Mukhtar Mai, in Pakistan was ganged raped in revenged due to
the orders of trial court in 2002. Now a decade later of the age of 39, she is
fighting back for her rights and others rights of females in her country. She is
actually paying an honor revenge by a tribal assembly because her 12 year old
brother was wrongly accused of improper relations with a woman in another tribe.
She was 28 when this incident took place. Due to this act they thought it was
fair to punish her for her for her brother’s alleged crime. Most rapes in her
country go unreported in her country and she thought that it was time to fight
back with encourage from members in her community. She went to court and 6 men went on trial. They
were sentenced to death for the rape in 2011. Then the ruling was overturned
and only one suffered for the crime. Also in her past she already had to deal
with a marriage that was forced upon her at 13. When she divorced and returned
home the rape took place. After this incident she decided to start her own
organization, Mukhtar Mai Women’s Organization. This was the first school that
she started out of her home. She wanted to use education as a way for women to
not be treated unfairly that were poor. She did what she could to keep her
school running without funding and had to sell her own things for three years
to pay the teacher’s salary. There was 1 teacher and 3 students including herself
in the school. In 2005 she gained recognition internationally and she began to
get donations and government money. Now her school has 550 girls who receive free
education, books and uniforms from nursery to high school age. Funding is
needed. Also Ms. Mukhtar has opened up a women’s shelter and resource center
for victims of violence and she has published a memoir, “In the Name of Honor
in 2006. In 2009 she married a police offer who is her like a personal body
guard. Ms. Mukhtar says that because of Malala Yousafzai who is now 15 girls
are starting to get an education. Young Malala was shot by the Taliban for her courageous
act of trying to campaign for girls education she is now recovering from the
incident.
This article is significant due to where the crime of Mukhtar
Mai took place and what she did about it. It is not uncommon for honor killings
or honor revenges to take place in her country. It is actually a culturally
thing sadly in which women have to pay the price due to men’s faults and unjust
double standards against women. It does show how women can be unjustly punished
for things they did not do or that are unfair on the basis of gender. It is
also significant that she stood her ground and went to court and did something
about what happened to her. She fought back bravely even though others threatened
her life for doing so. Also she took it upon herself to open up a school a and
shelter to fight back even more. With her courage there a poor girls who may
not have had the opportunity to go to school can now. These girls going to
school represents possible change in their country on women’s rights. Also
Mukhtar Mai has shown the world what she can do for others regardless of her
gender and regardless of possibly being hurt standing up for herself and most importantly
other women who do not have a voice.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/19/world/asia/mukhtar-mai-pakistan-gang-rape/index.html?hpt=wo_mid
Chanel Martin
2/22/13
4:33 PM
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