Outcast

The Hunger Project Online Briefing Program  The Condition of Women in South Asia Page 19 of 25

Life-cycle

Violence is designed to keep women suppressed in the family and society. It starts from childhood and is part of the way parents bring up their daughters, for instance, always telling them 'Don't speak loudly.' According to the prevailing social customs, if a woman is the victim of violence, she is blamed rather than sympathized with.

-Bangladeshi man

You should not beat your wife, but if the food is not ready, if the rotis are not hot, what choice do you have?

-Male, Jat, Uttar Pradesh

• Women in South Asia are denied fundamental opportunities: to health care, education, nutritious food, and the chance to have a voice in the decisions that affect their lives.

• The system that denies women their humanity and self-hood in South Asia is kept in place by violence and the ever-present threat of violence.

• Fear of physical and sexual violence keeps young girl children out of school. It prevents women from participating in community decision making.

• Violence increases the chances that a mother will die in childbirth, or that her baby will be malnourished. It gives rise to long-term physical and mental health problems, and sometimes leads to murder or suicide.

• Charlotte Bunch, director of the Center for Women's Global Leadership, has said, "Long after slavery was abolished in most of the world, many societies still treat women like chattel: Their shackles are poor education, economic dependence, limited political power, limited access to fertility control, harsh social conventions and inequality in the eyes of law. Violence is a key instrument used to keep these shackles on."

• Without a drastic change in the status of women at all levels of society, violence against women - and hunger in South Asia - will persist.

Outcast

The Hunger Project Online Briefing Program  The Condition of Women in South Asia Page 19 of 25

Life-cycle