Violence against women in Pakistan – A cultural or a criminal problem?

Abstract

There are various problems and issues surrounding the subject of violence against women but the most complex one is the harassment and violence against them. This has always been a dominating social and public health problem which always needs a considerable attention, as it depicts physical, psychological, social and emotional significances (Sarwar, 2013 & Pico-Alfonso et al., 2006) According to World Health Organization (WHO), it is estimated that globally about 1 in 3 (35%) of women worldwide suffers intimidation, domination, victimization and/or emotional abuse affected by the intimate sexual partner (World Health Organization, 2017). Interpreting violence against women is a complicated issue which includes beating, murder, kidnap, rape, physical assault, acid throwing, forcefully aborting female babies, battering and courtship violence (Khan et al., 2009).