Zain Aftab

Zain Aftab

Computer scientist who loves to read about different topics and write about different topics. 80% of my body is made of videogames.

Status of Gender Studies in Pakistan

7 minute read

Introduction

  • Gender as a field of study, has only been established in the last three or four decades, but it has a history that goes back much further. Women have been expressing their wants, needs, desires, sorrows, joys, love and hate for centuries.
  • The publication of Mary Wollstonecraft’s book, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), is often taken as a starting point of women’s formal entry into public political and intellectual discourse.
  • Gender/Women’s Studies, therefore, is not simply about academic discourse or struggles for rights and justice. It is about both, each contributing to an understanding of the other.
  • It is a dynamic discipline, which has relied fairly heavily on women’s experiences and their everyday lived realities.

Feminist Movements in Pakistan

  • Feminist struggles always existed in Pakistan but they intensified during and after Zia-ul-Haq’s Islamization era when a series of discriminatory laws were passed which directly affected women.
  • Some of the discriminatory laws passed in Pakistan are:
    1. Zina Ordinance of 1979: The Hudood ordinances contained the controversial Zina Ordinance which assigned punishments for sexual offenses. Even the victim of rape could be punished under this law. Hundreds of women are imprisoned under the Zina Ordinance at any one time, and Amnesty International considers some of them to be prisoners of conscience, imprisoned because of their gender.
    2. The Law of Evidence 1984: Article 17 of Pakistan’s Law of Evidence provides that women’s testimony is worth half that of men in certain civil matters. Ironically, Article 25 of the Constitution of Pakistan states: (1) All citizens are equal before law and are entitled to equal protection of law. (2) There shall be no discrimination on the basis of sex. There is an inherent contradiction between these laws.
    3. Qisas and Diyat Ordinance: In September 1990, President Ghulam Ishaq Khan promulgated the Qisas (Physical) and Diyat (Blood Money) Ordinance, which provides punishments that are considered cruel and inhuman by international standards. This ordinance basically brought the an eye for an eye concept in Pakistan’s law. Women were victimized using this law as well.
  • These laws combined with the religious extremism in state institutions were highly detrimental for the rights of women and minorities in Pakistan.
  • While women suffered under these laws, most of the actions taken by organizations such as Women Action Forum, were largely superficial.
    • One such activity was called ‘consciousness raising’ but it mostly consisted of fun activities like hosting parties, trivial fundraisers, etc.
    • Another view that was adopted at this time was the ‘integrationist approach’. Women were to be included in local bodies and departments. However, this changed nothing on the ground either.
    • According to Sabeeha Hafeez, a Pakistani author, ‘the problem with these training programs is that rather than targeting the source of patriarchy, they mostly taught the victims’.
  • It must be mentioned here that not all feminists and NGOs fell prey to the ideology of gender training and integration. Some remained mainly committed to the political approach.
  • Even in present-day, the Government of Pakistan has taken an integrationist approach rather than a radical transformation of social structure. Governments tend to be more cautious and conservative and therefore, tend to remain far behind the actual demands of women who are suffering.

Role of Government in Gender Development

  • By the demands of women movement in Pakistan, the government took steps for women development:
    1. Creation of Ministry of Women’s Development (MoWD) at Federal Level in 1998 (removed).
    2. Creation Women’s Development Departments at Provincial Levels.
    3. Creation National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) in 2000 under the Ministry of Human Rights. At the present time, Khawar Mumtaz is the Chairperson of NCSW.
    4. Acceded to the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), an international treaty in the UNGA. It has been called ‘the bill of rights for women’.
  • The vision of the MoWD was the achievement of gender equity and equality, the social, political and economic empowerment of all Pakistani women at all levels.
  • The main objective of the NCSW is the emancipation of women, equalization of opportunities and socio-economic conditions amongst women and men and elimination of all sorts of discrimination amongst women.
  • The problem with the accession to CEDAW is that it asks for elimination of all forms of discrimination against women irrespective of caste, creed or religion. Pakistan, however, acceded on the condition that it reserves the right to make laws for women based on Islamic principles. There is a inherent contradiction in ‘irrespective of religion’ and ‘laws based on Islamic principles’.
  • The NCSW reviewed the Hudood laws in 2003 and made useful recommendations.
  • There is, nonetheless, a commitment by successive governments to improve the lives of women.
  • Recently, under the PTI administration, the Ehsaas Program was launched which provided livelihood to poor women.

Gender and Education in Pakistan

  • There is a policy commitment to higher and academic education under which Gender/Women’s Studies Centers would fall. The commitment to research and analysis is also included among the roles and functions of the NCSW.
  • The National Plan of Action (NPA), endorsed by the government in 1998, also recommends the promotion of the ‘inter-disciplinary field of Gender/Women’s Studies in public and private educational/training institutions’ and the strengthening of ‘action-based, policy directed research on women’s issues’.

Gender/Women Studies Centers at Universities

  • Some actions that MoWD and NCSW recommended were:
    1. Funding of Gender/Women’s Studies Centers at five universities throughout Pakistan.
    2. ‘Linkages and exchange of information and expertise between public and private Gender/Women’s Studies initiatives’
  • The Gender/Women’s Studies Centers in Pakistan can be divided into:
    • Public (those funded by the government and/or international donors, and established at state universities).
    • Private (those in the non-government sector funded primarily or only by international donors).
  • Some general objectives of these centers are:
    1. Critical examination of why women have been marginalized.
    2. Incorporate women knowledge in academic curriculum.
    3. Spreading awareness on women issues.
    4. Translation of literary works on feminism in local languages.
    5. Development of introductory courses in Gender Studies.

Gender/Women Studies Centers in the Public Sector

  1. Gender/Women’s Studies Department of the Allama Iqbal Open University (1997)
    • Objective: Introduce Gender Studies as an academic discipline and create awareness on gender issues.
    • The courses offered at the AIOU include a course on the psychology of women, the role of women writers in Pakistani literature, research methods in Gender/Women’s Studies and feminist theories.
    • There is an attempt to follow an interdisciplinary orientation by introducing the role of women in courses like Sociology and Economics.
    • In the future, the AIOU plans the following courses at the Postgraduate levels: gender and development, perspectives on, Gender/Women Studies, the changing role of urban women in Pakistan, the economic contribution of rural women, women’s health issues, the contribution of women in education, arts and science, and technology, and women and Islam.
  2. Women Research and Resource Centre (WRRC) of the Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU), Rawalpindi (1999)
    • Objective: To sensitize women on gender issues and to focus on Fatima Jinnah Women University students for enhancement of education and employment opportunities in all disciplines.
  3. The Institute of Women Development Studies (IWDS), Jamshoro, Sindh (1994)
    • Objective: To replace the outmoded value system with one that emphasizes equality and mutual respect and dignity among members of both sexes and to help to remove disparities in the provision of educational facilities.
    • There has been studies on the programs offered by the institute which conclude that Gender Studies is confused with home economics. While subjects of home economics like pottery, knitting, flower making are an important part of female livelihood in Pakistan, it is not the same as Gender Studies. The basis of such courses in some public sector centers comes from the erroneous assumption that Gender/Women’s Studies pertains to anything that deals with women, irrespective of how conservative it might be.
  4. Gender/Women’s Studies Centre at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad
    • MA program has been prepared but has not started yet.
  5. Center on Gender Studies in Karachi University
    • Objective: To discuss issues regarding women and highlight the solutions.
    • The center has a strict interpretation of Gender Studies as compared to the institute in Jamshoro.
    • It has been offering MA programs in Gender/Women’s Studies since 1996.
    • It has completed about 100 major and minor studies on socio-economic, legal, health and environment issues.
  6. Gender/Women’s Studies Centre, University of Balochistan, Quetta
    • Unfortunately, the center is defunct. There are no full-fledged programs offered.
    • The approach of the center seems to be currently based on gender sensitization workshops and seminars which are short courses in nature.
  7. The Centre for Gender/Women’s Studies, University of the Punjab
    • Offers an MA in Gender/Women’s Studies since 2001.
  8. The Gender/Women’s Studies Centre at Peshawar University
    • A full-fledged department of Gender and Gender/Women’s Studies, which has offered certificate courses and is now ready to launch a diploma programme.

Research and Publications in Pakistan regarding Gender

  1. 16 thesis were published on gender issues at the MA level by WRRC, Fatima Jinnah Women University.
  2. The faculty of Institute of Women Development Studies at the University of Sindh, Jamshoro, has published two studies on women and family.
  3. The AIOU plans to publish a Gender/Women’s Studies Journal, which will focus on contemporary gender issues within a national and international perspective.

Funding Sources

  1. The WRRC of the Fatima Jinnah Women University is linked with Glasgow University, UK with help from the British Council.
  2. Karachi University’s department received funds from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), ILO, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
  3. The source of funding for the Department of Gender/Women’s Studies, Punjab University, is the government and the funding is channeled through the Higher Education Commission and the University.

Updated: