In Pakistan, women account for nearly half of the population, yet they have been ignored politically, economically, educationally and so on and so forth. The country cannot move ahead if female backwardness remained spoke in its progress.
A recent report by the Journal of International Women Studies showed some drastic stats for the country. It ranked Pakistan as the 6th most dangerous country in the world for women. This is not a new thing for us- the denizens of the country, however, this could open the eyes of policymakers who blink their eyes when it comes to women empowerment-as IMF predicted that the women inclusion in financial matters and by empowering women, Pakistan could raise its GDP by 30%. The JIWS report further illustrates that the conviction rate for violence against women is 1 to 2.5% of all registered cases- still not shocking for our judicial system who have to deal with some 2 million pending cases with a limited number of judges.
Domestic violence is not the only problem of Pakistan but women in every walk of life face miseries, whether its education or health, political participation or workforce, everywhere they treated as underprivileged as compare to men.
When it comes to jobs and workforce only 24% women (25+age) are employed, still, the financial inclusion is a meagre 7% as compared to India’s 76% according to Women Peace and Security Index 2019. The report by studied 11 research factors including education, health, workforce etc, ranked Pakistan 164 out of 167 countries. The male dominant society and patriarchal mindset is one of the causes of the lower rate of women participation in the workforce. Around 73% of men in Pakistan do not want their wives or sisters or daughters to work outside of homes.
The old dogmatic mindset still prevails in the country where men feel the honour to limit their women in home premises. Women working outside is not just a problem of pastoral hoi polloi and unaware people or for the so-called religious conservatives but it also prevalent among the most sensible civil society. For instance, approximately 70% of students in medical colleges and universities in Pakistan are females, nonetheless, 50% do practise after graduation, others ultimately give in practice after marriages, either forced by their husbands or parents wishes.
Moreover, women empowerment is the least in the country among South Asian countries. India, Bangladesh, and even Bhutan and Nepal are making policies favouring women in their country and are progressing in every field. These countries invest in education, particularly female education because they saw the writing on the wall and tried to make women powerful to deal with future calamities.
Article 25-A of Pakistan’s constitution ensures the education rights of children. And article 25 (2) says that there should be no discrimination among the citizens on the basis of sex. Yet, no progress has been made since inception in 1947. Education has not been a priority of our policymakers, with a scanty 2% budget for education, and with 22 million out-of-school children ( of them around 56% are girls) the education for women looks like a dream for many destitute in the country.
The first step to empower women is to see them as the respectable citizens of the country the same as men. Schools and parents should teach their male children not just to respect females but to treat them their equal. As social constructivists believe that everything is socially constructed and nothing is natural. From childhood, society tells children that males are like warriors and so are strong and females are like dolls – not so strong and that male does not cry or ( mard ko dard nahi hota). These beliefs have to be stamped out and society should treat the sexes equal.
Secondly, the country needs scientists, researchers, technologists, writers, economists etc. And they never could come from just half of the population of males. Only 22% of all workforce in Artificial Intelligence firms are women. Further, less than 7pc women are on managerial positions in Pakistan. These women participation would only burgeon if the government, as well as the society, invest more in the education of females. Or at least the same as that of the males.
Nevertheless, there are some women who made this nation proud by rising from the swamp of restrictions.
Notably Malala Yousufzai, Arfa Karim- the youngest computer scientist at the age of nine. , the young entrepreneur Fizza Farhan who works for green energy in the county, the wonderfull and ferocious mountaineer Samina Baig, explorer Namira Saleem, Shanza Faiz CSS topper of 2018 are some of the few examples that became role models for our young female children.
Hopefully, the incumbent government would pay heed to women issues and make such favourable policies that empower women that could consequently empower Pakistan itself.
The writer is a graduate in Political Science from Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad.