Daily Times

When a day is dedicated to a group of people, it means that there is a reason that group needs to be recognised. Modern society has a big role to play in ensuring that every woman has access to quality education, that their fundamental human rights are respected, and in ending all forms of violence against them.

Women’s Day was popular among Socialist and Communist groups for the first half the 20th century. The Soviet Union was the first to declare March 8 as a national holiday dedicated to women. In 1975, the United Nations declared March 8 to be International Women’s Day. Today, many countries commemorate this day as a national holiday, while many others celebrate it in less official ways.

Remember, the umbrella of the term “women” touches people dealing with all paths of life. Helping women in need will not only be a bonding experience for people and their ladies, but it will reiterate that no woman is excluded from aid or support because of their economic situation. Having each other’s back is essential in this world.

Regardless of economic status, ethnicity, language, or political stance; a woman is a unifying word that symbolises the mass amount of voices that are fighting for a more feminine-inclusive tomorrow. Many obstacles have been surpassed and milestones achieved, but the fight is hardly over. International Women’s Day starts with the togetherness, and there’s more than one way to promote that womanhood with your girls.

I grew up in a patriarchal society, and I was raised by a woman, my mother. I am speaking up because I was motivated and inspired by a woman. There are many women struggling day and night to ensure their children live in good conditions.

Many societies tend to ignore the significant role of women in the homes and communities. Women’s unpaid labour is often not valued nor factored in GDP, frequently remaining unseen and unrecognised. It is time to recognise how important their role and contributions are. Let’s ensure both genders see each other as partners; let’s continue creating more awareness.

Women in our society have been considered as inferior to men for many years. Because of such type of inferiority, they have to face various issues and problems in their lives. They have to go extra miles than men to prove themselves equivalent to men. People in the middle-ages considered women as key to destruction, so they never allowed women to go outside and participate in the social activities like men. Still, in the modern age, women have to face many more problems in their daily lives and struggle a lot to establish their career. Many parents prefer to have only boy baby and allow education to boys only. Women for them are only medium to keep the family happy and healthy.

A woman is seen in the society with more intense ridicule sight and faces a higher risk of honour killing if she is involved in the love marriage or inter-caste love marriage. Women in Pakistan do not have equal access to autonomy, mobility to outside the home, social freedom, etc. than men. Some of the problems faced by the women are because of their domestic responsibilities and cultural and social specified roles.

The major issues which women have to face in Pakistan are sexual harassment, dowry, the disparity in education, domestic violence, child marriages, inadequate nutrition, the status of widows and divorced women, women health issues, women employment issues and women’s gender-based issues.

The society has not accepted the autonomy and independent status of the women yet. They are not appreciated at all in Pakistan. The females who are working in different organisations have to face the problem of their marriages and social respect. The families in Pakistan normally prefer the non-working woman for the marriage. The working woman is more confident than others. Therefore, they are not preferred for the marriages in middle-class families.

Women are the easy victims of oppression and crime. Due to the lack of awareness and weak law and order, in every ten rapes, six are of minor girls. In every 30 minutes, a crime is committed against the women. Every single day, single women, young girls, mothers and women from all walks of life are being assaulted, molested, and violated. The streets, public transport and public spaces, in particular, have become the territory of the hunters. While the ones already hunted down weep in silence or disdain, the rest fight their way to a basic life with dignity.

There is an unspoken war on the streets. Young school and college going girls use books to shield themselves. Other women wear full-covered attire to protect their bodies, and others avoid the mere glance of the roving gaze.

Pakistan belongs to those countries where a newly born girl is not accepted with great pride and happiness. The role of women is highly underestimated in the country. The deeply rooted traditions put women a step lower than men. This picture, however, was not always the same in past centuries. After turning into a patriarchal society, the role of women gradually became inferior.

Today, women’s rights in Pakistan are in an upsetting level condition. According to a number of statistics, women are in an essential need of empowerment. Education, unemployment, health and gender discrimination are the leading women’s rights issues in the country.

Equality comes with rights, but rights can’t be sustained without performing the duties. If most men in the families, irrespective of the country of residence, suddenly said they want to choose not to earn or provide for the family, will that be acceptable to most of us? Will we rise to the occasion and step into shoes of primary breadwinners?

Gender inequality continues to exist in every sector of life in this country

Feminism is about equality of men and women in terms of power, access, and voice in social, political and economic matters. It is required to keep holding jobs and keep earning no matter how little. It is essential to make sure women don’t turn around what has been achieved, and need to keep on building up and maintaining their numbers in all fields.

We need to understand that if an uneducated woman may handle home properly then why not a well-educated woman can lead the whole country like men. The contribution of a woman is everywhere from taking birth and giving birth to a child to the care for whole life and other areas. The societies can never neglect all the roles and responsibilities of the women. Without education and women empowerment, no development is possible in the family, society and country. A woman knows how to handle all the situations because she knows well the fundamentals of a good society and plays her role politely as a main contributor in building a strong society.

Social, moral, ethical, political and economic equality is the right of the women. This is the pre-requisite for the socio-economic and political development of the country. In Pakistan, policy advocacy on women’s issues involves context-specific challenges due to politico-religious society and institutions. Social workers are challenged by different gendered beliefs across public and private systems while promoting gender equality in Pakistan.

Women have always been contributing to enable the economy to achieve tremendous progress. But it is the gender bias that still exists in every social stratum, even in the most educated and developed society, which is unable to digest this visible contribution of women in all walks of life. In some regions, patriarchal societies diminish the role of women in important matters. This masochist thinking is, however, beginning to fade gradually with the passage of time.

Women in rural Pakistan, despite suffering from various problems, engage themselves in direct and allied agricultural activities, run small shops, sell by-products or handcraft products and thus generate additional income for the family. A government of Pakistan study shows that more than 40 percent of rural women directly or indirectly contribute to the uplift of their families, thereby bringing social change. Gone are the days when women were considered only the household entities commanded by males.

Women play a great role in the growth and development of the society and making it an advanced and modern society. There is a famous saying by the Brigham Young that ‘You educate a man; you educate a person. You educate a woman; you educate a generation.’ Educating and giving power to the women is of great importance which needs to be followed in the society to bring women empowerment and development of society.

Email: fastian.mentor@gmail.com

Published in Daily Times, March 10^th 2018.