INTERNATIONAL Women’s Day falls on March 8, offering an excellent opportunity to review the victories in the fight against gender-based discrimination and identify the parts of the world and spheres of life where women’s rights and welfare continue to be ignored.
In Pakistan, the recent Supreme Court decision overturning two 1997 Lahore High Court rulings that a Muslim woman’s father or guardian must approve of her choice of husband before she can marry, is a cause for celebration, since it allows women to marry whom they wish without fearing imprisonment.
At the same time, however, the fact that the Lahore High Court had in its turn reversed the Federal Shariat Court’s 1991 decision that Muslim women could legally wed of their own choice should give one pause.
First global communities, given the amount of progress they have seen in terms of improvement of political, economic, and social conditions of women over the past century, have many reasons for self-congratulation on International Women’s Day. Web pages like http://cards.123greetings.com/cgi-bin/cards/womensday .pl?log=women101, which in commemoration of the occasion, offers a selection of free e-cards to suit a wide variety of recipients ranging from grandmothers to women friends, reflect this attitude. A much-needed account of the trouble-ridden origins of International Women’s Day and the feminist movement in the West is available at http://www.isis.aust.com/iwd/stevens/origins.htm. This web page, along with http://www.isis.aust.com/iwd/stevens/firstiwd.htm, which among other things examines the circumstances under which the first International Women’s Day was observed on 19 March 1911, describes how the phenomenon of increasing numbers of women joining the work force of industrialized nations in the early years of the twentieth century led to an organized, at times violent, struggle for better wages and working conditions, maternity benefits, voting rights, etc.
In surroundings where poverty, ignorance, lack of governmental support, and social mores together combine to work against the interests of women, it is important for girls to know that they can make possible their dreams of an education and a career and thereby change their circumstances for the better. The United Nations Cyberschoolbus attempts to bring this message to girls around the world through its International Women’s Day 2003 home page, http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/women2003/index.asp. One of the strengths of this and its other pages is the language, which in terms of level of difficulty and style is suitable for teenagers and thus seems to acknowledge the fact that, in some parts of the third and fourth world, adolescent girls face many more cultural restrictions and consequently challenges to their ambitions than do younger children. Nane Annan’s message on the home page contains a number of links designed to interest young visitors, such as ‘why girls are not in school’ and ‘write to me’, which gives them a chance to tell her about the women and girls they admire and wish to emulate.
On International Women’s Day, both Pakistani women and girls can find inspiration in the homegrown example of women of substance like Fatima Jinnah, who ran for president in 1965 against General Ayub Khan. Her story forms one of the ‘Main sections’ of http://www.nazariapak.info/MainFrame.asp?opt=Women. On this page, under ‘Women of Pakistan’, one can also read a brief synopsis of the life and works of women like Rana Liaquat Ali Khan, who founded the All-Pakistan Women’s Association (APWA), a non-governmental organization that as a part of its mission for the general upliftment of women has campaigned for divorced women’s right to maintenance.
For the most part, however, the condition of women in Pakistan is deplorable. In virtually every aspect of life, women face discrimination — in some cases, even death — as the result of deep-rooted patriarchal customs. The law and the police do little to safeguard the rights of women to life and security; where sexual harassment, an issue that affects the lives of the growing numbers of women holding white-collar jobs, not to mention the many who are illiterate and do lower paying work, is concerned, legislation is completely silent. The many non-governmental agencies that work on behalf of women have impressive goals — the Aurat Foundation, whose home page can be viewed at http://www.brain.net.pk/~apisf/main.html, attempts to empower women of low economic status and the world-renowned Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), which has its web site at http://rawa.fancymarketing.net/index.html, aids the substantial numbers of Afghani women living in refugee camps inside Pakistan. Unfortunately, the impact of these organizations has been a limited one.
Women are more knowledgeable about their human rights, thanks to the Pakistani media, which is quick to report violations like honour killings, devoting several news items in recent times to the story of Shaista Almani, who imperilled her life by marrying against her tribe’s wishes and has received public sympathy and support. However, the fact remains that women are falling victim to honour killings in greater numbers than before and the ones who escape with their lives are few and far between. This disturbing trend receives full treatment in Amnesty International’s 1999 report, Pakistan: Violence against women in the name of honour (on view at http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/pakistan/reports/honour/), which presents a far more comprehensive picture of tribal customs that with impunity target both girls and women than any that is currently available in the media. The web page quotes a journalist as saying that women in Pakistan are killed like hens, a comment that will probably generate controversy but also hopefully draw attention to the plight of those who are condemned to die for besmirching family and tribal honour.
Equally distressing is the infamous Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance, which purports to prescribe Islamic punishments for adultery and rape but has in fact promoted the persecution and suffering of women, particularly those belonging to the least privileged sections of society, since its enactment in 1979. Although the voices criticizing this law have grown louder and more insistent over the years, it seems unlikely that it will be repealed any time soon. At http://www.pakistani.org/pakistan/legislation/zia_po_1979/ord7_1979.html, you can read its complete text; for a discussion of the ordinance’s flawed and oppressive nature, click on ‘Women’s commission and Hudood Ordinances’, an article by lawyer and women’s rights activist
Asma Jahangir, at Peace Women’s Pakistan news page, http://www.peacewomen.org/news/ Pakistan/news.html. The news clips on this web page, along with ‘Initiatives’, which links to reports of activists’ latest efforts, make a strong case for Pakistani legislation that would prioritize women’s physical well-being, facilitate their nascent emergence from the four walls of their homes into the public domain of education, work, and politics, and protect their right to fulfil their personal aspirations, especially when these go against the dictates of family and society.
INTERNATIONAL Women’s Day falls on March 8, offering an excellent opportunity to review the victories in the fight against gender-based discrimination and identify the parts of the world and spheres of life where women’s rights and welfare continue to be ignored.
