Girls
against boys:and the winner is...
Editorial
There has been an alarming increase in the rate of suicide amongst
the young female population in Chitral. The phenomenon needs to be
studied carefully and elaborately to identify the reasons and find
out ways to check this unfortunate trend.
Female gender has always been given a lower berth in the family
setup in traditional Chitral. Whereas the number of male issues of a
person were considered the measurement of his strength, female off
springs were owned up as a liability in the traditional culture of
Chitral evident by the practice that birth of a son was celebrated
loudly while a daughters birth went as much unreported as was
possible.
Over the years,
practices have changed. Female education has become popular in
Chitral but a healthy follow up of the elementary education remains
wanted. Even today girls after attaining puberty become a cause of
concern for the parents and they try to wed them off at the earliest
opportunity, and in this, the girl's choice (or even willingness at
times) is not a priority. The natural outcome of this phenomenon is
that girls become frustrated and depending on the type of their
personality, some elope while some capitulate under mental pressure
and commit suicide.
Other than the
marriage issue, the problem for the female gender is that they are
torn apart between two cultures, one being their family's orthodox
traditions and the other being the dish culture which beams Indian
dramas round the clock in their homes showing an entirely different
and opposite world. Those who do not get an outlet and who cannot
cope with this psychological conflict choose the ultimate form of
revenge from their family and the society in the form of committing
suicide.
It must be
mentioned that a section of the Chitrali society specially in the
Ismaili community have paid special attention to higher education of
their female population and resultantly many are well placed in the
country and abroad, but the vast majority of female population in
Chitral sees not much light as long as healthy openings are not
offered to them for playing an active and effective role in the
society, other than merely getting wedded and bearing
children. -- CN Editorial,15
June 2012.
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