Woman Empowerment

Introduction:

 Women empowerment-vital for development

 Women- a demoted part of the society
 Gender discrimination- a universal phenomenon
 Status of women in Pakistan
-excerpt from the speech of Quaid-e-Azam

Main Body:

 Why women are the relegated part of the society?

o Religious exploitation
o Male domination of the priesthood
o How religion is the stumbling block in the way of women empowerment?
o Different religions’ stance on the status of women
-Christianity
-Hinduism
-Jainism and Buddhism
-Islam
o Women were perceived feeble because of their biological make-up
o Ignorance and poor education
o Women are oblivious of injustices inflicted on them
o Few Muslim theologians and jurists
 Fallouts of relegation of women:
o Colossal population is out of the workforce
o Pakistan failed to realize its true economic potential
o Negative psychological impact on children
o Weaker family units

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 o Infringements on women rights have tarnished our national image
 Governmental and non-governmental actions for women empowerment:
o Suffrage since the inception of the country
o Reserve seats for the women in parliament
o Women quota in government services
o Constitutional provision for gender equality
o Women rights committees
o Women study centers
o Separate women university-Fatima Jinnah University
o Separate Women Bank-First women Bank
 Laws enacted and conventions ratified for women empowerment:
o Women Protection Bill, 2006 (Amendment to Huddod Ordinance, 1979)
o Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2009
o Women Protection Act, 2010
o The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW), 1996
 Recommendations for the empowerment of the women:
o Enlighten the people that females are equal vis-à-vis males
o Improve education level
o Impart religious and legal education to females
o Facilitate the process of ijtehad
o Economically empower the women
o Reinvigorate the media for voicing for women empowerment
o Ensure the writ of the government in tribal areas
o Galvanize the civil society for women empowerment
o Community development programs
o Ensure contextual interpretation of the Quranic verses
o Further legislate to ensure women empowerment

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 o Implement the laws in letter and spirit, both new and existing
o Independent judiciary to check implementation

Conclusion:

 Assertive society
 Public and private sector needs to join hands to provide women smart livelihood
 Share power with the females for mutual respect and individual dignity

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 Woman Empowerment

“The world has never yet seen a truly great and virtuous nation because in the degradation of
woman the very fountains of life are poisoned at their source.”- Lucretia Mott

Gender equality and women's empowerment are human rights that lie at the heart of
development and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Despite the
progress that has been made, six out of ten of world's poorest people are still women, less than
16 percent of the world's parliamentarians are women, two thirds of all children shut outside
the school gates are girls and, both in times of armed conflict and behind closed doors at home,
women are still systematically subjected to violence. According to the United Nations
Millennium Campaign, women work two-thirds of the world’s working hours, but they earn
only 10 percent of the world’s income, and consequently own less than 1 percent of the world’s
property.

Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will
say, “She doesn't have what it takes.” They will say, "Women don't have what it takes.” -
Clare Boothe Luce

Throughout history woman have been exploited, repressed and relegated to pariah
status. Male domination of society through the ages thus came to be viewed as natural. It is
one of the baser traits of human nature to exploit the economic needs of weaker segments of
the society. Gender discrimination is not confined to third world countries; rather it has plagued
the whole world. Even the woman related issues were on the official agenda of G20 Seoul
Summit of 2010. While Pakistan being no exception, the women's rights vis-à-vis men are quite
scant. The social and cultural context of Pakistani society is predominantly patriarchal. Women
have a low participation in society outside of the family realm. The violence against women in

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Pakistan is an over-arching problem. Feminists and women's groups in Pakistan have lambasted
the Pakistani society for upholding the decadent societal values.

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.- Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Women are not pre-ordained to serve the man; rather it is the Machiavellian scheme of
the unscrupulous men that retrogressed women from its due position in the society. The
relegation of the women to the social backwaters in the earlier societies had its impact on later
times and undermined her standing in the eyes of the religious theocracy. The male dominated
priesthood increasingly equated her biological make-up to her perceived spiritual weakness and
thereby accorded her inferior position to males. Thus organized religion has been instrumental
in perpetuating the dynamics of male power play and the continued subjugation of women. The
Bible establishes a woman's inferior status and her subservience to man as divinely ordained.
The New Testament declares: "Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection”

According to the 19th century feminist, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the church and Bible
have proved to be "the greatest stumbling blocks in the way of women's emancipation." The
western feminist activism that focuses on gender politics and power relations is in fact a
reaction to church-sanctioned discrimination against women. The Hindu mythology relegates
the women to a status of a serf, this discriminately culture has its roots in Hindu religious
doctrines. The oldest Hindu religious scriptures contain discriminatory passages concerning
women. The religious doctrine outlined in the Vedas encourages female infanticide, child
marriage and the burning of the widow (sati). The ideal role model is Sita, Ram's wife, who
proved her fidelity to her husband by passing through flames. Buddhism and Jainism though
condemned the Hindu Vedic system, yet they profess asceticism and consider women as
deviant. Buddha is said to have warned his disciples to stay away from females and to avoid
even looking at them.

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 Islam fosters an avant-garde approach toward women’s rights and their rightful place in
society, but paradoxically, Muslim women remain among the most oppressed. This state of
affairs has arisen due to multifarious reasons, the most significant of which pertains to
misconstruing Arab culture as Islamic. As far as the Muslims of the subcontinent are concerned,
they lived side by side with the Hindus for centuries, resultantly, the culture in subcontinent has
propensity towards the Hindu culture, based on Hindu religious decrees, especially in the
societal attitude toward women. The majority of religious scholars in Pakistan do not openly
denounce the inhumane customary practices against women in the tribal as well as feudal
regions of Pakistan. Thus, to a large extent, their hypocrisy, fear of change and male chauvinism
are responsible for the misery of the Pakistani women. The fundamentalists of the modern era
are disenchanted with modernity and abhor change. They erroneously link the emancipation of
women to western, secular culture and insist on conformist, traditional roles for females.

The outcast of women from social sphere has put a crimp on the societal advancement.
The majority of the work force is out of the job market, thus making it impossible to realize the
true economic potential of the country. Reports and surveys cite married women to be the
most vulnerable to physical and emotional abuse. Abuse directed at the mother is bound to
have far-reaching negative psychological consequences on her children. It is a folly to expect a
confident, educated and rights-conscious next generation, when the society has advertently
scuttled their mothers to realize their due rights and hampered the ways of their
empowerment. The phenomenal increase in violence against females in Pakistan is abhorrent
and indicative of the degeneration of the society, and has tarnished our image in the
international arena, and has provided a stick to the so-considered developed world to beat us
with.

However, there could be a silver lining to this dark cloud of gloom because persistent
denial of women rights symbolizes a reaction among women about their inalienable rights. The
enlightened sections of the society has always vociferously decried any infringements and
endeavored to act upon the apt words of Jinnah: “No nation can rise to the height of glory
unless your women are side by side with you”. Moreover, the government of Pakistan has

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taken a number of steps to empower the women, such as, the women of Pakistan got the
suffrage since the inception of Pakistan and the provision of reservation of seats for woman in
the Parliament existed throughout its constitutional history. In the 1970s, all the government
services were opened to women including the District Management Group and the Foreign
Service of Pakistan. Not only women can compete on the open merit but there is a reservation
of 10% quota for women in Central Superior Services. Gender equality was categorically
guaranteed in the Constitution of Pakistan adopted in 1973. The constitution stipulates that
"there shall be no discrimination on the basis of sex alone." In 1975, an official delegation from
Pakistan participated in the First World Conference on Women in Mexico, which led to the
constitution of the first Pakistan Women's Rights Committee. There are Women's Studies
centers at five universities and a sole woman university- Fatima Jinnah university. There is
separate bank that is managed and run solely by woman- First Women Bank Ltd. (FWBL)
established in 1989 to address women's financial woes.

On the legislative front, the parliament repealed the past draconian laws concerning
women and enacted the pro-women laws that accorded the women their due standing in the
society, such as, the parliament passed the Women's Protection Bill in late 2006, repealing
some of the Hudood Ordinances. The bill allowed for DNA and other scientific evidence to be
used in prosecuting rape cases, thus saved women from being exploited. In 2006, The
Protection of Women (Criminal Laws Amendment) Act was also passed. Pakistan has also
acceded the number of international conventions regarding the elimination of violence and
empowerment of the women, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) was ratified on February 29, 1996. In order to timely
assuage the plight of the women, On September 2, 2004, the Ministry of Women Development
was made independent ministry, separating it from the Social Welfare and Education Ministry.

Despite the initiatives of the public sector, the change is still not discernable at the grass
root level. The repression, discrimination and violence against women are just the symptoms of
the problem and the problem is the illusion that the women are meant to be the weaker
segment of the society. There is a need to inculcate in the society that women have equal

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stature vis-à-vis man. Crime against them is in fact a crime against humanity. But the
cornerstone of the problem is that women are themselves oblivious of the injustices inflicted
on them. The education of this gender can bring a significant change. Educating women will
have a two pronged effect: firstly, it will make the women right-conscious and secondly, it will
enable them to contribute more to national economy.

When you educate a man you educate an individual when you educate a woman you
educate a whole family”.- Johnetta Cole

On a parallel track, there is need to impart religious education to the women. Men have
hitherto monopolized the interpretation of scriptural texts. The existing courses in academic
institutions are intellectually inadequate and do not question the narrow-minded approach of
commentators on female rights in Islam, women's involvement in the interpretation of dogma
will undoubtedly enable them to determine the truth and form independent opinions.

Despite the rhetoric of providing jobs to females, the Planning Commission report has
suggested the otherwise and has revealed alarming statistics about the lack of representation
of women in public-sector organizations. According to the study, which collected data from the
Planning Commission itself and 16 ministries, these groups employ a disproportionately low
number of female employees, especially at the higher levels of the bureaucracy. Across the 16
ministries surveyed there were no women at all at the BS-21 and BS-22 levels and only six per
cent representation of women across all levels. Ironically, the study itself contains some
observations that do not demonstrate sensitivity to gender issues. It claims, for example, that
one reason for the lack of women in higher positions is that they “by nature sit back” and fail to
push for their annual reviews to be completed in time for promotions. Such preconceived
notions and stereotypes about the performance of female employees are part of the problem
standing in the way of a more equitable representation of women in the workforce.

But aside from trying to change mindsets the bureaucracy needs to take concrete steps
to both hire and retain women, from running active recruiting drives targeted at women to
providing daycare centers at work for mothers. As public-sector entities these organizations

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should be leading the way in terms of incorporating women into the workforce in order to set
an example for the private sector, help change societal mindsets and empower deserving
women.

The key to economic progress in the world lies in unleashing women's potential as well
as economic independence of women is the pith of the women empowerment. Women with
their own means of livelihood are less prone to fall victim to the discrimination of the society
and family. It also triggers off a virtuous cycle as financially independent mothers are more
likely to invest in their daughter’s education and future. Empirical evidence suggests that
women tend to be better entrepreneurs and have a better rate of success. Such enterprises
yield not only financial gain but also societal benefits. There is strong evidence that social uplift
and economic empowerment of women translate into happier families and members of the
society.

It is the obligation of the elected representatives especially the female cadre to ensure
that the complex issue of women's rights is debated in the parliament, followed by balanced
and forward looking legislations. It is even more crucial that laws, new and existing, are
enforced with a focus on women protection. An independent judiciary is vital to ensure the
implementation of the policies and curtailment of police corruption. Empowered women will
reciprocate with their participation in the economic and social activities.

The electronic and print media, can play a pivotal role in highlighting the plight of the
downtrodden women. They must focus on the female predicament, especially in the far flung
areas and need to depict the true picture regarding the status of the women. The government
should facilitate their access to the tribal and feudal regions and give them protection against
reprisal. The tribal and feudal structures of Pakistan are relics of the past and reminders of the
pre-Islamjahaliyya period. Unless the writ of the state becomes all encompassing, these
structures cannot be dismantled. The problem is complex and multi-layered and there are no
easy solutions in sight. Yet, history tells us that a strong political will has the capacity to
introduce meaningful changes. A long term strategy along with swift, surgical measures can

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bear fruit if public support is gained through awareness, debates and media campaigns. Human
attitudes can change through awareness as well as law and policy enforcement. Both must
work hand in hand.

The government needs to take decisive measures to initiate and facilitate the process of
Ijtehad to ensure that the universal principles at the heart of Quranic laws are not
compromised. Selective verses that can be manipulated to the advantage of an unjust male
member of the society must be reviewed within contextual parameters and in conformity with
the true spirit of Islam. Theocracy has no place in Islam; legitimizing it gives privileged status to
a social class in contravention of Islamic principles. Women themselves must be proactive and
demand gender equality based on both rights and duties. Females in the legal profession as
well as women scholars of the Quran and Islamic jurisprudence must become a viable part of
the process of ijtehad. The government should consult the representatives of diverse sections
of the society to gain insight into the nature of the complexities involved.

Given the multiple facets of the problem, the government alone cannot provide, what is
required, thus it is incumbent upon the civil society too that they must endeavor to assuage the
plight of the women. A joint venture by government and non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) must take the lead to remove the injustices foisted upon women. There is a dire need
to change the feminist attitude to address the women problems and in this regard, female
jealousy towards other females needs to be eliminated. The medical community should
develop and facilitate community development programs. Such programs should include family
counseling sessions for both males and females to ensure social behavioral reforms and gender
parity. Gender-related education aimed at enlightening the females and sensitizing the male is
of fundamental importance. Governmental and private organizations working for female
emancipation should join hands to involve different sections of the civil society to formulate a
comprehensive strategy to ensure women's empowerment.

The knowledge revolution of the 21st century focuses on human mental and intellectual
capabilities. In an increasingly competitive world, genderless knowledge-based services are

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required. In order for the human race to survive in the face of emerging global economic
realities it will be suicidal to imprison the potential of a substantial number of human beings.
The change is bound to happen; it would be sensible to learn from history and apply a visionary
approach to resolve the issue. A well planned and state supervised empowerment of Pakistani
women pertaining to their physical, psychological, emotional and economic uplift will obviate
societal turmoil that accompanies cataclysmic natural changes in the society. By fulfilling her
biological function of reproduction and physically sharing her sustenance with her unborn child
a female provides the human race with the greatest example of sharing and responsibility.
Powerful humans must learn from her and apply this model of sacrifice to inter-gender power
sharing based on mutual respect and individual dignity.

Wards 3,072

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