Women in Pakistan are as diverse as the country's population in terms of culture, religion, social status, political and community participation at local, national and global platforms. The socio-political and cultural factors including a prominent rural urban divide significantly shape the status of women across the region.
Women in Pakistan make up 48.76% of the population according to the 2017 census of Pakistan. Women in Pakistan have played an important role in Pakistani history and have had the right to vote since 1956. In Pakistan, women have held high office including Prime Minister, Speaker of the National Assembly, Leader of the Opposition, as well as federal ministers, judges, and serving commissioned posts in the armed forces, with Lieutenant General Nigar Johar attaining the highest military post for a woman. Benazir Bhutto was sworn in as the first woman Prime Minister of Pakistan on 2 December 1988.
Gender Concerns International reports that women's rights in Pakistan have improved overall, with the increasing number of educated and literate women. Yet, Pakistan continues to score poorly on the WPS Index in 2021, ranking 167th out of 170 countries, and has failed to make progress toward gender equality and women's rights. This score clearly reflects on existing social problems like gender inequality, domestic violence, workplace harassments, lack of decision-making power, illiteracy, limited opportunities and absence of adequate legal framework to address these challenges.
Pakistani women have been kept behind in the field of education due to low government funding, fewer schools and colleges for women, and a low enrollment rate of women in certain areas. The patriarchal system has created the social and cultural environment that is supporting persistence male domination, remains the major obstacle in the intellectual, social, and economic growth of women. Cases of rape, honor killing, murder, and forced marriages in backward areas are also reported. All these issues are related to lack of education, poverty, a skewed judicial system, the negligence of government authorities to implement laws and widespread underperformance of law enforcement agencies such as the Police.
History
Pakistani women's historical experiences are deeply rooted in South Asian women's historical experiences tracing back to monarchy and colonization.
Intense political and religious transformations have left prominent marks on contemporary women's lives and the challenges they face. Role of Women in Education Women in Pakistan have made significant contributions in the field of education. Many women have become renowned teachers, professors, scientists and educationists who have inspired generations. Access to education for girls has improved in recent years, but challenges remain in rural areas. UNICEF Pakistan Education ReportUNICEF Pakistan Education Report
Political Context
Historical Framework
Muslim reformers such as Syed Ahmad Khan tried to bring education to women, limit polygamy, and empower women in other ways through education. The founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, was known to have a positive attitude towards women. After the independence of Pakistan, women's groups and feminist organizations 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 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 Quit India Movement. Some like Syeda Safia Begum of Muslim Town Lahore started the first English School for Muslim Children in Muslim Town in 1935. Pakistani women were granted the suffrage 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 or Numberdar (Village Head Person) in West Pakistan Begum Sarwat Imtiaz took oath in Village 43/12-L in Chichawatni, District Montgomery (now Sahiwal) in 1959. The 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 Main Article: Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
The regime of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (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 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 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."Constitution of Pakistan Articles 25, 27, 32, 34 and 35. 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 in Mexico, which led to the constitution of the first Pakistani Women's Rights Committee.
Zia-ul-Haq's Military Regime
General Zia ul-Haq, 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 régime of General Zia-ul-Haq (1977–1988) 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 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 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 (Federal Advisory Council) and inducted 20 women as members, however Majlis-e-Shoora had no power over the executive branch.F. Shaheed, K. Mumtaz. et al. 1998. "Women in Politics: Participation and Representation in Pakistan". Shirkat Gah, Pakistan. In 1985, the National Assembly 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 Ordinances and the Qanun-e-Shahadat Order (Law of Evidence Order). He banned women from participating and from being spectators of sports and promoted purdah. He suspended all fundamental rights guaranteed in the 1973 Constitution. He also proposed laws regarding Qisas and Diyat, Islamic penal laws governing retribution (qisas) and compensation (diyat) in crimes involving bodily injury.Asma Jahangir, "A Pound of Flesh," Newsline (Karachi), December 1990, pp. 61–62. The Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance, 1979 was a subcategory of the Hudood Ordinance. Zina 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 would apply.Punishment for the Offence of Gang Rape – PKLJC 47 However failure to find such proof of the rape could place her at risk of prosecution for another hudood ordinance, qazf for accusing an innocent man of adultery. Qazf does not require such strong evidence.Washington Times, "A victory for Pakistani women" In principle, the failure to find such proof of rape does not place the woman herself at risk of prosecution. According to Mufti Taqi Usmani, 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.See Safia Bibi v. State in PLD 1985 FSC 120; Zafran Bibi v. State in PLD 2002 FSC 1Washington Times, A victory for Pakistani women 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 in an emergency meeting to oppose the adverse effects on women of martial law and the Islamization campaign. They launched what later became the first full-fledged national women's movement in Pakistan, the Women's Action Forum (WAF). WAF staged public protests and campaigns against the Hudood Ordinances, the Law of Evidence, and the Qisas and Diyat laws (temporarily shelved as a result).
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 and the court considered her pregnancy as the proof of adultery. She was awarded the Tazir punishment of one hundred 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 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' 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.