Status of Women in Pakistan

Assignment

Submitted​ ​by:​ ​Aimen Khan

Explain​ ​the​ ​Status​ ​of​ ​Women​ ​in​ ​Pakistan​ ​in​ ​view of​ ​the​ ​reading​ ​"Mental​ ​Health​ ​of
Women​ ​in​ ​Pakistan?"​ ​What​ ​link​ ​does​ ​the​ ​reading​ ​have​ ​with​ ​the​ ​course?

Mental health is an indicator of the well being and overall health of the women in Pakistan. If
women have a higher status, they are look after, cared for, if they feel empowered and
strong, and independent and free then there probability of having a sound mind and a sound
body is also high. On the contrary, if the women are oppressed, if they have little or no rights
to freedom, to their own life decision, to mobility, to free speech or to love and happiness,
then this suppression results in their feelings of inconsequence and insignificance ultimately
leading to depression.

The article in question discloses research by psychologists and sociologists proves a clear
strong link between status of women (whether they are protected from domestic violence
and other crimes against women, treated well by their families, looked after, well-feed,
provided for, respected and have a sense of security) and their mental well-being. In crust,
gender roles determine the status of women in society. This paper will explore the link
between gender roles and status of women and consequently their well-being.

How does gender inequality and domestic violence affect the health of women in Pakistan?
There's a strong link between women's autonomy, rights and mental health.
Restricting access to and utilization of opportunities including socialization and access to
nutrition and medical care due to gender bias, preferential treatment of men in cases of
limited resources or facilities, neglect and social norms such as purdah (preventing women
to travel to hospitals and seek diagnosis and treatment from doctors, especially male
doctors) has a direct impact on the well-being of women.

What is the impact of women's health on herself, her family, the society? If women are not
doing well it does not only impact their own lives but the lives of those around them as well
especially their children and husbands or parents.

We know by know that women are at a greater risk of developing mental disorders. On top of
this, women with mental disorders are stigmatized far greater than men with mental
illnesses. Why? It is due to their vulnerable position in the society as well as their lower
status. As a consequence, they get diagnosed at a delay or don't get diagnosed at all. They
are not taken to doctors at all to begin with because their health just like their selves is far
less important to that of men. And even if diagnosed, their treatment is delayed or is absent
from scratch. For this reason, women suffer greatly from mental disorders. They are not
checked by doctors in the first place and when checked and diagnosed, they are not treated
in time or it's too late for treatment, or not treated at all. May choose not to get treated,
confuse it with ​saya​/​jin​/​aseb​, bad temper, personality traits, or ​nazar​ or ​jadu​. As a result,
instead of seeking professional medical help from qualified doctors, they end up seeking
orthodox and ineffective intervention from peers, etc. The ones who choose to opt for proper
medical care also quit prematurely due to financial support to continue or lack of conviction
about the cure or lack of care and support. Besides lack of education and awareness among
the the women affected by mental illness as well as their families, ignorance and superstition
in those around them also lead to dire negative consequences and worst social outcome for
the mental health of women including stigmatization of the experience of mental illness
which is curable and can be short-lived just like any other illness.

Sigma and lack of access to care and mental health treatment are two major factors for the
perpetuation of mental illness as well as its worsening. Poverty (lack of resources including
food and nutrition, shelter, education, security, etc), crimes against women (such as
domestic violence, terrorism, lack of sense of security, social isolation of women via purdah
and lack of a social and moral support system makes up the most significant causes for a
higher frequency of mental illness in women as compared to men.

Therefore, actors that influence access to medical care include purdah or social isolation,
lack of travel facilities, lack of resources and funds to afford travel and treatment, stigma,
geography determining access, political/civil unrest and poverty combined with low priority of
women's care and treatment.

Women's subordinate status makes them more vulnerable and prone to mental illness. It is
gender discrimination and gender norms that is the root cause of women's poor mental being
in crust. Male child is given priority over female child when it comes to distribution of food,
care, medical care, education and recreation. In women, subservient behavior, submission,
subjugation, suppression is promoted which crushes their self and leaves them hurt and they
end up not even prioritizing their own selves over their family members. For example, they
would eat last and only have the left-overs, having served the best meal to her husband,
father/father-in-law and sons, and not spend any saving on her own needs including medical
care.

On top of this, early marriages, child marriages, forced marriages including exchange
marriages (​watta​ ​satta​), marriages as a compensation for life loss (​vani​), selling and buying
of brides including daughters and wives leads to a greater incidence of mental illness in
women. Women are treated as and exchanged as commodities, sometimes even to pay off
debts without given a little consideration to their feelings and well-being. Due to this, women
find themselves in a helpless situation and frequently develop disorders including anxiety,
depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, OCD and even suicidal tendencies.

Beginning: How does it all begin?

How​ ​does this cycle of mental illness (women who are not mentally fit become the source of
mental disorders for other women including their daughters and daughter-in-laws) begin for
women? In Pakistan, girls and women are under threat in a patriarchal society. There's
threat of violence, of abduction, of rape, of malnutrition, of disease/illness both physical and
mental, of break-down and of death, at home and outside of the home. Women make up the
vulnerable gender and among these, young girls and the female child are at the greatest
risk. The author of the article 'Mental Health Issues of Women in Pakistan' remarks "From
the time of conception till her adolescence she remains under threat. " Does the threat
disappear upon maturing into an adult? It still doesn't.

The article argues that the subordinate position of women is at the root of all problems. This
paper attempts to explore how gender inequality impacts the well-being of the two genders?
What is the gender gap? How does it exist? Where does it exist? How can it be bridged?
Can it ever be bridged?

Due to systemic gender discrimination and subordination of women, women find themselves
in a trap called patriarchy, according to which women are inherently inferior than the men
and there's nothing that can be done about it, they must give in and submit their wills and
lives to men. This subjugation of the women at the hands of men, though universally is more
conspicuous and stronger in the subcontinent (and other 'Third
World'/underdeveloped/developing countries even though both these terms are problematic
in their own right) than anywhere else. However, this subjugation and its degree and type
varies from culture to culture, class to class, region to region, religion to religion, society to
society and so on.

It is also worthy to note here that discrimination can be both legal and cultural. Religion and
customs both may form the groundings for legal discrimination such as the
women/daughters having half the share in the property of their parents as compared to their
brothers, having half the witness power, having no right to divorce at times and no right to
take another husband while the first one lives and is not separated, and at times even when
he is not alive or has abandoned or divorced her.

Does​ ​physical​ ​suffering​ ​induce​ ​mental​ ​suffering​ ​too? These are the links we hope to explore
in this paper.

Before marriage-as a young girl

Before marriage, a young girl lives without a sense of security as there exists with her threat
of abduction and/or rape, threat of physical harm such as acid attacks, physical abuse at the
hands of family, relatives or strangers. Young girls are at higher risk of abduction, rape,
slavery, selling off, for example, a young girl of 16-18 who worked at my house along with
her mother and sister was abducted and sold off to a stranger who planned to smuggle her
to another city to sell her off further. These girls can not protect themselves as they are
young and naive, hence, make an easy target for the perpetrator.

Before marriage-as an adult woman

For adult women, delay​ ​in​ ​marriage​ ​adds​ ​further pressure on the woman; singlehood is
problematic as unmarried girls not only carry a stigma but are at a risk of bringing shame to
family by finding love, running away or getting married out of their own consent. Therefore,
women in our society are not allowed to stay single even if that's what they want since that
may not only attract gossip and pressure from society to get married but also threats from
strangers who wrongly consider unmarried women unprotected and the property of the
public. Acid burns on rejecting proposals or death for example, a Daewoo bus hostess was
killed last year for rejecting the proposal of a bus driver or someone working for Daewoo, are
common.

At marriage
Even when a woman is about to begin a new life, dowry and risks and threats associated
with dowry such as the abandonment of bride by the groom and his ​baraat​ if dowry is not
upto expectations or fails to meet the previously stated demands, physical and mental abuse
and torture at the hands of the in-laws if the dowry is unsatisfactory or of low quality or low
price, and in extreme cases even divorce, are prevalent for women.

After and within marriage-as a child bride

For young girls, forced marriages as the child hasn't reached the age to make decisions
herself, forced sex since the child may not have even reached an age to be sexuality active
and desire sex, unwanted pregnancy as the child may not no say in whether she
wants/wanted a baby or not are a huge contributing factor to their mental sickness. In such
marriages, the child bride is highly likely to feel intimidated by the much older husband and
her in-laws, and even feel scared to say no to their wishes and demands, and in worst
scenario, she may be beaten or threatened to yield to their demands such as sex and going
ahead with a pregnancy unwanted by herself. Acid burns, homicide, suicide, early
pregnancy, death during delivery, complicated pregnancy are other consequences of early
marriages.

After and within marriage-as an adult bride

Besides the struggle she faces as a result of dowry related demands of her husband and her
in-laws, she may additionally feel pressured and tortured if she fails to bear a child and
produce an heir. She may be beaten up for this, lose her status and standing, if there was
any previously, as compared to other women who have born children and in particular, sons,
she may be threatened to be divorced or returned home or may even have to put up with a
second marriage of the husband with another younger woman and share her husband and
her household. *Stigma attached to divorce and widowhood, resulting in rejection and
isolation add to feelings of hurt, agony and emotional torture and consequently mental
illness. Mental disorders are nature's cry for help by women for care, love and attention by
their family members.

Outside of marriage
For​ ​a woman who was once married and is now divorced or widowed or simply abandoned
by the husband for another woman or wife, life is again not so easy. A woman outside of a
marriage cannot pursue a relationship or a love interest. She cannot live independently
without displaying a need for a man in her live without attracting criticism and disapproval
and even stigma that is reserved for all women opting singlehood.
Why is mental health prevalent among women? How are women fighting mental
health all on their own?

As we have discussed earlier, mental health determining factors includes stigma, lack of
preference/ priority, lack of care, ill-treatment, differential treatment/discrimination, mental
and physical torture and poverty to name a few. Discrimination begins early. A male fetus is
preferred over a female one. For this, either care of the pregnant woman is reduced once the
family learns the sex of the fetus to be female or the fetus is aborted altogether. Many
families do not desire a baby girl especially if she's the first baby born into the family and
there are no boys previously and if all the previously born children were also girls. If a
woman fails to produce a male heir, she may even be beaten up and punished for it or used
for the venting out of anger and disappointed by men and her in-laws. However, physical
torture isn't all she faces. Humiliation, verbal abuse, taunts and threats make up the
components of the mental torture women have to go through more often than not in our
society.

In conclusion, to conclude social stigma as well differential treatment of women is a barrier to

seeking help by the women, on behalf of the women where it is required. Factors causing
mental illness among women include poor nutrition and diet, poor intake of medicines and
overall lack of medical care, lack of love, attention, respect and emotional care, and to make
matters worse, as if women already didn't have enough to deal with, physical and mental
abuse by the family and society and social stigma against both the victim and the illness, not
viewing mental illness as an illness rather seeing seeing it as a fault or characteristic of the
individual result it's worsening and pertuation.

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