Honor killing occurs in countries around the world and is a huge issue that is occurring but it is not very known and emerged in the pre-Islamic era. Honor killing is when a female in the family does something that is shameful to the family and ruins the reputation of the family. This is happening in the middle eastern society where the males have all the power. This is how they set their reputation by if the women do something to ruin the family reputation of the family and the community finds out then this leads to the family killing the women. When the male kills the women, it is a way to get their power back throughout the community.
For these females do not want to disown their family, they have these rules that the males make and they have to follow them. The females in this society have no other choice because if they do not follow them then they will get killed by a male figure in their families. Countries that honor killing is happening in places in the middle east like Palestine, India, Uganda, Bangladesh and some other countries. Even if there is gossip going around, a father, husband, brother or a male figure in a family can kill the women because she has dishonored the family. The males have strict rules on a woman in the family which is for their protection. Honor killing in these societies can happen for various reasoning like the women does not want to wear what someone else in the family tell hers or wants to marry someone that her parents do not pick out for her.
In the middle east societies, these males set these rules for the women to follow and if they disobey these rules. If a woman disobeys these rules they have or even gossip goes around the town about a female doing anything that dishonors the family, they will be killed. Gossip in these countries is a very important tool which is the families code of honor. In the article Gossip, Scandal, Shame and Honor Killing states “Gossip is at the center of a family’s code of honor” (45). If the gossip goes around the town it is the shame and this is a threat to the family. In the middle east, some of the countries it is normal that the males have all the powers so if the women do something to dishonored the family, it just not to the family it is to the whole community that they live in. The family will do whatever it takes to get back their honor. In the middle east, protecting their family status is very important in these types of communities.
Having a good status of family honored in an important part in the middle east because it helps protect their economic status within the community. In these community it is very important to have a good status because it is a very competitive society. The males have all the power and they go to work. So, the males in these societies have to protect these women’s and set the rules so their status does not go down. Also, the males work all the time and constantly to achieve status both their economic and their masculinity.
Since the males have all the power, there is really no femininity in societies like these. If a woman in this society is to be seen alone with another male that is not someone in her family is another type of shame. Since a woman has to depend on the males to bring home all the money, if there is a single woman in their community it will not be normal. In this community these women are single and have kids it is an outcast and will not have any role within the legal system. This also leads to the women not having any money because it is not normal for women to work.
In these countries in the middle east, these women barely have a say in anything. In this society everything is chosen for a woman like who is getting married too and has no option if she wants too. Her father gets to choose who she will marry and if she wants to marry someone else this will lead her to dishonoring her family. A women’s sexuality is a huge part of these countries and these males will protect it but it is enough if she does anything to put the family reputation at risk. The reasoning behind honor killing in these society is protecting the women from having sexual freedom. In the article, Honor killing in Palestine states “In an Islamic context, punishment for relationships out of wedlock is stipulated as 100 lashes if the women is single, or if married, death by stoning” (13). This all happens out if there is suspicion that the women are honoring the family.
The progress of honor killing is different in every country, they all do something different. Every country has a different way of killing these women but the reason for why they kill these women are the same. All these countries kill these women if they bring shame to the family. If the women in the family does anything sexually it gives the family enough reason to kill her. In Pakistan there is a law called, Diyat which is the person that is supposed to inherit things from the person that is dying has the option to either send the person that’s doing the killer to prions or accept the compensation.
Also, if this law was not in place, the person that is killing the women would only have up to fourteen years in prison (12.) A father in Pakistan kills his daughter, the grandson of the family would have the choice to either put the father in prison or forgive him with compensation. In the article, Dying for the Family Honor states, “For example, in Pakistan, a person who is the heir of the victim is usually given the opportunity to forgive the accused or accept compensation rather than submit the offender to imprisonment” (12). Since most of the honor killing, it is the whole family that is supporting this so it is an acceptance of the honor killing happening. Usually since the whole family accept the killing happening, they usually never go to prison.
In these countries, there is a huge division between men and women. Between the way they are treated between the genders and now each gender is not equal at all. Women are held to such a higher stand and they have no other choice. In Egypt, there was a man that killed his wife because she was having an affair with another man. In the article, Dying for the family honor states, “instead of being sentenced to death, be punished by a prison term ranging from twenty-four hours to three years” (12).
Meanwhile, if a woman in Egypt committed a crime like this, she would have a completely different outcome. The gender inequalities in societies like these are so different where you are committing the same crimes but getting different punishments. There is also huge division for each gender about if they are virgins or not. In the Arab society it does not matter if the males are virgins or not. Nothing happens to the man if they are not but if the women is found to not be, she will end up killed.
Family reputation in the middle east in these societies is held so highly and if a woman does something to ruin it she will get into trouble. It does not take a family a lot to do something bad if the women dishonor the family. Even if the women got raped by another man they will kill her if they find out. In these societies no one would believe her that she has gotten raped. In the article Honor-bound: Self and Other in the Honor Culture of Robin Hobb’s Soldier Son Series states, “Had there been an actual rape, Nevare’s father explains, the situation would be clearer, nobody would have questioned the scout’s right to punish the rapists” (313).
In this societies, they would do something that is a little bit different. They would take both of the fathers and they would fight this out. There would be the fort commander there and let this fight go on. This fight that would be going on would happening so that the rape would be cleared within the community.
The Arab societies have different types of codes for honor killing which is to stop adultery going on. In the article Honor Killings and the Construction of Gender in Arab societies states, “Killing a woman because she fails to bleed on her wedding night is one possible scenario for honor killing” (918). In the Arab society, this is different scenario that can occur for honor killing. Since these families protect the women so much and make sure that they do not have sexual relationship with anyone because it is a way to protect them. If these women in the Arab societies should does not bleed then her husband can kill her. This woman if she does not bleed then it looks like she has already had sexual relationship with someone else and it is a dishonored to her family. Also, in Arab societies like many other societies that have been talked about, there could be violence if a woman is seen with a strange man.
In the Arab society being a man is a very powerful and very strict rules to follow if they want to keep being a male. In the article, Honor Killings and the Construction of Gender in Arab societies states “If a man doesn’t intervene by killing his sister or wife once she has shamed him, he suffers by a loss of his gender: he is no longer a man” (919). If a male’s sister or wife does something to dishonor him and if he does not do anything about it, he has the chance not to be a man anymore. Since these societies hold such a big power to men, these males cannot afford to lose their title like that because they would not have any power. These men would not have any masculinity anymore and would not fit into the society anymore if he does nothing about his wife or sister mistreating him.
In 2005, there was a law that was trying to get passed about honor killing but the Pakistan’s Parliament rejected the bill. A girl in Pakistan was raped by six men just to punish her brother. In the article, Pakistan: anti-honor killing bill rejected it states, “Mukhtar Mai was gang-raped by six men allegedly on the order of a village council to punish an offense blamed on her brother” (6). Someone that worked in the village council punished got this girl raped because her brother did something wrong. Out of all these men that raped her, most of them got cleared on an appeal.
This huge outrage in Pakistan lead to a protest that there has to be more of a protection in Pakistan. There was over hundreds of people at this protest because of how they were being treated in Pakistan. These women do not feel like they have anywhere to go because the judicial system have too many powerful people. There was a bill that was trying to get passed in Pakistan about how honor killing should not be happening anymore but the Parliament rejected this bill. If a woman in the family brings dishonor to her family, she can be killed.
In the Pakistan society, the men are in control of everything and if this change, this worries the men. These men hold property in Pakistan and they have the change of losing that if the change this law. These men are afraid that the women will go and marry whoever they want and will take it away. In the article, Pakistan: anti-honor killing bill rejected it states “Human right agencies in Pakistan report that most women who are victims of Karo-Kari are those wanting to marry of their own choosing and who hold property that the male members of the family might lose if the women marry outside the family” (6). The men are worried if this bill get passed that they will lose these women because they do not want to marry someone else. They cannot do so already because the family gets to choose who they are marrying.
In Pakistan if any women tried to change how they were treated within their families and their community no one would pay attention. They would just rejected what changes they were trying to bring. In the article, Killing Women Under the name of so-called “Family Honor” states, accordingly, any attempt by women to change this situation was totally rejected and considered a threat in the ownership of men as women traditionally are considered as a “a man’s factory” where the whole tribe depended on her ability to bear children which affect the tribe’s reproductive power” (159). A reason why these families protect the women so much and there sexually is because of the reproductive system.
The non-government organization has been trying to bring awareness to this issue in the middle east. It is very difficult bringing awareness to honor killing in these countries because some of these countries encourage this to happen and nothing will be happening to the people killing the women that dishonors the family. In the middle east, it is very hard to find out the exact numbers for the women that get killed. The only people that know is the cops but they do not do anything because it is normal when the women dishonors the family. Since the number of killings go unreported it is very difficult for non-government organization and other organization to start a campaign against honor killing. The Palestinians made relations with the Palestine coos and started to try to make a public issue.
In the article, Power and Sexuality in the Middle east states “For Su’adAbu Dayyeh, recognition of the WCLAC and other centers by police and governs is the most positive step in combating the victimization of women” (14). These groups are forming good relations with the cops to try to stop honor killing occurring and the men getting away from it. The Palestinians making good relations with the cops led to making this a public issue and raised a public debating about this occurring in the middle east. In these countries, there has to be a change in the laws that provide protection for both families and women. But in these countries, this will be led to struggle of power between the gender roles.
Honor killing has caused many people to die a year because these states authorize that this can happen. There are numerous reasons why a man can kill his sister or wife is she dishonors the family. It can be from she does not want to wear something that her family is wearing to getting into sexual arrangements. In the article, Killing Women Under the name of so-called “Family Honor” states “The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates that the annual worldwide total of honor-crimes victims may be as high as 5,000” (159). In these societies it is so hard to know the right number because often the only people that really know the exact number are the cops. Even when these girls try to protest about how the judicial system has to be better or try to get bills passed they are rejected by the court systems.
In Palestine there is a struggle for women’s right because of the shape of the government. Since the abusive is normal in these societies it is very difficult for women to have rights because the men control mostly everything. These women would mostly struggle with money because since the men control everything is would be very difficult to let them in the workplace. In the article, Killing Women Under the name of so-called “Family Honor” states “One of the hypotheses she suggest consists of feminist structure analysis that considers the role of socio-economic and political forces in shaping gender relation and the state” (165). There should be equally within the middle east of the women. One of the starts should be socio-economic because the women have no way of living for themselves because it is not normal for women to work in these societies. Women right within these societies have to change and these countries have to reshape their countries for femininity.
Honor killing happens in the middle east when women dishonors the family reputation or is caught going something that is not her husband. Gossip throughout the community is a huge technic they use to find out if the female family member has been faithful to the family. It only takes a little gossip and her opinion does not matter. If there is talk around the community about the female, the family will kill her because they cannot afford their reputation being destroyed within the community. The family reputation has to remain high because these societies are very competitive and for these family’s economic status.
All these honors killing for men are a way to prove his masculinity throughout the community. In the middle east, they care so much about their reputation and how other people see their families. There are various reasons why these families kill their wife or sister because of mistreating the family. Women are not as powerful as men in these societies and not as important in their economic system. There are these women that have been through so much and trying to get these laws change but they just reject the bills. Between the genders there is a struggle of power. The men in the middle east hold such a high power over the females and they have to follow it or else they will get killed. In societies like these, there is no traits of femininity because the men have to achieve a higher status of masculinity.
