33 Countries of Origin’ Profiles

society limits women's mobility, places restrictions on their behaviour and activities, and permits them only limited contact with the opposite sex. Space is allocated to and used differently by men and women. For their protection and respectability, women have traditionally been expected to live under the constraints of purdah ( purdah is Persian for curtain), most obvious in veiling. By separating women from the activities of men, both physically and symbolically, purdah creates differentiated male and female spheres. Most women spend the major part of their lives physically within their homes and courtyards and go out only for serious and approved reasons. Outside the home, social life generally revolves around the activities of men. In most parts of the country, except perhaps in Islamabad, Karachi, and wealthier parts of a few other cities, people consider a woman--and her family--to be shameless if no restrictions are placed on her mobility. As with public life in general, work appears to be the domain of men. Rural women work for consumption or for exchange at the subsistence level. Others, both rural and urban, do piecework for very low wages in their homes. Their earnings are generally recorded as part of the family income that is credited to men. The traditional division of space between the sexes is perpetuated in the broadcast media. Women's subservience is consistently shown on television and in films. And, although popular television dramas raise controversial issues such as women working, seeking divorce, or even having a say in family politics, the programs often suggest that the woman who strays from traditional norms faces insurmountable problems and becomes alienated from her family 13 . GBV: Gender based violence is one of the most pervasive violations of rights of women in the country. According to the official figures released by the Ministry of Human Rights, 8648 incidents of human rights violation were reported in the country between January 2012 and September 15, 2015. These included 90 incidents of acid burning, 481 of domestic violence, 860 honour killings, 344 rape/ gang rapes, 268 sexual assault/harassment and 535 cases of violence against women. Another report by War Against Rape released in July 2015 stated that four women were raped every day in Pakistan in 2014, a 49 percent increase in the number of cases as compared to 2013. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan recorded 987 cases of honour crimes in 2015 with 1096 female victims and 88 male victims, out of which at least 170 were minors. The Acid Survivors Foundations conducted a study entitled “Situational Analysis” on acid violence 2015 in collaboration with National Commission on the Status of Women. The analysis revealed that from 2007 to June 2015, there were 1231 victims of acid violence in the country and 1004 acid attacks were reported. About 70 percent of the victims were women falling in the age bracket of 17-30 years. Sadly, GBV is on increase despite different government initiatives taken recently. 1 3 http://countrystudies.us/pakistan/36.htm