Measured response needed to deal with violence against women

While the rape of a lady doctor inside the Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital should be viewed with the disgust and anger that it deserves, it once again brings to light an ingrained problem in Sri Lankan society of violence against women.

Despite Sri Lanka been held up as a safe haven for women, including in some travel magazines as the number one destination for solo female travellers, the bitter and uncomfortable truth is that women in the country are at risk of being subject to sexual harassment, sexual assault, rape and even worse, murder. There are comparisons often made with other countries in South Asia to make Sri Lanka look good, but as any Lankan woman will know, the picture is far from rosy.

Doctors in Sri Lanka are considered a privileged class but the brutal attack on the lady doctor shows that when it comes to sexual violence no one is safe. Since the incident, many lady doctors have taken to social media to highlight the unsafe conditions under which they work particularly in government hospitals, in far off remote places, on night shifts, with the minimum amount of security. If this is the plight of a lady doctor in the country, will other women question how safe they are from such attacks?

Going by some of the disgusting comments linked to the Anuradhapura incident, one side of the problem is very clear. Victim blaming and shaming is a favourite pastime of some sick minded persons, and they are one of the biggest reasons why women in the country feel unsafe.

Then there are the Police or law enforcement authorities who for a long time have been paying lip service when it comes to the safety and security of women when within the Police force itself there have been numerous cases of women personnel being harassed. Rape cases in the country are considerably underreported given that such cases are rarely taken with the seriousness or the urgency they deserve. This has made not only victims of rape but also other forms of gender-based violence including domestic violence to think twice before going to a police station to lodge a complaint.

Statistics of intimate partner violence in Sri Lanka are also deeply troubling with women being subject to not only physical violence but also sexual violence within relationships. Society as a whole has shown little empathy to such cases which makes women shy away from seeking justice to punish the culprits.

These are problems with Sri Lankan society as a whole and while the Government has to take some responsibility and take immediate steps against the suspect involved and enact laws for more stringent punishments, there must be a measured response and no ad hoc actions, so that there is no repetition of such incidents.

The incident involving a doctor has no doubt angered the medical community in the country and rightly so. Given the tireless work they carry out in the country, this kind of incident must get the kind of attention it deserves but inconveniencing thousands of patients by union action has to be done after careful consideration.

Meanwhile we have a history of bolting the stable door after the horse has fled. This is not only with regard to the incident involving a member of the medical fraternity but in many other cases as well. Some temporary measures will be put in place only to be soon forgotten.

The country and men in particular have a big role to play in ensuring the safety of women in the country. Their attitude goes a long way in building a society where women are treated with the respect they deserve. So while stringent laws are needed to punish those involved in gender based violence, there needs to be more open discussion in the country so that the safety and security of women is front and centre, not some hidden subject that surfaces only when a horrendous incident like the rape of the lady doctor takes place.