Rights, women, and the state of Pakistan

Abstract

Violence against women is a problem around the world. Addressing the issues of physical and sexual violence against women has been a complicated endeavor for criminologists. Much of the traditional criminological research on violence against women has frequently focused on rape as a crime of power between individuals. However, this framework has been expanded to incorporate the analysis of rape during times of war and rape as a state crime. In these cases, rape serves a broader purpose within the military and social structure. By focusing on the specific case of the gang rape of Mukhtar Mai, the goal of this paper was to demonstrate and analyze the role of the state in many of these crimes. Mukhtar Mai’s case should not be understood in isolation, but as a way to illuminate the role of the state in these numerous crimes.

Keywords:

• state crime
• rape
• sexual assault
• women’s rights
• victimology
• Pakistan

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sara Brightman

Professor Sara Brightman earned an undergraduate degree in Sociology and Woman’s Studies from Central Michigan University. She earned her Master’s and PhD in Sociology from Western Michigan University. Professor Brightman’s areas of interest include state and corporate crime as well as the victims of state and corporate crimes. Other areas of interest include international law, human rights, woman’s rights, social movements, and criminological theory.

Professor Brightman has conducted research on state crimes by police and the judicial system in Pakistan, as well as state crimes by police and military in Nigeria. She has worked on a project involving United Nations Peacekeepers and the accusations that they are committing sexual violence against women in refugee camps. Her current research focuses on eugenics and state crime restorative justice in North Carolina. Professor Brightman’s dissertation addressed the systematic nature of sexual violence against women committed by United States actors, focusing on the military, police, corrections officers, and boarder control agents.