Women were abused, sold, denied their inheritance, denied maintenance - in short treated Iike chattel.

The situation is grim – and pretty much the same in all four provinces of the country.

The female literacy level in Sindh is one of the lowest in Pakistan

The total female literacy rate in rural Sindh is around 5.2 percen

Statistically women constitute 43 percent of the 52 lakh population of Balochistan. But there is only one
girls degree college in Quetta. Three intermediate colleges were established in Loralai, Sibi and Kalat,
but the Kalat college closed down because there were no admissions

According to some surveys, 60 percent of working women are either professionals, such as teachers and
doctors, or unskilled labour. Barely 0.8 percent work in administrative and managerial positions.

Pakistan is the world’s fifth most populous country and the second largest South Asian country

Pakistan has adopted a number of key international commitments to gender equality

and women’s human rights – the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Beijing
Platform for Action, the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination
Against Women, and the Sustainable Development Goals.
National commitments in place include a National Policy for Development and
Empowerment of Women, Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace Act,
Criminal Law (Amendment) (Offences in the name or pretext of Honour) Act, Criminal
Law (Amendment) (Offences Relating to Rape) and a National Plan of Action on Human
Rights. Local commitments adopted include Gender Equality Policy Frameworks and
Women’s Empowerment Packages and Initiatives.

Women’s and Children’s Rights

Violence against women and girls—including rape, so-called honor killings, acid attacks,
domestic violence, and forced marriage—remains a serious problem. Pakistani activists
estimate that there are about 1,000 “honor” killings every year.

In June, the murder of 19-year-old Mahwish Arshad in Faisalabad district, Punjab, for
refusing a marriage proposal gained national attention. According to media reports, at
least 66 women were murdered in Faisalabad district in the first six months of 2018, the
majority in the name of “honor.”

Justice Tahira Safdar was appointed as the chief justice of Balochistan High Court,
becoming the first woman ever appointed chief justice of a high court in Pakistan.
Women from religious minority communities remain particularly vulnerable to abuse. A
report by the Movement for Solidarity and Peace in Pakistan found that at least 1,000
girls belonging to Christian and Hindu communities are forced to marry Muslim men
every year. The government has done little to stop such forced marriages.

Early marriage remains a serious problem, with 21 percent of girls in Pakistan marrying
before the age of 18, and 3 percent marrying before age 15.

The Taliban and affiliated armed groups continued to attack schools and use children in
suicide bombings in 2018. In August, militants attacked and burned down at least 12
schools in Diamerdistrict of Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan region. At least half were girls’
schools. Pakistan has not banned the use of schools for military purposes, or endorsed
the Safe Schools Declaration as recommended by the United Nations Committee on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 2017.
Over 5 million primary school-age children in Pakistan are out of school, most of them
girls. Human Rights Watch research found girls miss school for reasons including, lack of
schools, costs associated with studying, child marriage, harmful child labor, and gender
discrimination.

Child sexual abuse remains disturbingly common in Pakistan with 141 cases reported in
just Lahore, Punjab, in the first six months of 2018. At least 77 girls and 79 boys were
raped or sexually assaulted in the first half of 2018, according to police reports, but none
of the suspects had been convicted at time of writing and all had been released on bail.

In January, the rape and murder of 7-year-old Zainab Ansari in Kasur, Punjab, led to
nationwide outrage and prompted the government to promise action. On June 12, the
Supreme Court upheld the convictions of Imran Ali for the rape and murder of Zainab
Ansari and at least eight other girls. Imran Ali was executed on October 17. On August 8,
the body of a 5-year-old girl who was raped and murdered was found in Mardan district,
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The rape of a 6-year-old girl in Sukkur district, Sindh, was
confirmed by a medical report on August 10.

According to the organization Sahil, an average of 11 cases of child sexual abuse are
reported daily across Pakistan. Zainab Ansari was among the dozen children to be
murdered in Kasur district, Punjab in 2018. In 2015, police identified a gang of child sex
abusers in the same