Domestic violence in Pakistan a 'silent pandemic', 'serious challenge' to society: ADB report

A new report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has put the spotlight on the rising domestic violence, including physical assault, on women in Pakistan.

The report titled "Gendered Impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic in Central and West Asia" which was seen by WION aimed at exploring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women in the South Asian country while also throwing light on the ADB projects in Central and West Asia (CWA), including in Afghan­istan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

The 64-page report detailed the "lessons learned and opportunities for gender-responsive public investment."

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The report which zoomed in on the state of women in the country was backed by a recent survey that laid out the shocking rise in instances of domestic violence in Punjab and Sindh province in Pakistan. The survey said that 40 per cent of women in Pakistan were inflicted with physical violence, while 46 per cent faced physical assault from spouses.

"14 per cent of surveyed women knew someone in their community who was threatened with physical harm by their husband, 19 per cent knew someone who was physically assaulted by her husband, and 27 per cent knew of cases where children were beaten by their parents," the report highlighted.

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Human rights activists in Pakistan have already labelled domestic violence instances in Pakistan as endemic.

The report also cited the Gender Inequality Index, a parameter that scored the countries basis their gender parity in education, labour markets, maternal and adolescent mortality rates, and women’s parliamentary representation.

The ADB report, while quoting the data in the Central and West Asia (CWA) region, said that Kazakhstan (0.9) and Armenia (0.245) ranked higher on the Gender Inequality Index while Afghanistan (0.66) and Pakistan (0.54) displayed the most gender inequality.

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Moreover, the maternal mortality ratio was at a stunning140 maternal deaths out of 100,000 live births registered in 2017. The report also pointed to the gap in the economic participation between men and women in Pakistan.

"Economic participation of women is relatively low compared to men in all nine countries, with an extremely wide gap in Pakistan, where only 20.6 per cent of employment-age women participate in the labour market compared with 77.7 per cent of men, as well as in Afghanistan, where 16.2 per cent of women participate in the formal labour market versus 65.6 per cent of men," as per the report.

Also, in Pakistan, just 27.6 per cent of girls go to secondary school in comparison to 45.7 per cent of boys.

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ADB said that a review of articles on domestic violence during the pandemic "shed light on the need to change biased discourses on violence that take a masculine, hegemonic perspective, conveying the meaning that women are voiceless and lack agency."

"The review of these articles also confirmed that domestic violence is emerging as a silent pandemic in Pakistan, posing a serious challenge to society and the state," it added.

(With inputs from agencies)