IN Pakistan, women’s rights are not simply protected as universal entitlements; they are negotiated, traded, and often sold in backroom dealings and public bargaining tables. Unlike genuine democratic processes where rights emerge from collective demands and accountability, women’s rights here are secured through access: to power, privilege and patronage. The language of rights has become a commodity in political campaigns, donor agendas and curated advocacy spaces, auctioned off to the highest bidder willing to fund or endorse certain approved narratives.

This is not to dismiss activists’ efforts or pockets of progress. Advocacy is essential, and some positive change has occurred. Yet, when women’s rights are treated as currency and bartered between establishment figures, foreign governments, donor agencies and select ‘approved’ activists, the result is a fragmented, superficial approach that avoids confronting deep structural inequalities. This fractured process is not a movement; it is a marketplace.

The consequences are troubling. There is a deep disconnect between the lived realities of most Pakistani women and the policies imposed on them. Women in rural Tharparkar, labourers in Faisalabad’s garment factories, and displaced women in KP remain excluded from these conversations. What passes for ‘grassroots feminism’ increasingly unfolds far from their realities (in five-star hotels, government offices, and donor-sponsored events in capitals) where futures are debated over lavish dinners, detached from ordinary women’s needs.

This trend is worsened by celebrity-driven branding of women’s rights advocacy. When filtered through fame, elite access and polished PR, empowerment risks becoming spectacle rather than strategy. Such advocacy sanitises the urgency of women’s struggles, making them palatable for international audiences but distant from daily hardships. Empowerment becomes performative; a public display, not a vehicle for change.

The key issue is not only that women’s rights are traded as commodities, but that the link between rights and real transformation is severed. Donor-driven mandates, top-down reforms, and metrics ticking international checkboxes might create headlines, but rarely penetrate the institutional and social structures where inequity persists. The gap between laws and enforcement remains wide.

Women’s rights are fundamental entitlements.

Laws protecting women’s rights exist. Pakistan has legislation against harassment, violence and discrimination, and promotes workforce inclusion and gender parity in some sectors. Yet enforcement is elusive. Protections falter due to weak accountability, patriarchal norms and institutional apathy. Workforce policies remain performative without accessible childcare, safe transport and dignity at work. Without these, policies are hollow promises; good on paper but ineffective.

This creates the illusion of momentum. Politicians claim reform credit, elites secure platforms, and international bodies check SDG targets. But for the average Pakistani woman, struggling daily with structural barriers and hardship, the needle hasn’t moved. Performative policy change masks unresolved foundations.

As Pakistan reflects on Beijing+30, CEDAW, the SDGs, and the Pact for the Future, it must confront a harsh truth: redefining advocacy as elite access and social prestige is not just dishonest, it’s destructive.

SDG 5 (gender equality), SDG 10 (reduced inequalities), and SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions) cannot be met through cocktail consensus, staged photo ops, or curated metropolitan panels. They demand bold, community-rooted efforts that start not in press releases but in villages, factories, courthouses and clinics. They req­uire leadership from those who bear discrimination’s burden, not just those holding the microphone.

To reclaim women’s rights in Pakistan, we must remove them from the marketplace of elite deals. Advocacy should not be reserved for those with international platforms or curated donor ties. It must be a collective, grassroots movement centred on ordinary women’s voices and needs.

Real change happens when discourse shifts from who controls the mic to who carries inequality’s burden. It demands dismantling patronage and tokenism, and building solidarity based on shared struggle and accountability.

Women’s rights are not favoured by benevolent actors or gala themes. They are fundamental entitlements that must be claimed and defended through sustained, community-based activism and structural transformation.

Above all, they are not for sale.

The writer is a political science professor at Brevard College, a UN NGO representative and former Missouri political appointee. Her upcoming publications include a book on reserved seats in the National Assembly and a chapter in Women, Power and Autonomy.

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2025