The women of Pakistan for long have embarked on the struggle to acquire a

functional role in society and to establish themselves as equals to their

counterparts. Discriminatory practices and gender biases against women have been
an inherent feature of the society that preexisted the partition. In conjunction with
low literacy rate and poor education facilities this has resulted in the issue existing
in the contemporary world. The article Struggle for Muslim Womens Rights in
British India (1857 1947) by Sajida Shabbir provides enough evidence to
substantiate the claim that British despite of claiming themselves to be more
morally progressive and cultured did not concern themselves much with the
condition of women. Efforts by social reformers like Sir Syed Ahmed Khan however
cannot go unnoticed. Although it is noteworthy to mention that Sir Syed attitude
towards women was strongly biased as he believed that women should only receive
education in the confinements of their homes. For nearly half a century the women
of the subcontinent continued to live in the shadows of the Indian patriarchal
society and no women emerged as prominent figure in society. The next step for
empowering women came from the implementation of the Shriat Bill which was
made effective with effect from 16 September 1937. The bill proved to be a beacon
light for Muslim womens social and political status. It enabled Muslim women to
regain their rights of inheritance, dower and divorce under Muslim personal laws.
One defining moment which showed that women had emerged in the field of politics
was the establishment of the womens subdivision in the All India Muslim

League, which counted many strong women among its ranks and
passed a resolution giving women complete equality in politics. This
subdivision was headed by Fatima Jinnah who was aided with
support from Mohammad Ali Jinnah. However, it needs to be
reiterated that these women belonged to elitist family and the
women of rural areas continued to be subjugated.
After independence many events showed the progress towards the
empowerment of women. In 1947 Begum Shaista Ikramullah
became the first female representative of Pakistans Constituent
Assembly and women of Pakistan were granted suffrage. By 1956
they gained the right to vote in national elections in 1956. Another
achievement which uplifted the status of married women was the
passing of the Muslim Family Ordinance Law in 1961. The law
determined the balance of power in marriage. The law gave way to
two provisions that sought to increase womens power in the
relationship. The first was the requirement that any man seeking to
commit to a second marriage had to acquire authorization from the
Arbitration Council. The second requirement was that all divorce
proceedings had to be recorded with the local Union Councils. The
last provision ensured that only oral pronouncements of divorce did

not constitute a legal divorce. This was the first time when women of
all social sphere had been granted some form of security legally.

The democratic regime of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (19701977) was a

period of liberal attitudes towards women. All government services
were opened to women including the district management group
and the foreign service (in the civil service), which had been denied
to them earlier. About 10 percent of the seats in the National
Assembly and 5 percent in the provincial assemblies were reserved
for women. However, the implementation of these policies was poor
as the Government faced a financial crisis due to the war with India
and consequent split of the country.
Gender equality was specifically guaranteed in the Constitution of
Pakistan adopted in 1973. The constitution stipulates that "there
shall be no discrimination on the basis of sex alone." The
Constitution additionally affords the protection of marriage, family,
the mother and the child as well as ensuring "full participation of
women in all spheres of national life.". However, many judges
upheld the "laws of Islam", often misinterpreted, over the
Constitutions guarantee of non-discrimination and equality under
the law.
With the enforcement of martial law in the late 70s and the
implementation of the Islamisation policies by General Zia all the
previous steps taken to empower women proved to be futile. The
notorious Zina and Hudood Ordinance which
applied Hadd punishments to the crimes of adultery and fornication
meant that women had to provide four male witnesses to prove the
crime. Also, under the Qanun-e-Shahadat law womens testimony
was reduced to count to half of male testimony in certain
cases. These policies helped to galvanize a women movement group
which strongly gained support. But with the end of Zias regime the
impetus died down and these groups became non-functional.