ATTITUDES, FACTORS, AND ATTRIBUTION OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR HONOUR KILLING

Abstract

The killing of women to regain honour has occurred since ancient times globally. Incidents of honour killing have increasingly been reported in Pakistan and are estimated to be one-quarter of worldwide honour related killings. Regardless of the highest rates of honour killing in Pakistan, there is a lack of empirical studies exploring social, economic, cultural, religious, legal factors and attitudes that are responsible for honour killing. The aim of the present study was to unearth attitudes, and perpetuating factors leading to honour killing. The present research was broadly divided into four studies. Study I and II were qualitative in nature and were based on in-depth interviews of professionals and murderers’ respectively. Adopting the framework of grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967), professionals (n = 30, including journalists, police officials, social activists, religious scholars, and psychologists) and murderers’ (n = 05), male murderers in jail convicted for honour killing) were approached for interviews. These interviews were carried out to explore and understand attitudes and factors associated with honour killing in Pakistan. The findings of the qualitative studies further revealed that honour killing is a multilayered consequential phenomenon that is interplay of sociocultural, legal, psychological, emotional, cognitive, and religion based factors. Study III and IV were quantitative in nature. Based on the findings of first two studies, item pool was generated for scale development in study III. Following scales were developed in this study: (i) Attitude towards Honour Killing Scale (ATHKs), (ii) Perceived Perpetuating Factors of Honour Killing Scale (PPFHKs) and, (iii) Attribution of Responsibility in Honour Killing Scenarios (AORHKs). Factor structure of these scales were also explored in this study through Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) on the sample (N = 459) with an age range 18- 60 years (M=28.56, SD=10.12). The analysis yielded two factors for ATHKs (affirmation and deterrents of honour killing) and 17 items were retained that accounted for 32% variance. Unifactor solution was suggested in EFA for PPFHKs explaining 30% variance, and 10 items were retained. Based on the feedback from subject matter experts, seven scenarios were finalised for AORHKs. In study IV, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was carried out to validate the factor structure of ATHKs and PPFHKs on the sample (N = 695) with an age range of 18-60 years (M= 25.89, SD= 8.10). Results indicated good model fit for these scales, thereby confirming the factor structure explored in EFA. The Cronbach alpha coefficients for all study measures were satisfactory. Furthermore, the convergent and discriminant validity of the scales were also determined by using the Gender Role Attitude Scale (Anila & Ansari, 1992), Extremism Scale (Hostility/Intolerance) (Gilani & Altaf, 2005), and Religiousness Measure (Religious influence in daily life activities) (Sethi & Seligman, 1993). Various hypotheses were formulated to explore group differences across different demographics. Non-significant gender differences were apparent across few study variables, whereas, significant differences were evident across area of residence (rural and urban), marital status, age, education, and family system. For seven scenarios of AORHKs, chi-squares across demographics were also computed. This study, therefore, concluded that honour killing xiii is culturally embedded in the Pakistani society; thereby patriarchal mindset in institutions sustains the prevalence of honour killing. In addition to this, poverty, lack of education, social pressure, untrained professionals and limited religious insight are also discussed as the pronounced factors that perpetuate the existence of honour killing. The study recommended that altering favourable/affirmative attitudes regarding honour killing is an important yet difficult step. However, crucial steps on an institutional level need to be taken in dealing with this issue. Structural reforms and advancements are also necessary to curb the crime. Therefore, it is important to design effective strategies to work with families, training of professionals such as police, judges, media personnels, etc. Furthermore, the current study has the potential to broaden our understanding about the dynamics of honour killing, myths regarding honour killing, sociocultural and institutional factors involved in the existence of honour killing. With the help of current findings effective intervention strategies at family, structural, and institutional level can be crafted to combat with honour killing in Pakistan