Zain Imtiaz 

Professor F

Women’s Rights in Pakistan

Memoir:

I was born in the store room of a broken down house my grandmother spent her entire life building. After her husband passed away, she raised my father and his brothers on her own. I grew up watching my mother and aunts run the house after my grandmother’s passing. We lived in a joint family system so my dad’s brothers’ wives and kids were all living together. I’d see the women leave at dawn to work in the fields and return in the afternoon. Then they’d do all of the housework and tend to whatever affairs they had to with the rest of the villagers. It wasn’t until I was much older that I realized how strong these women were to be involved in all aspects of the house. Our money came from their seven hours in the scorching heat in the fields every day. Our food came from their tired, aching hands cooking for all five families living together. Our health, education, upbringing, morals and everything about us was tied back to our mothers and mothers only. I barely saw my uncles because they were political figures with no time. They preached and campaigned about progressive ideas to move forward in society and then came home to mistreat their wives and daughters; to let them know that they are nothing more than chess pieces. We lived and breathed by their wishes.  

We’re taught to read and memorize the Quran at as young as 4 years old. We learn everything about Islam except for how it values women. This religion that the men in the country use to keep women restricted in the privacy of their homes is the same religion that granted women rights centuries before the West did. The first wife of Prophet Muhammad was a wealthy tradeswoman, the richest in the country at the time, whose business and trade went as far as Syria. She had men working for her to manage the large business. The youngest wife of the Prophet was a scholar, known for her incredible memory and sharp sense of judgement. Both these women are of the most important figures in our religion, yet we never learn that they exerted influence over men and provided leadership while also promoting education, especially the education of women. I’m not proud to say that I myself didn’t learn of this until much later in my life but nonetheless I’m glad I did. 

 We moved to America when I was six years old and growing up here really opened up my mind to a lot of new things. I grew up watching so many other girls deprived of an education so I made sure, and so did my father, that my life was centered around it. But that wasn’t enough for me. I was lucky enough to have the oppurtunity to come to America but my heart wasn’t at peace knowing the girls I grew up with back home didn’t have the same luck. With the help of parents and my family home, we managed to open a school for the girls in our village. What made me happy was that so many of the older girls volunteered in this school to help it grow. Over the years as the school did continue to grow, the same girls who only dreamed of being able to step outside the four walls of their homes, were now applying for teaching positions. During my visit to Pakistan last year, I had the oppurtunity to visit the school and the sight of it brought tears to my eyes. There was a large text that covered the front gate of the school, it read “Educate a Woman, Educate a Nation.” Malala was right after all; one child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world.

Report:

Pakistan is a predominantly Muslim country ruled fundamentally by Islamic Law. Although many of the cultural norms of the country have nothing to do with religion, they are always presented as such for the sake of maintining them. One of these happens to be keeping women in the privacy of their homes and out of the public sphere. So, in 1988 when Benazir Bhutto won the election and became the first female Prime Minister in a Muslim-majority country, as well as the youngest elected leader in the Islamic world, everyone was shaken up. She studied at Harvard, and later at Oxford, where she became the first Asian women to become the president of the Oxford Union, the prestigious debating society that nurtured several British prime ministers. She says in her memoir, “I was amongst a sea of women who felt as unimpeded by their gender as I did.” Bhutto championed secular rule and was successfully reelected in 1993; despite death threats and failed assasination attempts, she tried running for a third term before being killed. Even after her passing, “the Daughter of Pakistan” inspired countless women to be more politically active; encouraging women to vote is only the beginning.

Although Pakistan has allowed women to vote since 1956, it ranks second lowest in the world in female election participation. There is a large gap in voter turnout between men and women and this gap relate to men’s view’s about women voting and their knowledge of politics. In their minds, poor knowledge is associated with low interest in politics. However, the bigger issue here is the failure of political parties to directly address issues related to women. This can easily be fixed though better targeted voter education campaigns and a strong effort by political parties to directly engage women in the process so they can all stop feeling “politically invisible”. As of 2018, there were 46 million women registered to vote but unfortunately less than 40 percent of the participated in the elections. There are a number of barriers stopping them from their political participation ranging from the traditional views on a woman’s place in society to bureaucratic, the lack of access to national identity cards that are mandatory for casting a vote. Either way, the problem can be traced back to men thinking that they are the gatekeepers in mediating a woman’s ability to vote. It is strange that both the religion and laws of Pakistan, allow a woman to be politically active yet men seem to be threatened and feel the need to hold them back. This pushback is not only at an individual level, it comes from the state, religious institutions and sadly, other women. They view this as a result of feminism, which is in their minds a westerm idea ruining the youth.

Despite all this, I have hope in my country. Even though voter turnout is low, it is slowly rising, especially among the youth. Over the past few years, there has been an increase in female activists going from village to village, city to city, educating women on the political process and the importance of their role in it. The 2018 election successfully brought out many women in my village, where my female cousins all volunteered at polling stations. This was a huge step forward because just a few years back, they weren’t even allowed to step outside the house on election day. With growing efforts to raise awareness, I’m positive that instead of steps, the women of Pakistan willl be making strides.