Improvement in Gender Gap

TO celebrate the infinitesimal improvement in Pakistan’s ranking on the global gender gap index
would be premature, and indicate a lack of self-awareness. We fare so badly on many of the sub-
indexes which together contribute towards the final score that the road ahead seems interminable.
In the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2023, Pakistan’s ranking has improved
from 145 to 142 out of 146 countries. This is on account of the country having gained 5.

1 percentage points in the economic participation and opportunities sub-index — which still
translates into one of the lowest levels of parity. In the overall ranking, Pakistan is ahead of only
Algeria, Chad, Iran and Afghanistan. However, it is moving at least in the right direction in the
aforementioned sub-index, particularly where progress in the share of women technical workers and
the achievement of parity in wage equality for similar work is concerned. Pakistan’s widest gender
gap is on political empowerment (15.

2pc). The number of women in decision-making posts in political parties or in government is

miniscule. Most parties pay lip service to female representation at the time of elections: not only do
they barely meet the mandatory requirement of 5pc quota for female candidates, they also tend to
nominate them on hard-to-win seats. Meanwhile, reserved seats, while they do give women a voice
in parliament, are largely seen as a political favour bestowed on the female relatives of male
parliamentarians. That keeps political empowerment restricted to a small, elite clique which, in
terms of the country as a whole, does not translate into empowerment at all.

For transformative advancement in gender equality, a basic prerequisite is an environment where

women are safe from violence and have agency in taking important life decisions. However, another
recent report by a research and advocacy firm gives insight into the state of affairs in this respect. It
documents 771 cases of violence against women in only the first four months of this year in Sindh
alone. These include 529 abductions and 171 cases of domestic violence. These figures are but the
tip of the iceberg: many such crimes tend to be underreported because of the social pressure to
maintain a ‘respectable’ façade. Also, while laws on domestic violence, not to mention sexual
harassment, are on the statute books, a patriarchal outlook hampers their effective implementation.

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2023

Women Empowerment

"No better tool of empowerment than women themselves."(Kofi Annan) Women

empowerment means giving power to women.It signifies that women should be given equal
opportunity in every field. As we know that the conditions of women were very bad since the
beginning of life. They are considered as weak section of the society and the society thinks that they
are capable of only household chores.

According to the 2017 census, almost half of Pakistan's population consists of women. Women play
the most important part in the development and progress of any nation so they should be given the
opportunities to work in the different fields of life. They should be encouraged to earn and live with
dignity because when women are empowered, they become a source of positive change. The key to
development lies in women's empowerment.
 Quaid e Azam said in a speech in 1944, "No nation can rise to the height of glory unless your women
are side by side with you. We are victims of evil customs. It is a crime against humanity that our
women are shut up within the four walls of the houses as prisoners. There is no sanction anywhere
for the deplorable condition in which our women have to live."

Although after many measures and initiatives taken by women associations, organizations and
government etc, the condition and status of women today is somehow improving day by day in our
society but it is still not upto the mark. They still face gender inequality and many other obstacles
whose scale differ for many different casts, creed and cultures etc. We hope that women will get
equal status in society because when women are empowered, the benefits can be seen immediately.
Families are healthier, they are better fed, their incomes, savings and investments go up. If we
empower a woman, we empower the whole society.

International Women’s Day

INTERNATIONAL Women’s Day celebrates the achievements of women in their battle for gender
equality; of course, every society on account of its unique history is at a different point in that quest.
Nor is there always linear progression in this struggle. In our own neighbourhood, Afghan women’s
rights have waxed and waned over the years; at present, the violently misogynistic Taliban regime is
trampling on the gains they made during the two decades preceding. Across the world as well, the
trend is rather disheartening. According to a new World Bank report, the global pace of reforms
towards equal treatment of women under the law has fallen to a 20-year low, with only 34 gender-
related legal reforms recorded across 18 countries — the least since 2001. At the current rate,
women in many countries entering the workforce today will retire without gaining the same rights as
men. Essentially, the game of catch-up for them will never end. In a speech on Monday, the UN
secretary general said the goal of gender equality will take 300 years to achieve.

Encouragingly however, as per the World Bank report, Pakistan registered a higher score this year
because it enacted legal reforms in the entrepreneurship sector that enable women to register a
business in the same way as men. Specifically, since December 2021, a married woman no longer
needs to present her husband’s name in order to register a business. Such changes of course
augment a woman’s agency, which has a salutary ripple effect on many other aspects of her life, and
they deserve to be lauded. At the same time, this is where the relevance of this year’s theme of
International Women’s Day, #EmbraceEquity comes in. Equal opportunities alone aren’t enough to
raise women’s status, because each woman starts at a different place. For females in a patriarchal
society, day-to-day challenges hamper their ability to be productive citizens, let alone be in a position
to start a business. Domestic violence, underage marriage, sexual harassment in the workplace,
restrictions on choice of career or having a career at all — these are some of the issues that prevent
many females in Pakistan from reaching their full potential. To address these gaps, equitable
measures must be taken to provide a level playing field. These include implementation of pro-
women laws, expansion of financial access for women, provision of safe public transport, etc.

Published in Dawn, March 8th, 2023

Where is the Aurat March heading?

The Aurat Marches have brought forth an entirely young leadership and a rude breaking of the
silence on sexuality. But what next? Since 2018, the Aurat March annual events have reclaimed the
publics across different cities of Pakistan and have provoked political reaction, inspired scholarly
papers, and stirred donor research interest.

But four years on, have they achieved tangible political outcomes, and can these be expected to
graduate into a movement that is relevant to the political climate while measuring progress against
the many demands laid out in its yearly manifestoes? The Government of Pakistan, the Jamaat-e-
Islami, Women’s Action Forum and many NGOs have been celebrating international women’s day for
decades. However, two key contributions of the Aurat March to the spectrum of women’s
movements have been the emergence of an entirely young leadership and a rude breaking of the
silence on sexuality — a subject which it planted onto the public agenda. It has done so in bold,
creative and voluntary ways rather than being politically motivated or project-driven.

The Aurat March marks a clear generational shift — as younger women lead this wave — but some
internal differences have emerged over the past few years which betray strategic confusion and
ideological departures. Additionally, by staying restricted as annual events, the Aurat March risks
stagnation. To prevail, a committed vision is required with strategic aims and roadmaps because
already the Aurat March’s edge has been blunted by successive backlash from multiple fronts.

Clerics and conservatives have taken deep offence to the Aurat March while the pietist women’s
movements have flouted their docile image and launched an unprecedented direct confrontation
with their own alternative, the Haya Marches.

Many disapproving liberals too, despair of the excessively confrontational tone of the Aurat March
and resultant ‘extremes’ on both sides. An anxious state wishes to evade conflict and is wary of the
Aurat March allegedly promoting ‘foreign agendas’. The Shuhada Foundation of the Lal Masjid has
even petitioned against these ‘cultural assassinators’ and ‘Lord Macaulay’s class’. This narrows the
representational appeal of Aurat March politics to progressive or radical sectors but for some cities,
such alienation does not suit their ideological endgame.

The Aurat March has been extensively documented in a celebratory manner but critical analysis has
been resisted or petulantly received. In 2018, after the first Aurat March event, several younger
organisers were offended by critical observations about its disengagement with the state and
ambiguity over the role of religion and piety; its selectivity in call-outs, dependence on social media
rather than political purpose and its expectations of justice for sexual misconduct but without
engaging with legal structures. Social media feminists fuelled the outrage (always with male
commentators piling on) and while many from the older generation maintained a diplomatic silence,
a few years on, several senior feminists echoed the exact same concerns. In 2020, Rubina Saigol and
Nida Usman Chaudhry pointed to some of the historic tensions within the Aurat March, including the
role of NGOs, the issues of generational differences and inclusion of themes of sexual orientation.

Like previous critical analyses, they note that the core concerns over political goals and religion had
been evaded. Their study cites several feminists from an older generation who support and
participate in the Aurat March but critique the new wave feminists for not challenging the state, laws
and policies. Some conclude that this is “a manifestation of individualism which characterises the
neo-liberal ethos” and even express doubt that the current method of annual events will ever qualify
as a movement.

Statistics paint a grim picture of Pakistani women.

Let us look at examples of disparity in education and politics. The adult female literacy was estimated
at 46pc in 2019, while the same number stands at 69pc for males.

Within the realm of politics, male voter turnout in the 2018 general election exceeded female voter
turnout by around 9.1pc, based on the statistics of the Election Commission of Pakistan. In other
words, 11 million more men voted in the election than women. If you look at the gender
disaggregation of our National Assembly, approximately only 20pc of the parliamentarians are
women, and that too in large part on reserved seats. What do we learn from this? That Pakistanis
invest more in men’s education than in women’s. That women’s electoral preferences are less well
reflected in our governance system, compared to males’, because of a lower female voter turnout as
well as a lower presence of females in our national parliament.

Let us now try to understand the horrific challenge of violence against women. According to DHS,
2017-18, a whopping 28pc of women in Pakistan between 15 and 49 years of age have experienced
physical violence. Twenty-six per cent of married women who have experienced spousal physical or
sexual violence, have sustained injuries. Let that sink in. This grim paragraph shows that violence
against women remains a huge challenge in the country. The gender challenge within Pakistan
relates to our values. Let us bring in some data from the World Values Survey, 2017-2022, that
relates to some of the disparities mentioned in this piece. Starting with economic disparities, 72.1pc
of individuals in the WVS sample either ‘strongly agree’ or ‘agree’ with the statement that there is a
problem if women have more income than their husbands.

A whopping 85.3pc either ‘strongly agree’ or ‘agree’ that men have more right to a job than women
do. Moving on to political disparities, 75.8pc either ‘strongly agree’ or ‘agree’ that men make better
political leaders than women do. There is, of course, much more nuance behind each of the numbers
that have been cited above. There has also been progress on various dimensions of gender disparity
in the country over time, thanks to increasing awareness of the gender disparities. The slowly rising
labour force participation and female literacy rates are among the few examples of progress.

The objective here has not been to delve deep into each figure but to show that gender disparities in
Pakistan are both pervasive and undeniable. This stark gender imbalance can be seen across most
socioeconomic sectors within the country, including income, wealth, politics, education and many
more. Hence, before a defensive, knee-jerk reaction to the Aurat March sets in, we should take a
hard look at the gender imbalance that surrounds us. Rather than deny that there is a problem and
come up with all sorts of justifications, we need to accept that gender imbalance is a huge challenge
in our country. Recognising the problem is the first step towards making progress on this crucial
aspect of national life.

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2023

Women and Population

LEADING economists of Pakistan say that ‘population explosion’ is one of the biggest — if not the
biggest — economic challenges facing the country. Pakistan has the fastest-growing population in
South Asia with a fertility rate that is almost twice as high as that of India, Bangladesh and Nepal.
A rapidly growing population of course puts strain on limited resources and is, therefore, a cause for
serious concern. But Pakistan’s ‘population explosion’ is not only a development issue — it
represents grave human rights violations. Unwanted pregnancies seriously diminish the well-being of
women and girls, while exposing them to maternal health risks due to the poor availability of quality
obstetric care services. To address the ‘population explosion’, we must understand the cause.
Pakistan’s failure to stem its population growth rate is a symptom of steep and persistent gender
inequality. That Pakistan is the second-worst performing country in the world in terms of gender
parity (it ranked 145 out of 146 countries in the last World Economic Forum gender parity report) is
an indication of the cause as well as a consequence of the high population growth rate.

Countries that have successfully reduced fertility rates did so by investing in women’s agency and
empowerment. Education and employment opportunities that promote women’s awareness and
decision-making capabilities around their reproductive health lead to increased use of family
planning methods. Countries that have successfully reduced fertility rates did so by investing in
women’s agency.

A good example is Bangladesh, which has made significant strides towards gender equality in the last
few decades: the gender wage gap in Bangladesh is among the smallest in the world, and more girls
than boys attend secondary schools. In contrast to Pakistan’s fertility rate at 3.6, Bangladesh’s fertility
is two births for every woman. To address ‘population explosion’, our state must adopt policies and
programmes that promote women’s agency and decision-making capabilities. There are many
obstacles to achieving this, including deep-seated patriarchal traditions and misplaced government
priorities. The distortion of religion in Pakistan has played a role in stigmatising family planning
methods. In the 1960s, founder and leader of Jamaat-i-Islami, Maulana Maududi, declared that the
government’s family planning programme was against Islam. Although a vast majority of religious
scholars agree that birth control is consistent with Islam, confusion about religious permissibility
regarding family planning persists.

Another significant barrier to reduced population growth rates are the economic austerity measures
adopted by Pakistan in exchange for IMF loans. Austerity measures involve reduced public sector
spending and an increase in regressive taxation. Pakistan has adopted these policies for years to
meet IMF conditions in exchange for financial support. The impact of IMF-backed austerity measures
on women empowerment is well documented. The global organisation, ActionAid International
reports that “[w]omen, who do a vast majority of both unpaid care work in households and low-paid
care work in public services, bear the brunt of austerity measures, especially public sector funding
cuts. When public services are underfunded there is a triple disadvantage for women, who
disproportionately lose access to services, lose opportunities for decent work and take on rising
burdens of unpaid care work”. Spending cuts that target sectors key to human development will
harm women and girls disproportionately. Investments in health and education are necessary to
achieve gender equality. Not only do women and girls need better access to health and education
services, it is these government departments that tend to hire women and offer employment in the
formal sector. Pakistan’s Lady Health Workers programme initiated in the 1990s is an example of a
policy measure with the potential to improve women’s access to reproductive health services, while
offering good jobs to women from rural and low-income communities. However, the Lady Health
Workers continue to struggle for regularisation of their employment and living wages, even as the
state compels them to divert their energies away from family planning to polio vaccine drives that
put them at grave physical risk.
Provincial and local governments are best placed to implement health and education policies that
would promote gender equality. Indeed, development economists have repeatedly emphasised that
decentralisation is key to improved development outcomes. Therefore, reducing provincial
allocations in the NFC award would prevent implementation of policy measures that promote gender
equality and by extension lower population growth rates. The IMF requires the imposition of
regressive taxes and increased utility surcharges that inevitably place immense burdens on poor
households, disproportionately impacting women and girls who also bear the chief burden of unpaid
care work. Meanwhile, its demand for exorbitantly high interest rates stifles economic growth and
reduces prospects for job growth, thereby reducing opportunities for women in the formal sector.

Just as detrimental is the fact that IMF conditionalities do not address the fact that the Pakistani
state is essentially a ‘security’ state, where economic investment is skewed towards those sectors
that advance the interests of the military and civil bureaucracy — such as real estate — rather than
industries that would spur exports and offer formal sector employment to women. In other words,
the very conditions that the IMF imposes keep its indebted countries in the debt trap. While a
decrease in spending is often proposed as a key to get out of the debt trap, we have to be careful
about what we choose to decrease. Reductions in defence expenditure and non-development
expenditure are necessary — however, a decrease in spending on health and education coupled with
measures to privatise these sectors will disproportionately impact the lower-income populations,
while preventing women and girls from accessing the resources they need to make decisions about
their reproductive lives. A combination of neoliberalism, patriarchy, militarisation and religious
extremism — forces that complement each other and work together — are the factors behind
Pakistan’s population explosion. There isn’t much point in raising the alarm on population explosion
unless we acknowledge and develop a plan to tackle the underlying causes.

The writer is a lawyer.

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2023

Gender Inequalities

THE last several years have seen a rapid increase in the use of information and communication
technologies in developing countries to enable economic growth and employment, and to increase
access to healthcare, education and social connections.However, increasingly, it is also becoming
apparent that the impact of these technologies in the Global South is not gender-neutral; instead, it
amplifies the existing inequities. Most existing technologies are designed for the average user in
mind, who is often a white male in the Global North (literate, financially stable, not from a vulnerable
or marginalised segment of the population). It is rarely a woman and almost never a woman in the
Global South. And so while women constitute approximately 48.5 per cent of the population in
Pakistan, few technologies focus on designing from their perspective — focusing on their needs and
aspirations and enabling them to leverage digital spaces for growth and helping circumnavigate their
constraints.

Pakistan ranks 151 out of 153 countries on the Global Gender Gap Index Report 2020, published by
the World Economic Forum. In a patriarchal, religious context, women have restricted mobility in
public spaces and their access to the internet and social networking sites is monitored and limited;
they are constantly negotiating and renegotiating the space they occupy. It is within this context that
any technology aiming to include, empower and engage women must be designed. It is becoming
apparent that the impact of information technologies in the Global South is not gender-neutral.
Physical access is not the only challenge for women when it comes to accessing technologies and the
internet in Pakistan. The literacy rate for women is 62pc as against a male literacy rate of
approximately 80pc, with the rural divide in literacy levels being much higher. And so, access is not
just physical access to a device, but also constraints like language (English vs regional languages, for
instance), literacy, digital literacy, limited access to Wi-Fi and data packages due to financial as well as
sociocultural constraints.

Any technology designed for users in Pakistan needs to account for local norms and ways of being
and doing, which is often the hardest constraint to understand and design for. For example, the way
digital privacy operates and is understood in our context is very different from the way it operates in
the West. Most, if not all, current smartphone technologies work within a Western-centric
framework of privacy, with the assumption of one phone per person; the latter can use a phone lock
that is physically only theirs to access. However, this is not the mode of phone usage for much of the
Global South and in particular for women in the Global South.

Women in South Asian countries like Pakistan often have access to mobile phones and to the internet
as shared or monitored resources, which means they have access to a male family member’s phone
for a short time during the day. And so, for example, given that applications like WhatsApp function
on a one-SIM, one-user model, women are often forced to share the male family member’s
WhatsApp number, meaning there is no privacy afforded to them for their conversations.Some of my
work exploring low-literate users’ privacy perceptions, beliefs and behaviour reveals the deeply
gendered ways in which privacy works. We find that often privacy is not established or maintained
within an individualistic framework but is understood as a collective concept, ie, preserving the
family’s privacy, honour and dignity and upholding social norms.

Similarly, when I speak to women about the digital financial products they use, their adoption of
mobile wallets or the lack thereof, I find that they are aware of, but unwilling to use, the existing
mobile wallet services provided by different operators because they do not see them as useful. For
example, one participant, an older woman who runs a small home-based business, was aware of
digital financial services for managing money, but had never had enough disposable income to ‘save’
in the sense of ‘putting it in an account and forgetting about it’. Putting money into a digital account
did not enable her to pay her vendors or contribute to her ROSCA (‘rotating savings and credit
association’, or simply ‘committee’) which was her primary method for saving for her daughter’s
dowry or paying her child’s school fee. She did not see how the mobile wallet could meet her needs.

More often than not, thoughtlessly digitizing women’s financials without understanding the
mechanisms they have created to circumnavigate their constraints and gain control over their own
finances strips them of their agency, instead of enabling them further. Most existing mobile wallet
technologies have not been designed with a localised understanding of how women navigate their
financial independence and do not leverage the existing complex mechanisms they have established
to exert their agency and autonomy, such as hidden savings or ROSCAs. This nuanced and complex
understanding of privacy, of women’s financial lifecycles, the constraints on their physical mobilities,
their access to resources, their literacy levels and the power imbalances existing within their
households is not reflected in the technologies available to them. Instead, most technologies we use
are a Western import, which we must distort ourselves to use, finding ‘jugaads’ to carve out privacy
online, to create gendered ways of using these technologies. The key to empowering women is a
contextualised, thoughtful, sensitive design that is rooted in data from our context, that relies on
bringing on board our target populations (men and women both) as co-designers in the process of
creating technologies and of fostering a home-grown tech industry that looks towards decolonising
technologies for Pakistan.

The writer is assistant professor, computer science and director, Interactive Media Lab and Gender
and Technology Cluster at Lums.

Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2023

Women’s Issues: What Are

They?
December 21, 2018by Annie Rubin

Sexism, reproductive health, gender-based violence—these

are a few topics that often come up under the subject of
“women’s issues.” Although a buzzword, the term
“women’s issues” is regularly used without precise
definition, and often has slighting, divisive undertones.
When referring to women’s equal rights and participation,
gender-based violence, or reproductive health, the use of
“women’s issues” is well-intentioned. At the same time, it
presents a paradox as it can create barriers to men’s
involvement, when in fact each of these issues require
men’s full participation to resolve.

The lack of clarity around “women’s issues” is prevalent in

political discussions on human rights, peace, and security,
including at the United Nations. When the term was used at a
side event to the UN Security Council Open Debate on Women,
Peace, and Security in October, the resounding response was
bewilderment. “It’s not clear to me what that refers to,” said one
senior UN gender expert. “I would argue that every issue in a
peace process is a societal issue.”

At another event, when confronted with a question on women’s

active participation in peace processes, Swedish Foreign
Minister Margot Wallström paralleled this remark, saying that
women’s participation “is not just a women’s issue, [it’s] a peace
and security issue.”
What, then, are we talking about when we say “women’s issues?”
When is this language helpful, and when is it not?

The Positives and Negatives

Women face unique barriers in pursuit of social and political

equality. Employing the term “women’s issues” to address these
obstacles or the uneven playing field can give visibility to the
particular difficulties that women face, as opposed to other
groups. So while women’s rights are human rights, using
specificity to define them brings visibility to a population whose
voice has been silenced.

Categorizing challenges as “women’s” also acknowledges the

historical basis of inequality and oppression that have
contributed to the sexism that women face. Its connotation is
also that specific forums are needed to discuss how these
barriers can be overcome. This terminology can especially be
useful when it relates to women’s equal participation,
underlining the fact that women are often seen as subordinate in
society, and their humanity requires pointed recognition.

The descriptor, “women,” can note with specificity that gender-

sensitive solutions and expertise are required to address matters
that relate to women’s lived experience, an expertise that men
may not always have, as they experience, consciously or not, the
benefits of a patriarchal society.

At the same time, the term “women’s issues” has also taken on
an amorphous and sweeping definition. It redefines issues faced
by women or related to gender equality to be subjects that all
women (and only women) should be interested in. It also frames
them as challenges that women are responsible for confronting,
passing to women both the burden and the blame of sexist
behavior.

Using the word “women’s” can sometimes act as a qualifier,

labeling a topic as lesser, softer, unnecessary, or to indicate that
something is not applicable—nor of concern—to men. In these
contexts, referring to sexual abuse or maternal health as
“women’s issues” undermines the necessity that men be
accountable in preventing violence or engaging in solutions. It
also detracts from the reality that women represent half of the
world’s population and, moreover, that if an issue affects a
woman, it also affects her children, her parents, and all those
around her.

In addition, this term implicitly excludes women from “other”

issues that aren’t “women’s” issues; it further separates women
from men. Author Emma Bjertén-Günther writes that the label
creates a division which reinforces a “false male–female binary
where issues seen to be important to women are not also seen as
important to other gender groups, including men.” The term can
reinforce traditional gender roles in which women are seen as
victims. This is dangerous in a context where women
traditionally have been excluded, subordinated, and barred from
participating in society

Another word of caution is that women are not one homogenous

group. Not every woman, or person, experiences the world in the
same way. The study of intersectionality addresses the many
forms of oppression that can be experienced by one person based
on different facets of their identity. For example, women are
treated differently based on their race, class, and sexuality in
addition to their gender.

It is also worth noting that gender is different from sex.

Sex refers to anatomical and chemical differences between male
and female bodies. Meanwhile, gender refers to the socially
constructed roles of masculinity and femininity—expressions that
are performed and fluid.

What Term Should We Use?

According to Sarah Taylor at the International Peace Institute

(IPI), terminology to address gender inequality is a complex
problem. There can be significant value in using “gender” as a
lens rather than “women,” as it mitigates the broader issues
outlined above, but there is also a strong basis for wanting to
draw attention to a particular issue that affects women in order
to address and counter gender-based discrimination.

Nonetheless, using “gender” rather than “women” can reference

the power relations that exist when gender identities are
constrained to a binary. “Gender” can also encapsulate
diverse expressions of identity and sexual orientation, including
people who identify their gender outside the male-female binary.
Masculine is often the “neutral” form in the English language,
but it is not a universal standard. Men, too, have a gender, are
part of the conversation, and must play a role in dismantling
systems of inequality.

The implications of terminology are extensive. Women exist in

the context of a community, and if language and understanding
of these issues is not clear, the issues cannot be addressed, and
we all suffer.

Language and Inequality: Potential Ways Forward

Women cannot fix gender inequality alone, and neither are

women submissive victims in need of saving or empowerment.
One popular solution to women’s inequality has been educational
training, which operates on the assumption that providing
women with knowledge and expertise will give them value in
society, will combat gender inequality, or give women financial
autonomy. It falls short, however, since it does not take into
account the fact that most women are already
active contributors to society.

Programs that support women’s “empowerment” by teaching

them skills to become financially autonomous, like sewing, can
also further concretize traditional family roles and reinforce the
binary in which women are subordinate.

What is needed is a shift in how we view women. As Youssef

Mahmoud of IPI has noted, women are not blank pages, they
have capacities, not just needs. Instead of focusing on fixing
women, each of us needs to ask what role we play in
perpetuating inequality and how we can contribute to its
removal.

The work of policymakers, academics, and activists will benefit

from using a critical eye in evaluating where gender inequality
and women’s rights can be addressed more effectively by being
called out in specificity, and where separating these issues from
men is counterproductive. Identity is not one-dimensional, and
change-makers must also consult with a diverse range of groups
to fully understand the symptoms of conflict or prejudice and
their solutions.
Women’s marginalization, and the patriarchal system where
ingrained gender roles further perpetuate inequality, do not exist
in a bubble. The use of the term “women’s issues” can be an
oversimplification that removes from men the onus of
participating in solutions. Any hope of resolving these issues
requires a shift in focus to include everyone in the conversation.

We need a better understanding of the root causes of issues

labeled as “women’s,” and perhaps a new word that hasn’t yet
tired from overuse and become jargon. Men: label it gender
inequality, label it a challenge for society, but don’t ignore an
issue labeled as “women’s.”

Annie Rubin is a Web Specialist at the International Peace

Institute. Follow @EssentialAnnie

Tough for women

Huma Yusuf

IT is exhausting being a Pakistani woman. Sexism and

misogyny are prevalent, normalised, and too often
celebrated as part of our ‘culture’ or ‘values’. In recent
days, the experiences and actions of women from across
the socio-economic and ethnic spectrum, ranging from
Dua Zehra and Shaari Baloch to Hina Rabbani Khar and
Marriyum Aurangzeb, have reiterated the challenges
women in our country face. To address them, our
policymakers must look through the gender lens and start
to tackle the structural drivers of sexism.

Pakistan’s sexism problem is no secret. A 2020 report by the

United Nations Development Programme ranked Pakistan at the
top of list of 75 countries where people have an anti-women bias,
with 99.81 per cent of survey participants expressing at least one
sexist view. The survey touched on various prejudiced tropes:
that men make better political and business leaders than women;
that it’s more important for men to receive a university education;
that men deserve preferential access to jobs; and that it’s alright
for men to beat their wives. This is what Pakistani women are up
against.

This bias was evident in initial reactions to news that Dua Zehra
had ‘fled’ her home to marry a man of her choosing. She was
slammed for being disobedient and inconsiderate to her parents.
Her ‘elopement’ was portrayed as an attack on her family’s
‘honour’. The criticism came from women, including celebrities,
and implied that girls must not be a nuisance or embarrassment
for their families.

Less attention was paid to her claim that, according to her, she
was fleeing an abusive domestic situation and the threat of a
forced marriage. Or to the fact that the only recourse a young girl
has in Pakistan is to exchange one man’s protection for another’s.
As the sensational news headlines fade, there is little discussion
on the serious questions Dua Zehra’s case raised; questions
about youth safeguarding and social services provision, police
negligence and opportunities for girls outside the home.

Sexism was normalised during Imran Khan’s rule.

Shaari Baloch’s case belongs to a different category, but is more

problematic. Her decision to launch a suicide bombing to highlight
a socio-political grievance is totally unacceptable, and marks a
dangerous turn in Baloch militancy which must be understood and
carefully managed by our security forces. But embedded in our
shock at this condemnable development in the terror threat
landscape is an element of sexism.

Baloch women have increasingly taken to the streets to protest

against resource scarcity, poor service delivery and missing
persons. Their peaceful protests against legitimate grievances
have not received an adequate response, implying that their
voice does not matter, and that they are expected to suffer
endlessly in silence. Baloch’s heinous act ruptures that silence,
and will unfortunately and counterproductively lead to further
pressure on Baloch women who will now be perceived as potential
threats. What may get missed as security considerations get
prioritised is the level of desperation among non-violent,
marginalised Baloch individuals and their lack of political
recourse.

The fact that both were drastic acts — relative to their own
contexts, and obviously greatly varying in nature and magnitude
— because of the conviction that there were no other options is a
stark warning. But what can you expect when even the most
empowered, privileged women in the country have to accept
sexist assault as part of their lot?

Meanwhile, the minister of state for foreign affairs Hina Rabbani

Khar has had to face vile, demeaning comments on her
appearance since being appointed to Shehbaz Sharif’s cabinet;
Aurangzeb had to put up with sexist slurs while on pilgrimage.
These women are praised by their supporters for the grace with
which they confront the constant abuse. But this praise also
implies that powerful women must be resigned to the sexist
backlash they provoke.

Sexism was especially normalised during Imran Khan’s tenure,

particularly due to his persistent public claims that women
provoke sexual violence with their refusal to veil. Indeed, gender
is another battlefield for Pakistan’s populist politics, with the PTI’s
misogynistic stance frequently pitted against women’s rights
defenders. But the blame does not lie with youthias alone; Khan’s
detractors have also indulged in sexist stereotypes of conniving,
manipulative women when criticising Bushra Bibi.

Endemic sexism has real-world consequences: Pakistan last year

ranked 153rd out of 156 countries on the World Economic
Forum’s gender gap report, which considers female political
empowerment, economic participation, educational attainment
and health. Here’s the catch: waving the gender flag only invites
more sexism. It’s therefore time to reframe gender challenges as
a product of structural issues such as social inequality, resource
scarcity and degrading democratic systems. It’s time for a
change, and there’s more at stake than visas to Turkey.
The writer is a political and integrity risk analyst.

Aurat March

THE annual Aurat March always draws strong, polarising

reactions from citizens across Pakistan. The most bizarre
reaction (and unfortunately a common one) is to deny that
gender inequality is, in fact, a problem in the country. I
am writing with the hope that if you are someone who
belongs to this category, or knows of someone who does,
the following paragraphs will clearly show the stark
gender imbalance in Pakistan. Rather than make an
argument myself, we can let the numbers do the talking.

Let us start with some examples of economic and labour market

disparities. House ownership is one rough gauge to measure
gender/wealth disparity. According to the Demographic and
Health Survey [DHS], 2017-18, only 3pc of surveyed women
between the age of 15 and 49 years in Pakistan own a house. On
the other hand, the same number for men is 72pc.

The Pakistani labour market shows similar disparity. The

International Labour Organisation estimates that Pakistan has one
of the lowest female labour force participation rates in the world
— only 25pc. The same number for males is estimated at 81pc.
Part of the reason why female labour force participation in
Pakistan is so low is that women end up taking on the bulk of
unpaid work (for example, childcare) across the country. This
leads to intra-household income disparities where men end up
earning much more than women.

What do we learn from these numbers? Broadly, that men in

Pakistan own significantly more assets and are engaged in the
paid labour market in far greater numbers than women (and
hence earn more).

Statistics paint a grim picture of Pakistani women.

Let us look at examples of disparity in education and politics. The

adult female literacy was estimated at 46pc in 2019, while the
same number stands at 69pc for males.
Within the realm of politics, male voter turnout in the 2018
general election exceeded female voter turnout by around 9.1pc,
based on the statistics of the Election Commission of Pakistan. In
other words, 11 million more men voted in the election than
women. If you look at the gender disaggregation of our National
Assembly, approximately only 20pc of the parliamentarians are
women, and that too in large part on reserved seats.

What do we learn from this? That Pakistanis invest more in men’s

education than in women’s. That women’s electoral preferences
are less well reflected in our governance system, compared to
males’, because of a lower female voter turnout as well as a lower
presence of females in our national parliament.

Let us now try to understand the horrific challenge of violence

against women. According to DHS, 2017-18, a whopping 28pc of
women in Pakistan between 15 and 49 years of age have
experienced physical violence. Twenty-six per cent of married
women who have experienced spousal physical or sexual
violence, have sustained injuries. Let that sink in. This grim
paragraph shows that violence against women remains a huge
challenge in the country.

The gender challenge within Pakistan relates to our values. Let us

bring in some data from the World Values Survey, 2017-2022,
that relates to some of the disparities mentioned in this piece.
Starting with economic disparities, 72.1pc of individuals in the
WVS sample either ‘strongly agree’ or ‘agree’ with the statement
that there is a problem if women have more income than their
husbands.

A whopping 85.3pc either ‘strongly agree’ or ‘agree’ that men

have more right to a job than women do. Moving on to political
disparities, 75.8pc either ‘strongly agree’ or ‘agree’ that men
make better political leaders than women do.

There is, of course, much more nuance behind each of the

numbers that have been cited above. There has also been
progress on various dimensions of gender disparity in the country
over time, thanks to increasing awareness of the gender
disparities. The slowly rising labour force participation and female
literacy rates are among the few examples of progress.

The objective here has not been to delve deep into each figure
but to show that gender disparities in Pakistan are both pervasive
and undeniable. This stark gender imbalance can be seen across
most socioeconomic sectors within the country, including income,
wealth, politics, education and many more.

Hence, before a defensive, knee-jerk reaction to the Aurat March

sets in, we should take a hard look at the gender imbalance that
surrounds us. Rather than deny that there is a problem and come
up with all sorts of justifications, we need to accept that gender
imbalance is a huge challenge in our country. Recognising the
problem is the first step towards making progress on this crucial
aspect of national life.

The writer has a doctorate from the University of Oxford and is

graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Twitter: @KhudadadChattha

Women’s rights
THIS refers to the article “Other Women’s Days” (March 2) which
pointed out the hurdles in celebrating the International Women’s
Day in Pakistan and gave historical references, like the
International Women’s Day of March 8, 1979, organised by the
Committee for Artists and Intellectual Freedom in Iran (CAIFI).

In 1979, Iran was in chaos because the Shah of Iran had been
overthrown and there was no new administration for a while.
However, when Imam Khomeini became the ruler of Iran, he
made the veil compulsory for women. This action came under the
new rule.

On the contrary, Pakistan is more stable than Iran was at that

time. Women across the country enjoy full freedom in almost
every sphere of life. Women’s participation has increased in many
fields, ranging from education to the film industry.

The general criticism of women’s march is not because of the

religion, but because of the slogans used in previous years during
the march. It is the need of the hour to unite the country and
avoid all the things that may have the potential to create
problems in society. A single march will neither give women their
rights nor prohibit their freedom.

It is also important to acknowledge that all men are not against

women’s freedom or their rights, because Pakistan is an Islamic
state and Islam gives rights to women.

Indeed, Islam has given the most prestigious place to women.

Therefore, it must be understood that women in Pakistan are not
under ‘oppression’, and are free to enjoy every aspect of life. We
should not divide our society on such issues. We should work hard
to promote unity.

Mujeeb ur Rehman Farooqi

Peshawar

Published in Dawn, March 15th,

Women and Climate

AS Pakistan reels from the apocalyptic damage caused by

this year’s monsoons, people are mobilising to help the
millions of men, women and children who have been
displaced by the floods. Women and girls make up half of
these people, but amid the scramble to ensure shelter,
food, and medicines for them, their specific needs related
to their biological reality are often overlooked.

Not this time, however, thanks to a group of young women —

students, mostly — who have started a movement to collect
sanitary products for these women and girls, some of whom will
face their first period in these months. These groups are raising
awareness about period poverty, in a country where not only are
women marginalised in the best of circumstances, but where
talking about menstruation openly has long been taboo.

It is a fact that half the world menstruates. The other half doesn’t
have to think about this fact. While one half of the world must buy
products to deal with this — think soap, sanitary pads, special
undergarments, painkillers — and have access to clean water and
toilets in order to maintain their health during this time, the other
half of the world is free of these necessities. While one half of the
world deals with pain, low blood pressure, anaemia, and all the
effects this may have on their attendance at school or work, the
other half is free of this burden.

Male privilege allows our society to be squeamish about the

biological realities of women. Puberty, menstruation, fertility,
conception, pregnancy and childbirth are seen as women’s issues,
not to be discussed publicly or with men or boys present. Not long
ago, advertising for sanitary products on television was
controversial. Women and girls in Pakistan continue to live with
human-created shame over a biological function that is vital to
the continuation of life.

Women and girls in Pakistan live with human-created shame over

a biological function that is vital to the continuation of life.

Older generations accepted these conventions as normal and

necessary. The younger generation is not so accepting. Mahwari
Justice, the brainchild of two college students in Lahore, Bushra
Mahnoor and Anum Khalid, sends menstrual products out to
women and girls affected by the floods. Private donations enable
them to purchase and pack menstrual kits for the flood affectees.
They regularly put out calls on social media for volunteers in
different towns and cities, and Mahnoor has been doing media
interviews with international news outlets, even though she wrote
on Twitter that her family considers her advocacy “shameful”.

But Mahnoor and Khalid carry on, haunted by the woman who
called and said she’d been using leaves during her period. Other
displaced women end up staining the only set of clothing they
have been left with, having lost everything else in the flooding.

Even before the floods, rural women used cloths, newspapers or

rags to manage their periods. A luxury tax on sanitary napkins
means they’re too expensive for most girls or women outside the
cities of Pakistan. This period poverty, coupled with general
ignorance about menstruation has kept women and girls in the
dark ages, even in the 21st century.

When Mahwari Justice began their operations, a patronising

debate sprung up about whether period products were a luxury or
a necessity. “Why don’t you distribute shaving kits to men?”
wrote one disgruntled Twitter user, displaying a lack of sensitivity
that is typical of men who have never had to even consider what
having a period means. Others said that since rural women did
not use sanitary napkins under normal circumstances, forcing
them to use these products was a form of imperialism enacted on
them by the elite.

It’s true that women in rural areas of Pakistan are used to using
cloths that they wash and reuse, the most ecologically sound
manner of dealing with periods. But emergencies necessitate
having to use alternate methods for period hygiene. In the floods,
there is no clean water with which to wash the cloths. Adding
biological waste to the already filthy stagnant water will just
increase the spread of disease, the “second disaster” that the
WHO has warned will hit Pakistanis now that the flooding has
done its worst.

“We ask the women what they need and what they are
comfortable with,” says Mahnoor. Kits may contain sanitary pads,
underwear, cloth towels, cotton pads, and soap, depending on
what the women themselves request. There is a small diagram to
explain how to use these products. So far they have sent out
more than 20,000 of these kits, and plan to keep going for as long
as women need them. Other groups and organisations have
followed suit, distributing period packs and pregnancy packs for
women who are ready to give birth in the most dangerous
conditions imaginable.

In more established shelters, like the new tent city established by

Roshan Academy in Karachi to house IDPs for a longer period of
time, washing and reusing cloth pads will be possible with a
steady supply of clean water and toilets. Maria Taqdees of Hunar
Ghar in Karachi has taught low-income women to make cloth pads
on sewing machines and is making them available to relief
groups. Across Pakistan women are answering the call to help
other women, and not leave them behind in male-led relief
efforts.
Relief groups led by women are taking menstrual supplies to the
female IDPs and holding workshops explaining how they work and
how they can be disposed of safely. Using sanitary napkins with
belts is something that the rural women have been willing to try.
Sensitivity and respect are very important to help women survive
these times with dignity. But now may be the best time to teach
these women and girls about menstrual hygiene and about how
their bodies work, empowering them in unexpected ways.

The writer is an author.

UN sees no progress on biases against women in a decade

Amin Ahmed

ISLAMABAD: The 2023 Gender Social Norms Index’ (GSNI)

report published by the United Nations has revealed no
improvement in biases against women in a decade, with
almost 9 out of 10 men and women worldwide still holding
such biases today.

Half of people worldwide still believe men make better political

leaders than women and more than 40 per cent believe men
make better business executives than women.

A staggering 25pc of people believe it is justified for a man to

beat his wife, according to the new GSNI report released on
Monday by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),
reflecting the latest data from the World Values Survey.

The report, titled ‘Breaking down gender biases’ says political

rights and civil liberties have been in decline worldwide for at
least a decade. Shrinking global freedoms and rising polarisation
have been accompanied by the backlash against gender equality
and women’s rights, affecting entire societies by shifting power
relations.
25pc people think man beating his wife is justifiable

In addition to discriminatory social norms, the backlash has also

been seen through extremism and gendered disinformation,
putting democratic practices under stress and risking women’s
equal participation in politics and civic spaces, and through the
backsliding of gender equality laws and policies.

The world is not on track to achieve gender equality by 2030. The

global Gender Inequality Index (GII) value, UNDP’s composite
measure of gender inequality in empowerment, has remained
stagnant since 2019. The outlook is further diminished by a global
backlash against women’s rights and the lasting devastation of
the multidimensional human development crises that followed the
Covid-19 pandemic.

Career prejudice

The report argues that these biases drive hurdles faced by

women, manifested in a dismantling of women’s rights in many
parts of the world with movements against gender equality
gaining traction and, in some countries, a surge of human rights
violations. Biases are also reflected in the severe under-
representation of women in leadership.

On average, the share of women as heads of state or heads of

government has remained around 10pc since 1995 and in the
labour market women occupy less than a third of managerial
positions.

The report also sheds light on a broken link between women’s

progress in education and economic empowerment. Women are
more skilled and educated than ever before, yet even in the 59
countries where women are now more educated than men, the
average gender income gap remains a staggering 39pc in favour
of men.

Only 11pc of heads of state and 9pc of heads of government are

women, and women hold only 22pc ministerial posts. The majority
of these ministerial roles are in the ministries of women, children,
youth, the elderly, the disabled or social and environmental
sectors. In the paid economy women hold only 28pc of
managerial positions, the report says.
“Social norms that impair women’s rights are also detrimental to
society more broadly, dampening the expansion of human
development. Lack of progress on gender social norms is
unfolding against human development crisis: the global Human
Development Index (HDI) declined in 2020 for the first time on
record — and again the following year. Everyone stands to gain
from ensuring freedom and agency for women,” said the head of
UNDP Human Development Report Office, Pedro Conceicao.

The report emphasises that governments have a crucial role in

shifting gender social norms. For instance, parental leave policies
have changed perceptions around care work responsibilities, and
labour market reforms led to a change in beliefs around the
employment of women.

“An important place to start is recognising the economic value of

unpaid care work. This can be a very effective way of challenging
gender norms around how care work is viewed. In countries with
the highest levels of gender biases against women, it is estimated
that women spend over six times as much time as men on unpaid
care work,” said Raquel Lagunas, Director of UNDP’s Gender
Team.

The report emphasises that despite the continued prevalence of

bias against women, the data shows change can happen. An
increase in the share of people with no bias in any indicator was
evident in 27 of the 38 countries surveyed.

This includes investing in laws and policy measures that promote

women’s equality in political participation, scaling up insurance
mechanisms, such as strengthening social protection and care
systems and encouraging innovative interventions that could be
particularly effective in challenging harmful social norms,
patriarchal attitudes, and gender stereotypes.

The report recommends addressing social norms through

education to change people’s views, policies and legal changes
that recognise the rights of women in all spheres of life, and more
representation of women in decision-making and political
processes.

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2023

 Search

Mistreating women – Pakistan’s lasting shame

ADNAN REHMAT
June 30, 2023 17:08

Short Url

https://arab.news/64ch7

Earlier this month, an influential new report – the Global Gender Gap
Report 2023 from the World Economic Forum – ranked Pakistan in the
bottom five of 146 countries evaluated, indicating how appallingly it treats
its women when it comes to rights, opportunities and rewards. Only Iran,
Algeria, Chad and Afghanistan fare worse. And the 2023 rating is
supposed to be Pakistan’s best since 2006.

The annual report benchmarks the current state and evolution of gender
parity across four key dimensions – economic participation and
opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political
empowerment. Pakistan does not figure in the top 80 in any of the four
indicators and often finds itself in the bottom 20, accumulatively attaining
the dubious overall distinction.

Pakistan’s firmly 19th century patriarchal outlook in the 21st century, as

embedded in socio-cultural values and political-economic structures, are
not only keeping its women dispossessed in general and disempowered in
particular, they are also ensuring the country’s socio-economic
development indicators remain locked in reversal. This is untenable.

Pull-quote: Power structures such as cabinets, legislatures, political

committees, judiciary, bureaucracy and board rooms will have to be
mandated with beefed up quotas of women to build a critical mass of
decision making to be transferred to women.
 - Adnan Rehma

The abysmal development scores for women in Pakistan are the result of
a combination of failures stemming from social, cultural, economic, and
political failures. A deeply ingrained patriarchal culture means women are
often institutionally subordinated to men socially, limiting access to
education, health care, employment opportunities and decision-making
power. Gender discrimination is thus entrenched.

If only women’s access to education matched men’s, limited as it is to

them also – the country’s literacy rate in 2023 was 58 percent including
72.5 percent for males and 51.8 percent for women – women would have
half a chance at improving their lot themselves. Official apathy, cultural
norms, economic constraints, and traditional gender roles discourage
families from investing in girls’ education. This perpetuates gender
disparities.

Women also face significant economic challenges. They are more likely to
be employed in the informal sector, where wages are low, job security is
scarce, and labor rights are often disregarded. Limited access to financial
services makes it difficult for them to start businesses or access credit
thereby limiting their ability to secure better economic opportunities or
political participation.

Despite some progress in recent years, Pakistan’s legal and policy

frameworks often fail to adequately protect women’s rights and address
disparities. The country’s dichotomous political structure – the Council of
Islamic Ideology, established by a religiously zealous military dictator,
often torpedoes women-friendly legislation as un-Islamic, shortchanging
women.

All these factors expose women to violence – something the WEF report
doesn’t even measure or rank. Pakistan faces high rates of gender-based
violence, including domestic abuse, honor killings, acid attacks, and
forced marriages. These are everyday media stories. And this pervasive
violence creates a hostile environment for women and restricts their
ability to exercise their rights, pursue opportunities, and contribute to
society.

This effective disenfranchisement and disempowerment cannot continue

for much longer. Either Pakistan’s appalling treatment of its women must
end, or the country’s socio-economic structure will go down with the
women’s ill fate. The entirely unavoidable, mostly illiterate, powerless,
hurt and unhappy women’s demographic will not bring Pakistan
development or progress.

To change this will not be easy but must happen necessitating, among
other things, concerted efforts from both state and society including
steeling state priority to improve women’s welfare through consistent
political will. Challenging and transforming outdated and outmoded socio-
cultural norms will need to be sustained. Understanding and addressing
the link between women’s economic productivity, development and
welfare will be necessary. Dramatically improving educational and health
indicators that underpin women’s empowerment and social development
will be paramount.

But mostly resistance to change, especially among conservative sections

of society that impede progress in women’s empowerment, will have to be
tackled to break down deeply rooted beliefs, societal pressures, and
resistance from influential stakeholders that pose significant challenges to
women’s welfare.

Pakistan will have to go beyond lip service and seriously structuralize the
empowerment of women through legal guarantees, enforcement of rights
and a dramatically scaled up investment in their socio-economic
indicators.

All this will have to be manifested through the power structure. Power
structures such as cabinets, legislatures, central executive committees of
political parties, judiciary, bureaucracy, board rooms and registration as
voters will have to be mandated with beefed up quotas of women to build
a critical mass of decision making to be transferred to women. This will
allow them deserved greater control of their lives and fates. Pakistani
women deserve no less than this as a matter of right, not favor.

- Adnan Rehmat is a Pakistan-based journalist, researcher and analyst

with interests in politics, media, development and science. Twitter:
@adnanrehmat1

Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect
Arab News' point-of-view