The cost of saying ‘no’ in South Asia

At its core, gender-based violence is not only a law-and-order issue but also a structural one

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(UCAN) The month of June was marked by incidents of violence against women in Pakistan.

It began with the reported murder of a 58-year-old woman on June 3 after she was allegedly killed by her husband for refusing to have sex with him.

The 64-year-old retired serviceman, who surrendered to police, confessed he was driven to anger when his wife refused and struck her fatally with an iron rod.

In another case on June 5, Dr. Mahnoor Nasir, a female surgeon in Quetta, was allegedly attacked while on duty by the hospital lift operator, who reportedly hurled acid at her.

Preliminary investigations revealed the attacker was harassing her for several months, and she repeatedly rejected his advances, which angered him.

This case became a topic for discussion on social media, with some netizens trying to speculate and rationalize the circumstances leading up to the crime.

This raised broader concerns about victim-blaming in cases of gender-based violence.

In patriarchal societies, a woman's “no” can easily trigger a violent reaction from a man. Saying “no” may be interpreted as insubordination or a challenge to men’s honor, triggering severe retaliation.

A significant body of evidence highlights the widespread nature of intimate partner violence (IPV) globally and across South Asia.

Approximately 33 percent of ever-married women aged 15-49 have experienced some form of spousal violence, including physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, according to the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS) 2017-18.

This nearly decade-old data is the latest available from a nationally representative survey, as the government continues working on an updated data collection cycle.

Globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that nearly one in three women has experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence in their lifetime.