Pakistan is ranked at the 141th
position in the Global Gender Gap Report (GGGR), 2014, the second lowest
spot on a list of 142 countries. The report, produced by the World Economic
Forum, assesses the magnitude of gender disparities in the four areas of health,
education, economy and politics. Researchers and academicians may have
reservations over the methodology used in conducting such an assessment,
thinking of them as flawed. Nevertheless, the bottom position held by Pakistan
in the world community certainly resonates with the ground realities of women
in the country.
The status of women in any society is linked to
the overall socio-cultural, economic and political development of the country.
Pakistan is faced with multiple social, economic and political crises. Crushing
poverty, high unemployment, extremism, religious bigotry, sectarian conflicts
and the breakdown of rule of law affect every citizen. However, the majority of
women, especially those belonging to the working class and peasantry, are hit harder
and suffer the most from societal conflicts and the erosion of the state
because of their class and gender. The stark gender disparities in all spheres
of life in Pakistan are the result of gender role ideology and the low
investment in women’s human capital by the family and the state.
Women are the poorest of the poor. They lack access to the fundamental
rights of education, health, employment, protection from violence and human
dignity. Only 18 percent of women have reached secondary and higher education
(UN Human Development Report, 2013). According to the World Development Report
of the World Bank, 28 percent of women hold jobs in the formal sector of the
economy. Some 70 percent of the labour force working in the informal economy,
which is three times bigger than the formal economy, consists of women. The
health status of women is extremely poor with the highest maternal mortality
rate in the world.
As many as 250 women die every 100,000 live births. Every ninth woman in
the country is at risk of getting breast cancer. Women’s voices are missing in
policy making as they are hardly present in a decision-making position within
community structures and also in public institutions. Out of 21 percent women
in parliament, 17 percent have come indirectly on the reserved seats and not a
single woman has the status of full minister in the cabinet.
Pakistan is considered one of the most dangerous places for women to
live. The prevalence rate and the gruesome nature of crimes committed against
women is nerve wracking. Women are frequently killed in the name of honour,
sold and exchanged as commodities in marriages and to settle disputes amongst
men. They can be killed for giving birth to female children, even for singing
and dancing. Incidents of rape, gang rape, kidnapping, trafficking, acid
throwing, sexual harassment, cutting off hair and chopping off facial features
to punish and humiliate them are frequently reported in the print and national
media.
There are two key reasons behind why the country is a most dangerous
place for women: a) the existence of a legal basis to commit violence against
women in legislation such as the Hadood Ordinace, Qisas and Diyat law, law of
evidence and honour killing law that makes honour killing a compoundable
offence, and (b) the culture of impunity in cases of violence against women.
The conviction rate in gender-based crimes is negligible. Justice is even
denied in the most high profile cases of violence such as in the case of
Mukhtaran Mai and the Kohistan video. This clearly signals the state’s
unwillingness to protect women from the oppression of private patriarchy.
The lack of the state’s willingness to redress gender disparities is
discernible from the discriminatory legislation that continues to be on the
statute book. Pakistan is signatory to several human rights conventions and
covenants including the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) that obligates state parties to bring
domestic law into line with international human rights standards. Pakistan’s
legal framework continues to treat women as second-class citizens.
Apart from the depressing ranking of Pakistan in the GGG report, the
most striking feature in this report, for me, was to spot Rwanda at the seventh
position on this list. It is a country riddled with ethnic conflict, a genocide
and civil war in which an estimated 800,000 people belonging to the Tutsi and
Hutu tribes were killed in 1994. The social and economic fabric of this
society was in complete shambles. And yet the country climbed to the seventh
position in the GGG index in just one decade. It has 56 percent women in
parliament, the highest in the world.
There is a lot to be learnt from the experience of Rwanda. The most
important underlying factor in making Rwanda a land of gender equality is the
state’s commitment to gender equality and the recognition of women as key
players in nation and state building. In addition to granting women legal
equality, institutional targeting of women and gender accountability of state
institutions helped Rwanda bridge the gender gap in such a short period of
time.
If we wish to be counted as a civilised nation, we need to treat our
women as equals. The will of the state to remove disparities is the most
critical. However, it should be clear that no state can achieve the goal of
gender equality without removing the material and structural basis of gender
disparities. In a class context, demanding gender equality means equality in
sharing miseries, poverty, unemployment and the disadvantages of men. Thus,
issues of gender equality must be linked with social justice in society. The
fight for gender justice must be linked to social movements fighting for class
justice.
The writer is a human rights activist and
director of Gender Studies, QAU. She can be reached at drfarzanabari@gmail.com
and on twitter at@ @drfarzanabari
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