Libre Magazine

Human societies have traditionally been male-dominated, owing to the male’s superior physical strength. However, as higher intellectual concerns gained importance, change became inevitable in the status quo with some cultures being more receptive while others, resistant.

Over the last hundred years, Western societies have seen a change in attitude, with emancipation and empowerment of women bringing about a major revolution in their status. Unfortunately, Eastern societies by and large still remain mired in centuries-old traditions strongly emphasizing stereotyping of gender roles. However, despite widespread gender-bias in these societies, women are surprisingly resilient and competitive. Four major Eastern nations, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Turkey, comprising at least half the world’s Muslim population, have had women Prime Ministers. Pakistan has also recently elected a woman as Speaker of the National Assembly.

Conversely, when we look at the wider picture, the status of women presents a dismal picture. They are encouraged to be submissive, dependent and subordinate with the majority having little or no control over any kind of economic or political decision-making, as well as in everyday issues like marriage, number of children, dress code, access to basic health facilities and career aspirations. Men, on the other hand, enjoy a privileged existence. A male child has priority over his female sibling in access to food, education and health. Not surprisingly, the percentage of males outnumbers that of females in Pakistan as is evident in a report of The Demographic and Health Survey of Pakistan - a trend opposed to that prevalent in the rest of the world. One of the important causes of this discrepancy is high mortality rate in childbearing young women. This mortality rate for women is estimated to be twice as much as that of men of the same age-group.

A major obstacle in the way to empowerment of women is gender bias leading to economic dependence. The UN Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) has ranked Pakistan as 100th among 185 of its registered countries. Social constraints prevent many capable women from pursuing active careers and achieving economic independence. According to Government of Pakistan figures, the percentage of working women in Pakistan is only 14% - a dismal picture for the future of a country that badly needs as many working hands as possible in order to not only improve its standing among the developing nations but, actually, to survive.

The predicament of the lower class woman is understandably worse than that of the middle or upper class female, though both suffer due to unjust social practices. They are battling domestic violence, Karo-Kari, marriage to the Quran, Swara, Wani, Honour killings and much more, besides other less severe forms of discrimination from close family members. Due to economic pressures, female employment is much higher among low-income groups than in the middle or upper class. Unfortunately, these workingwomen do not benefit from their hard work, as they are not independent decision-makers in the use of their earnings.

For the middle and upper-middle class female, social pressures appear to dictate career choices. Medicine and teaching appear to be the most sought after fields, albeit per force. Though both provide excellent career opportunities for women having an aptitude for these professions, many enter these fields for lack of other available options. As a result, they experience little or no job satisfaction and are unable to contribute productively. Only a small percentage of women defy tradition and venture into male-dominated fields, risking the wrath of their own family as well as censure from society. These women have to struggle hard to secure their rights in the workplace. The attitude of male colleagues is often discouraging, as they become wary of competition from those widely acknowledged inferior. Women who aspire for higher management positions meet stiff resistance; while for those who manage to climb the corporate ladder despite all odds, success is attributed to unjustified means, not competence.

Recently however, a change has been observed with women – though still a minority – competing and succeeding in diverse technical fields joining private organizations and getting noticed for their silent contribution to the dwindling economy. They are also making a mark in the political arena with a record number of representation as women legislators in the political decision-making bodies, traditionally considered male-dominated power houses.

One encouraging factor for women in Pakistan, resulting in an increase in participation in non-traditional fields is the burgeoning of the NGO sector over the last few years. It has provided a wide range of job opportunities to women with good salary packages. The ‘glass-ceiling effect’ felt and resented by a large number of women working in many of the government and private organizations, in which the power hierarchy does not allow women to go beyond a certain level despite fulfilling all the pre-requisites, has been challenged by these NGOs who offer jobs on the basis of qualifications. They install women as programme coordinators and send them out in the field to prove their worth, rather than settling for locally-accepted select set of positions. In this regard, the foreign donors having humanitarian, or female-friendly, agendas are playing an important role.

In the Pakistan Armed forces, there has been a change in policy towards empowerment of women, as is obvious from the induction of female cadets in the Air Force as fighter pilots. In the Army, besides the already established positions of females working as doctors and nurses in the Army Medical Corps, other corps are now allowing induction of females in field jobs. The Pakistan Navy has also inducted female cadets. The Pakistan Armed Forces are generally considered female-friendly organizations and their command structure caters to the social needs of female officers who are not posted to what are known as ‘hard-areas’ to avoid social problems. Female medical officers who happen to be spouses of Army officers are only posted to stations that will accommodate both officers. However, the trend in society of bias towards female colleagues extends itself here too and, sometimes senior male colleagues are observed dealing with their female subordinates with undue harshness. Credit for a job well done is many a time not generously given, while male colleagues attribute even genuine appreciation from superiors to mere indulgence.

Despite all odds, Pakistani women have come a long way in the last sixty years and will continue to move forward in order to secure the rights denied to them by an intolerant and biased society but promised by the Constitution of the country, as well as the religion it claims to represent. The winds of change are blowing on the horizon and it might be wise for all concerned to make way for the emancipated, motivated and self-aware woman of today.

This article was first published in SouthAsia magazine; this is an edited version.