There are crimes. And then there are crimes against women. This latter category is the worst outcome of living in such a heavily patriarchal world. Women all over are paying the price for being the “fairer sex”, the “weaker sex” and many more liberally applied adjectives that have little to do with science and more with sound ignorance of the mind. Though women have been oppressed over centuries, the past few decades have seen crimes against women to be particularly on the rise and become obscenely brutal. There was a time when rape was the worst fate imaginable for a woman. Today given the way criminals have advanced their play, the mere act of rape no longer ignites outrage out of an audience that initially faced despair and now are simply apathetic. Now what makes headlines are gang rapes, being stoned to death, honour killings, acid attacks, etc. The truth is far worse than your imagination.
Ironically the myth was that women in western first world countries are at par with men, have equal rights and are infinitely more better off than their third world country counter parts. On paper, some these are even true. The millions of women world over who survive daily without any semblance of the most basic human rights dream about freedom, about escaping to a country where they can live like humans. Then the Steubenville rape case occurred and reminded us that even women in America share the problems of their third world sisters. In general they may be treated with some semblance of equality, but when a tragedy like this occurs it strips of the facade of civilization that we wear with such impunity. While the victim’s naked body was parodied and riled on social media, the media had nothing but sympathy for the two rapists. It felt remorse at how their promising future and potential will now be wasted because of this “stupid incident”.
This incident is a horrific reminder that we girls are on our own at the end of the day. Our safety is our responsibility. You cannot depend on your constitutional rights, your democratic citizenship or a free and fair media that had promised to deliver justice. Being cautious is not a choice anymore. It is a necessity born out of the cruel times you live in. Be careful where you live, where you work. But most importantly, be careful when you travel. Tourists and travellers are seen as “fresh meat”, an “easy prey” for a spot of fun. Here are the top ten most unsafe cities for women in the world.
10. Nairobi, Kenya
Nairobi was not always as dangerous as it is today. Despite the danger warnings, it still remains a popular tourist spot. In fact Prince William had proposed to his then girlfriend Kate Middleton in a secluded mountain spot in Kenya. The country has long been a favourite holiday destination of the royals and Nairobi with its hotspots and cosmopolitan culture is not far behind. But the country is not what it used to be anymore. The sinking economy has increased the numbers of criminals on the street. Night time mugging, robbing and rape incidents are tremendously high. Al Shabab militants have promised to launch attacks during the holy month of Ramzan. The city is on the verge of terrorist activities. A woman’s safety cannot be gambled on the terse situation of the country right now.
9. Sana’a, Yemen
Given the number of American tourists that have been kidnapped and ransomed on Yemen soil, it should be safe to assume that it is no one’s idea of a vacation spot. Yemen is still recovering from the throes of an intense uprising where the US backed Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi launched an invasive attack on the staunch Islamists of the south. A litany of political figures have been assassinated and though the area is stable for now, the tension brewing below the surface is explosive. The local Yemeni man carries a Jambiya or a huge dagger in preparation of the violence he is likely to meet or create. Tourists returning from Yemen have frightful tales to tell.
8. Ciudad Juarez, Mexico
The gangster wars of Ciudad Juarez may have inspired a whole slew of Hollywood action flicks along the lines of Desperado and Once Upon A Time in Mexico, but the reality of having to live there is far from a movie. Innocent citizens are ceaselessly caught up in the crossfire between the warring drug cartels Sinaloa and Juarez. Police and government authorities have very little say in the matter. In 2010, three thousand people were killed in the city whose population is no more than 1.3 million. In 2011, armed gunmen entered a bar and murdered seven women. Incidents like this are more the norm than the exception. Though Ciudad Juarez is only a few miles away from the US border, its intense drug culture and open lawlessness should be a clear warning to any woman, or man for that matter, attempting to get a taste of Latin America.
7. Haryana, India
Haryana is a state, not a city. But barring it from this list on a condition of technicality would be an error. Few places have crimes committed against women as chronically as Haryana. Despite raising alarm bells all over the country, little measures have been taken to curb their constant abuse of justice. It is not the capital city of Chandigarh that women need to stay wary of. Rather, Chandigarh is quite an advanced metropolitan. It is the beautiful but treacherous rural backyard of the state that should have warning signboard placed all over, lest women think of entering. The following incident happened not in Haryana but a little known village in Madhya Pradesh. A Swiss woman was bicycling when she was attacked by local youths who robbed and raped her. My reason for mentioning this incident here, as well as for including a state instead of a city, is because north Indian rural areas are deadly traps for single female tourists. Haryana is a typical example. For the past many decades, infanticide and female foeticide have been so common here that the male female sex ratio is 834 females per 1000 males. This has caused such a terrible shortage of women in the area. Men are forced to remain unmarried. Women are trafficked from other parts of the country and the world to meet these impossible demands. Single females travelling on their own are doomed. Several stories have been reported where young brides are passed between different men of the same family in lieu of lack of other eligible women. Haryana also has the dubious honour of the highest rate of honour killings.
6. Mogadishu, Somalia
Being featured at number six on this list is actually quite a promotion for Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. Up until very recently, it was unanimously voted the most dangerous city in the world and occupied that position for a long time. The area was known for its inherent crimes against women as long as Al Qaeda backed militants ruled the roost here. The last fully functioning government had collapsed in the early nineties, following a coup of sorts. The UN and other embassies pulled out soon after. After two decades of continual lawlessness the Somalian people, and especially the women, had had enough. In 2007, African Union Fighters pushed out the militants and started the tenuous task of rebuilding. Since then the city has become much safer than what it was, but still not safe enough to be a woman in.
5. Peshawar, Pakistan
Pakistan is infinitely better off in its treatment if women when compared with other fundamentalist Islamic countries. However, much remains to be desired. A western female tourist might be relatively safe travelling in Karachi, Islamabad or Lahore. But venture into rural regions or the Swat valley at your own risk because all bets are off here. Peshawar is a frontier city of Pakistan and the place is so rife with violence that it is unsafe for people of all gender, caste, creed and colour. Foreigners are special targets though. Petty tribes fight among each other and with local warlords to establish superiority. Heads of authority change frequently and government laws and rules have little say in matters of local administration. Suicide bombings are a daily event here. An American woman travelling here would be a sitting duck.
4. Kabul, Afghanistan
If I could put every city of Afghanistan on this list, it would still not completely convey how dangerous a country this is for women. Kabul is by no means the only or the worst city for women in Afghanistan. Since it is the capital of the country, it is named the best example to cite. As far as safety of women are concerned, Kabul is perfectly interchangeable with Kandahar or any other Afghani city. In 2008 American teacher Cyd Mizell was kidnapped. No ransom demands followed this and she has not been found to date. She is believed to have been killed. In 2009, a law was passed in the country that made rape within marriage legal. Aisha Bibi is an Afghan girl who had been married at thirteen into a Taliban family so her father could pay off personal debts. After years of bearing intense physical and mental torture, she tried to run away from home. She was found, captured and tried in a court of law which deemed her guilty. As a punishment they cut off her nose and ears and left her to die in the hills. Beheadings are rampant in the country. Christians are openly prosecuted and murdered. Women found guilty of the slightest conceived misdemeanours are lashed publicly or simply stoned to death. They are required to wear heavily intrusive Burqas at all times and not allowed to travel without the permission of their male overlords. As the US troops prepare to vacate the country by 2014 and the Taliban keep gaining stronghold day by day, one can surmise that the situation is only going to get worse. Check out the movie Khuda Kay Liye, by Shoaib Mansoor or the Phyllis Chester’s memoirs, “An American Bride in Kabul” to fully comprehend the pathetic situation.
3. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Like Afghanistan, Riyadh being the capital of Saudi Arabia is a mere example of what hell the country can be for women. Sharia laws are prevalent and enforced throughout the country. The Mutaween Committee of the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice troll around malls, coffee shops, fair stalls and other public spaces to detect and punish anyone (mostly women) whom they deem to be dressed or behaving indecently. Girls and boys socializing together are severely officially penalized. A young girl dressed in the proper Islamic attire was walking in a mall and listening to music in her iPod. She was arrested, especially when the religious police noticed that she was wearing nail polish as well. In 2009 a court upheld an eight year old girl’s marriage to a fifty eight year old man, declaring that the police would keep an eye on the man so that he cannot have sex with her before she reaches puberty. In the same year a seventy five year old woman was sentenced to forty public whip lashes because she was seen in the company of two men who were not relatives. The fact that one of the men was her baker and delivering her bread did not count. A father had been raping his five year old daughter for years and one day she succumbed to her injuries. The imposed a measly fine and let him off with no prison sentence. Laws of the country also prevent women from doing basic activities like driving or going about unaccompanied. Read a Saudi Woman’s Blog (saudiwoman.me) to go in-depth into the country that has no place for Women, only slaves.
2. Cape Town, South Africa
This exotic holiday destination is a death trap for women. The divide that exists between the rich and poor classes of society here are so extreme that the crime figures are really no surprise. One part of the city is home to the most luxurious homes and hotels, the swankiest clubs and restaurants of the world. The other part of the city is rife with slum dwellings where people can barely afford a meal a day. The poor are treated obnoxiously, denied any privilege of healthcare, decent wages or fair treatment. Instead they are relegated to their crowded huts from where they watch the glittering lights of the fancy people swallow their livelihood. Out of this rage and anger is born a resentment to hurt and take by force what is denied to them by right. The pattern has been so embedded that horrific crimes are routine here. Unfortunately, the most hapless victims are the women. Though hushed statistic speak of a terrible state of the local women, these are rarely revealed to the international media. That is why Anni Dewani thought nothing of the fact when she decided to take a ride through the slums of Cape Town in a bid to see the real Africa when she went there on her honeymoon in November 2010. Her subsequent brutal murder and the ensuing heightened media coverage around it shed light on exactly how unsafe Cape Town is for women. This idea was reinforced in February 2013 when a seventeen year old girl Anen Booysan gang raped so violently that it caused her death. Her throat had been slit, her body mutilated and disemboweled her hands and legs broken and her fingers smashed. Her funeral was attended by hundreds of citizens who chanted “Enough is enough” as a means of protest.
1. New Delhi, India
New Delhi is the capital of India. Of late though it has earned a new epithet. Given the huge rise of rapes and other crimes against women that the city has been steadfastly witnessing, it is now termed as the Rape capital of the country. It is going to be very rare to find a young working girl in Delhi who has not faced some degree of harassment, be it eve teasing, stalking, molestation or the most dreaded rape. This title is further carried forward when the few daring victims who do step forward to register a complaint or an F.I.R. face the torture of police questioning. They are treated as the criminals themselves. After quizzing them intensely on what they were wearing while the crime occurred, why they were out so ate at night in the first place, were they with other boys, intimate questions about the nature of the attack, etc., then either they penalize them even more or simply refuse to register the complaint. In Rajasthan, the neighbouring state of Delhi, a ten year old girl had been raped by a 35 year old man of a higher caste. When the little girl’s mother took her to the police station to report the crime, the police advised them to drop it. When they refused, the police arrested them instead. Justice they call it.
Of course the reason Delhi really lands this coveted position is because of the gang rape of 23 year old student Nirbhaya. This incident jolted the nation into action. A flurry of protests occurred, policies were enacted and the girl’s fate was universally lamented on all news channels. Did it really make any difference? , It did not deter the number of rapes in the city. A British national was attacked in her hotel room by the owner. She jumped from her balcony in a bid to save herself and injured herself severely.
A few months later a five year old girl was raped by her neighbour who shoved candles and plastic glass bottles up her body. Last week a six year old girl’s sexually assaulted body, with her throat slit, was found near a men’s toilet. But you haven’t heard everything yet. In 2004 a couple of men came across a cow munching grass in a field. They tied her legs to a tractor and sexually assaulted her repeatedly. Then they mutilated her hide with a butcher’s knife, carving into it over and over again till the gentle animal was able to feel pain no longer.
