PAKISTAN’S legal system has issued some important rulings in recent days concerning women, which deserve more discussion and debate on mainstream media. For example, in what can be seen as a strong affirmation of gender equality, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court held last week that a woman’s legal rights cannot be tied to her marital status. The court’s observations — that a woman’s legal rights, personhood and autonomy are neither erased by marriage nor should they depend on it, and to assume that a married woman is financially dependent on her husband “is legally untenable, religiously unfounded and contrary to the egalitarian spirit of the Islamic law” — may seem like common sense, but they challenge patriarchal attitudes that are not often discussed and which passively undermine women’s autonomy in everyday life. In particular, the court’s observation that excluding married daughters from entitlement to job quotas usually reserved for compassionate causes “reveals a deeper structural flaw grounded in patriarchal assumptions about a woman’s identity and her role within the legal and economic order” cuts right to the heart of this problem.

The ruling has followed on the heels of another verdict issued some days earlier by the Federal Shariat Court, in which the FSC condemned customs that deprive women of their inheritance as ‘unlawful’ and directed provincial authorities to initiate criminal proceedings against those who perpetuate such practices ‘as a moral obligation’. But though both courts have reaffirmed that women’s rights are non-negotiable, has society at large also received this important message?

Patriarchal attitudes are often so entrenched that they colour individuals’ judgement about what is right and wrong without them realising it. It would be quite helpful, therefore, if judgements such as these, and others which directly impact women’s rights, were to be given more airtime in the media. Doing so could help empower more women to identify situations in which they are being wronged and encourage them to seek their rights through the law if necessary. The courts alone cannot change society, but if the message they are sending is heard by all, it could trigger positive change.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2025