Women in Pakistan can certainly be equals in the socio-economic and political domains. But the road to this equality has certain formidable challenges. However, these challenges can be addressed through strong and bold measures. Although it was a woman who laid the foundation of modern civilization and modern agriculture which ultimately gave birth to industrialization, as says Will Durant in his book, ‘The Greatest Mind And Ideas’, yet her socio-economic and political status is far below that of men in Pakistan.
While women started domesticating sheep and various other animals when she was moving towards agriculture and ploughing seeds and over the period of time, she became important for agriculture and man realized that the control of agriculture by women may be a setback to a male-dominating authority. This was the beginning that man started taking an interest in agriculture. Their roles and duties changed and women became subordinate to men over the period of time. This continued subordination of women has drastically altered their lives. As she started domesticating animals, she also began domesticating men. Thus, Will Durant has rightly said, “Sheep was the first animal to be domesticated by woman and man will be the last animal domesticated by a woman.” Women of Pakistan have also been domesticating Pakistani men due to their inequality.
Gruesome domestic violence against women has become rampant in Pakistan today, which is a very startling situation for society as a whole. Recently, a mother of four kids, Qurat-ul-Ain, was murdered by her husband, Umer Khalid in Hyderabad. A few days back, a girl was assaulted at gunpoint by Usman Mirza in Rawalpindi. These facts conclude that the lives of women in Pakistan are at stake because of their inferior and unrecognized roles and duties in our society. Though there are numerous positive indicators of women’s equality to men in Pakistan, the road to this destiny is quite rough and tough because it poses myriad formidable challenges such as gruesome domestic violence, disconnects between gender-related laws and their implementation. Similarly, retrogressive interpretation of religion has sanctified gender inequality in Pakistan. Primitive gender norms are systematically conspiring against women empowerment. The socio-economic and political modernization of men has paved the way for the gender equality deficit in the country. The absence of a unified feminist movement and gender as a social construct has hampered women to attain their equality to men in our society.
Nonetheless, the balance can be struck between the status of women and men in Pakistan by introducing strong and revolutionary measures; for instance, primitive cultural biases must be dispelled with rationality and inclusiveness in order to achieve equality. The provision of equal health and education facilities for women must be introduced, the transition from economic marginalization to the economic emancipation of women be ensured. Political emancipation can go a long way in ensuring gender egalitarianism in Pakistan. A rational, moderate and humanitarian religious discourse can shatter the chains of women subordination. Moreover, the disconnect between laws and their implementation regarding women be bridged to address pervasive gender inequality in the country. Thus, there is no denying the fact that women can be equal to men in Pakistan in socio-politico-economic spheres, but this equality has some stringent hurdles in its ways. Notwithstanding, these irritants can be removed with a solid roadmap and the strong will of both women and men of Pakistan equally.
SAJJAD ALI SHAH
Sindh
