| Four important challenges confronted women in | | | | gave unequal weight to testimony by men and |
| Pakistan in the early 1990s: increasing practical | | | | women in financial cases. Fundamentally, they |
| literacy, gaining access to employment opportunities | | | | objected to the assertion that women and men |
| at all levels in the economy, promoting change in the | | | | cannot participate as legal equals in economic affairs. |
| perception of women's roles and status, and gaining a | | | | Beginning in August 1986, the Women's Action Forum |
| public voice both within and outside of the political | | | | members and their supporters led a debate over |
| process. | | | | passage of the Shariat Bill, which decreed that all laws |
| There have been various attempts at social and legal | | | | in Pakistan should conform to Islamic law. They |
| reform aimed at improving Muslim women's lives in | | | | argued that the law would undermine the principles of |
| the subcontinent during the twentieth century. These | | | | justice, democracy, and fundamental rights of |
| attempts generally have been related to two | | | | citizens, and they pointed out that Islamic law would |
| broader, intertwined movements: the social reform | | | | become identified solely with the conservative |
| movement in British India and the growing Muslim | | | | interpretation supported by Zia's government. Most |
| nationalist movement. Since partition, the changing | | | | activists felt that the Shariat Bill had the potential to |
| status of women in Pakistan largely has been linked | | | | negate many of the rights women had won. In May |
| with discourse about the role of Islam in a modern | | | | 1991, a compromise version of the Shariat Bill was |
| state. This debate concerns the extent to which civil | | | | adopted, but the debate over whether civil law or |
| rights common in most Western democracies are | | | | Islamic law should prevail in the country continued in |
| appropriate in an Islamic society and the way these | | | | the early 1990s. |
| rights should be reconciled with Islamic family law. | | | | Discourse about the position of women in Islam and |
| Muslim reformers in the nineteenth century struggled | | | | women's roles in a modern Islamic state was sparked |
| to introduce female education, to ease some of the | | | | by the government's attempts to formalize a specific |
| restrictions on women's activities, to limit polygyny, | | | | interpretation of Islamic law. Although the issue of |
| and to ensure women's rights under Islamic law. Sir | | | | evidence became central to the concern for women's |
| Syed Ahmad Khan convened the Mohammedan | | | | legal status, more mundane matters such as |
| Educational Conference in the 1870s to promote | | | | mandatory dress codes for women and whether |
| modern education for Muslims, and he founded the | | | | females could compete in international sports |
| Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College. Among the | | | | competitions were also being argued. |
| predominantly male participants were many of the | | | | Another of the challenges faced by Pakistani women |
| earliest proponents of education and improved social | | | | concerns their integration into the labor force. |
| status for women. They advocated cooking and | | | | Because of economic pressures and the dissolution of |
| sewing classes conducted in a religious framework to | | | | extended families in urban areas, many more women |
| advance women's knowledge and skills and to | | | | are working for wages than in the past. But by 1990 |
| reinforce Islamic values. But progress in women's | | | | females officially made up only 13 percent of the |
| literacy was slow: by 1921 only four out of every | | | | labor force. Restrictions on their mobility limit their |
| 1,000 Muslim females were literate. | | | | opportunities, and traditional notions of propriety lead |
| Promoting the education of women was a first step | | | | families to conceal the extent of work performed by |
| in moving beyond the constraints imposed by purdah. | | | | women. |
| The nationalist struggle helped fray the threads in | | | | Usually, only the poorest women engage in |
| that socially imposed curtain. Simultaneously, women's | | | | work--often as midwives, sweepers, or nannies--for |
| roles were questioned, and their empowerment was | | | | compensation outside the home. More often, poor |
| linked to the larger issues of nationalism and | | | | urban women remain at home and sell manufactured |
| independence. In 1937 the Muslim Personal Law | | | | goods to a middleman for compensation. More and |
| restored rights (such as inheritance of property) that | | | | more urban women have engaged in such activities |
| had been lost by women under the Anglicization of | | | | during the 1990s, although to avoid being shamed |
| certain civil laws. As independence neared, it | | | | few families willingly admit that women contribute to |
| appeared that the state would give priority to | | | | the family economically. Hence, there is little |
| empowering women. Pakistan's founding father, | | | | information about the work women do. On the basis |
| Mohammad Ali Jinnah, said in a speech in 1944: | | | | of the predominant fiction that most women do no |
| No nation can rise to the height of glory unless your | | | | work other than their domestic chores, the |
| women are side by side with you; we are victims of | | | | government has been hesitant to adopt overt policies |
| evil customs. It is a crime against humanity that our | | | | to increase women's employment options and to |
| women are shut up within the four walls of the | | | | provide legal support for women's labor force |
| houses as prisoners. There is no sanction anywhere | | | | participation. |
| for the deplorable condition in which our women have | | | | The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) |
| to live. | | | | commissioned a national study in 1992 on women's |
| After independence, elite Muslim women in Pakistan | | | | economic activity to enable policy planners and donor |
| continued to advocate women's political | | | | agencies to cut through the existing myths on female |
| empowerment through legal reforms. They mobilized | | | | labor-force participation. The study addresses the |
| support that led to passage of the Muslim Personal | | | | specific reasons that the assessment of women's |
| Law of Sharia in 1948, which recognized a woman's | | | | work in Pakistan is filled with discrepancies and |
| right to inherit all forms of property. They were also | | | | underenumeration and provides a comprehensive |
| behind the futile attempt to have the government | | | | discussion of the range of informal- sector work |
| include a Charter of Women's Rights in the 1956 | | | | performed by women throughout the country. |
| constitution. The 1961 Muslim Family Laws Ordinance | | | | Information from this study was also incorporated |
| covering marriage and divorce, the most important | | | | into the Eighth Five-Year Plan (1993-98). |
| sociolegal reform that they supported, is still widely | | | | A melding of the traditional social welfare activities of |
| regarded as empowering to women. | | | | the women's movement and its newly revised |
| Two issues--promotion of women's political | | | | political activism appears to have occurred. Diverse |
| representation and accommodation between Muslim | | | | groups including the Women's Action Forum, the |
| family law and democratic civil rights--came to | | | | All-Pakistan Women's Association, the Pakistan |
| dominate discourse about women and sociolegal | | | | Women Lawyers' Association, and the Business and |
| reform. The second issue gained considerable | | | | Professional Women's Association, are supporting |
| attention during the regime of Zia ul-Haq (1977-88). | | | | small-scale projects throughout the country that |
| Urban women formed groups to protect their rights | | | | focus on empowering women. They have been |
| against apparent discrimination under Zia's Islamization | | | | involved in such activities as instituting legal aid for |
| program. It was in the highly visible realm of law that | | | | indigent women, opposing the gendered segregation |
| women were able to articulate their objections to | | | | of universities, and publicizing and condemning the |
| the Islamization program initiated by the government | | | | growing incidents of violence against women. The |
| in 1979. Protests against the 1979 Enforcement of | | | | Pakistan Women Lawyers' Association has released a |
| Hudood Ordinances focused on the failure of hudood | | | | series of films educating women about their legal |
| (see Glossary) ordinances to distinguish between | | | | rights; the Business and Professional Women's |
| adultery (zina) and rape (zina-bil-jabr). A man could be | | | | Association is supporting a comprehensive project |
| convicted of zina only if he were actually observed | | | | inside Yakki Gate, a poor area inside the walled city |
| committing the offense by other men, but a woman | | | | of Lahore; and the Orangi Pilot Project in Karachi has |
| could be convicted simply because she became | | | | promoted networks among women who work at |
| pregnant. | | | | home so they need not be dependent on middlemen |
| The Women's Action Forum was formed in 1981 to | | | | to acquire raw materials and market the clothes they |
| respond to the implementation of the penal code and | | | | produce. |
| to strengthen women's position in society generally. | | | | The women's movement has shifted from reacting |
| The women in the forum, most of whom came from | | | | to government legislation to focusing on three |
| elite families, perceived that many of the laws | | | | primary goals: securing women's political |
| proposed by the Zia government were discriminatory | | | | representation in the National Assembly; working to |
| and would compromise their civil status. In Karachi, | | | | raise women's consciousness, particularly about family |
| Lahore, and Islamabad the group agreed on collective | | | | planning; and countering suppression of women's |
| leadership and formulated policy statements and | | | | rights by defining and articulating positions on events |
| engaged in political action to safeguard women's legal | | | | as they occur in order to raise public awareness. An |
| position. | | | | as yet unresolved issue concerns the perpetuation of |
| The Women's Action Forum has played a central role | | | | a set number of seats for women in the National |
| in exposing the controversy regarding various | | | | Assembly. Many women activists whose |
| interpretations of Islamic law and its role in a modern | | | | expectations were raised during the brief tenure of |
| state, and in publicizing ways in which women can | | | | Benazir Bhutto's first government (December |
| play a more active role in politics. Its members led | | | | 1988-August 1990) now believe that, with her return |
| public protests in the mid-1980s against the | | | | to power in October 1993, they can seize the |
| promulgation of the Law of Evidence. Although the | | | | initiative to bring about a shift in women's personal |
| final version was substantially modified, the Women's | | | | and public access to power. |
| Action Forum objected to the legislation because it | | | | |