THE picture remains bleak for Pakistan’s women and girls. Some face judicial persecution — enough to silence all women-led activist movements. Others are subject to the worst brutality, such as the minor in Sargodha who was raped and murdered. The state’s response is to blame and shame parents for not protecting their children, shifting the onus of responsibility, and implicitly reiterating that a girl’s place is in her home. It’s no surprise Pakistan languishes at the 169th rank out of 181 on the Women, Peace and Security Index.
However, there have been sparks of hope in the form of women cricketers at their best during the Women’s T20 World Cup. The tournament is being celebrated as a breakthrough for women’s cricket, with record attendance at matches in England, and strong performances. The atmosphere in the stands has been electrifying — karaoke, dance-offs, Mexican waves and, most importantly, young girls and boys screaming the names of their favourite players.
Progress on the field has been accompanied by growing calls, including from the UK government, for the ICC to allow the (exiled) Afghan women’s team to participate in international cricket. Their absence from the tournament — but presence on its sidelines, hosted by the England and Wales Cricket Board — is a reminder of just how hard-won the spotlight has been for women’s cricket (for teams like Afghanistan’s and Pakistan’s in the face of death threats, harassment and resource paucity), and how far there is still to go.
There are other subtle signs of the precariousness of the success of women’s cricket. The Marylebone Cricket Club had to send a warning email to its members urging them to show up to Lord’s for Sunday’s final to avoid a repeat of the embarrassment in 2017, when public stands were full for the Women’s World Cup final, but the members’ pavilion had sparse attendance, highlighting the club’s misogyny.
It’s time we let our girls and women run.
Closer to home, the Pakistan Cricket Board’s investment in women’s cricket is paltry by comparison to the men’s game, though there are some improvements: better pay for female players, more player contracts and a go-ahead for domestic one-day and T-20 matches, essential to give players experience and start creating a domestic market for women’s cricket.
Too often, the excitement over women’s cricket gets written off as feminist triumphalism. What we forget is why this really matters. Women playing sport on an international stage are underpinned by national, regional, district- and neighbourhood-level sporting culture, infrastructure and opportunities. The success of this Women’s T20 World Cup means the likelihood of the girls in your life playing sport increases, not only through seeing role models and knowing that it’s possible, but through the investment it sparks, which in turn creates greater access to facilities, clubs and kit.
This is not just about gender equality, though that should be enough. It’s a broader story of societal success. Playing sport leads to better health outcomes, improved self-esteem, better mental health, including lower rates of depression. A few hours of exercise per week is believed to reduce a teenager’s risk of breast cancer; sports counter osteoporosis risks, to name a few physical health benefits.
Playing sports also improves women’s chances of succeeding in other areas. Team sports instil skills such as coordination, communication, goal-orientation and competitiveness, all needed to survive at work. The Women Sports Foundation reports that 80 per cent of female executives at Fortune 500 companies identified as ‘tomboys’ because they played sports, highlight-ing how sports sets up girls for success.
Sports can also be a lifesaver in an era of climate change and natural disasters. More girls and women die in flooding and cyclones — with estimates ranging from 70pc to 90pc of the overall toll. The drivers for this are primarily societal: women in homes don’t hear early warning signals, they wait for men to escort them to safety, and as primary caregivers they often help others, babies or the elderly, at their peril. But physical aptitude is also, tragically, a material factor. Women are less likely to know how to swim or climb a tree, and may not be comfortable running.
In the inimitable Mohammad Hanif’s latest novel, Rebel English Academy, the female protagonist runs — from assault, injustice, entrapment, hypocrisy — to freedom, even though her mother warns her that girls who run too far can forget how to navigate their way home. It’s time we let our girls and women run, as fast and as far as they can. Pakistan will host the next Women’s T20 World Cup in 2028. Let that be an opportunity to truly commit to improving girls’ and women’s access to sport, for their own sake and for the benefit of our society.
The writer is a political and integrity risk analyst.
X: @humayusuf
Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2026