Discuss the sufferings of women during Partition.

I think that it will be difficult to find exact statistics
that help to bring the sufferings of women during Partition into full light.  The
displacement of millions of people, as well as the border fights that emerged, and the
violence all seem to remove gender as a critical issue.  The historical data breaks
people down into Hindus or Muslims or other large scale classification based on region
or nationality.  Yet, the struggles of women, the gender element, is not entirely
focused upon.  It might be here where there can be some thought given.  In general, it
is understood that many of the riots during the Partition period took a decidedly
gender- based turn.  There was symbolic significance in attacking a group of women of a
particular side.  At this, one can see how some attacks were motivated by a convergence
of nationality and gender.  Modern writers have been able to seize upon this in their
artistic depiction of Partition.  For example, works like Ice- Candy
Man by Bapsi Sidhwa and Pinjar by Amrita Pritam are
narratives that raise the issue of how Partition can be seen as both a political act
that might not have had the nations' interest at heart and serve as a cover for violence
against women.  One need only read the end of Sidhwa's novel as proof of this.  Ayah's
kidnap and rape by men who once loved and revered her is a statement of how Partition
was used as a guise for intense violence against women.