerance must be activated. Strict control on media to curb objectification of women and closure of pornographic sites and movies is also warranted.

1. Gender Equity

It was agreed upon that gender equity is the answer to reducing gender intolerance in our society. Both men and women agreed that it’s a fair concept that addresses problems of genders in our society.