The
population of Pakistan threatens to cross 190
million by
July 2012, and women stand to make up roughly 47% of that number. The
whole country is in a vulnerable situation, held hostage between its
western allies waging war on its turf, and trigger-happy extremists
who demand the foreign invaders leave them alone. But while they
attempt a three-person tango, there are more pressing problems on the
ground. According to the United Nations Development Programme, 22.6%
of the population lives below the international poverty line, lation
lives below the international poverty line, on less than $1.25
PPP per day.
These may have been the conditions in Pakistan since before 2001, but
there has been no chance of improvement since then.
Security
of person, equality in dignity and a few other "inalienable"
rights that the UN declared all humans should have irrespective of
sex are for the privileged few in Pakistan; and even then, mostly for
men. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan recently published its
annual report, State
of Human Rights in 2011.
Let's just take a quick look at how women fared in the country.
About
120,000 pregnant women were left without adequate nourishment and
sanitary conditions after the devastating floods in 2010. About 8.2
million women are reportedly employed as unregistered domestic help,
without the cover of even the flimsiest of labour laws. There
were 943
women (93
minors) reportedly killed over family honour – often for wanting to
marry someone of their own choice – with many of these crimes
perpetrated by their brothers, fathers, husbands or relatives of
their husbands.
There
were 38 documented cases of acid attacks on women, 47 were set on
fire and nine suffered disfiguring amputation as punishment. There
were 396 rape and murders reported. None of these figures account for
the thousands of women who were strangled into silence by the horrors
that follow an admission, or whom the police were unwilling to help,
brushing it off as "a family matter". Worse yet, also
missing from the figures were the silent majority who were raised to
accept the physical or psychological abuse, as part of the compromise
women make to be the dutiful wives and daughters who glue society
together.
It's
the underprivileged, illiterate women struggling to make ends meet
who are the brave ones; they step into a man's world every day, at
risk of being sexually harassed on their daily travels, in
overcrowded buses or at work. Anything that allows these women to
provide for the many children they are forced to have, or to save to
educate their little boys and girls, they will do. They work 12 hour
days as undocumented domestic help, often working for Cinderella's
stepmother; think less Disney and more Brothers Grimm. For rural
women, it's the fields, where they can be trapped in bonded labour
or work
for a pittance and
some produce.
A
landmark domestic violence bill, introduced in 2009 to protect women
and children, is facing serious opposition in its passage through
parliament from those who argue that it promotes western values and
has been backed by western funding. According to a former senator,
passing this bill on a divided vote in parliament will potentially
disrupt another delicate balance: reaching political consensus on the
restoration of the Nato supply lines through Pakistan – another
strike on non-participants by the war against terror.
Somewhat
surprisingly for outsiders looking in, these struggling women belong
to the same country where a woman was twice voted prime minister and
currently the youngest member of the cabinet of Pakistan is the
female foreign minister – a position roughly parallel to secretary
of state for the US. The argument that religious extremes have
oppressed Pakistani women isn't a neat preface to these hair-raising
horrors.
Pakistan's
relationship with its women is rooted in a patriarchal feudal system
feeding the country since before it was born. It's an archaic system
that has produced the men who run the country, negotiate domestic and
foreign policy and penned sexist laws that made it easier for women
to slide through the cracks. A lack of accessible education doesn't
help either. It's not just one problem. It's living in a system that
hasn't been built to accommodate the second sex. It's the buzz words
surrounding Pakistan: war, terrorism, extremism, 9/11. They drown out
the plight of the millions who truly need a voice.
Published in the Guardian, April 10, 2012
