Women Condition in Pakistan – Reality
with Facts & Figures
By Khalid Talat
In Dec 2019, World Economic Forum (WEF) published the Gender-Equality Index
(GEI) in which Pakistan ranked 151 out of 153. This shows a downfall from the
previous ranking of 112 in 2006. The report shows the discrimination against women
in almost all the spheres of life, which includes education, health, politics, and law. Our
society is patriarchal, and in majority cases, men decide the fate for women. Men
dominate in all the phases of society and women have to live at the mercy of men.
There is no denying that our society is very conservative due to the influence of
religion. Men misuse the concepts of religion to monopolize over the lives of
women. Islam does not discriminate against women anywhere, in fact, Islam has, in
many cases, given women superiority over men. It is the clergy class that propagated
the idea of women’s inferiority in our society. Most women have no access to
translated religious scripts and they have to rely only on the teaching of their male
counterparts, which is mostly wrong and discriminated towards them. The religious
class misuse the name of religion to suppress women in our society by denying them
the opportunities that can uplift them from the swamp they are in.
In this article, we will try to discuss three core issues in which women are facing a lot
of discrimination. Those three areas are health, education, and politics. According to
the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), Pakistan ranked among
those countries in which women are deprived of these three SDGs. Almost 4.9 million
women aged 18 to 49 are deprived of in the above-mentioned departments.
Women Health Issues/problems:
• The health system in Pakistan for women is among the worst in the world. Most
of the women have no access to hospitals at all. Pakistan is among those
countries where the life expectancy rate of women is lower than men.
• The female infant mortality rate is higher (85 per 1000) than that of male
children (82 per 1000). Female infant children are more in danger than male
infants.
• It is also reported that almost 40 percent of women are anemic, which is a
situation in which the body lacks red blood cells due to the deficiency of iron.
• The fertility rate in Pakistan in 5.4 which means that on average a woman gives
birth to more than 5 children. This is an alarming situation for the country but
also dangerous to the health of the woman.
• 1 out of 38 women dies from pregnancy-related issues. Almost 80% of women
don’t have access to the medical health care system. Mostly rural women are
deprived of the latest medical service.
• Almost half of the women in Pakistan aged between 18 to 50 have no say in
the decisions related to their health.
• Other issues like unavailability of medicines, illegal or unsafe abortions, lack-of
female medical staff, unavailability of medical services in the areas nearby,
unable to afford medical services due to poverty, ineffective health policies,
early marriages, violence against women, illiteracy, lack of information on
health, cultural barriers, budget issues, government structural adjustment
policies, etc.
The health issues of women in Pakistan is increasing due to the economic
dependency of women on men. Women have been suppressed both physically and
economically by men.
Women Education Issues/Problems:
Article 37 of the constitution of Pakistan gives the fundamental right of education to all
its citizens, without any discrimination, but the misogyny still exists in the educational
sector. According to the Human Development Index, by the United Nations, Pakistan
only spends 2.7% on education from its GDP. Women are also deprived of quality
education in Pakistan.
• The literacy rate of males in Pakistan is 69% while the females’ literacy rate is
only 45%.
• According to the UNICEF report, around 22.8 million children aged 6 to 15 are
out of school in which the majority are female children.
• Secondary school enrollment of male students is twice as high as female
students.
• The women’s education system is worse in rural areas due to the unavailability
of proper management, and cultural barriers.
• Our society is patriarchal and most of the parents don’t like the co-education
system, which is why they don’t send their daughters to higher education
institutes.
• Other issues like lack of schools of girls, bad management by the civil society,
lack of government interest in the educational sector, lack of transport facility
for girls, poor or outdated educational curriculum, lack of female staff for girls,
cultural barriers towards female education, early marriages.
Women Political Issues/Problems:
• The constitution of Pakistan does not restrict the involvement of women in the
political arena. The constitution has made it compulsory for political parties not
to discriminate among male and female candidates. But the structure and
cultural barriers restrict women from engaging in the political sphere. Even the
structure of major political parties in Pakistan is patriarchal.
• Women candidates don’t get enough support in their constituencies because
people don’t accept a female as their leader.
• The Clergy class has played an important role in the denunciation of women
candidates all over Pakistan. The religious parties also published ‘Fatwas’
against the rule of women.
• In 2018 elections, only 8 out of 183 female candidates won their seats of the
National Assembly of Pakistan, which is almost 4 percent.
• In the 2018 elections, most of the political parties didn’t have a single female
candidate.
• Due to the quota system, 60 seats are reserved for women in the National
Assembly of Pakistan. Political parties award these seats by nepotism and
favoritism. Most of the time, the seats are given to those women who have
family links with the top leadership of a political party.
• Many times, political parties award election tickets to women in those
constituencies where they have no chance of winning.
• In many rural or tribal areas, female voters are not allowed to cast their votes
due to cultural barriers or the patriarchal leadership prevents women from
casting their votes.
• Political parties don’t provide an adequate fund for female candidates to contest
in elections.
• Other issues like lack of political skills, unaware of political rights, patriarchal
structure of the society, lack of financial resources, women don’t vote for
women.
Solutions to Women Problems:
• Make appropriate laws through the National Assembly for the safeguard of
women.
• All the government institutions must collaborate to highlight the problems of
women and take serious actions towards those who have involved in the
violence against women.
• The laws must be implemented with the full support of all the branches of the
system.
• Judiciary must ensure the implementation of laws related to women.
• There should be a separate department in all the law enforcement agencies
that should deal with the issues of women.
• The mindset of people towards women should be changed through social
restructuring and education.
Khalid Talat:
Founder of "TheProDesi" Sales & Marketing Manager Lecturer & Student Counselor CSS
Mentor [email protected]
