By Danish Shafi
THE recent gruesome murder of a woman in district Budgam is not the first case of violence against women in Kashmir, but the severity and nature of crime is quite unusual and unheard of. The incident has triggered a public outrage in the form of protest demanding justice and has generated fresh discussion, in and outside households as well as on social media about women’s safety and violence against women in Kashmir.
However, these conversations gradually die down only to resurface again when another tragic incident happens. Women in Kashmir have been at the receiving end of conflict as well as patriarchy in Kashmir. Due to persistent conflict, Kashmir has come to become a place of utmost uncertainty; one of our individual and collective lives. In this atmosphere, the top-down approach, to address the issue of women safety, from the state has a very limited scope in its effectiveness particularly in the absence of an elected representative government. The overwhelming dominance of the security discourse on governance undermines the democratic process and hinders democratic decision making and participation of people in issues that concern them.
Should women continue to suffer until political stability arrives and there’s potential to hold the government more accountable?
Perhaps not. It is time that society takes it upon itself to adopt a bottom-up approach to address this problem and make society safe and just for women. The discussions around the issues of women, occasionally caused by incidents of harassment and violence against women, reflect the recognition of the problem in the society by its members irrespective of the outcomes of these decisions. However, the real significance of these conversations lies in whether they enrich and expand our understanding of the problem. And how are these conversations helping in making the lives of women better and safe around us? What matters is the way we discuss and whether these discussions challenge or affirm the status quo.
The common problem with these discussions is they are repetitive in their content and predictable in their arguments. The substances of our conceptions of gender equality largely come from the public sphere dominated by men and absence of gender equality thereof. A large section of our society continues to believe in the subordination of women and have been extensively deploying cultural and religious arguments in the service of male hegemony.
It is surprising that although there is no prominent feminist movement in Kashmir, there is no dearth of outrage against feminism. This repugnance against the idea of feminism and the idea of gender equality should concern us all. It indicates that there is a lot more needed to be done to make our society free and just for its members. It thus becomes important to know how these atavistic ideas about women spread and where the sustenance to these ideas comes from.
Besides the easy access to misogynistic and patriarchal ideas and ready-made explanations available online enforce the gendered bias and sometimes facilitate the oppression. Religion and religious pulpits have also sometimes been misappropriated in this direction.
It is thus imperative that we hold people who preach objectionable ideas about women accountable in our society and inculcate in our children the values of freedom and gender equality. Our conversations about women are often in relation to men as mothers, sisters, daughters and partners. Can we change the contours of our conversation about women by treating them, first and foremost, simply as human beings who deserve to be treated justly and as equals just by virtue of being one? It is not to strip the women of her overlapping religious and social identities impacting their lives but to set the basic terms of conversation right. In order to truly uproot the subordination of women it is necessary to re-think the ways we think and talk about women. Other identities should be used to further the cause of freedom of women rather than to restrict women and our imagination of free and just society. What good is society if it refuses to take the freedom and safety of half of its members seriously unless its conscience is jolted by the gruesome murders like that of Budgam?
- Views expressed in the article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the editorial stance of Kashmir Observer
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