International Women’s Day is being celebrated around the world today, March 8 with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Not all states welcome the advancement of the rights of women, and in a patriarchy such as Pakistan, there is as yet a mountain to climb. Women in Pakistan are regularly denied the right to vote, often by mainstream political parties, in areas that are untouched by anything resembling female emancipation. That particular wrong is being addressed by Senator Sherry Rehman who is planning to move a bill today in the Senate to ensure that women are not left out of voting by force or intimidation anywhere in Pakistan. The law will make it mandatory for the Election Commission of Pakistan to order a re-poll wherever women have polled less than 10 per cent of the votes. A bold move indeed considering the forces ranged against women who wish to exercise their democratic right.
In February 2016, the Punjab Assembly passed the Protection of Women Against Violence Bill (2015) that declares physical violence, abusive language, stalking and cyber crimes and other forms of abusive behaviour to be crimes against women in Punjab. The rest of the country is going to have to catch up and appears to be in no hurry to do so. Within days of the passing of the Bill, religious party leaders had roundly denounced it as un-Islamic and likely to undermine “cultural and family values”.
This is preposterous nonsense propagated by men with a misogynist mindset who would far prefer to see women — all women — barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen. It is also dangerous, giving licence to those who would constrain women from taking a role in the wider world and forever relegate them to a crepuscular background. The struggle to empower the women of Pakistan is going to be long, slow and consistently resisted. There are still areas in Pakistan where women are not only denied the right to vote but also education, the right to determine their reproductive cycle and equal access to the job market. One day a year is insufficient for a battle such as this, and henceforward every day of the year must be Women’s Day for the women of Pakistan.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 8th, 2016.
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