CRITICAL ISSUES FOR WOMEN IN PAKISTAN

Keeping these concerns in view, women activists in Pakistan have adopted a two-pronged
strategy. On one level they are trying to build up pressures for the affirmative action and reservation
of women's seats in all legislative and local administrative bodies. Women have been demanding
reservation of 33 percent of seats at national, provincial, and local government levels, which should
be filled through direct election by joint electorate. There is also a demand that the Political Party Act
be amended to make it mandatory for all political parties to field at least 33 percent of female
candidates during election. On the other hand, women are also trying to create an alternative vision of
politics based on social justice.
Pakistani women are trapped in a web of dependency and subordination due to their low
social, economic, and political status in society. The majority of women suffer from all forms of
poverty. In order to change women’s position and societal view of their inferiority, structural changes
need to be brought about in the social and economic order that shape our social world.
Women are totally absent from the state structures and decision-making bodies that could
introduce such structural changes. Women’s inclusion in governance structures is critical to bring
about substantive changes in the development policies and programs that would lead to a shift in
gender relations in the society.
Presently, in order to maintain the status quo, institutionalized violence against women at the
family, community, and state levels is used as a mechanism to ensure their compliance with gender
norms. This serves to prevent any attempt leading to the subversion of the male order.
Ironically, at the same time, a great deal of rhetorical attention has been paid to gender issues
at the national level. Pakistan has made several commitments at national and international forums to
ensure gender equality at home. However, there is a wide gap between commitment and
implementation. The persuasion of the State to translate its commitment to gender equality into
concrete reality is the major challenge faced by women in Pakistan.
These are the four critical areas in ADB’s gender strategy for Pakistan.
Feminization of Poverty
Pakistan’s consistent economic growth rate for the last 50 years has failed to bring prosperity
to its people. The absolute number of poor has increased from 19 million in 1960 to 42 million in
1995.1 In the absence of reliable data on poverty assessment, as the definition of poverty and tools for
the assessment of poverty has been constantly changing, it becomes difficult to assess trends in
poverty in Pakistan. A recent study conducted on the profile of poverty in Pakistan gives different
percentages of people living in poverty according to different definitions, i.e., calorie intake, 21
percent; basic needs, 29 percent; income poverty, 30 percent; Poverty of Opportunity Index, 44
percent; and Human Poverty Index, 47 percent.2 A systematic gender analysis of poverty remains
elusive in Pakistan due to the absence of gender-disaggregated, poverty-related data.
1 United Nation Development Programme (1999), A Profile of Poverty in Pakistan, Islamabad, p.1.
2 The Department for International Development (DFID) has commissioned a study to design the
Participatory Poverty Assessment. The study will provide a better understanding of the complexity of
poverty.
16 Country Briefing Paper—Women in Pakistan
Box 6: Gender Disparities in Human Development Indicators
(percent)
Female Male
Literacy rate 28.0 51.0
Gross primary enrollment 64.0 80.0
Combined enrollment ratio 25.0 50.0
Labor force participation 11.4 69.1
Earned income share 20.0 80.0
Seats in Parliament 3.4
Top administrative/management jobs 3.0
Maternal mortality 340 per 100,000 live births
Mortality rate (1-4 years) Female 12% higher than males
Source: United Nations Development Programme (1998), “Statement
on Gender in Pakistan.”
Poverty manifests itself along the lines of class, gender, region, and rural-urban divides. The
incidence of poverty in rural areas is higher than in urban areas according to both income poverty and
broader measures.3 Three quarters of Pakistan’s poor live in rural areas. A review undertaken by the
Social Policy and Development Centre claims that “while incidence of poverty has been falling in the
urban areas in recent years, it has been climbing in rural areas.”4 Among the four provinces,
Balochistan is the poorest. The highest incidence of poverty is found in the rural areas of Southern
Punjab and Balochistan.5
The link between gender and poverty is evident all over the world. Out of 1.3 billion people
living in poverty, 70 percent are women. Feminization of poverty is a global phenomenon. Women
are the poorest among the poor and the most vulnerable among communities.
Social relations of gender mediate women’s experience of poverty. Poverty in Pakistan has a
“woman’s face.” There are considerable intrahousehold disparities in food distribution and
investment of resources between male and female members. Among poorer households, incidence of
chronic malnutrition is higher among female children.6 Women’s access and control over productive
resources are extremely limited. In addition to suffering from the same deprivations as men, women
face the additional suffering of unequal opportunities to education, health, and other social services
due to patriarchal control over their sexuality and cultural restrictions over their mobility.
Pakistan ranks 120 in
146 countries in terms of the
Gender-related Development
Index and ranks 92 in the
Gender Empowerment Measurement
ranking of 94
countries. Gender gap in all
key social sectors is increasing
in Pakistan. Box 6 shows
glaring gender disparities that
exist in some human
development indicators.
The impact of macroeconomic
stabilization, liberalization
policies, and structural adjustment programs have been disproportionately high on women.
In the absence of macrolevel data, it is difficult to assess the impact of a structural adjustment
program on people in general and on women in particular. However, some microlevel studies have
clearly indicated the effects on unemployment, inflation, decline in real wages, and reduction in
caloric intake for the poor.7
Economic crisis and structural adjustment affected women adversely in their roles as
producers, household managers, and mothers. Although women’s labor force participation rate
increased during 1988–1993, there was also a sharp increase in their unemployment from about
3 UNDP (1999), A Profile of Poverty in Pakistan, Islamabad, p.46.
4 Social Policy and Development Centre (1998), Social Development in Pakistan: Annual Review, p.34.
5 See footnote 4, Executive Summary.
6 Ibid., p.10.
7 See footnote 6, Executive Summary.
Critical Issues for Women in Pakistan 17
1 percent to 10 percent, accompanied by a 40 percent decline in self-employment.8 As household
managers, they had difficulty in managing their households due to high inflation caused by the
decline in food subsidies especially wheat and edible oil, which constitute a large proportion of the
caloric and protein intake of the poor. Due to budget cuts in the public social sector expenditure,
women have to increasingly take on more responsibilities for the future survival of their children.9
Due to male migration and high unemployment, more and more women are seeking incomeearning
opportunities in the job market. Lack of education and skills forces many to concentrate
either in the informal sector or secondary sector of the segmented labor market. In 1990–1991, 77
percent of economically active women in urban areas were working in the informal sector where they
were economically exploited and had no protection of labor laws.10 Exploitative working conditions
at the workplace, compounded by oppressive conditions at home where women continue to take the
sole responsibility for domestic work, overburdened them to the detriment of their health.
The number of female-headed households is growing in Pakistan. The Socio-Economic
Survey of Pakistan reports that less than 5 percent of women head households. This is contrary to the
findings of the study conducted in Karachi in 1987 that indicated women head 10 percent of
households. Female-headed households are usually among the most impoverished due to the low
earning capacity of women. The average monthly income of female-headed households is only one
fourth of male-headed households.11
The Government is fully aware that if structural adjustment reforms continue to be launched
without cushioning their impact on the poor, a large number of households may fall into the poverty
trap, which could cause a serious civil unrest in the society. Some positive initiatives have been
launched to protect the poor, including the SAP launched in 1992 to improve the quality of and access
to basic social services with special focus on women. Other initiatives include the Pakistan Poverty
Alleviation Fund to address income poverty, Public Works Program, Small Farmer Based
Agriculture, Employment/Credit Facilities, Training and Credit for Women, Land for Landless, and
Food Stamps Program, along with traditional Islamic safety nets for the poor, like Zakat and Bait-ul-
Mal. There is a pressing need to sharpen the focus and efficiency of these poverty reduction efforts to
reach women who are the poorest of the poor.
Political Participation
Although women do not have a role in the formulation of macroeconomic and social policies,
they have borne the brunt of such policies. Women’s exclusion from decision-making bodies at the
local, provincial, and national levels does not provide them any opportunity to voice their concerns or
promote their perspective on governance. The male-dominated governance structure has been
creating and recreating gender inequalities. It is critical that women claim their share of power to
make decisions that affect their lives. The synergy of women’s strong political representation and
reduction in the incidence of female poverty has been increasingly recognized all over the world.
Women’s representation in formal political bodies is negligible in Pakistan. There are only 3
percent of women in the National Assembly (7 out of 217), about 2.3 percent in the Senate (2 out of
8 Ibid., p.161.
9 Shahrukh Rafi Khan and Mehnaz Ahmed (1996), “Gender and Structural Adjustment in Pakistan.” The
Lahore Journal of Economics, vol.1, no.1, pp. 78-82.
10 See footnote 4, Executive Summary.
11 Ibid, p.13.
18 Country Briefing Paper—Women in Pakistan
87), and 0.4 percent overall in the four provincial assemblies (2 out of a total of 483). In local bodies,
about 12.5 percent of seats are reserved for women in Punjab, while Balochistan has reserved 27.6
percent of its seats for women. Elections for local bodies in two other provinces have yet to be held.
There is no woman minister at the federal level, and only one has the status of a minister of state
(1 out of a total of 21).
Women’s participation in politics as voters, candidates, and political activists is increasing;
however, this has not led to the emergence of women as leaders in the arena of formal politics. This is
so because political party structures are male-dominated. Women in political parties are not given
decision-making positions within the parties and are often not fielded as candidates during elections on
the pretext that they lack political skills. The traditional notion of women's role is primarily in the family
context. The nature of political parties, the criminalization of politics and the culture of corruption that
permeates public life, and the fear of character assassination effectively block women's participation in
government structures.
The failure of government structures to redress gender disparities in access to productive
resources and adequate provision of social services for women have led to rethinking among women
activists that they must become part of the state structure to influence policies and politics in their
own favor. The lack of political commitment to implement gender-related components of policies
necessitates women’s participation in the government structure to ensure their implementation.
After having established a link between lack of representation of women in the political
systems and the disproportionate poverty of women, women’s rights groups, NGOs, and activists
started pushing the margin of the state and political parties to create political space for them through
affirmative action. This is reflected in their demand to reserve 33 percent of the seats for women at
the local, provincial, and federal government levels, to be filled through direct election by the joint
electorate. They also demanded a change in the Political Parties Act and People's Representation Act
in favor of women.
It is imperative for women to gain political representation in democratic institutions for any
substantive change to occur in their lives. Also, their visibility in formal political bodies will
challenge the ideology of the sexual division of labor. Their increasing visibility in the public arena
will enhance their status and change social attitudes towards them. Therefore, women’s political
representation has become a priority advocacy issue of women’s movement in the country.
Violence Against Women
Violence against women is the most powerful mechanism used by family, society, and state
to silence voices of resistance to the existing gender-related social order. It ensures that women will
continue to accept gender hierarchies in all social relations of production and reproduction and
perpetuates their subordination.
Violence against women is a fundamental violation of the human right to life, physical safety,
self-respect, and dignity. It is the manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men
and women. The social construction of gender establishes male authority and power over women, and
provides the basis for gender-based violence in the society.
Some forms of violence against women, especially domestic and customary violence, are so
entrenched in the culture that they are hardly recognized as violence and largely condoned by the
society. It is difficult to assess the extent of violence against women due to lack of data. Also, the
Critical Issues for Women in Pakistan 19
incidences of violence are grossly underreported. However, a few microlevel studies give some
indication on the form and extent of violence inflicted on women.
Domestic violence is fairly widespread across all classes. It ranges from slapping, hitting, and
kicking, to murder. Since the society, police and law enforcing agencies view domestic violence as a
private matter, it goes unnoticed until it takes extreme forms of murder or attempted murder. A study
conducted by the Women’s Division suggests that domestic violence takes place in approximately 80
percent of the households in the country.12 Incidences of stove burning are being increasingly
reported in the press. During 1998, 282 burn cases of women were reported in Punjab. Of these, 65
percent died of their injuries. Data collected from two hospitals in Rawalpindi and Islamabad over a
period of three years since 1994 reveal 739 cases of burn victims.13
The official figure for murder of women during 1998 was 1,974; majority of them were
victims of their own relatives—husbands, brothers, fathers, and in-laws.14
Rape is one of the most common crimes against women but grossly underreported due to the
shame attached to the victim. According to official statistics, one woman is raped every six hours in
the country. During 1998, 706 rape cases were reported in Punjab, of which 55 percent of the victims
were minors and half were victims of gang rape.15 Women are also victims of male honor. If the male
honor is compromised in any way, the womenfolk of the rival party are humiliated by being made to
strip off in public and paraded through the streets to take revenge from the family. The Human
Rights Commission of Pakistan recorded 48 such cases in 1992–1994.
Marital rape is not even recognized as a criminal offense in Pakistani law, which is a negation
of women’s right over their own sexuality. Rape in police custody is also widespread but vastly
underreported as it involves members of the police as the perpetrators of this crime. Out of 41 cases
reported in Punjab during 1998 only six got registered and only one person was arrested. A 1992
report found that 70 percent of women in police stations are subjected to sexual and physical
violence.16
The provision of the Hudood Ordinance that requires four adult male Muslims of good repute
as witnesses of the actual rape or the rapist to confess as a condition of proving rape has made it
impossible for rape victims to get justice. Under this law, if a rape victim cannot prove rape she can
be charged with and sentenced for adultery.
Trafficking of women is also on the rise. Foreign women from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and
Myanmar are brought to Pakistan and sold. In 1991–1993, approximately 100–150 women from
Bangladesh were brought into Pakistan.17 Kidnapping, forced prostitution, and sexual violence at the
workplace are other forms of violence on the rise. Customary practices that include exchange of
women between families, selling and buying women as a commodity, using women as barter to settle
family disputes, marriage to Quran, and killing them in the name of honor are other forms of violence
against women being condoned in the name of tradition and culture.
12 See footnote 8, Executive Summary.
13 See footnote 9, Executive Summary.
14 Shahla Zia and Farzana Bari (1999), “Women’s Political Participation in Pakistan, Islamabad,” p.25.
15 Ibid., p.25.
16 “Report of the Commission of Inquiry for Women” (1997), Pakistan, p. 83.
17 UNICEF (1998), “Children and Women in Pakistan: A Situation Analysis,” Islamabad, p.57.
20 Country Briefing Paper—Women in Pakistan
There is no support mechanism for victims of male violence. There are only 13 state-run darul-
amans (shelters) for women in the country. The living conditions of these shelters reinforce
women’s subordination and oppression by establishing control over their sexuality and mobility
instead of providing them with a supportive environment where they could rebuild their own lives.
They do not have the means to protect themselves against violence. The legal system does not
encourage women victims to use it for the redress of the violation of their rights. High costs and delays in
obtaining justice further discourage women victims/survivors to avail of legal means to protect their
rights.
The increasing violence against women is a matter of serious concern. A society where
violence against women is endemic can never fully develop either socially or economically. Violence
in the private domain undermines women’s confidence and self-esteem and destroys their health,
while the fear of sexual assault in the public domain deprives them of their full participation in all
aspects of development. This is a high social and economic cost for the society to pay. Violence
against women is also a public health and development issue. As stated in ADB’s gender and
development policy paper, the relationship between female-focused violence and maternal mortality,
health care utilization, child survival, AIDS prevention, and cost to the judiciary and law enforcement
agencies is receiving increasing attention.”18 Therefore, a society free of violence is an essential
condition to establish women as equal partners in development.
Translation of Gender Commitments into Practice
Pakistan is one of those countries that has appropriated the gender discourse and has reflected
it adequately in its national level policies and programs. It is a signatory to numerous international
conventions, including the Convention on The Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW), Health for All by the Year 2000, Education for All by the Year 2000, and
Universal Access to Reproductive Health Information and Services by the year 2015. At the national
level Pakistan has officially launched the National Plan of Action (NPA) to Implement the Beijing
Platform of Action. It has reflected gender concerns in the Ninth Plan, National Strategy on Poverty
Reduction, and Agenda 2010. However, the gap between commitment and reality is too wide. Policy
commitments have hardly been delivered in practice. No substantial efforts in terms of financial
allocation, implementation plans, or machinery appear to be in place to translate the vision reflected
in policy documents into operational reality in the country.
The translation of de jure rights of women into de facto rights will substantially improve the
position of women. This is not to say that the policy environment in Pakistan is ideal for women.
Antiwomen legislation such as the Hudood Ordinance and the laws of evidence, Qisas and Diyat, are
still a part of the Constitution. Other legislation such as family and labor laws also discriminate
against women.
Women in Pakistan are now confronted with the challenge of how to ensure that the State
will fulfill its commitment towards gender equality. International conventions require Pakistan to
create a favorable social, legal, and political policy environment for women by introducing necessary
changes. However, no substantive initiative has been taken by the Government to meet its
international commitments. Therefore, it is important that the international community and social
movements at the national level assume a stronger role in this regard. Similarly, civil rights
movements need to build up support from the grassroots level. In order to expand the base of social
movement for gender equality, civil society needs to be strengthened to be able to fulfill its role.
18 Asian Development Bank (1998), “The Bank’s Policy on Gender and Development,” p.7.

source:www.adb.org