ISLAMABAD: It was not easy for 50-year-old Rafaqat Bibi to take a stand against her tribe’s customs and traditions when she decided to work as a women’s rights activist for the protection of her daughters against the custom of swara, or compensation marriage, in Mardan Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Talking at the Women’s Economic Empowerment Forum 2017 on Thursday, which was hosted by the Canadian High Commission, Rafaqat Bibi said her work as an activist started when elders of her area had decided to give a five-year-old girl as a swara in compensation of her brother marrying for love. Rafaqat and another local woman had gone to the police station and saved the young girl from being married. She received threats to her life for the move.

Talking to Dawn afterwards, Rafaqat Bibi said that incident changed her life and made her more confident. She said no such incident had taken place in her locality since.

She said there was a need for taking a stand against such practices at the grass roots level because women empowerment cannot be achieved without the involvement of rural women.

The Canadian High Commission has been hosting the Women’s Economic Empowerment Forum since 2011, which is aimed at informing policy makers, civil society, governments, donors and academics about approaches to the economic empowerment of Pakistani women.

This year, the scope of the forum has been expanded to address women’s rights in all aspects- political, economic, social and humanitarian.

“When women are politically empowered, they can help create an enabling environment for their increased economic participation,” said Canadian High Commissioner Perry Calderwood.

“When women are empowered economically, their family and community benefit. Similarly, by promoting women’s rights, all marginalised groups stand to benefit. A society that upholds women’s rights will also respect the rights of religious minorities and the rights of children, especially those that are victims of exploitation and trafficking,” he said.

Women rights activist Samar Minallah Khan said the rights of women in Pakistan are undermined to cater to the needs of society.

“I am working on the issue of swara or compensation marriages where girls are given in marriage to settle disputes and murderers are then free to commit crimes again. We hear about such cases often, but we do not hear of any voices raised for the rights of the girls given as compensation,” she said.

Ms Khan stressed on the need to sensitise the judiciary, civil services, law enforcement agencies and academics to address the issue effectively.

Development professionals and other stakeholders spoke of policies regarding women empowerment and the practical steps taken in this regard. Experts on gendered economic participation and rural women weighed their opinions on how Pakistan can improve women’s economic participation.

Mukhtaran Mai was also attending the event and spoke about her journey from “victimhood to leadership”.

She said her trajectory had not been easy and that she was now running two schools, a shelter home for women, a resource centre, a helpline and a mobile unit which helps women in crisis.

“It is still difficult to work in the same area where my attackers roam freely and have returned from jail. But I am fighting and avenging what happened to me by educating their children,” she said.

Talking to Dawn, Hajra Bibi and Nasim Akhtar, who were participating in the event from Layyah, said the women in their area have to face many hurdles if they want to go out of their homes.

Ms Akhtar said she was only given primary education due to traditions and said she wants her daughters to get a higher education. She works with Plan International, an NGO which runs women empowerment projects in Layyah and trains and helps them set their own dairy farm businesses.

“My husband and mother-in-law are supportive now that I am earning, but my brothers-in-law still have a problem with me working and often raise questions about my character because I work outside of home and interact with men,” she said.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2017