Obaid-Chinoy Oscar Shows the Importance of Engaging Men
Tue, March 1, 2016
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy accepts her Oscar. (Photo: Screenshot from video)
At the 2016 Oscar awards, Canadian-Pakistani documentary film-maker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy did both countries proud. Not only for winning an Oscar for her film A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness, but with her acceptance speech.
In it she applauded "the men who champion women."
When Obaid-Chinoy’s documentary about the survivor of an honor killing in Pakistan was short listed for the Oscars nomination, the Prime Minister of Pakistan Mr. Nawaz Sharif saw it. He publicly announced that he would work to change the laws regarding honor killings in his country.
This is a phenomenal breakthrough in a country that reports approximately 800 honor killings a year and also shows how “determined women” can educate male leaders on the issues that affect women.
Watch Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's Acceptance Speech:
Honor Killing is an international scourge.
The United Nations Population Fund estimates that 5,000 women are killed each year for "dishonoring" their families. In parts of the world where patriarchal codes and religious laws exist, the penalty for honor-killings is much lighter than for other crimes. For example according to Article 340 of Jordan’s penal code, men were completely exempt from liability for honor-killing; in another section, a "lesser penalty" was imposed.
It’s not a co-incidence that a film on honor killing wins an Oscar so close to March 8 - International Women’s Day.
On a previous International Women’s Day in 2014, Honor Diaries was released globally. This award-winning documentary showcased nine women activists speaking about the issues of honor based violence and discussing ways to resolve the growing problem in Muslim Majority societies.
One of the points brought up in the film was the education and involvement of men to stem the rising tide of violence against women. The World Health Organization affirms that one in three women will experience violence from a male partner. A recent UN study in a half-dozen Asian countries finds that one in four men have raped. In cases of honor based violence, it’s almost always men who are the perpetrators especially in rural areas.
So it doesn’t come as a surprise that some of the work on engaging and educating men in issues of violence against women is happening in Pakistan. Samar Minallah Khan, anthropologist and a documentary film maker who makes documentaries about gender-based violence is quoted in an interview as saying “The struggle to end violence against women has always been carried out by women activists. Women have worked very hard to bring awareness, but it will never be enough."
This is why she travels to villages and engages men to stop brutal practices such as giving away their daughters to settle family feuds. It was seen that when men take up the challenges and start speaking to other men in the village to stop barbaric practices against their women, it has a greater impact.
Another film that exposes the male mind set is India’s Daughter which was showcased at the first Censored Women’s Film Festival (CWFF) held in November 2015 in Washington DC hosted by Georgetown University and Honor Diaries. In this film the perpetrators of a gang rape and other males feel that women are responsible for what happens to them when men assault them.
In Canada, Aruna Papp, an Educator and Advocate for Abused Women working in the area of HBV is working to set up education for men. She says "As long as women and girls are viewed as commodities in the global society, and not as human beings with equal rights to men, murder in the name of family honor, trafficking, rape and child marriages will continue. As well, we need to erase the myth that killers of women are uneducated tribal men who view honor killings as a badge of manly honor. Honor based violence is deeply rooted in all aspects of global society manifested in various forms."
This mind set needs to change. So on International Women’s Day this year, let’s start a healthy campaign to educate and engage men to help eradicate honor based violence.
Raheel Raza is a the President of the Council for Muslims Facing Tomorrow, a human rights advocate and one of the stars of the award-winning interfaith documentary Honor Diaries.