Justice vs. environment with patriarchal overtones

     It is very hard to underestimate the role of the society for people. It does not only form what is known as “personality” but also dictates a set of rules and postulates for its members. Society has two genders – male and female gender and it is common knowledge that the argument of priority distribution has been always topical in terms of this fact. As a matter of fact the role of women in the society has always been artificially reduced with the help of various factors and historically as a consequence of the notion that man is physically stronger and therefore can perform more work. Therefore the men have been always valued more than women and correspondingly obtained more privileges, opportunities and possibilities. And women in their turn are always doubted in their ability to manifest a correct decision-making ability.

     What is a woman in an environment with patriarchal overtones? Women there are actually instruments for the satisfaction of the required needs of the “valuable man” who is believed to be superior to women. The environment with patriarchal overtones has its own justice which has nothing to do with the principle of equality. In such patriarchal societies the notion of justice is based not on human right but on the local interpretation of law with the transformed principles of morality, dignity and law complied with universal values. There are patriarchal societies where justice is the synonym of the dominance of men over women, the defense of human rights and equality is a myth.

     One of the examples is the status of the women who live in Nepal. The country has the 1990 Constitution which is based on the principles of defending the human rights of each and every Nepal. Nevertheless, the justice does not present any law which supports this fundamental principle (Martin, 2008).Historically, this patriarchal society has harshly limited the human rights of the women as the legal system is based on the principle of patriarchy. Correspondingly women in Nepal have rather insignificant possibilities to have any type of property and any types of assets. This automatically converts them into a “not so valuable element” of the countries society and the “social meaning” is rather low. In other words, legally, women do not have the possibility to function and live as without no right for education, healthcare, property or credit they become social handicaps. The fundamental rights are substituted by patriarchic severe demands.

Another example that justice in the environments with patriarchal overtones is based on the notion that women are less valuable than men is Pakistan. Just like Nepal all human rights for women are neglected and any “international standards of justice” are ignored (Mirza, 2008). The law does not protect them, as when the woman is raped it is necessary to present at least four witnesses of a male gender otherwise the rapist is not returned guilty.  This is very often simply impossible, though according to the statistics “rape occurs approximately every three hours” in Pakistan (Mirza, 2008). Here the patriarchy comes from the Islamic postulates which dictate the legal system of the country. The legal system of the environments with patriarchal overtones is not objective and does not protect the human right of women as it is dictated by the “fact” that men are more valuable for the society.