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pakistan team study

THE STATUS OF WOMEN IN PAKISTAN

Pakistan is a developing country and it is a known fact that development occurs in direct proportion to the resources available. Our country is rich in human resources and women are vital component forming 40% of the total population according to the 1972 Census. Social prejudice accounts for much backwardness in the development of potential of half our nations' population. In Pakistan, men have a traditionally dominant status. The role of woman is traditionally restricted to her family. A woman as a minor is subject to her father and later, after marriage to her husband. All decisions then are made by men, so much so that women do not choose whom they are going to marry nor at what age. In Pakistan, the culture reigns supreme and so customs and tradition are stronger forces to be reckoned with. The main factor then which inhibits their freedom is a whole set of social values. Among these are:

I) D' Purdah' - literally meaning the curtain refers to a system of seclusion of women prevalent in the Middle East and South Asia. Observance of purdah involves two kinds of restrictions on women's movement. The first one is spatral i.e. women could be confined to the four walls of their homes. There would be separate women's quarters in the

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house called the Zenana, separate bathing and toilet, facilities, separate places in restaurants, public queues, women's compartments in trains, and buses etc. The second type of restriction allows her to go out of her home but only if she is veiled in Burqa' which is a tent like clothing which covers women from head to foot. In Pakistan ac cording to the Impact Survey of 1968-69 82% of women observe Purdali in urban areas and 47% in the rural areas.

II) Only certain jobs are considered respectable in a segregated society like ours. Jobs that have a large female clientele like doctors for women patients and teachers for female students are considered most desirable. Similarly, jobs which bring women in contact with men like nursing, secretarial & receptionist work, air-hostesses are considered non-respectable.

III) Husbands do not want their women to work for it reflects on their pride, and masculinity and their inability to provide for the family.

IV) There is a lack of awareness for the need for educating girls. Parents feel that they are not going to earn like the boys, so can get no return on the investment.

V) The belief that women are inherently less cap able than men in terms of mental and physical ability.

Traditionally, too, the birth of a boy child is cause for much rejoicing while everyone mourns about a girl. This reflects on the patriarchal culture. Also boys are considered as 'assets' while girls are liabilities in the sense that girls have to be provided with a dowry when they get married.

THE LEGAL STATUS OF WOMEN

In Pakistan the main thrust towards improving the status of women has been through legislation. The Pakistan Constitution provides for equality of the sexes and Article 25 states that there shall be no discrimination on the basis of sex alone! Yet women occupy a position of 2nd class citizens. The Family Law Ordinance 1961 was the first legislation to protect the rights of women. It fixed the minimum age of marriage for girls at 16 and made the registration of marriages compulsory. It hinders the path of polygamy in the sense that women could not be divorced arbitrarily (Traditionally a man could divorce his wife simply by proclaiming it three times in front of a witness.) Ordinance 15

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stipulates that a man could only remarry with writ ten permission from his first wife and then only on grounds of sterility, physical unfitness for conjugal rights or insanity. This ordinance was given protection by the constitution of 1973 for 2 years; the period ended in August 1975. A woman could also apply for divorce, but women would not file proceedings because of the social stigma attached to divorce.

There have been specific attempts to mobilize women politically but these have not borne fruit. Women are eligible to vote at 21, but there is a negligible amount of women in Government and no representation on policy making bodies.

The liberation of woman presupposes that not only is the letter of the law followed but also a social revolution. The majority of women are uneducated and so they are unaware of the laws that guarantee their rights and do not demand them. They mostly have a fatalistic, defeatist attitude towards their situation and are convinced that this is their 'kismels' (their God given fate) and they cannot alter it.

WOMEN AND LITERACY

In a country where 80% of the people are illiterate, men have the first preference for acquiring education. The total literacy rate is 19.73 out of which 4.75% are females. The definition of literacy being the ability to read a statement with understanding. There are fewer facilities for women to study than for men. In 1972 the female enrolment percentage at the primary level was 29.2% of the total; and as it went up to college level there were 28% women in Arts/Science Colleges, and on University level, the enrolment figures dropped to 9.8% of total.

NO EQUALITY IN EARNINGS

Although a lot of work is done by women, there is a widely held notion that work done by women is unimportant and only of marginal significance. According to 1974 data the total civilian labour force of the country is 29.5% with females making up 2.02%. Besides the work which all rural women do in the fields, women also play a vital role in food production but are never given credit for it. Women do a massive job often working 16 hours a day earning for and nurturing the next generation. Rural women look after the animals and work in the fields. But all this is not recognized as "gainfully employed." Statistics very easily state that less

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than 50% of women work but they take into consideration paid work only, whereas about 70%are involved in the agricultural sector and 1.42% in the managerial, administrative and clerical departments. If total work paid and unpaid was totalled the figure would easily be over 70% then, also women's earnings are not on par with men's. Also there is no equality in job opportunities and men over women.

ANNEX I

Table: 1

Number of Educational Institutions Enrolment and Teachers in Pakistan

	1974 – 1948
	Institutions	Students	Teachers
	Nos.	000	000
Primary Female ... F as % of total	8,413 1,549	770 110 14.3	17.8 2.4 13.3
Secondary Female ... F as % of total	2,190 153	221 21 9.5	12.0 0.8 6.7
High Female ... F as % of total	408 64	58 7 12.1	6.8 0.8 1.8
Vocational Female ... F as % of total	46 18	3.9 1.6 41.0	N.A.
Arts/Sc. Colleges Female ... F as % of total	40 5	13.5 1.1 8.1	N.A.
Prof. Colleges Female ... F as % of total	N.A.	4.37 0.33 7.60	N.A.
Universities Female ... F as % of total	2 -	0.64 0.056 8.7	N.A.
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	1972 – 1973
	Institutions	Students	Teachers
	Nos.	000	000
Primary Female ... F as % of total Secondary Female ... F as % of total High Female ... F as % of total Vocational Female ... F as % of total Arts/Sc. Colleges Female ... F as % of total Prof. Colleges Female ... F as % of total Universities Female ... F as % of total	47806 14087 4335 1127 2402 603 284 135 47.5 362 99 76 7 8	4440 1210 27.2 1006 195 19.4 409 75 18.3 43 13 30.2 200 50 25.0 37.6 5.5 14.5 22.3 1.5 6.7	111.8 32.6 29.2 38.3 10.0 26.1 40.8 11.6 28.4 2.43 0.58 23.8 9.10 2.50 28.0 2.06 0.23 11.2 1.73 0.17 9.80

ANNEX II

Table: 2

Enrolment in Secondary Vocational Institutions in Pakistan by type and sex 1971-1972

Year – 1971-1972
All type Total Female F as % of total	39,441 11,574 29.3
Commercial Total Female F as % of total	4076 66 1.6
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Polytechnic Total Female F as % of total	11,066 .10 .09
Industrial/Vocational Total Female F as % of total	7,246 6,246 86.3
Teacher Training Total Female F as % of total	17,053 5,258 30.8

Table 2 shows clearly and heavy concentration of women in Industrial and Teacher training institutions.

ANNEX III

	Rural areas		Urban areas
Population	Male	Female	Male	Female
(10 years and above)	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Labour Force	83.9	10.0	72.2	4.0
Not in Labour Force	16.1	89.1	27.8	96.00

One of the possible reasons for the higher percentage in 1961 than in later surveys e.g. Labour Force Survey 1968-69 is the officially accepted indication that enumerators extensively reported people in the age group 10-13 as under 10 years old to avoid filling in Labour Force part of the questionaire. Another factor is the larger percentage of urban population where female employment is low in 1968-1969. A large part of the difference however, must be attributed to poor enumeration and definitional problems.

REFERENCES

1. Population Census of Pakistan 1972. Ceseus Bulletin 1, Census Organization, INTERIOR DIV. Islamabad.

2. Afzal, Mohammed, The Population of Pakistan. Pakistan Institute of Development Economic, Islamabad, CICRED Series.

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3. Labour Force Survey 1968-69, Statistical Division, Ministry of Finance, Planning and Deve lopment .

4. IDID

5. Afzal - op. cit.

6. Labour Force Survey - op. cit.

7. Papanek, Hann, "Purdah in Pakistan Seclusion and Modern Occupations for Women" Journal of Marriage and Family August 1971.

8. Impact Survey 1968-69 - Pakistan Family Plan ning Council.

9. Pakistan Education Statistics 1947-48 to 1972-73 Bureau of Education, Ministry of Education Islamabad.