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by Nadira GUNATILAKE

Violence against women and male chauvinism

There is one subject that haunts the female community no matter how hard we try to forget it or eliminate it. It comes to the limelight time to time sending shock waves all over Sri Lankan female community.

When we watch and read these cases over media we feel how unfortunate we are to see and hear it in a regular basis. I am referring to the murder of a young female Bank Executive of Ja-Ela.

Violence against women, is an issue that becomes the favourite topic of certain organisations all the time and a good news/feature for media despite being the pathetic plight of Sri Lankan women community. It seems violence against women has emerged to linger forever however hard we try to eradicate it.

The female bank executive from Ja-Ela was not the first or last innocent woman murdered by blood thirsty two legged beasts in human bodies.

First it was an innocent pretty undergraduate from the Kelaniya University and then an innocent school girl from Kiriella. Now this Bank Executive from Ja-Ela. These are the innocent girls killed in the recent past.

It is very disappointing to see even some writers/reporters sympathise with the killer who is still alive and doing fine. It is very funny to see how some feature writers elaborate the `sad story’ of the killer who says the girl slapped him and hit him on the face with her shoe before he killed her.

The girl is no more there to say whether she did it or not. The killer can create any big lie to win the sympathy. The writers turn a blind eye to the fact that the killer was not an innocent lover but a womaniser who had many illicit affairs.

I wonder whether these writers will write the story in the same way if it happened to one of their sisters or daughters. As usual they blame the police for everything as they end their ‘colourful story’.

It seems innocent girls are going to be killed regularly no matter whatever step is taken by the authorities to stop such crimes.

The most unfortunate thing is the society, policy makers and law enforcement authorities considering such incidents as ‘personal/isolated’ and not paying adequate attention to prevent similar crimes taking place in the future. Raising awareness is only way out for these crimes.

When you look at the latest incident you may see it as a result of a personal problem or a dispute between two individuals. But it is not. The same thing may happen to you, your own sister/daughter/friend the next day. Only then will you see the gravity of it but then it will be too late.

There is no argument about the punishment that should be given to these type of murderers. It should be death penalty and nothing less than that. The demand of the public for death penalty grow stronger and louder with this type of incidents.

Their latest demand is death penalty (at least) against criminals who commit crimes against women and children. Unfortunately the support extended by other relevant parties to Child Development and Women’s Empowerment Minister to bring relevant legislations is not satisfactory at all.

It seems most of them are interested in protecting the human rights of criminals than protecting the human rights of crime victims or focus on certain advantages of being in the protesting sides.

It is impossible to expect everything from the Police. Personal security is something very important for present day Sri Lankan women because violence against women is rapidly escalating.

Better to be ready to face a crisis. Nothing needs to be spent to have a plan ready in advance. Some experts may identify this as `negative thinking or being pessimistic’ but they won’t be there to rescue women from killers.

A woman cannot expect the police to protect her from a future crime which is not visible. Most of the responsibilities lie with her when it comes to personal safety. She should be intelligent enough to deny.

She should inform the parents/guardians of both parties as soon as possible, taking precautionary actions, stick to ‘Out of sight - out of mind’ concept if possible. She should not waste her valuable time to figure out whether the person is a lunatic or not.

Male chauvinism is another major factor which contributes towards crimes. Males who are brainwashed by male chauvinism believe that a female is his property and he can do whatever he wishes with it. Males who promote this encourage other ordinary males to commit crimes especially when it comes to rejection.

This is common in rural areas than urban areas. The existing laws and punishments are not adequate at all to change this mindset of males. Under these conditions we can expect more similar brutal murders in future.

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