The book sheds lights on the near million women healthcare practitioners across Pakistan who face some form of workplace violence almost daily during care delivery. There is a deep-rooted relationship between gender and violence in the country. Regressive traditional beliefs and theological interpretations sanction sustained violence against women nurses, doctors and lady healthcare workers, at the hands of different perpetrators. The irony is that most frontline women healthcare practitioners, who are responsible for the lives of the public, are unable to prevent their own victimization! This book records statistical findings and oral voices of women practitioners, as they reveal the realities of harassment, bullying and abuse. Revelations include the witnessing of high incidence of unreported violence against women patients in the community. Sadly, women in the country have adopted a “sisterhood of silence’’ in accepting blame and developing coping strategies to avoid, but not stop, violence. Male practitioner and administration voices have also been documented to provide a holistic understanding. To break away from established norms and structures of violence, a realistic path towards zero-tolerance is outlined for the community and governance bodies; to secure both women and patient safety.   

 After receiving her undergraduate degree in Economics from the London School of Economics (UK), Dr Sara Rizvi Jafree worked in the corporate sector institutes of Unilever, GalxoSmithKline and Tetra Pak. She gained valuable experience in account planning and human resource development, respectively. She took a break from formal sector employment for 5 years post the birth of her daughters (though she continued lecturing part-time); and after they joined school, she began working full-time, while simultaneously pursuing her PhD degree from University of the Punjab, Institute of Social and Cultural Studies. She is currently an Assistant Professor at Forman Christian College in the Sociology Department and is pursuing research in Gender, Public Health and Microfinance. executing a research project related to women microfinance borrowers and health improvements and working on her second book on the sociology of South Asian Women’s Health.