Women in Pakistan make up 48.76% of the population according to the
2017 census of Pakistan
The 2017 Census of Pakistan was a detailed enumeration of the Pakistani population which began on 15 March 2017 and ended on 25 May 2017. It was the first census taken in the country in the 21st century, nineteen years after 1998 Census of Pakist ...
. Women in Pakistan have played an important role throughout Pakistan's history and they are allowed to vote in elections since 1956. In Pakistan, women have held high offices including that of the
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Leader of the Opposition
The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...
Nigar Johar
Lieutenant General Nigar Johar Khan ( ur, ) is a three-star general in the Pakistan Army. Nigar is the first and only woman in the history of Pakistan Army to reach the rank of lieutenant-general, and the third to reach the rank of major-genera ...
, attaining the highest military post for a woman.
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto ( ur, بینظیر بُھٹو; sd, بينظير ڀُٽو; Urdu ; 21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th and 13th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 t ...
was sworn in as the first woman
Prime Minister of Pakistan
The prime minister of Pakistan ( ur, , romanized: Wazīr ē Aʿẓam , ) is the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen cabinet, despite the president of Paki ...
on 2 December 1988.
The status of women in Pakistan differs considerably across classes, regions and the rural/urban divide due to the uneven socioeconomic development and the impact of tribal and feudal social formations on lives of women in Pakistan. Gender Concerns International reports that the overall women's rights in Pakistan have improved with increasing number of women being educated and literate.
However, Pakistan does face issues where woman are kept behind in the field of education. This is also associated with low government funding, less schools and colleges for women, and a low enrollment rate of women in educational institutions due to lack of awareness and women rights in certain areas. Cases of
rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...
,
honor killing
An honor killing (American English), honour killing (Commonwealth English), or shame killing is the murder of an individual, either an outsider or a member of a family, by someone seeking to protect what they see as the dignity and honor of t ...
, murder, and forced marriages in backward areas are also reported. All these issues are related to constraints due to a lack of education, poverty, a judicial system of Pakistan that is disrupted, the negligence of government authorities to implement laws and widespread underperformance of law enforcement agencies such as the
Police
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...
.
History
Historically,
Muslim reformers
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...
such as
Syed Ahmad Khan
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan KCSI (17 October 1817 – 27 March 1898; also Sayyid Ahmad Khan) was an Indian Muslim reformer, philosopher, and educationist in nineteenth-century British India. Though initially espousing Hindu-Muslim unity, he ...
tried to bring education to women, limit
polygamy
Crimes
Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is married ...
, and empower women in other ways through education. The founder of Pakistan,
Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Muhammad Ali Jinnah (, ; born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 1876 – 11 September 1948) was a barrister, politician, and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the ...
, was known to have a positive attitude towards women. After the independence of Pakistan, women's groups and feminist organisations initiated by prominent leaders like Fatima Jinnah started to emerge in order to eliminate socio-economic injustices against women in the country.
Jinnah pointed out that
Muslim women
The experiences of Muslim women ( ''Muslimāt'', singular مسلمة ''Muslimah'') vary widely between and within different societies. At the same time, their adherence to Islam is a shared factor that affects their lives to a varying degree ...
leaders from all classes actively supported the Pakistan movement in the mid-1940s. Their movement was led by wives and other relatives of leading politicians. Women were sometimes organized into large-scale public demonstrations. Before 1947, there was a tendency for Muslim women in Punjab to vote for the Muslim League while their menfolk supported the Unionist Party.
Many Muslim women supported the
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...
Quit India Movement
The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Kranti Movement, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8th August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule in ...
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...
started the first
English School for Muslim Children
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
in Muslim Town in 1935. Pakistani women were granted the
suffrage
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in representative democracy, public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally i ...
in 1947, and they were reaffirmed the right to vote in national elections in 1956 under the interim Constitution. The provision of reservation of seats for women in the Parliament existed throughout the constitutional history of Pakistan from 1956 to 1973.
Had General Ayub Khan run fair elections, Ms Fatima Jinnah of Pakistan would have become the first Muslim President of the largest Muslim country in the world. However, despite that setback, during 1950–60, several pro-women initiatives were taken. Also, the first woman
Lambardar
Numbardar or Lambardar ( hi, नम्बरदार, pnb, ਲੰਬੜਦਾਰ, لمبردار, ur, لمبردار or نمبردار, bn, লম্বরদার/নম্বরদার, Lombordar/Nombordar) is a title in the Indian subcon ...
West Pakistan
West Pakistan ( ur, , translit=Mag̱ẖribī Pākistān, ; bn, পশ্চিম পাকিস্তান, translit=Pôścim Pakistan) was one of the two Provincial exclaves created during the One Unit Scheme in 1955 in Pakistan. It was d ...
Begum Sarwat Imtiaz
Begum (also begüm, bagum, begom, begam, baigum or beygum) is a royal and aristocratic title from Central and South Asia. It is the feminine equivalent of the title ''baig'' or ''bey'', which in Turkic languages means "higher official". It usu ...
Chichawatni
Chichawatni ( pa, , ur, ) is a city in the Sahiwal District of the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the administrative center of Chichawatni Tehsil. Situated near the old main road called Grand Trunk Road, it lies approximately from the dist ...
Sahiwal
Sahiwal (Punjabi language, Punjabi and ur, ), formerly known as Montgomery, is a city in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the List of most populous cities in Pakistan, 21st largest city of Pakistan by population and the administrative capital of both ...
) in 1959. Th 1961 Muslim Family Law Ordinance which regulated marriage, divorce, and polygamy continues to have a significant legal impact on the women of Pakistan.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Government
The regime of
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Zulfikar (or Zulfiqar) Ali Bhutto ( ur, , sd, ذوالفقار علي ڀٽو; 5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979), also known as Quaid-e-Awam ("the People's Leader"), was a Pakistani barrister, politician and statesman who served as the fourth ...
(1970–1977) was a period of liberal attitudes towards women. All government services were opened to women including the district management group and the foreign service (in the civil service), which had been denied to them earlier. About 10% of the seats in the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
and 5% in the provincial assemblies were reserved for women, with no restriction on contesting general seats. However, the implementation of these policies was poor as the Government faced a financial crisis due to war with India and consequent division of the country.
Gender equality was specifically guaranteed by the
Constitution of Pakistan
The Constitution of Pakistan ( ur, ), also known as the 1973 Constitution, is the supreme law of Pakistan. Drafted by the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, with additional assistance from the country's Pakistani political parties, opposition ...
adopted in 1973. The constitution stipulated that "there shall be no discrimination on the basis of sex alone." The Constitution additionally affords the protection of marriage, family, the mother and the child as well as ensuring "full participation of women in all spheres of national life." However, many judges upheld the "laws of Islam", often misinterpreted, over the Constitution's guarantee of non-discrimination and equality under the law.
In 1975, an official delegation from Pakistan participated in the
First World Conference on Women
World Conference on Women, 1975 was held between 19 June and 2 July 1975 in Mexico City, Mexico. It was the first international conference held by the United Nations to focus solely on women's issues and marked a turning point in policy directives ...
in
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
, which led to the constitution of the first Pakistani Women's Rights Committee.
Zia-ul-Haq's Military Regime
General
Zia ul-Haq
General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq HI, GCSJ, ร.ม.ภ, (Urdu: ; 12 August 1924 – 17 August 1988) was a Pakistani four-star general and politician who became the sixth President of Pakistan following a coup and declaration of martial law in ...
, then Army Chief of Staff, overthrew the democratically elected Zulfikar Ali Bhutto government in a military coup on 5 July 1977. The Sixth Plan during the
martial law
Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory.
Use
Marti ...
régime of General
Zia-ul-Haq
General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq HI, GCSJ, ร.ม.ภ, ( Urdu: ; 12 August 1924 – 17 August 1988) was a Pakistani four-star general and politician who became the sixth President of Pakistan following a coup and declaration of martial ...
(1977–1986) was full of policy contradictions. The régime took many steps toward institutional building for women's development, such as the establishment of the Women's Division in the Cabinet Secretariat, and the appointment of another commission on the Status of Women. A chapter on
women in development Women in development is an approach of development projects that emerged in the 1960s, calling for treatment of women's issues in development projects. It is the integration of women into the global economies by improving their status and assisting ...
was included for the first time in the Sixth Plan. The chapter was prepared by a working group of 28 professional women headed by Syeda Abida Hussain, chairperson of the
Jhang District
Jhang District (Punjabi and ur, ) is a district of Faisalabad division in the Punjab province, Pakistan. Jhang city is the capital of district.
Geography
Jhang District has a triangle-like shape, with its apex at the narrow southwestern co ...
council at that time. The main objective as stated in the Sixth Plan was "to adopt an integrated approach to improve women's status". In 1981, General Zia-ul-Haq nominated the ''
Majlis-e-Shoora
The Parliament of Pakistan ( ur, , , "Pakistan Advisory Council" or "Pakistan Consultative Assembly") is the federal and supreme legislative body of Pakistan. It is a bicameral federal legislature that consists of the Senate as the upper ho ...
'' (Federal Advisory Council) and inducted 20 women as members, however Majlis-e-Shoora had no power over the executive branch. In 1985, the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
elected through non-party elections doubled women's reserved quota (20 percent).
However, Zia-ul-Haq initiated a process of Islamization by introducing discriminatory legislation against women such as the set of
Hudood Ordinance
The Hudood Ordinances (Urdu ; also Romanized Hadood, Hadud, Hudud; singular form is ''Hadh'' or ''hadd'') are laws in Pakistan that were enacted in 1979 as part of then military ruler Zia-ul-Haq's "Islamisation" process. It replaced parts of the ...
s and the ''Qanun-e-Shahadat'' Order (Law of Evidence Order). He banned women from participating and from being spectators of sports and promoted
purdah
Pardah or purdah (from Hindi-Urdu , , meaning "curtain") is a religious and social practice of female seclusion prevalent among some Muslim and Hindu communities. It takes two forms: physical segregation of the sexes and the requirement that wom ...
. He suspended all
fundamental rights
Fundamental rights are a group of rights that have been recognized by a high degree of protection from encroachment. These rights are specifically identified in a constitution, or have been found under due process of law. The United Nations' Sustai ...
guaranteed in the 1973 Constitution. He also proposed laws regarding
Qisas
''Qisas'' or ''Qiṣāṣ'' ( ar, قِصَاص, Qiṣāṣ, lit=accountability, following up after, pursuing or prosecuting) is an Islamic term interpreted to mean "retaliation in kind",Mohamed S. El-Awa (1993), Punishment In Islamic Law, Amer ...
and Diyat, Islamic penal laws governing retribution (''qisas'') and compensation (''diyat'') in crimes involving bodily injury. The Offence of
Zina
''Zināʾ'' () or ''zinā'' ( or ) is an Islamic legal term referring to unlawful sexual intercourse. According to traditional jurisprudence, ''zina'' can include adultery, fornication, prostitution, rape, sodomy, incest, and bestiality. ...
(Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance, 1979 was a subcategory of the
Hudood Ordinance
The Hudood Ordinances (Urdu ; also Romanized Hadood, Hadud, Hudud; singular form is ''Hadh'' or ''hadd'') are laws in Pakistan that were enacted in 1979 as part of then military ruler Zia-ul-Haq's "Islamisation" process. It replaced parts of the ...
. ''
Zina
''Zināʾ'' () or ''zinā'' ( or ) is an Islamic legal term referring to unlawful sexual intercourse. According to traditional jurisprudence, ''zina'' can include adultery, fornication, prostitution, rape, sodomy, incest, and bestiality. ...
'' is the crime of non-marital sexual relations and adultery.
A woman alleging rape was initially required to provide eyewitnesses of good standing and moral character (''tazkiyah-al-shuhood'') and the witnesses would have to witness "the act of penetration" for the death penalty to apply to the Rapist or if there was no witnesses then
Ta'zir
In Islamic Law, ''tazir'' (''ta'zeer'' or ''ta'zir'', ar, تعزير) refers to punishment for offenses at the discretion of the judge (Qadi) or ruler of the state.Taqi Usmani
Muhammad Taqi Usmani (born 5 October 1943) is a Pakistani Islamic scholar and former judge who is the current president of the Wifaq ul Madaris Al-Arabia and the vice president and Hadith professor of the Darul Uloom Karachi. An intellectual ...
, who was instrumental in the creation of the ordinances:
If anyone says that she was punished because of Qazaf (false accusation of rape) then Qazaf Ordinance, Clause no. 3, Exemption no. 2 clearly states that if someone approaches the legal authorities with a rape complaint, she cannot be punished in case she is unable to present four witnesses. No court of law can be in its right mind to award such a punishment.
However, in practice, these safeguards have not always worked. In September 1981, the first conviction and sentence under the Zina Ordinance, of stoning to death for Fehmida and Allah Bakhsh were set aside under national and international pressure. In September 1981, women came together in
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...
in an emergency meeting to oppose the adverse effects on women of martial law and the
Islamization
Islamization, Islamicization, or Islamification ( ar, أسلمة, translit=aslamāh), refers to the process through which a society shifts towards the religion of Islam and becomes largely Muslim. Societal Islamization has historically occur ...
campaign. They launched what later became the first full-fledged national women's movement in Pakistan, the
Women's Action Forum
Women's Action Forum (WAF) is a women's rights organization in Pakistan.
History
Women's Action Forum (WAF) was established in Karachi in September, 1981
In 1983, an orphaned, thirteen-year-old girl, Jehan Mina was allegedly raped by her uncle and his sons, and became pregnant. She was unable to provide enough evidence that she was raped. She was charged with
adultery
Adultery (from Latin ''adulterium'') is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. Although the sexual activities that constitute adultery vary, as well as the social, religious, and legal ...
and the court considered her pregnancy as the proof of adultery. She was awarded the ''
Tazir
In Islamic Law, ''tazir'' (''ta'zeer'' or ''ta'zir'', ar, تعزير) refers to punishment for offenses at the discretion of the judge (Qadi) or ruler of the state.lashes and three years of rigorous imprisonment.Mediating The Hadood Laws In Pakistan . Shahnaz Khan. 2001. Centre For Research on Violence Against Women And Children
In 1983, Safia Bibi, a nearly blind teenage domestic servant was allegedly raped by her employer and his son. Due to lack of evidence, she was convicted for adultery under the Zina ordinance, while the rapists were acquitted. She was sentenced to fifteen lashes, five years imprisonment, and a fine of 1,000 rupees. The decision attracted so much publicity and condemnation from the public and the press that the Federal
Shariah
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the H ...
Court of its own motion, called for the records of the case and ordered that she should be released from prison on her own bond. Subsequently, on appeal, the finding of the trial court was reversed and the conviction was set aside.
The
International Commission of Jurists
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) is an international human rights non-governmental organization. It is a standing group of 60 eminent jurists—including senior judges, attorneys and academics—who work to develop national and inte ...
' December 1986 mission to Pakistan called for the repeal of the sections of the Hudood Ordinances relating to crimes and of Islamic punishments that discriminate against women and non-Muslims.
There is considerable evidence that legislation during this period has negatively impacted Pakistani women's lives and made them more vulnerable to extreme violence. The majority of women in prison had been charged under the Hudood Ordinance. Similarly, a national study found that 21% of those residing in shelters for women (Darul Aman) had Hudood cases against them. According to a 1998 report by
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
, more than one-third of all Pakistani women in prison were being held due to having been accused or found guilty of zina.
Benazir Bhutto Government
After Zia-ul-Haq's regime, there was a visible change in the policy context in favour of women. The Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth plans formulated under various democratically elected governments have clearly made efforts to include women's concerns in the planning process. However, planned development failed to address gender inequalities due to the gap between policy intent and implementation.
In 1988,
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto ( ur, بینظیر بُھٹو; sd, بينظير ڀُٽو; Urdu ; 21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th and 13th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 t ...
(Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's daughter) became the first female
Prime Minister of Pakistan
The prime minister of Pakistan ( ur, , romanized: Wazīr ē Aʿẓam , ) is the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen cabinet, despite the president of Paki ...
, and the first woman elected to head a Muslim country. During her election campaigns, she voiced concerns over social issues of women, health and discrimination against women. She also announced plans to set up
women's police station Women's police stations (also units or offices) – es, Comisaría de la Mujer, pt, Delegacia da mulher – are police stations specializing in crimes with female victims. They were first introduced in 1985 in Brazil and are numerous in Latin Amer ...
s, courts and women's development banks. She also promised to repeal controversial Hudood laws that curtailed the rights of women. However, during her two incomplete terms in office (1988–90 and 1993–96), Benazir Bhutto did not propose any legislation to improve welfare services for women. She was not able to repeal a single one of Zia-ul-Haq's Islamisation laws. By virtue of the eighth constitutional amendment imposed by Zia-ul-Haq, these laws were protected both from ordinary legislative modification and from
judicial review
Judicial review is a process under which executive, legislative and administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws, acts and governmental actions that are incompat ...
.
In early 1988, the case of Shahida Parveen and Muhammad Sarwar sparked bitter public criticism. Shahida's first husband, Khushi Muhammad, had divorced her and the papers had been signed in front of a magistrate. The husband however, had not registered the divorce documents in the local council as required by law, rendering the divorce not legally binding. Unaware of this, Shahida, after her mandatory 96-day period of waiting (''iddat''), remarried. Her first husband, rebounding from a failed attempt at a second marriage, decided he wanted his first wife Shahida back. Shahida's second marriage was ruled invalid. She and her second husband, Sarwar were charged with adultery. They were sentenced to death by stoning. The public criticism led to their retrial and acquittal by the Federal Shariah Court.
The Ministry of Women's Development (MWD) established Women's Studies centres at five universities in
Islamabad
Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital T ...
,
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...
,
Quetta
Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه) is the tenth List of cities in Pakistan by population, most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in Geography of Pakistan, south-west of the country close to the ...
,
Peshawar
Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...
, and
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...
in 1989. However, four of these centers became almost non-functional due to lack of financial and administrative support. Only the center at the
University of Karachi
The University of Karachi ( sd, ; informally Karachi University, KU, or UoK) is a public research university located in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Established in June 1951 by an act of Parliament and as a successor to the University of Sindh (whic ...
(funded by the
Canadian International Development Agency
The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) was a federal Canadian organization that administered foreign aid programs in developing countries. The agency was merged into the Department of Foreign Affairs in 2013 by the federal governmen ...
) was able to run a master of arts programme.
The
First Women Bank
First Women Bank Limited (FWBL) is a commercial bank located in Karachi, Pakistan chartered to meet the special needs of women.
History
The blueprint for infrastructure of the Bank was designed by Akram Khatoon, a senior banker who worked for ...
Ltd. (FWBL) was established in 1989 to address women's financial needs. FWBL, a nationalized commercial bank, was given the rôle of a development finance institution, as well as of a social welfare organisation. It operates 38 real-time online branches across the country, managed and run by women. MWD provided a credit line of Rs 48 millions to FWBL to finance small-scale credit schemes for disadvantaged women. The Social Action Programme launched in 1992/93 aimed at reducing gender disparities by improving women's access to social services.
Pakistan acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) on 29 February 1996. The Ministry of Women Development (MWD) was the designated national focal machinery for its implementation. However MWD faced a lack of resources initially. Pakistan failed to submit its initial report that was due in 1997. Pakistan neither signed nor ratified the Optional Protocol of the Women's Convention, which has led to non-availability of avenues for filing grievances by individuals or groups against Pakistan under CEDAW.
Nawaz Sharif Government
In 1997,
Nawaz Sharif
Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi language, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime ...
was elected as Prime Minister. He had also held office for a truncated term (1990–1993), during which he had promised to adopt Islamic law as the supreme law of Pakistan.
In 1997, the Nawaz Sharif government formally enacted the Qisas and Diyat Ordinance, which institutes
shariah
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the H ...
-based changes in Pakistan's criminal law. The ordinance had earlier been kept in force by invoking the president's power to re-issue it every four months.
Sharif then proposed a fifteenth amendment to the Constitution that would entirely replace the existing legal system with a comprehensive Islamic one and would override the "constitution and any law or judgment of any court." The proposal was approved in the National Assembly (lower house), where Sharif's party has a commanding majority, but, it remained stalled in the Senate after facing strong opposition from women's groups, human rights activists, and opposition political parties.
A 1997 ruling by the
Lahore High Court
The Lahore High Court () is based in Lahore, Pakistan. It was established as a high court on 21 March 1882. The Lahore High Court has jurisdiction over Punjab (Pakistan). The High Court's principal seat is in Lahore, but there are benches in th ...
, in the highly publicised Saima Waheed case, upheld a woman's right to marry freely but called for amendments to the 1965 Family Laws, on the basis of Islamic norms, to enforce parental authority to discourage "love marriages".
The report of the Inquiry of the Commission for Women (1997) clearly stated that the Hudood legislation must be repealed as it discriminates against women and is in conflict with their fundamental rights. A similar commission during Benazir Bhutto's administration had also recommended amending certain aspects of Hudood Ordinance. However, neither Benazir Bhutto nor Nawaz Sharif implemented these recommendations.
The enhancement of women's status was stated as one of the 16 goals listed in the ''Pakistan 2010 Program'' (1997), a critical policy document. However, the document omits women while listing 21 major areas of interests. Similarly, another major policy document, the "Human Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy" (1999), mentioned women as a target group for poverty reduction but lacks gender framework.
The country's first all-women university, named after Fatima Jinnah, was inaugurated on 6 August 1998. It suffered from delays in the release of development funds from the Federal Government.
Pervez Musharraf's regime
In 2000, the
Church of Pakistan
The Church of Pakistan is a united Protestant Church in Pakistan, which is part of the Anglican Communion and a member of the World Communion of Reformed ChurchesDatabase (9 February 2006)"Sialkot Diocese of the Church of Pakistan" Reformed Onl ...
ordained its first women
deacon
A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...
s. In 2002 (and later during court trials in 2005), the case of
Mukhtaran Mai
Mukhtaran Bibi ( ur, ; born Kristof, N & Wudunn, S, (2009), "Half The Sky", Virago), now known as Mukhtār Mā'ī, is a Pakistani human rights activist from the village of Meerwala, located in the rural ''tehsil'' of Jatoi in the Muzaffargar ...
brought the plight of rape victims in Pakistan under an international spotlight. On 2 September 2004, the Ministry of Women Development was made an independent ministry, separating from the Social Welfare and Education Ministry.
In July 2006, General
Pervez Musharraf
General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of the ...
asked his Government to begin work on amendments to the controversial 1979 Hudood Ordinance introduced under Zia-ul-Haq's régime. He asked the Law Ministry and the Council of Islamic Ideology (under the Ministry of Religious Affairs) to build a consensus for the amendments to the laws. On 7 July 2006, General Musharraf signed an ordinance for the immediate release on bail of around 1,300 women who were currently languishing in jails on charges other than terrorism and murder.
In late 2006, the Pakistani parliament passed the
Women's Protection Bill
The Women's Protection Bill (Urdu: تحفظِ نسواں بل) which was passed by the National Assembly of Pakistan on 15 November 2006 is an attempt to amend the heavily criticised 1979 Hudood Ordinance laws which govern the punishment for rape ...
, repealing some of the Hudood Ordinances. The bill allowed for DNA and other scientific evidence to be used in prosecuting rape cases. The passing of the Bill and the consequent signing of it into law by President General Pervez Musharraf invoked protests from hard-line Islamist leaders and organisations. Some experts also stated that the reforms would be impossible to enforce.
The Cabinet approved reservation of 10% quota for women in Central Superior Services in its meeting held on 12 July 2006. Earlier, there was a 5% quota for women across the board in all Government departments. In December 2006, Prime Minister
Shaukat Aziz
Shaukat Aziz ( ur, ; born 6 March 1949) is a Pakistani former banker and financier who served as 17th prime minister of Pakistan from 28 August 2004 to 15 November 2007, as well as the finance minister of Pakistan from 6 November 1999 to 15 ...
approved the proposal by the Ministry of Women Development to extend this quota to 10%.
In 2006, The Protection of Women (Criminal Laws Amendment) Act was also passed. In December 2006, for the first time, women cadets from the Military Academy Kakul assumed guard duty at the mausoleum of
Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Muhammad Ali Jinnah (, ; born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 1876 – 11 September 1948) was a barrister, politician, and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the ...
.
The Women's Protection Bill, however, has been criticised by many including human rights and women's rights activists for only paying lipservice and failing to repeal the
Hudood Ordinance
The Hudood Ordinances (Urdu ; also Romanized Hadood, Hadud, Hudud; singular form is ''Hadh'' or ''hadd'') are laws in Pakistan that were enacted in 1979 as part of then military ruler Zia-ul-Haq's "Islamisation" process. It replaced parts of the ...
s.
President Asif Zardari
Asif Ali Zardari
Asif Ali Zardari ( ur, ; sd, ; born 26 July 1955) is a Pakistani politician who is the president of Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians and was the co-chairperson of Pakistan People's Party. He served as the 11th president of Pakistan ...
was the 11th President of Pakistan. He is the widower of
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto ( ur, بینظیر بُھٹو; sd, بينظير ڀُٽو; Urdu ; 21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th and 13th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 t ...
, who twice served as Prime Minister of Pakistan. When his wife was assassinated in December 2007, he became the leader of the Pakistan People's Party. On 30 December 2007 he became Co-Chairman of the PPP, along with his son
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari ( ur, بلاول بھٹو زرداری; born 21 September 1988) is a Pakistani politician who is serving as the 37th Minister of Foreign Affairs, in office since 27 April 2022. He became the chairman of Pakistan Peopl ...
. On September 8, 2013, Asif Ali Zardari became the country's first president to complete his constitutional term.
Appointment of women
Female member of parliament and party loyalist Dr.
Fehmida Mirza
Fahmida Mirza ( ur, ; born 20 December 1956) is a Pakistani politician who was Federal Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination, in office from 20 August 2018 until 10 April 2022. She served as the 18th and only women Speaker of the National ...
was appointed as the first female speaker in
South Asia
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...
. During her tenure, Pakistan saw its first female foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar its first secretary of defense,
Nargis Sethi
Nargis Sethi ( ur, ) is a retired Pakistani civil service officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service who served in BPS-22 grade as the Cabinet Secretary of Pakistan and Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Other heavy ...
, deputy speaker of a province
Shehla Raza
Syeda Shehla Raza Zaidi ( ur, ) (born 15 May 1964 in Karachi, Pakistan) is a Pakistan People's Party politician in the Sindh province of Pakistan. In 2008, she was unanimously elected deputy speaker in the Thirteenth Assembly of the Sindh Asse ...
and numerous female ministers, ambassadors, secretaries including
Farahnaz Ispahani
Farahnaz Ispahani () is a Pakistani-American writer and former politician who served as member of the National Assembly of Pakistan between 2008 and 2012. She is a senior fellow at the Religious Freedom Institute and a member of the Anti-Defam ...
, Media Advisor to former President of Pakistan and co-chairman PPP,
Sherry Rehman
Sherry Rehman ( ur, ; born 21 December 1960) is a Pakistani politician, journalist and former diplomat who has been the member of the Senate of Pakistan since 2015. She was the first female Leader of the Opposition in the Senate from March to ...
former ambassador of Pakistan to US,
Fauzia Wahab
Fauzia Wahab ( Urdu: فوزیہ وہاب; 14 November 1956 – 17 June 2012), was a Pakistani politician who served as the senior '' ex officio'' member and the secretary-general of the central executive committee of the Pakistan Peoples P ...
,
Firdous Ashiq Awan
Firdous Ashiq Awan (Punjabi, ur, , born 11 January 1970) is a Pakistani politician from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. She has served as Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting from 2019 to 2020, Federal Minister for N ...
,
Farzana Raja
Farzana Raja is a Pakistani politician who served as chair of the Benazir Income Support Programme and has been a Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan.
Early life and education
She was born on 2 January 1970. She received her early educat ...
On 29 January 2010, the President signed the 'Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Bill 2009' which the
parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
adopted on 21 January 2010. Two additional bills were signed into law by the President in December 2012 criminalising the primitive practices of Vani, watta-satta, swara and marriage to the Quran, which used women as tradable commodities for the settlement of disputes, as well as punishing acid-throwing by life imprisonment. The government further established a special task force in the interior
Sindh
Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...
region in action against the practice of
Karo-Kari
Honour killings in Pakistan are known locally as ''karo-kari'' ( ur, ). Pakistan currently have the top number of documented and estimated honour killings per capita of any country in the world; about 1/5 of the world's honour killings are commi ...
, establishing helplines and offices in the districts of
Sukkur
Sukkur (; ) is a city in the Pakistani province of Sindh along the western bank of the Indus River, directly across from the historic city of Rohri. Sukkur is the third largest city in Sindh after Karachi and Hyderabad, and 14th largest ci ...
,
Jacobabad
Jacobabad ( ur, and sd, جيڪب آباد; formerly Khanger or Khangarh) is a city in Sindh, Pakistan, serving as both the capital city of Jacobabad District and the administrative center of Jacobabad Taluka, an administrative subdivision ...
,
Larkana
Larkana ( ur, , translit=lāṛkāna; sd, لاڙڪاڻو, translit=lāṛkāṇo) is a city located in the Sindh province of Pakistan. It is the 15th largest city of Pakistan by population. It is home to the Indus Valley civilization site Moh ...
and
Khairpur
Khairpur( Sindhi and ur, ) is a city and the capital of the Khairpur District, in Pakistan's Sindh province.
History
The Talpur dynasty was established in 1783 by Mir Fateh Ali Khan, who declared himself the first ''Rais'', or ruler of Sindh, ...
.
In 2012, the government revived the National Commission on the Status of Women established by General Musharraf for three years in 2000, later revived for three years at a time. The bill moved by government established the commission as a permanent body with the task to ensure the implementation of women protection legislation for abuses against women.
In February 2012, the
Muttahida Qaumi Movement Muttahida Qaumi Movement (abbreviated MQM) is a name currently claimed by two competing Pakistani political factions:
* Muttahida Qaumi Movement – London, a political faction managed from the UK
* Muttahida Qaumi Movement – Pakistan
Muttah ...
held the world's largest women's political rally in
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...
, with an estimated 100,000 women in attendance.
Criminal Law (Amendment) (Offense of Rape) Act 2016
On 7 October 2016, Pakistan's parliament unanimously passed new anti-rape and anti-honour-killing bills. The new laws introduced harsher punishments for the perpetrators of such crimes. According to the new anti-rape bill, DNA testing was made mandatory in rape cases. Sabotaging or disrupting the work of a police officer or Government official could result in imprisonment of 1 year under the new law. Government officials who are found to take advantage of their official position to commit acts of rape (e.g. custodial rape) are liable to imprisonment for life and a fine. According to the new law, anyone who rapes a minor or a mentally or physically disabled person will be liable for the death penalty or life imprisonment.
The recording of statement of the female survivor of rape or sexual harassment shall be done by an Investigating Officer, in the presence of a female police officer, or a female family member of the survivor. Survivors of rape shall be provided legal aid (if needed) by the Provincial Bar Council. The new law also declares that trials for offences such as rape and related crimes shall be conducted in-camera and also allows for the use of technology such as video links to record statements of the victim and witnesses, to spare them the humiliation or risk entailed by court appearances. The media will also be restricted from publishing or publicising the names or any information that would reveal the identity of a victim, except when publishing court judgements. The trial for rape shall conclude within three months. However, if the trial is not completed within three months, the case shall be brought to the notice of the Chief Justice of the High Court for appropriate directions. The new bill also ensures that sex workers are also included in the law's protection.
UN Women
The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, is a United Nations entity working for gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women advocates for the rights of women and girls, and focu ...
Executive Director,
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka (; born 3 November 1955), South African Government Information. is a South African politician and former United Nations official, who served as the Executive Director of UN Women with the rank of Under-Secretary-General ...
, hailed the Government of Pakistan's decision to pass the anti-rape and anti-honour killing bills.
Special Courts
On 20 June 2019, Chief justice of Pakistan,
Asif Saeed Khosa
Asif Saeed Khan Khosa ( ur, ; born 21 December 1954) is a Pakistani jurist who served as the 26th Chief Justice of Pakistan from 18 January 2019 to 20 December 2019. He joined the Supreme Court as a judge on 18 February 2010 and prior to that ...
, announced that more than 1,000 special courts will be established in the country which will focused on tackling violence against women. Each district in Pakistan will have once such court according to the chief justice. Romana Bashir, who heads a
NGO
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
called the Peace and Development Foundation which is focused on women's rights in Pakistan, said that the establishment of such courts was "a wonderful safeguarding measure". She also said "Certainly women will be encouraged and feel strengthened to speak up against gender based violence. Consequently, women will be able to get justice". Fauzia Viqar, a women's rights campaigner who advised the Punjab government until last month, said studies had shown the performance of such dedicated courts to be "many times better than other courts".
Timeline of female empowerment
* 1956: Right to
vote
Voting is a method by which a group, such as a meeting or an electorate, can engage for the purpose of making a collective decision or expressing an opinion usually following discussions, debates or election campaigns. Democracies elect holde ...
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When ...
abolished discrimination on women.
* 1985: Reserved quota for women increased.
* 1988: First female
prime minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
of Pakistan,
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto ( ur, بینظیر بُھٹو; sd, بينظير ڀُٽو; Urdu ; 21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th and 13th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 t ...
.
* 2006:
Women's protection bill
The Women's Protection Bill (Urdu: تحفظِ نسواں بل) which was passed by the National Assembly of Pakistan on 15 November 2006 is an attempt to amend the heavily criticised 1979 Hudood Ordinance laws which govern the punishment for rape ...
was passed.
Practices
Purdah
Purdah
Pardah or purdah (from Hindi-Urdu , , meaning "curtain") is a religious and social practice of female seclusion prevalent among some Muslim and Hindu communities. It takes two forms: physical segregation of the sexes and the requirement that wom ...
norms are followed in few communities of Pakistan.ESCAP, 1996. Rural Poverty Alleviation and Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific, United Nations, New York. It is practised in various ways, depending on family tradition, region, class, and rural or urban residence. Purdah is most likely to be practised among the
Pashtuns
Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...
and the Muslim
Rajput
Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...
s. Now, many women in Pakistan don't practise Purdah, which is opposed by many religious scholars. Generally, women living in more developed areas like Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad are more liberal in terms of dressing than women living in less developed areas.
Vani
Vani
Vani ( ka, ვანი) is a town in Imereti region of a western Georgia, at the Sulori river (a tributary of the Rioni river), 41 km southwest from the regional capital Kutaisi. The town with the population of 3,744 (2014) is an administra ...
is a marriage custom followed in tribal areas and the Punjab province. The young girls are forcibly married off in order to resolve the feuds between different clans; the Vani can be avoided if the clan of the girl agrees to pay money, called Deet, to other clans.
Swara
Svara or swara (Devanagari: स्वर, generally pronounced as ''swar'') is a Sanskrit word that connotes simultaneously a breath, a vowel, the sound of a musical note corresponding to its name, and the successive steps of the octave or '' ...
, Pait likkhi and Addo Baddo are similar tribal and rural customs that often promote marriage of girls in their early teenage years. In one extreme case in 2012, a local
Jirga
A jirga ( ps, جرګه, ''jərga'') is an assembly of leaders that makes decisions by consensus according to Pashtunwali, the Pashtun social code. It is conducted in order to settle disputes among the Pashtuns, but also by members of other ethnic ...
in Aari village,
Swat
In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...
ordered that Roza Bibi, a girl of six, must be married off to settle a dispute between her family and the rival family. As of 2018, the trend of Vani is decreased very much, allowing more young girls to live their childhood freely.
Watta satta
Watta satta
Watta satta or shighar ( ur, ،شغار،وٹہ سٹہ), is an exchange marriage common in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Watta satta is most common in rural parts of northwest and west Pakistan, and its tribal regions.
Dowry
Like in other parts of
South Asia
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...
, the custom of
dowry
A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment b ...
is practised in Pakistan, and conflicts related to it often result in violence, even
dowry death
Dowry deaths are deaths of married women who are murdered or driven to suicide over disputes about dowry. Dowry deaths are found predominantly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Iran.. Around 87,000 women were killed around the world last year ...
s. At over 2000 dowry-related deaths per year, and annual rates exceeding 2.45 deaths per 100,000 women from dowry-related violence, Pakistan has the highest reported number of dowry death rates per 100,000 women in the world.
Violence against women
A 2020 Report by
Aurat foundation
Aurat Foundation, founded in 1986, is a women's rights organization based in Islamabad, Pakistan. Its co-founders were Nigar Ahmed and Shahla Zia. Aurat Foundation lobbies and advocates for women. It also holds demonstrations and public awarenes ...
on "Violence against women and girls in the time of Covid 19 pandemic" from identified 25 districts of Pakistan reported 2297 cases of domestic violence against women which included crimes like honour killings, murder, rape, suicide, acid burning, kidnapping; out of which 57% cases were reported from Punjab, 27% from Sindh.
In 1999, at least 1000 women were murdered in Pakistan and 90% of women reported being subject to
domestic violence
Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...
. Law enforcement authorities routinely dismiss domestic violence as private disputes. With domestic violence cases, it is important to acknowledge that marital rape is not considered a crime. Most women do not report the abuse they experience because they want to avoid ruining their family's reputation, they are scared the abuse will worse, and they are afraid they would be separated from their husband and kids. For the women that do report abuse, they are often harassed by the police and their families; about 33% of women were a victim of physical abuse and did not make any reports. When it comes to marital abuse, pregnant women are even victims. In order to cope, some women enter religious communities or religious events to avoid being home and further altercations. Some ask for help from their friends and family, but most are reluctant to make formal complaints because they feel as if they would not be understood
Rape
Police in Pakistan often refuse to record the complaint of women when an officer may have been involved. In 2006, President Pervez Musharraf passed the Protection of Women Act. The purpose of it was for women to be provided with relief and to be able to have protection under the Hudood Ordinance and back into the prosecution under the Pakistani Criminal code. The act recognized rape under five circumstances, against woman'swill, without women'sconsent, with woman'sconsent, when the consent has been obtained by putting a woman in fear or of hurt, with her consent, when the man knows that he is not married to her and that the consent is given because she believes that the man is another person to whom she is or believes herself to be married; or with or without her consent when she is under sixteen years of age. Because of the act, a person in Pakistan was punishable by either death or imprisoned up to 10 to 25 years. Although the act was passed, there were no significant effects in which investigations were done on rape victims.
On 17 April 2002, a woman by the name Zafran Bibi, who was 26 at the time, was sentenced to death by stoning in Pakistan. Zafran Bibi stepped forward as a rape victim in Pakistan. Bibi was recast as guilty for having sexual intercourse outside of valid marriage and was sentenced to death because of this incident. Bibi stated that she was tortured and raped by her brother-in-law, Jamal Khan. Her husband was in jail when the incident occurred. Human rights groups saw that Zafran Bibi sentence was bizarre and the actions that were taken towards her case were not taken in the matter that it should have been. The pressure of the Human Rights group ultimately led the court to overturn her sentence.
Honour killings (''karo-kari'')
A majority of the victims of
honour killing
An honor killing (American English), honour killing (Commonwealth English), or shame killing is the murder of an individual, either an outsider or a member of a family, by someone seeking to protect what they see as the dignity and honor of t ...
s are women and the punishments meted out to the murderers are very lenient.
In 2010, it was reported that more than 1,000 honour killing occur every year in Pakistan and India.
The practice of summary killing of a person suspected of an illicit liaison is known as ''
karo kari
Honour killings in Pakistan are known locally as ''karo-kari'' ( ur, ). Pakistan currently have the top number of documented and estimated honour killings per capita of any country in the world; about 1/5 of the world's honour killings are comm ...
'' in Sindh and Balochistan. In December 2004, the Government passed a bill that made ''karo kari'' punishable under the same penal provisions as murder. In 2016, Pakistan repealed the loophole which allowed the perpetrators of honour killings to avoid punishment by seeking forgiveness for the crime from another family member, and thus be legally pardoned. Many cases of honour killings have been reported against women who marry against their family's wishes, who seek divorce or who have been raped. In addition, women of lower classes are more prone to being victims of honour killings or rape.
Acid attacks
Acid attacks occur within the public sphere. Acid and kerosene are thrown at women, mostly in the direction of their faces, as a form of permanent punishment. Many women do not report these attacks out of fear of getting attacked again or to protect the groups of people committing the attacks. Hundreds of women are victims of these attacks and some die from their injuries. When these attacks are reported they are written off as mistakes or suicides at times. In order to help with these attacks, the Depilex Smileagain Foundation provides victims of acid attacks with the opportunity to undergo surgery to heal their faces with the help of experienced doctors, while receiving the medical services they need to recover.
Under the
Qisas
''Qisas'' or ''Qiṣāṣ'' ( ar, قِصَاص, Qiṣāṣ, lit=accountability, following up after, pursuing or prosecuting) is an Islamic term interpreted to mean "retaliation in kind",Mohamed S. El-Awa (1993), Punishment In Islamic Law, Amer ...
(eye-for-an-eye) law of Pakistan, the perpetrator could suffer the same fate as the victim, if the victim or the victim's guardian chooses. The perpetrator may be punished by having drops of acid placed in their eyes. Section 336B of Pakistan Penal Code states: "Whoever causes hurt by corrosive substance shall be punished with imprisonment for life or imprisonment of either description which shall not be less than fourteen years and a minimum fine of one million rupees." Additionally, section 299 defines ''Qisas'' and states: "''Qisas'' means punishment by causing similar hurt at the same part of the body of the convict as he has caused to the victim or by causing his death if he has committed qatl-iamd (intentional manslaughter) in exercise of the right of the victim or a
Wali
A wali (''wali'' ar, وَلِيّ, '; plural , '), the Arabic word which has been variously translated "master", "authority", "custodian", "protector", is most commonly used by Muslims to indicate an Islamic saint, otherwise referred to by the ...
(the guardian of the victim)."
Female infanticide
In Pakistan,
abortion
Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...
and
infanticide
Infanticide (or infant homicide) is the intentional killing of infants or offspring. Infanticide was a widespread practice throughout human history that was mainly used to dispose of unwanted children, its main purpose is the prevention of reso ...
is illegal and so is adultery. Premarital relations are strictly prohibited in the country and are frowned upon by society. According to media reports, the ratio of female infanticides is higher than male. People give more value to a baby boy than a baby girl. People are worried and scared about the finances required for her marriage because of the dowry practice. This whole scenario leads them to commit the hideous crime of infanticide. Three different research studies, according to Klausen and Wink, note that Pakistan had the world's highest percentage of missing girls, relative to its total pre-adult female population.
Marriage to the Quran
Being married to the Quran, traditionally called 'Haq Bakshish', is a practice in which a girl or young woman is either persuaded or compelled to forfeit her right to marry and instead devote her life to studying and memorizing the Quran. The practice is controversial throughout Pakistan, and the Council of Islamic Ideology has declared it to be "un-Islamic".
In some parts of
Sindh
Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...
, the practice of marrying a woman to the
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...
is prevalent among landlords; it requires that the woman live without a husband throughout her life. Although it is without roots in Islamic tradition, the practice is often used by men to claim the land that would otherwise be inherited by their sisters and daughters upon marriage. The cultural logic of "Quran marriage" is not unique to the limited world of Muslims in South Asia. Similar arrangements, such as the "wedding" celebrated between a Catholic novice and Jesus Christ, are known from other regions and religions. Whereas marriage to the Quran is disapproved by "textual Islam," the regionally "practiced Islam" may even add a religious coverage.
The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) has unanimously approved a draft bill aimed at eliminating the inhuman customs of marrying a woman to the Quran and "Haq Bakhshwan" The council in its 157th meeting recommended to the government to award life imprisonment to those who married their sisters and daughters to the Quran. The draft bill, to be called Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment Act) 2005, seeks to abolish the un-Islamic custom of such marriages. Marriage to the holy book is a common custom in Sindh, especially among the feudal lords to avoid transfer of property out of family hands at the time of marriage of their daughter or sister. The council has declared that this practice amounts to defiling the Quran, desecrating the Islamic institution of marriage and denying a woman of inheritance as well as her right to choose a life partner.
Cousin marriages
According to Prof Huma Arshad Cheema (HOD Department of Pediatric Gastroenterology of the Children's Hospital, Lahore), 50 per cent of
infant mortality
Infant mortality is the death of young children under the age of 1. This death toll is measured by the infant mortality rate (IMR), which is the probability of deaths of children under one year of age per 1000 live births. The under-five morta ...
genetic diseases
A genetic disorder is a health problem caused by one or more abnormalities in the genome. It can be caused by a mutation in a single gene (monogenic) or multiple genes (polygenic) or by a chromosomal abnormality. Although polygenic disorders ...
affecting liver, heart, kidney and brain in children. As per Dr Areeba Farrukh, a Pediatric Resident at National Institute of Child Health (NICH), Karachi, cousin marriages are also an important reason for diseases like
thalassemia
Thalassemias are inherited blood disorders characterized by decreased hemoglobin production. Symptoms depend on the type and can vary from none to severe. Often there is mild to severe anemia (low red blood cells or hemoglobin). Anemia can result ...
and faulty
haemoglobin
Hemoglobin (haemoglobin BrE) (from the Greek word αἷμα, ''haîma'' 'blood' + Latin ''globus'' 'ball, sphere' + ''-in'') (), abbreviated Hb or Hgb, is the iron-containing oxygen-transport metalloprotein present in red blood cells (erythrocyte ...
build-up, which can eventually lead to
iron deficiency
Iron deficiency, or sideropenia, is the state in which a body lacks enough iron to supply its needs. Iron is present in all cells in the human body and has several vital functions, such as carrying oxygen to the tissues from the lungs as a key ...
and
anemia
Anemia or anaemia (British English) is a blood disorder in which the blood has a reduced ability to carry oxygen due to a lower than normal number of red blood cells, or a reduction in the amount of hemoglobin. When anemia comes on slowly, th ...
.
According to joint research study conducted in 2016–2017 by scholars of Department of Biological Science Gomal University, and Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering University of Agriculture Peshawar; high rate of consanguinity in Pakistan does contribute to hereditary
hearing loss
Hearing loss is a partial or total inability to Hearing, hear. Hearing loss may be present at birth or acquired at any time afterwards. Hearing loss may occur in one or both ears. In children, hearing problems can affect the ability to Language ...
and to minimize such risks genetic counseling is required. Many girls groomed and pressured to accept cousin marriages to keep familial feudal properties and relations intact, in process kids do suffer various kind of genetic disabilities on account of traditions of
cousin marriage
A cousin marriage is a marriage where the spouses are cousins (i.e. people with common grandparents or people who share other fairly recent ancestors). The practice was common in earlier times, and continues to be common in some societies toda ...
s. According to Sadia Saeed deformed 'A DCY3'
mutation
In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA or viral replication, mi ...
s lead to slow learning and from mild to moderate
intellectual disabilities
Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability in the United Kingdom and formerly mental retardation,Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010). is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by signific ...
, loss of sense of smell to gaining obesity with more likelihood of diabetes in here in life. 'MARK3' mutation may leads to progressive
Phthisis bulbi
Phthisis bulbi is a shrunken, non-functional eye. It may result from severe eye disease, inflammation or injury, or it may represent a complication of eye surgery. Treatment options include insertion of a prosthesis, which may be preceded by e ...
(shrinkage of the eyeball). Mutation ''IQSEC1 can be a cause of intellectual disability, developmental delays, short stature, speech loss, low muscle tone and, in some cases, seizures and aggressive behavior.''
Culture
Dress
The
purdah
Pardah or purdah (from Hindi-Urdu , , meaning "curtain") is a religious and social practice of female seclusion prevalent among some Muslim and Hindu communities. It takes two forms: physical segregation of the sexes and the requirement that wom ...
for muslim upper- and middle class women in India and later Pakistan, both in the form of gender segregation as well as the veil, fell out of fashion due to women's active mobilisation in the anticolonial struggle for independence. The anti colonial independence movement in the Muslim world was dominated by secular modernists, who considered women's liberation as a natural part of a modernized and revitalized Muslim world, and by the 1930s, muslim upper class women had started to appear unveiled.
During the Islamization policy of
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq
General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq HI, GCSJ, ร.ม.ภ, (Urdu: ; 12 August 1924 – 17 August 1988) was a Pakistani four-star general and politician who became the sixth President of Pakistan following a coup and declaration of martial law in ...
in 1977-1988, women were encouraged to veil, and although no law of general compulsory veiling was introduced, women who appeared on state Television as well as women employed by the Federal Government were forced to veil. These regulations were repealed after the fall of Zia-ul-Haq.
The most common female dress is the shalwar kameez with a shawl called dupatta. The shawl is draped over the shoulders and sometimes over the head, usually for prayer. Most women wear very baggy trousers however more westernised girls have made it less baggy and tight. Upper and middle class women in towns wear burqas over their normal clothes in public.
The burqa is the most visible dress in Pakistan. It is typically a tent-like garment worn over the ordinary clothes and is made of white cotton. Many upper class women wear a two-piece burqa which is usually black in colour but sometimes navy blue or dark red. It consists of a long cloak and a separate headpiece with a drop-down face veil. Some educated urban women no longer wear the burqa. The burqa is also not worn by rural peasant women who work in the fields. In rural areas only elite women wear burqas.
Education and economic development
In Pakistan, the women's access to property, education, employment etc. remains considerably lower compared to men's. The social and cultural context of Pakistani society has historically been predominantly patriarchal. Women have a low percentage of participation in society outside of the family. As per research study of Khurshid, Gillani, Hashmi; Pakistani school textbooks are discriminatory towards female representation in quantity and status. History taught in Pakistani school text books is mostly male oriented, in Urdu school books women religious role too is less depicted, women get depicted in inferior position compared to men.
Education
Despite the improvement in Pakistan's
literacy rate
Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...
since its independence, the educational status of Pakistani women is among the lowest in the world. The literacy rate for urban women is more than five times the rate for rural women. The literacy rate is still lower for women compared to men: the literacy rate is 45.8% for females, while for males it is 69.5% (aged 15 or older, data from 2015).
At the end of the 20th century, the school drop-out rate among girls was very high (almost 50 percent), even though the educational achievements of female students were higher than male students at different levels of education. Since then, education for women has improved rapidly. In
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...
there are 46 public colleges out of which 26 are female colleges and some of the others are co-educational. Similarly the public universities of Pakistan have female enrollment than male.
UNESCO and the Orascom subsidiary of Pakistan telco,
Mobilink
Mobilink ( ur, ) was the trade name of Pakistan Mobile Communications Limited (PMCL), a mobile operator in Pakistan providing a range of prepaid and postpaid voice and data telecommunication services to both individual and corporate subscribers ...
have been using mobile phones to educate women and improve their literacy skills since 4 July 2010. The local BUNYAD Foundation of Lahore and the UN's work via the Dakar Framework of Action for EFA are also helping with this issue.
As of 2010, the literacy rate of females in Pakistan was at 39.6 percent compared to that of males at 67.7 percent. More recent statistics provided by the UNICEF – shows that female education amongst 15- to 24-year-olds has increased substantially to 61.5% – an increase of 45%. Male education is at a steady rate of 71.2%.
The objectives of education policies in Pakistan aim to achieve equality in education between girls and boys and to reduce the gender gap in the educational system. However, the policy also encourages girls, mainly in rural areas of Pakistan, to acquire basic home management skills, which are preferred over full-scale primary education. The attitudes towards women in Pakistani culture make the fight for educational equality more difficult. The lack of democracy and feudal practices of Pakistan also contribute to the gender gap in the educational system.
Girls of rural areas are facing many problems regarding their studies. There are several issues and causes of education problems for girls in rural areas of Pakistan.
Inaccessibility of education in Pakistan, especially in backward areas is a result of distance, child labour, scarcity of teachers, local leaders, frequent policy changes and fear of losing power.
In Rural KPK and Balochistan women are severely bound by cultural constraints and prejudices. They are involved in reproductive and productive and community work for 14 to 18 hours. Women, which are 51% on the country's population, have been forced to just bear children for their husband and remain within their houses. In Balochistan, female literacy rate stands between 15 and 25%.
In backward areas, girls schools are far away from their homes, many families cannot afford travelling expenses for their children. Separate schools for girls are not available. Girls live in fear due to extremist policy. In KPK militant groups have blasted thousands of schools because they are against women education, they have given threats to several governments and private girls school for stopping girls education.
This
feudal system
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...
leaves the underpowered, women in particular, in a very vulnerable position. The long-lived socio-cultural belief that women play a reproductive role within the confines of the home leads to the belief that educating women holds no value. Although the government declared that all children of the ages 5–16 can go to school, there are 7.261 million children out of school at the primary level in Pakistan, and 58% are female (UNESCO, Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2011). Although girls have the right to get an education legally, in many rural regions of Pakistan girls are strongly discouraged from going to school and discriminated against, as there are violent acts such as
acid throwing
An acid attack, also called acid throwing, vitriol attack, or vitriolage, is a form of violent assault involving the act of throwing acid or a similarly corrosive substance onto the body of another "with the intention to disfigure, maim, to ...
which many girls fall victim to for attending school.
Rural/urban divide and government policy
Females are educated equally like Males in urban areas such as Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi. However, in rural areas, the education rate is substantially lower. This has begun to change with the issuance of government policy, in which 70% of new schools are built for girls, and also plans to increase the size of women's school so that the infrastructure matches those of men's schools and more female colleges have also been established in order to provide women with higher education.
Women in elite urban districts of Pakistan enjoy a far more privileged lifestyle than those living in rural tribal areas. Women in urbanized districts typically lead more elite lifestyles and have more opportunities for education. Rural and tribal areas of Pakistan have an increasingly high rate of poverty and alarmingly low literacy rates. In 2002 it was recorded that 81.5 percent of 15- to 19-year-old girls from high-income families had attended school while 22.3 percent of girls from low-income families had ever attended school.
In comparison, it was recorded that 96.6 percent of Pakistani boys ages 15–19 coming from high-income families had attended schooling while 66.1 percent of 15- to 19-year-old boys from low-income families had attended school. Girls living in rural areas are encouraged not to go to school because they are needed in the home to do work at a young age. In most rural villages, secondary schooling simply does not exist for girls, leaving them no choice but to prepare for marriage and do household tasks. These rural areas often have inadequate funding and schooling for girls is at the bottom of their priorities.
Employment
Pakistan is a largely rural society (almost two-thirds of the population lives in rural areas) and women are rarely formally employed. This does not mean that women do not participate in the economy: quite on the contrary, women usually work on the farm of the household, practise
subsistence agriculture
Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow food crops to meet the needs of themselves and their families on smallholdings. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements, with little or no su ...
, or otherwise work within the household economic unit. However, women are often prevented from advancing economically, due to social restrictions on women's movement and gender mixing, as well as due to low education.
Workforce participation
Although women play an active role in Pakistan's economy, their contribution has been grossly underreported in some censuses and surveys. Part of the understimation of women's economic role is that Pakistan, like many other countries, has a very large
informal sector
An informal economy (informal sector or grey economy) is the part of any economy that is neither taxed nor monitored by any form of government.
Although the informal sector makes up a significant portion of the economies in developing countrie ...
. The 1991–92
Labour Force Survey
Labour Force Surveys are statistical surveys conducted in a number of countries designed to capture data about the labour market. All European Union member states are required to conduct a Labour Force Survey annually. Labour Force Surveys are also ...
revealed that only about 16% of women aged 10 years and over were in the labour force. According to
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
, in 2014, women made up 22.3% of the labour force in Pakistan.
According to the 1999 report by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, only two percent of Pakistani women participate in the formal sector of employment. However, the 1980 agricultural census stated that the women's participation rate in agriculture was 73%. The 1990–1991 Pakistan Integrated Household Survey indicated that the female labour force participation rate was 45% in rural areas and 17% the urban areas. Pakistani women play a major role in agricultural production, livestock raising and cottage industries.
In 2008, it was recorded that 21.8 percent of females were participating in the labour force in Pakistan while 82.7 percent of men were involved in labour. The rate of women in the labour force has an annual growth rate of 6.5 percent. Out of the 47 million employed peoples in Pakistan in 2008, only 9 million were women and of those 9 million, 70 percent worked in the agricultural sector. The income of Pakistani women in the labour force is generally lower than that of men, due in part to a lack of formal education.In Pakistan, women are not accepted if they earn more than their husbands - development organization CARE found 76% of respondents felt that people, particularly family members, will disapprove if female entrepreneurs’ earnings usurp their partners’.
The low female literacy rate is a large obstacle in women taking part in the workforce.
Due to the religious and cultural values in Pakistan, women who do try to enter the workforce are often pushed into the lower of the three employment structures. This structure level, unorganized services sector, has low pay, low job security and low productivity. In order to improve this situation, governmental organizations and political parties need to push for the entrance of women into the organized services sector. Conservative interpretations of Islam have not promoted women's rights in the workforce, since they value women as keepers of the
family honour
Family honor (or honour) is an abstract concept involving the perceived quality of worthiness and respectability that affects the social standing and the self-evaluation of a group of related people, both corporately and individually. The famil ...
, support
gender segregation
Sex segregation, sex separation, gender segregation or gender separation is the physical, legal, or cultural separation of people according to their biological sex. Sex segregation can refer simply to the physical and spatial separation by sex w ...
, and institutionalization of gender disparities.
Furthermore, women who do work are often paid less than minimum wage, because they are seen as lesser beings in comparison to men, and "their working conditions vis-à-vis females are often hazardous; having long working hours, no medical benefits, no job security, subjected to job discrimination, verbal abuse and sexual harassment and no support from male-oriented labor unions" (An In-Depth Analysis of Women's Labor Force Participation in Pakistan).
Although these religious and cultural barriers exist keeping women away from the workforce, studies have shown that women-only entrepreneurial training that allows participants to develop capital and competences, can break these down. Programs such as this can go a long way in an Islamic socio-cultural context to develop tolerance and understanding.
Military
Women can serve in the
Pakistan Armed Forces
The Pakistan Armed Forces (; ) are the military forces of Pakistan. It is the world's sixth-largest military measured by active military personnel and consist of three formally uniformed services—the Army, Navy, and the Air Force, which are ...
. In 2006, the first women fighter pilot batch joined the combat aerial mission command of PAF.
The
Pakistan Navy
ur, ہمارے لیے اللّٰہ کافی ہے اور وہ بہترین کارساز ہے۔ English language, English: Allah is Sufficient for us - and what an excellent (reliable) Trustee (of affairs) is He!(''Quran, Qur'an, Al Imran, 3:173' ...
prohibits women from serving in the combat branch. Rather they are appointed and serve in operations involving
military logistics
Military logistics is the discipline of planning and carrying out the movement, supply, and maintenance of military forces. In its most comprehensive sense, it is those aspects or military operations that deal with:
* Design, development, acqui ...
, staff and senior administrative offices, particularly in the regional and central headquarters. About 4,000 women have served the armed forces till 2017.
Land and property rights
Around 90% of the Pakistani households are headed by men and most female-headed households belong to the poor strata of the society
Women lack ownership of productive resources. Despite women's legal rights to own and inherit property from their families, in 2000 there were very few women who had access and control over these resources.
Other concerns
Forced conversion of non-muslim girls to Islam
In Pakistan, Hindu and Christian girls in Pakistan are kidnapped, raped, forcibly converted to Islam and married to Muslim men. These girls are generally 12 to 18 years old. According to the
Aurat Foundation
Aurat Foundation, founded in 1986, is a women's rights organization based in Islamabad, Pakistan. Its co-founders were Nigar Ahmed and Shahla Zia. Aurat Foundation lobbies and advocates for women. It also holds demonstrations and public awarenes ...
, about 1,000 non-Muslim girls are forcibly converted to Islam in Pakistan every year.
Gender roles
Pakistan is a
patriarchal
Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of Dominance hierarchy, dominance and Social privilege, privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical Anthropology, anthropological term for families or clans controll ...
society where men are the primary authority figures and women are subordinate. Gender is one of the organizing principles of Pakistani society. Patriarchal values embedded in local traditions, religion and culture predetermine the social value of gender. Islam heavily influences gender roles in particular. An artificial divide between production and reproduction, made by the ideology of
sexual division of labour
The sexual division of labour (SDL) is the delegation of different tasks between males and females. Among human foragers, males and females target different types of foods and share them with each other for a mutual or familial benefit. In some spe ...
, has placed women in reproductive roles as mothers and wives in the private arena of home and men in a productive role as breadwinners in the public arena.
Pakistani women lack social value and status because of negation of their roles as producers and providers in all social roles. The preference for sons due to their productive role often dictates the allocation of household resources in their favor. Traditionally, male members of the family are given better education and are equipped with skills to compete for resources in the public arena, while female members are imparted domestic skills to be good mothers and wives. Lack of skills, limited opportunities in the job market, and social, religious and cultural restrictions limit women's chances to compete for resources in the public arena.
This situation has led to the social and economic dependency of women that becomes the basis for male power over women in all social relationships. However, the spread of
patriarchy
Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of dominance and privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical anthropological term for families or clans controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males a ...
is not even. The nature and degree of women's subordination vary across classes, regions, and the rural/urban divide. Patriarchal structures are relatively stronger in the rural and tribal setting where local customs establish male authority and power over women's lives. On the other hand, women belonging to the upper and middle classes have increasingly greater access to education and employment opportunities and can assume greater control over their lives.
According to Pakistani standards, 'good women' could be either educated or uneducated and are expected to be unselfish, calm, tolerant, empathetic, reliable, able to organize, compromise, coordinate and maintain hospitality within the house and in keeping good relationships. They are also expected to do household chores, care for her children, husband and in-laws and, when needed, provide the home with external income. Women are also expected to marry a man of their parent's choice, follow Islam's code of dress and sacrifice their own dreams.
In a study carried out by
Gallup Pakistan
Gallup Pakistan, affiliated to Gallup International Association, is a research organization located in Pakistan.
It was established in 1980 by experts trained at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford University and Wharton Schoo ...
, the Pakistani affiliate of Gallup International, majority of the Pakistanis believe that both males and females have different roles to play in the society. In Pakistan, for married women it is predominantly the husband’s mother and his sisters who load pressure onto women to be at home taking care of the children and the household, and for the man to be the main breadwinner. Although women's role has broadened beyond being a housewife over time, many people still give priority to men in politics, education, employment, and related walks of life. When the respondents were asked to give their opinion on a number of statements about gender roles 63% of the respondents agreed with the statement that "Boys' education is more important than girls'"; 37% disagreed with it. The percentage of people agreeing with this statement was higher among rurallites (67%) as compared to the urbanites (53%). However, more than 90% believe that female children should be educated, nearly half of them believing that, should opportunity be available, they should rise to college education and beyond.
Fifty five percent (55%) of the respondents believe that "Both husband and wife should work"; while 45% said it is wrong for both husband and the wife to work. More than 50% of men including those from rural areas agree that both husband and wife should work for a better living. When the respondents were asked whether "Men are better politicians as compared to women or not"; 67% agree men are better politicians while 33% think otherwise. More women agree with this statement as compared to men. In response to the following statement "If jobs are in shortage should men be given priority for employment"; 72% of the respondents believe they should be given priority while 28% disagree. Eighty three percent (83%) of the respondents think that "To live a happy life women need children"; while only 17% think they do not. A vast majority of all respondents including 82% of women respondents believe that "prosperous women should raise their voice to support the rights of poor women."
Health
According to 1998 figures, the female infant mortality rate was higher than that of male children. The maternal mortality rate was also high, as only 20 percent of women were assisted by a trained provider during delivery. Only 9 percent of women used contraceptives in 1985, but by 2000 this figure had increased substantially, and as of 2012/13, the contraceptive prevalence rate was 35.4%. The
total fertility rate
The total fertility rate (TFR) of a population is the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if:
# she were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates (ASFRs) through her lifetime
# she were t ...
is 2.75 children born/woman (2015 est.).
Pakistan has taken certain initiatives in the health sector to redress gender imbalances. The SAP was launched in 1992–1993 to accelerate improvement in the social indicators. Closing the gender gap is the foremost objective of the SAP. The other major initiative is the Prime Minister's program of lady health workers (LHWs). Under this community-based program, 26,584 LHWs in rural areas and 11,967 LHWs in urban areas have been recruited to provide basic health care including family planning to women at the grassroots level. Other initiatives include the village-based family planning workers and extended immunisation programs, nutritional and child survival, cancer treatment, and increased involvement of media in health education.
Marriage and divorce issues
The average age of women for marriage increased from 16.9 years in 1951 to 22.5 years in 2005. A majority of women are married to their close relatives, i.e., first and second cousins. Only 37 percent of married women are not related to their spouses before marriage. A study published in 2000 recorded that the divorce rate in Pakistan was extremely low due to the social stigma attached to it.
Many girls are still married off into a child marriage, and many complications with this can occur as childbirth from a child can cause complications with the baby and mother. A common system in place with marriage is the
Dowry
A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment b ...
system in which a low or no status is assigned to a girl right from the prenatal stage. There are issues around the dowry system such as dowry related violence, in which the wife is abused by her husband. Before the marriage, the groom will make heavy financial demands on the bride's family as a condition of marrying their daughter.
In order for many parents' daughters to get married, they start "obtaining loans from people, getting interest based loans from banks, utilising their life savings and even sell their homes" (JAHEZ (Dowry Conditions Set by the Groom for Marriage)). Within the dowry system, abuse is likely to occur after the marriage has taken place. Prior to the marriage, if certain conditions that the groom and his family have put in place are not met, they will threaten to break off the marriage, which would be devastating for the bride and her family because of the lengths the bride's family already had to go through to pay her dowry and because traditionally it is a great dishonour to the family.
Notable women
Pakistan has many immensely talented women who have played a vital role in changing the social standards and norms of the country. These women come from all walks of life and have played their role in all sorts of sectors. Women in Pakistan have progressed in various fields of life such as politics, education, economy, services, health and many more.
Politics and activism
In 2000, women's presence in political parties as well as in the political structure at the local, provincial, and national levels was insignificant due to cultural and structural barriers. The situation gradually improved, and by 2014, 20.7% of elected representatives were female, a statistic well ahead of the United States and less than 2% behind the United Kingdom. According to Foqia Sadiq Khan while Pakistan is in one of seventy countries where at least one woman President or Prime Minister had been there; lately Pakistan also provides for certain electoral reservations for women at local and parliamentary level like five percent of candidates need to be women, but still Pakistan lags behind in gender equality, and satisfactory political inclusion.
Foqia says while the highest number of women contested the 2018 general elections, still fewer, i.e. just eight, got elected compared to previous years. Foqia says that while electoral reservations provide for minimum level assurance, Pakistani familial, societal and institutional structure do little to give women a fair chance to thrive in competitive political environments. According to Foqia, though local level elections give more opportunities at entry level, being non-political in character means that political exposure remains limited; political parties do allot five percent of their parliamentary seats, but mostly where chances of winning are bleak; and the parliamentary reserved seats for women are awarded based on clientelism. This results in no benefit of exposure in a competitive political environment and the patriarchal hegemony continues to stifle meaningful political inclusion of women in Pakistan's political power structures. Prominent actress
Sarah Khan
Sarah Khan (born 14 March, 1992) also known as Sarah Falak is a Pakistani actress who
appears in Urdu-language television series. She made her acting debut with a supporting role in 2012 Hum TV's serial ''Badi Aapa'' and followed by other brief ...
states that Allah provides for equal gender rank for women and that instead of women's day's Aurat March activism, women need to focus on their children's education.
Miss Fatima Jinnah, sister of
Mohammed Ali Jinnah
Muhammad Ali Jinnah (, ; born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 1876 – 11 September 1948) was a barrister, politician, and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the ...
, was an instrumental figure in the
Pakistan movement
The Pakistan Movement ( ur, , translit=Teḥrīk-e-Pākistān) was a political movement in the first half of the 20th century that aimed for the creation of Pakistan from the Muslim-majority areas of British India. It was connected to the pe ...
. In 1947, she formed the Women's Relief Committee, which later formed the nucleus for the
All Pakistan Women's Association
The All Pakistan Women's Association, or APWA, ( ur, آل پاکستان ویمنز ایسوسی ایشن) as it is commonly known, is a voluntary, non-profit and non-political Pakistani organisation whose fundamental aim is the promotion of mo ...
(APWA). She was the first Muslim woman to contest the presidency in 1965, as a candidate of the Combined Opposition Party.
Begum Shaista Ikramullah was the first woman elected member of the
Constituent Assembly of Pakistan
The Constituent Assembly of Pakistan ( bn, পাকিস্তান গণপরিষদ, Pākistān Goṇoporishod; ur, , Aāin Sāz Asimblī) was established in August 1947 to frame Constitution of Pakistan of 1956, a constitution for Paki ...
.
Begum Mahmooda Salim Khan
Begum Mahmooda Salim Khan ( ur, بیگم محمودہ سلیم خان; May 1913 – June 2007) was a Pakistani social worker, early political figure and a cabinet minister in West Pakistan for education during President Ayub Khan's regime.
Bac ...
was Pakistan's first woman minister and member of the Cabinet of President General
Ayub Khan
Ayub Khan is a compound masculine name; Ayub is the Arabic version of the name of the Biblical figure Job, while Khan or Khaan is taken from the title used first by the Mongol rulers and then, in particular, their Islamic and Persian-influenced s ...
.
Begum Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan
गुल-इ-राणा ( Kumaoni)
, image = Begum Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan (1961).jpg
, imagesize =
, alt =
, smallimage =
, caption = Begum Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan in 1961
, alongside =
, predecessor = Mir Rasool Bux Talpur
, p ...
(1905–1990) was a women's rights activists. She was the founder of the All Pakistan Women's Association.
Begum Nusrat Bhutto
''Begum'' Nusrat Bhutto (; sd, نصرت ڀٽو; ur, ; born as Nusrat Ispahani; 23 March 1929 – 23 October 2011) was an Iranian-Pakistani public figure of Kurdish origin, who served as spouse of the Prime Minister of Pakistan between 1971 unti ...
wife of Prime Minister Zulfikhar Ali Bhutto, led the Pakistani delegation to the United Nations' first women's conference in 1975.
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto ( ur, بینظیر بُھٹو; sd, بينظير ڀُٽو; Urdu ; 21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th and 13th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 t ...
was the first female
Prime Minister of Pakistan
The prime minister of Pakistan ( ur, , romanized: Wazīr ē Aʿẓam , ) is the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen cabinet, despite the president of Paki ...
(1988)(1991) and the first woman elected to head a Muslim country. She was elected twice to the office of Prime Minister.
Fehmida Mirza
Fahmida Mirza ( ur, ; born 20 December 1956) is a Pakistani politician who was Federal Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination, in office from 20 August 2018 until 10 April 2022. She served as the 18th and only women Speaker of the National ...
is the first female speaker of the
National Assembly of Pakistan
The National Assembly ( ur, , translit=Aiwān-e-Zairīñ, , or ur, قومی اسمبلی, Romanization, romanized: ''Qaumi Assembly'') is the lower house, lower legislative house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Pakistan, which al ...
. Other prominent female Pakistani politicians include
Begum
Begum (also begüm, bagum, begom, begam, baigum or beygum) is a royal and aristocratic title from Central and South Asia. It is the feminine equivalent of the title ''baig'' or '' bey'', which in Turkic languages means "higher official". It us ...
Nasim Wali Khan
Nasim Wali Khan ( ur, نسيم ولی خان 1933 16 May 2021) was a female politician in Pakistan. Nasim Wali Khan was a
leader of Awami National Party–Wali. Nasim Wali Khan was the former provincial president and parliamentary leader of th ...
Sherry Rehman
Sherry Rehman ( ur, ; born 21 December 1960) is a Pakistani politician, journalist and former diplomat who has been the member of the Senate of Pakistan since 2015. She was the first female Leader of the Opposition in the Senate from March to ...
and
Tehmina Daultana
Tehmina Daultana ( Punjabi, ur, ) is a Pakistani politician who had been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan.
Political career
Daultana was elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan for the first time in 1993 Pakistani general ...
.
Hina Rabbani Khar
Hina Rabbani Khar (Urdu: ; born 19 November 1977) is a Pakistani politician, who is serving as the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs since 19 April 2022. She was previously appointed in July 2011 as the Foreign Minister of Pakistan at the ...
became the first Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan in 2011.
Mukhtaran Mai
Mukhtaran Bibi ( ur, ; born Kristof, N & Wudunn, S, (2009), "Half The Sky", Virago), now known as Mukhtār Mā'ī, is a Pakistani human rights activist from the village of Meerwala, located in the rural ''tehsil'' of Jatoi in the Muzaffargar ...
a victim of gang rape has become a prominent activist for women's rights in Pakistan.
Asma Jahangir
Asma Jilani Jahangir ( ur, , ''ʿĀṣimah Jahāṉgīr''; 27 January 1952 – 11 February 2018) was a Pakistani human rights lawyer and social activist who co-founded and chaired the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. Jahangir was known ...
and Hina Jilani, prominent human rights lawyers and founders of the first all woman law firm in Pakistan, AGHS.
Malala Yousafzai
Malala Yousafzai ( ur, , , pronunciation: ; born 12 July 1997), is a Pakistani female education activist and the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Awarded when she was 17, she is the world's youngest Nobel Prize laureate, and the second Pak ...
, as a teenage education activist, was shot in the face in her hometown
Mingora
Mingora ( ps, مینګورہ, ur, ) is a city in the Swat District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Located on the Swat River, it is the 3rd largest city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the 26th largest in Pakistan. Mingora is the largest city and t ...
at the age of 15. After her hospitalisation and recovery she went on to win the
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...
in conjunction with
Kailash Satyarthi
Kailash Satyarthi (born 11 January 1954) is an Indian social reformer who campaigned against child labor in India and advocated the universal right to education. In 2014, he was the co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, along with Malala You ...
for their work for children's rights. At 17, Yousafzai became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and the first Nobel Peace Prize winner from Pakistan.
Sania Nishtar
Sania Nishtar ( ur, ) (Born: 16 February 1963); SI), is a Pakistani physician, cardiologist, senator, author and activist who remained Special Assistant on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety to the Prime Minister of Pakistan, with the stat ...
, the first female cardiologist and the only woman Interim Cabinet Member 2013, is globally recognized for her work and accomplishments in health policy advocacy.
Nigar Ahmad, women's rights activist, co-founder of Aurat (women's) Foundation, one of the oldest women's organisation in the country.
Kanwal Ahmed
Kanwal Ahmad is a Pakistani entrepreneur, activist, talkshow host, executive producer and the founder of Soul Sisters Pakistan, a Facebook group created for women to discuss taboo topics and break the culture of silence. She is also the host of h ...
is the founder of Soul Sisters Pakistan (SSP), a forum for those who identify as women and have roots in Pakistan. SSP, founded in 2013, was one of the few forums exclusively created for women to speak freely about issues particular to their identities. Ahmed also launched a flagship YouTube show called ''"Conversations with Kanwal''. The show has brought different guests and it covers subjects like dwarfism, diabetes, postpartum depression, single fatherhood, bereavement, women in sports, chai trolley culture or colorism. Ahmed has garnered international recognition through her work on SSP and has become a figure in advocating for the need of women only spaces.
Naela Chohan
Naela Chohan (Urdu: نائلہ چوہان, alternative spelling ''Naila Chohan'') (born 6 May 1958 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan) is a Pakistani ambassador, artist and diplomat. As a seasoned and veteran diplomat, ambassador Chohan has assumed a le ...
is a Pakistani diplomat and feminist artist. She is currently serving as the Ambassador of Pakistan to
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
,
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
,
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal
, national_motto = "Fi ...
and
Ecuador
Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...
. She has been a vocal proponent of stronger ties between Pakistan and
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
.
Farida Shaheed
Farida Shaheed is a Pakistani sociologist and feminist human rights activist. In 2012, she was appointed the United Nations Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights. She heads the Shirkat Gah women's resource centre in Pakistan, and is ...
and
Khawar Mumtaz
Khawar Mumtaz (born 29 June 1945) is a Pakistani women's rights activist, feminist author and university professor. She is the Former Chairperson of the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) who served for three consecutive terms from ...
, human rights activists and authors, associated with Shirkat Gah, a woman's organisation.
Shahla Zia
Shahla Zia (12 February 1947 – 10 March 2005) also known as Shehla Zia, was a Pakistani lawyer and activist, known for her advocacy of women's rights.
Personal life
Zia was born into a Punjabi family in Lahore. Her father Mahmood Ali Khan was ...
, human rights activist and lawyer, co-founder of AGHS with Asma Jahngir and Hina Jilani, and also co-founder of Aurat Foundation with Nigar Ahmad. Also the plaintiff in Shahla Zia v. WAPDA, the leading case on environmental law in Pakistan.
Tahira Abdullah, prominent human rights activist, associated with
Women's Action Forum
Women's Action Forum (WAF) is a women's rights organization in Pakistan.
History
Women's Action Forum (WAF) was established in Karachi in September, 1981Fatima Lodhi is an activist, who is Pakistan's first anti-colourism and diversity advocate.
Riffat Arif, also known as Sister Zeph, is a teacher, women's activist and philanthropist from
Gujranwala
Gujranwala ( ur, , label=none; ) is a city and capital of Gujranwala Division located in Pakistan. It is also known as "City of Wrestlers" and is quite famous for its food. It is the 5th most populous city proper after Karachi, Lahore, Faisala ...
.
Romana Bashir, Catholic woman activist since 1997 in interfaith harmony and women's education.
Syeda Tahira Safdar, is the first woman chief justice of any high court in Pakistan. In 2018, she was sworn in as the 18th chief justice of the
Balochistan High Court
The Balochistan High Court ( ur, ) is the highest judicial institution of Balochistan, Pakistan. The court is formally known as the High Court of Balochistan. It is situated in the provincial capital, Quetta.
Mir Ali Dost Bugti was the first ...
(BHC). Previously in 1982, she was also first woman to be appointed as civil judge in Quetta, Balochistan.
Ayesha Malik, is the senior judge from
Lahore High Court
The Lahore High Court () is based in Lahore, Pakistan. It was established as a high court on 21 March 1882. The Lahore High Court has jurisdiction over Punjab (Pakistan). The High Court's principal seat is in Lahore, but there are benches in th ...
(LHC). In 2021, she was also nominated for the post of
Chief Justice of Pakistan
}
The Chief Justice of Pakistan (Urdu: ) (Initialism, initials as CJP) is head of the court system of Pakistan (the Judiciary of Pakistan, judicature branch of Government of Pakistan, government) and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of Paki ...
.
Aurat March is International Women's Day women's
procession
A procession is an organized body of people walking in a formal or ceremonial manner.
History
Processions have in all peoples and at all times been a natural form of public celebration, as forming an orderly and impressive ceremony. Religious ...
walk organized in various cities of
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
including Lahore,
Hyderabad
Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...
, Karachi and Islamabad. The first Aurat March was held in Pakistan on 8 March 2018 (in the city of
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...
). In 2019, it was organised in
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...
and
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...
by a women's collective called ''Hum Auratein'' (We the Women), and in other parts of the country, including
Islamabad
Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital T ...
, Hyderabad,
Quetta
Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه) is the tenth List of cities in Pakistan by population, most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in Geography of Pakistan, south-west of the country close to the ...
,
Mardan
Mardān (Pashto and ; Urdu ; Pashto: ) is a city in the Mardan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan. Located in the Valley of Peshawar, Mardan is the second-largest city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (after Peshawar). It is a fast-growing ...
, and
Faisalabad
Faisalabad (; Punjabi/ ur, , ; ), formerly known as Lyallpur ( Punjabi, Urdu: لائل پور), named after the founder of the city, but was renamed in 1977 in honour of late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. It is the 3rd largest city of Pak ...
, by
Women democratic front
Women Democratic Front (WDF) is an independent socialist-feminist organization based in Pakistan. It was founded in the federal capital Islamabad on March 8, 2018, by hundreds of delegates from Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
...
(WDF), Women Action Forum (WAF), and others. The march was endorsed by the Lady Health Workers Association, and included representatives from multiple women's-rights organizations. The march called for more accountability for violence against women, and to support for women who experience violence and harassment at the hands of security forces, in public spaces, at home, and at the workplace. Reports suggest that more and more women rushed to join the march until the crowd was scattered. Women (as well as men) carried posters bearing phrases such as 'Ghar ka Kaam, Sab ka Kaam', and 'Women are humans, not honour' became a rallying cry.
Pakistani Women's rights activism and NGOs
Pakistani
civil society
Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.Pakistani feminists have produced a significant number of big and small, courageous
NGO
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
s and proactive activism including that of
Me Too Movement
#MeToo is a social movement against sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and rape culture, in which people publicize their experiences of sexual abuse or sexual harassment. The phrase "Me Too" was initially used in this context on social media in ...
and annual Aurat March which work towards improve Pakistani women's global situation and particularly to prevent violence against women, for instance:
*the
All Pakistan Women's Association
The All Pakistan Women's Association, or APWA, ( ur, آل پاکستان ویمنز ایسوسی ایشن) as it is commonly known, is a voluntary, non-profit and non-political Pakistani organisation whose fundamental aim is the promotion of mo ...
, founded in 1949,
*the
Aurat Foundation
Aurat Foundation, founded in 1986, is a women's rights organization based in Islamabad, Pakistan. Its co-founders were Nigar Ahmed and Shahla Zia. Aurat Foundation lobbies and advocates for women. It also holds demonstrations and public awarenes ...
, registered in 1986,
* Blue Veins, which works primarily on health issues in rural areas,
*the
Society for Appraisal and Women Empowerment in Rural Areas Society for Appraisal and Women Empowerment in Rural Areas (SAWERA) is a human rights organization, NGO in KPK and Tribal Regions, Pakistan. It works for the welfare of women and children. It was founded in 2004 and formally registered in 2008 by t ...
(SAWERA), founded in 2004 in
Khyber Agency
Khyber District ( ps, خېبر ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in Peshawar Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. Until 2018, it was an agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas; with the merger of FATA with Khyber Pak ...
, famous for the assassination of its founder
Fareeda Afridi
Fareeda "Kokikhel" Afridi was a Pashtun feminist, a women's rights activist in Pakistan. In July 2012, at the age of 25, she was shot dead on her way to work.
Afridi was born and raised in the Khyber tribal area, part of the Federally Administe ...
who was gunned down in June 2012.
*In a landmark legal challenge against state airline, Pakistan International Airline (PIA), in March 2018, plaintiff Komal Zafar argued that failure to select her as cadet pilot was unconstitutional. Justice Muhammad Farrukh Irfan Khan of
Lahore High Court
The Lahore High Court () is based in Lahore, Pakistan. It was established as a high court on 21 March 1882. The Lahore High Court has jurisdiction over Punjab (Pakistan). The High Court's principal seat is in Lahore, but there are benches in th ...
passed the orders on a petition, filed by Komal Zafar for the implementation of women quota in the pilots' recruitment process of the PIA. During the hearing, the petitioner's counsel submitted that women were ignored in the recruitment process for filling pilots' vacancies despite 10 per cent quota specified in the policy. He contended that the step was a violation of the policy, and pleaded to issue directions for completing the recruitment process on the pilots' posts reserved for women.
*
War Against Rape War Against Rape (WAR) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Karachi and founded in 1989.
Through 1979–1988 martial law was enacted in Pakistan; this led to the creation of many NGOs, including WAR. The group's mission is to publicize ...
an NGO with the stated mission to work towards creating a rape free society.
Science, technology, engineering and mathematics
Number of Pakistani women in 'STEM' is low due to one of the highest gender gaps in STEM fields. However, over the time, some Pakistani women have emerged as scientists in fields like
Physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
,
Biology
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...
and
computer science
Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...
s.
Some notable Pakistani women contributing to STEM are:
*
Nergis Mavalvala
Nergis Mavalvala (born 1968) is a Pakistani-American astrophysicist. She is the Curtis and Kathleen Marble Professor of Astrophysics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she is also the Dean of the university's School of S ...
:Pakistani-American
physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe.
Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...
*
Tasneem Zehra Husain
Tasneem Zehra Husain is a Pakistani theoretical physicist. She is one of few Pakistani women to obtain a doctorate in physics, and the first Pakistani woman string theorist.
An eminent scientist, she has been a guest speaker at a various schoo ...
: a theoretical physicist
*
Azra Quraishi
Azra Quraishi (22 September 1945 – 22 November 2002) was a leading botanist from Pakistan. She worked on the improvement of potato production in Pakistan and became known for her work on tissue culture. She was given the Borlaug Award in 1 ...
: a botanist
*
Arfa Karim
Arfa Abdul Karim Randhawa ( pa, ; 2 February 1995 – 14 January 2012) was a Pakistani student and computer prodigy who became the youngest Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) in 2004. She was submitted to the Guinness Book of Worl ...
Talat Shahnaz Rahman
Talat Shahnaz Rahman is a Pakistani condensed matter physics, condensed matter physicist whose research topics include surface phenomena and excited media, including catalysis, vibrational dynamics, and magnetic excitations. She has also helped de ...
Angeline Malik
Angeline Malik is a Pakistani director, actor, producer, model, television host and activist.
Angeline Malik is a multifaceted personality an actor, producer, director, sculptor and an advocate of raising and voicing relevant social issues. Sh ...
with her campaign #inkaarkaro #mujhayjeenaydo and #meriawaazsuno created a platform to bring many celebrities together like Bushra Ansari, Zeba Bakhtiar, and Samina Ahmed to raise their voice against child abuse and in support of women rights.
* Zeba Bakhtiar
* Samina Pirzada
* Mahira Khan made her name with Humsafar and Sadqay Tumhare, Sadqay Tumhary. She also appeared in Bol (film), Bol and Bin Roye.
* Marina Khan starred in Dhoop Kinaray and Tanhaiyaan. Portraying sometimes headstrong or idiosyncratically tough female characters.
* Ayesha Omar more than often depicts the young and rich youth of Pakistan. The young actress delved into the realm of music, even winning an award for Lux Style Award for Best Album. She also starred in Pakistani movie Karachi se Lahore.
* Sanam Saeed appeared in Zindagi Gulzar Hai.
* Mehwish Hayat is an actress who has starred in Jawani Phir Nahi Ani, the highest grossing Pakistani film, she also appeared in various television ads in dramas.
* Mahnoor Baloch has worked in many serials and film Main Hoon Shahid Afridi.
*Hina Hina Dilpazeer, Dilpazeer known as Bulbulay, Momo, appeared in Bulbulay.
*Sultana Siddiqui is the President and Founder of Hum Network in Pakistan. Hum TV has received the prestigious Lux Style Awards, Lux Style Award, four years in a row. Born in Karachi, Sultana was the first woman to start her own TV channel.
Singers
* Abida Parveen
* Noor Jehan was the melodious lady singer of the sub continent.
* Ayesha Omer
*Reshma (1947–2013)
* Farida Khanum
* Nayyara Noor
* Iqbal Bano
* Tahira Syed
* Nazia Hassan was an iconic female Pakistani pop singer.
* Hadiqa Kiani is a recipient of the country's highest civilian honour and is considered the "Most Popular Female Singer of Pakistan" for the past two decades. She has sung in over a dozen languages and has represented Pakistan internationally through music.
*Momina Mustehsan is a Pakistani musician and social activist. Shot to fame after her debut performance on Pakistani music show Coke Studio. She has used her fame to speak candidly about issues like cyber bullying and depression.
*Meesha Shafi
*Gul Panra
*Quratulain Balouch, Quratulain Baloch
*Annie Khalid
*Shazia Manzoor
*Rabi Pirzada, Rabi Peerzada
Pakistan Air Force
Since 2006, Pakistan Air Force allowed women to take part in combat roles. Previously, women only took part in non-combat roles in Pakistan Air Force.
*Saira Batool, is the first Pakistani female pilot from Hazara community in Pakistan. She along with three other women were the first to join Pakistan Air Force in 2006. The three other women were Saba Khan, Nadia Gul and Mariam Khalil.
*Marium Mukhtiar, was a female Air Force pilot and a recipient of Tamgha-e-Basalat. She was the first women to be killed in line of duty after her aircraft crashed on 24 November 2015.
*Kainat Junaid, is the first women fighter pilot from Lower Dir District, Lower Dir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Others
* Fauzia Minallah is the first and youngest woman political cartoonist to win the All Pakistan Newspaper Society award. She is also the winner of Ron Kovic Peace prize.
*Muniba Mazari is Pakistan's only wheel chair-bound TV anchor. She was part of Forbes Magazine's 30 Under 30 list for 2017. In December 2016, she was named Pakistan's first female Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations.
*Fiza Farhan is the co-founder of the Buksh Foundation, a microfinance institution in Pakistan. Her organisation has brought solar powered lights to around 6750 household all across the country.
*Sadia Bashir is a Pakistani entrepreneur who has dedicated her life to video games. She has co-founded Pixel Art Games Academy. Bashir has been awarded by the US Embassy at the Women Entrepreneurs Summit in 2017.
*Musarrat Misbah, Masarrat Misbah is a distinguished entrepreneur, cosmetologist and philanthropist. She set up the Depilex Smile again Foundation in 2005. The foundation helps those who had suffered due to atrocities of deliberate burning.
*Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is the first Pakistani to win two Oscar Awards, Oscar awards. She won Best Documentary Short Subject for A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness, A Girl In The River: The Price of Forgiveness. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed to end honour killings following her win.
*
Arfa Karim
Arfa Abdul Karim Randhawa ( pa, ; 2 February 1995 – 14 January 2012) was a Pakistani student and computer prodigy who became the youngest Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) in 2004. She was submitted to the Guinness Book of Worl ...
became the world's youngest Microsoft Certified Professional at the age of 9 years. She represented Pakistan in various prestigious technology related events. The computer prodigy died in 2012 at the age 16 years.
*Shamim Akhtar is Pakistan's first female truck driver. She is challenging stereotypes in the transport sector. Despite financial crisis, she continues to drive trucks despite the challenges.
*Ms. Tahira Qazi's name will continue to be a source of strength for all those standing for peace and principles. In a bid to protect her students from the militants, Ms. Qazi had jumped in front of the children and said to the terrorists, "I am their mother" She embraced martydom after a taking a bullet to her head.
*Zainab Abbas is the first female Pakistani presenter at the ICC Cricket World Cup. Zainab has worked for Ten Sports, her sports features have been acknowledged by well-known cricket forums such as ESPN. She was also recently awarded the 'Best Female Sports Journalist' at a Pakistani sports awards. She has also been called the 'National Lucky Charm' of Pakistani Cricket. The makeup artist turned news host turned Cricket analyst is turning heads in the Cricketing World.
Sports
Sportswomen of Pakistan have always been plagued by the patriarchal society and many have come forward to claim that coaches, selectors and others who are in position of power demand sexual favours. Sexual abuse of this kind has led some athletes to commit suicide due to inaction of authorities in pursuing the suspects. In some cases the female athletes who register the cases of sexual abuse and harassment are banned or put on probation.
In 1996, when sisters Shaiza and Sharmeen Khan first tried to introduce women's cricket in Pakistan, they were met with court cases and even death threats. The government refused them permission to play India in 1997, and ruled that women were forbidden from playing sports in public. However, later they were granted permission, and the Pakistani women's cricket team played its first recorded match on 28 January 1997 against New Zealand in Christchurch.
Shazia Hidayat was the sole woman Olympian on the Pakistan at the 2000 Summer Olympics, Pakistan team at the 2000 Summer Olympic Games and the second woman to represent Pakistan in an Olympic event.
Sidra Sadaf, a woman cyclist won a silver medal at the 11th South Asian Games in Dhaka, Bangladesh in January 2010. Naseem Hameed achieved the fastest woman sprinter record in South Asia following the 2010 South Asian games; she gained widespread popularity for the remarkable feat.
Rukhsana Parveen and Sofia Jawed became first Pakistani women to bag international medals in boxing.
Sana Mir is captain of the Pakistan women's cricket team. Won two gold medals at Asian Games in 2010 and 2014. Started playing street cricket at the age of five. Studying engineering before becoming a cricketer by profession.
Hajra Khan (footballer), Hajra Khan is the captain of Pakistan's women's football team. She is the only player to have scored more than 100 goals in her club career. 21-year-old made history when she was invited to play in Germany for top clubs SGS Essen, FSV Gütersloh and VfL Sindelfingen. Hajra has chosen a very tough path for herself.
Literature
Ismat Chughtai, who was part of the Progressive Writers Association, is regarded as an important feminist writer of Urdu. Parveen Shakir, Kishwar Naheed and Fehmida Riaz are also renowned for their feminist poetry in Urdu. Modern fiction writers such as Rizwana Syed Ali and Bano Qudisa have also highlighted gender issues. Bapsi Sidhwa is one of Pakistan's most prominent English fiction writers. In 1991, she received ''Sitara-i-Imtiaz'', Pakistan's highest honour in arts. Sana Munir is another well known writer. Munir's early schooling was done in Nigeria and she then studied English Literature, Psychology and Mass Communication. Her love for books is influenced by her father, who ensured that they were surrounded by quality books. Her writing style is very gripping, creating a very clear visual image of the characters and their physical settings.
Other fields
Some of the notable Pakistani women in other fields including computing, education and business are:
* Marvi Memon, ex-CEO Trakker
* Bridget Sequeira F.M.C.K., was a Franciscan Religious Sister who founded the Franciscan Missionaries of Christ the King, the only religious congregation for women founded in Pakistan
* Bernadette Louise Dean, former Principal of Kinnaird College, Lahore
* Mary Emily, recipient of the Sitara-e-Imtiaz for services to education
* Waheeda Baig started operating a driving school for women in the fifties. After the war of 1965, she became a full-time cab driver.
* Aban Marker Kabraji, environmentalist and Asia Regional Director of IUCN nominated for Sitara-e-Imtiaz for her social services,
* Norma Fernandes, Tamgha-i-Imtiaz, Former Head Mistress of Karachi Grammar School
* Zinia Pinto, teacher, principal and administrator of St Joseph's Convent School (Karachi) 1956 – 2012.
* Yolande Henderson, former headmistress of the St Patrick's High School O' Levels section
* Jacqueline Maria Dias, nurse and professor of nursing at the Aga Khan University
* Rubina Gillani is a Pakistani medical doctor and The Fred Hollows Foundation's Country Manager
* Riffat Arif, also known as Sister Zeph is a teacher, women's activist and philanthropist from
Gujranwala
Gujranwala ( ur, , label=none; ) is a city and capital of Gujranwala Division located in Pakistan. It is also known as "City of Wrestlers" and is quite famous for its food. It is the 5th most populous city proper after Karachi, Lahore, Faisala ...
.
* Ruth Lewis awarded Sitara-i-Imtiaz for her work at Darul Sukun, a home for the disabled.
*Jehan Ara is the President of one of the largest tech associations in Pakistan. She is also a prominent advocate for cyber freedom and net neutrality.
*Shaheen Sardar Ali, PhD; FRSA, First Pakistani woman Law Professor, first woman cabinet minister in the north west frontier province (now Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province) 1999-2001; first Chairperson, National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) 2000-2001. First women law professor of Pakistani origin in a UK university. She has written extensively in the field of Islamic law, women's human rights in Islam and international law, children's rights
See also
* Acid Survivors Trust International
* Acid throwing
* Aurat March
*Divorce in Pakistan
*Feminism in Pakistan
* Honour killing in Pakistan
*
Jirga
A jirga ( ps, جرګه, ''jərga'') is an assembly of leaders that makes decisions by consensus according to Pashtunwali, the Pashtun social code. It is conducted in order to settle disputes among the Pashtuns, but also by members of other ethnic ...
*Me Too movement (Pakistan)
* Modesty patrol
*Polygamy in Pakistan
*Hindu marriage laws in Pakistan
* Rape in Pakistan
*
Swara
Svara or swara (Devanagari: स्वर, generally pronounced as ''swar'') is a Sanskrit word that connotes simultaneously a breath, a vowel, the sound of a musical note corresponding to its name, and the successive steps of the octave or '' ...
*
Vani
Vani ( ka, ვანი) is a town in Imereti region of a western Georgia, at the Sulori river (a tributary of the Rioni river), 41 km southwest from the regional capital Kutaisi. The town with the population of 3,744 (2014) is an administra ...
*
*
*Women related laws in Pakistan
General:
* Human rights in Pakistan
* Women in Islam
* Women's rights