Daily Times

Women comprise more than 50 percent of the total population of Pakistan. However, on an average, the status of Pakistani women vis-à-vis men is one of systemic gender subordination. Although there have been attempts by the government and enlightened groups to elevate their status in society, nevertheless numerous Pakistani womenfolk, especially in the rural areas, still suffer from atrocities such as rape, acid attacks, honour killings, forced marriages and forced prostitution. Pakistan is usually described as a country of paradoxes and this was reflected in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2013. Pakistan had the second lowest ranking in the report’s overall measure of gender-based biases but, encouragingly, it is ranked 64 out of 136 countries when it comes to the political empowerment of women.

It was a busy year for Pakistan in more ways than one. The nation faced the promulgation of draconian laws and the merger of the ministry of human rights with the ministry of law and justice. The country ranked 124 on women’s health and survival, 129 on their educational attainment and a staggering 135 again on equal economic participation and opportunity. These were the four categories termed the ‘four pillars’ of socio-economic gender inequalities that make up the Global Gender Gap Index.

Despite the fact that women seemingly have more access to education and financial resources today than at any other time in history, women are still under-represented in politics, business and leadership broadly. We see this most pointedly in the lack of access to fundamental education and financial tools for women and girls. Today, in the developing world, one-third of all girls will be married before the age of 18, and half of all first births are by adolescent girls under the age of 18. As a result, the prospects of educational opportunities for women are even less. Traditional values play an especially important role in rural areas where girls are often seen as a burden. They require a dowry when they want to marry. After marriage, they have to move in with the family of their husband. Parents of married-off girls thus often feel that having girls is a wasted investment or curse pushing them to indebtedness and misery.

A joint report by the UN and the Pakistan government pointed out: “Females in Pakistan face discrimination, exploitation and abuse at many levels, starting with girls who are prevented from exercising their basic right to education either because of traditional family practices, economic necessity or as a consequence of the destruction of schools by militants.”

According to The State of Human Rights in Pakistan, 2013, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) reported that gender-based violence and sex discrimination remain a manifestation of patriarchal norms, values and conventions in Pakistan. During the year, murder was the most frequently reported crime against women with 1,745 cases, followed by 1,607 of abduction, 989 of domestic violence, 828 of rape and gang rape, 575 of suicide, 432 of honour killing, 58 of sexual assault, 83 of acid throwing, 71 of burning, with 1,134 cases listed as ‘miscellaneous’.

Child marriage devastates the lives of children (particularly girls), their families, and their communities. Millions of girls in Pakistan are married before they turn 18 and even girls as young as seven or eight become a victim of this custom. This pernicious practice is more common in poor, rural communities, and its consequences contribute to perpetuating the chronic cycle of poverty.

The Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in a report has cited a high increase in forced marriages, with 324 cases being registered in February 2013 and 403 in May 2013. This represents an increase of 24 percent, with Faisalabad leading with 43 cases. Other districts high in this crime in May are Rahimyar Khan (39 cases) and Vehari (31 cases). The FAFEN governance monitors visited 88 offices of the district police officers in May, and reported a total of 985 FIRs of crimes relating to women, around one-fifth (219) of which were related to rape, up 46 percent compared to February, when 150 such cases were recorded. A total of 33,705 cases were recorded in 88 districts during the reporting month of May, with 21 percent being cases of attacks on modesty, three percent honour killings and two percent ‘insult to modesty’.

Adult women remain vulnerable to abduction and sexual assault and the rapists find impunity through both common and sharia law. Rapes occur across Pakistan for a variety of reasons — for pure lust, for revenge, to avenge a rejected marriage proposal, for religious and ethnic reasons or simply to satisfy a predatory man’s sadistic desire to exert unadulterated brutality and power. Even more horrifically, they also occur because HIV-positive men believe they can be cured through sex with a virgin. Adding to the unremitting horror, the social stigma surrounding rape frequently leads to the victim committing suicide, often aided and abetted by her own family, or in her being forcibly married to her attacker to preserve her family’s honour. In fact, rape is so common and under-reported that the perpetrators in Pakistan are rarely arrested, let alone tried, convicted and jailed.

Women’s and human rights activists have accomplished a lot in the past three decades according to women’s rights activists in Pakistan, but there is still a long way to go. It is ultimately in the hands of governments and leaders to prioritise and create widespread gender equality. Social workers and NGOs can also contribute greatly by creating awareness in the masses, particularly in the rural areas, about the importance of educating the girl child, spreading information about the banal effects of child marriage, and for getting a rightful place in society and equal representation in local bodies like tehsils, municipalities, state legislatures and in the National Assembly. The government, in its enlightened wisdom, has already reserved 60 seats for women in the National Assembly. Among South Asian countries, Pakistan (22.5 percent) stands second after Nepal (33 percent) in representation of women in the legislatures, while India is second from the bottom with about nine percent. However, this does not translate into the ratio of workforce where females are only about 28 percent, according to World Bank reports. In the services sector, in particular, the ratio is as low as 12 percent.

Progress is in evidence with women taking a larger role in all spheres of life in Pakistan and it is hoped that, in the year 2014, women will take longer strides in reaching the goal of parity with men. The hand that rocks the cradle should rule the world.

The writer is a freelance columnist and independent researcher. He can be reached at janjuaharoon01@gmail.com and tweets @JanjuaHaroon