The Dismal State of Women in Pakistan
While we have seen phenomenal changes take place across the world in recent decades, the status and fate of women, who have been so badly treated through the centuries in almost all cultures, hasn’t changed much.
But in Pakistan, their situation has become worse and thus it comes as no surprise that we were recently rated as one of the worst countries in the world when it comes to the way we treat women. Already among the ten most corrupt states of this world, Pakistan ranks even higher when it comes to maltreatment of women. Only in war-torn Afghanistan and the Congo is their plight worse and their lives and honour more threatened.
More than 60 years after independence, 80 per cent of Pakistani women are still subject to domestic violence, while one in three has to endure villainy like rape, honour killing, immolation and acid attacks. Being paraded naked before neighbours or being gang-raped is another peculiarly Pakistani punishment, even when there is little evidence of the crime for which these cruel and illegal punishments are meted out, notwithstanding the fact that the deepest sin against the human mind is to believe something without evidence.
Our country is ranked 82 out of 93 countries on the Gender Development Index and 152 out of 156 countries on the Gender Empowerment Measure. We are also among a handful of countries where there is a negative sex ratio of 100 women to 108.5 men.
Extensive research, analysis and field surveys conducted around the world and by the UN itself across a wide spectrum of issues, confirm that empowering women is the most enduring way of accelerating social and economic development and strengthening the values of nonviolence, compassion and diligent work ethics.
Women can be a powerful ‘force multiplier’ for the overall progress of society, and that notably includes the well-being of the family unit, if they are treated as equals in letter and spirit and are able to make their contribution in all fields of human
But in Pakistan, their situation has become worse and thus it comes as no surprise that we were recently rated as one of the worst countries in the world when it comes to the way we treat women. Already among the ten most corrupt states of this world, Pakistan ranks even higher when it comes to maltreatment of women. Only in war-torn Afghanistan and the Congo is their plight worse and their lives and honour more threatened.
More than 60 years after independence, 80 per cent of Pakistani women are still subject to domestic violence, while one in three has to endure villainy like rape, honour killing, immolation and acid attacks. Being paraded naked before neighbours or being gang-raped is another peculiarly Pakistani punishment, even when there is little evidence of the crime for which these cruel and illegal punishments are meted out, notwithstanding the fact that the deepest sin against the human mind is to believe something without evidence.
Our country is ranked 82 out of 93 countries on the Gender Development Index and 152 out of 156 countries on the Gender Empowerment Measure. We are also among a handful of countries where there is a negative sex ratio of 100 women to 108.5 men.
Extensive research, analysis and field surveys conducted around the world and by the UN itself across a wide spectrum of issues, confirm that empowering women is the most enduring way of accelerating social and economic development and strengthening the values of nonviolence, compassion and diligent work ethics.
Women can be a powerful ‘force multiplier’ for the overall progress of society, and that notably includes the well-being of the family unit, if they are treated as equals in letter and spirit and are able to make their contribution in all fields of human