My apologies PCG- I thought maasi meant “aunt”
**
it does mean aunt, actually in karachi (perhaps elsewhere as well), we call the servant girls/ladies maasis, just out of respect and to show that we dont think they're below us in any way.
PeyariCgudiya: I am not saying that we Pakistanis are not civilized people. But to believe that Pakistan has no social problems just proves you’re ignorant and not willing to face the facts. And the fact IS, that despite all the Islamic rules protecting women, the lack of knowledgeo of God-given rights and the low economic status of many families compels them to do such things with their daughters.
Cool down: Who said Pakistan has no social problem??? In every society of the world there are social problems. In these days propaganda as a Humanizing leader has become common practice, and I have identified it.
PeyariCGudiya: This girl was not part of our family, she was a sindhi maasi that would clean our house. Naturally, a few decades ago and even now, it was not uncommon to be involved in the lives of the house servants or kaam waalian, becuz they are human too and their right to education and good life has been honored by many families, including mine.
Cool down: I know a person who was hired for household chores and his son became the assistant vice president of a bank. Another person’s daughter became lecturer in college.
PeyariCgudiya: I mean, have u been to Pakistan recently? Dont you see the way the street guys look at females? Even if she’s clad in a burqa…And you say that Pakistani society is angelic?
Cool down: in last three years I spend 24 months in Pakistan and 12 months in America and before that time I was always in Pakistan. I am sure you never visited Pakistan.
PeyariCgudiya: If you wish not to accept that women’s lib is a major issue in Pakistan right now and that most injustices are swept under the rug, then that is your call.
Frankly, I perfer to be honest with myself and others.
Cool down: If you don’t accept that woman is very less victimized in Pakistan than other countries then it is your call. In nearly 100 years, only 24 women have been elected, as head of State Pakistan is one of them. At this time the head of a political party in Pakistan is a woman. Woman as an ambassador is very uncommon, it has happened in Pakistan.
Every society of the world has some social problems, and the society itself is always trying to end it. you may have not read my previous reply. I am posting it for you.
http://www.sigi.org/Resource/stats.htm
Statistics]/b]
Women and Violence
-Everyday, 6000 girls are genitally mutilated - more than 200 000 per year (2000).
-Every year in India, 5000 brides are murdered or commit suicide because their marriage dowries are considered inadequate. (2000)
-In the US, one in five women will be victims of rape in their lifetime. A woman is raped every 3 minutes. 55 percent of American women report having experienced rape and/or physical assault in their life-time.
-In US, 10 women are killed by their batterers each day (1998).
-In Russia, half of all murder victims are women killed by their male partners. (1995)
Around the world, at least one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex, or abused in some other ways. http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2000/english/ch03.html
In the United States, a woman is battered, usually by her intimate partner, every 15 seconds. Among 613 abused women in Japan, for instance, close to 60 per cent had suffered from physical, psychological and sexual abuse at the hands of their partners; only 8 per cent had experienced physical abuse alone. domestic violence survey in Canada in , researchers discovered that a full one third of all women who had been subjected to domestic violence had feared for their lives at some point in the relationship.In India sexual exploitation, rape, and dowry-related deaths and tortures are common.
**Dowry Deaths:** In India, it is estimated that more than 5,000 women are killed each year because their in-laws consider their dowries inadequate. A tiny percentage of their murderers are brought to justice. Female Infanticide: Infanticide has been practiced as a brutal method of family planning in societies where boy children are still valued, economically and socially, above girls. Anecdotal evidence suggests that outright infanticide, usually of newborn girls, takes place in some communities in Asia. Medical testing for sex selection, though officially outlawed, has become a booming business in China, India and the Republic of Korea. [unicef] [http://www.undp.org/unifem/campaign/violence/unkit/dawfacts.htm](http://www.undp.org/unifem/campaign/violence/unkit/dawfacts.htm)
**Domestic Violence
In 1985, in 59% of 1,500 Austrian divorce cases, domestic violence was cited as a cause in marital breakdown.2
A 1987 study of a hospital in Colombia revealed that 20% of the patients were victims of marital violence, with women being the victims in 94% of the cases.1
In a 1997 sample survey of 1,500 Swiss women aged 20 to 60 in a relationship, 20% reported being physically abused.3
In Canada, it has been found that sons of batterers are 1,000% more likely to beat their own wives.4
**Rape and sexual abuse**
Jakarta city police recorded 2,300 cases of sexual violence against women in 1991, 3,200 cases in 1993, and 3,000 in the first half of 1994.6
In statistics and data from six countries (Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, Panama, Peru, USA), in more than 60% of all sexual cases, the victim knows the perpetrator.5
In the Republic of Korea, fewer than 2% of women rape victims ever contacted the police.5
In parts of Papua New Guinea, 67% of women are victims of violence.1
In Thailand, researchers found that one in 10 victims of rape had contracted an STD because of the attack.4
A survey of 2,270 adult women in Seoul found that approximately 22% of them had been the victim of either attempted rape or rape.6
Data on violence against Vietnamese refugees indicates that 39% of women are abducted and/or raped while at sea.7
**Traditional practices**
One 1990 study of amniocentesis in a large Bombay hospital found that of aborted fetuses, 95.5% were female
In 1992, some 17,000 girls in Nepal were offered to the temple as devadasis and then forced into prostitution.6
In India, Fourteen wives are murdered by their husbands' families every day
The number of girls and women who have been subjected to female genital mutilation is at more than 130 million individuals worldwide, and a further 2 million girls are at risk of this practice.4
Infibulation is almost universally practised in Djibouti. NGOs estimate that it ranges from 90% to 98% of the female population.
On average, in India, 200 women are murdered every year because they are believed to be witches. Most of the victims are widows who own land, or women with unwanted pregnancies. [http://www.ffq.qc.ca/marche2000/en/cahier/sexisme.html](http://www.ffq.qc.ca/marche2000/en/cahier/sexisme.html) [http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/740/context/archive](http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/740/context/archive) [http://www.whiteribbon.co.za/wmenu_statistics.html](http://www.whiteribbon.co.za/wmenu_statistics.html)
WIFE ASSAULT
- In Norway, one out of four women are victims of physical or sexual violence committed by a male partner.
- Every year, over 4 million women in the United States are victims of physical violence committed by a husband, lover or acquaintance.
- Every year in Russia, 14,000 women are killed by their husband or other male family member.
-about one-third of the women murdered in Japan each year are killed by their husbands.
-"1 in every 4 South African women or 25% of women in RSA are assaulted by their boyfriend or husband every week".
- one out of two women every year are killed by her partner in member states of European union. (Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Finland)
Some 20-50% of women in the world are, to varying degrees, victims of wife assault.
[This message has been edited by cool down (edited May 04, 2002).]I visit Pakistan every year.
Dont even try to insult me by implying that I know nothing.
who is trying to insult you???
http://www3.pak.org/gupshup/smilies/rolleyes.gif
[This message has been edited by cool down (edited May 06, 2002).]
PCG-
I believe that for those of us who weren't born & raised in Pakistan, and when we visit these countries, we look at them from an outsider's view which gives us a somewhat objective look at it. We don't just accept injustice as "a way of life" nor do we view these things like they do.
What is happening here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I understand the point Munni is making. Actually thanx for sharing... I myself was looking for some information on these topics. It is so difficult to make any estimation about these uncivilized human behaviours...I often hear people talk about this 'problem', but thought this happened on small scales somewhere in the rural areas...
BWT: Why all this 'fighting' in this thread... Why don't we try to understand the current situation, the reasoning behind this situation and try to come up with possible solutions to these problems...
Some things I can think about are:
* education
* moral values
* spiritual development