The Pakistani women
Media
Part of Panorama
- Title
- The Pakistani women
- Creator
- Delta K. G. Bulletin
- Language
- English
- Year
- 1965
- Rights
-
- Abstract
- A considerable contrast between the few women of wealth and the rest of the women population.
- Fulltext
- ■ A considerable contrast between the few women of wealth and the rest of the women population. THE PAKISTANI WOMEN As one travels through the crowded bazaars and congest ed city streets of Pakistan, fifth most populous country in the world and the most influential Islamic country, he sees only men except for an occasional beggar woman or a spook-like figure shroud ed in a loose garment from head to toe. Since there are nearly a hundred million people in this Muslim coun try, approximately half of them must be women. In the Islamic religion, however, the female is regarded as inferior and relegated to a subordinate role in life. She is secluded behind the walls of her father’s home until an arranged marriage re leases her only to live out her life behind the walls of her husband’s home. Not all women fare alike, however. Those of the wealthy and influential class, while small in number, move about freely and lead pampered lives. Not many September 1965 of the elite still practice pur dah. Since servants are plentiful in this land of mass ive unemployment, the ladies of this class devote their time to entertaining themselves and their husbands and, of course, to child-bearing. They have been educated in private schools, sometimes speak several languages, are often excellent at bridge and other • games, and are fond of traveling. This privileged minority is a minute fraction of the female population. The vast majority live in villages where news of events in the outside world seldom reaches them and where even a bamboo hut has a bamboo wall around it. By any standards the masses of Pa kistan ard a depressed peo ple. City dwellers and vil lagers alike suffer from grinding poverty and ignor ance. They are orthodox Muslims. If a woman of this group 55 appears on the streets, she wears a bur qua, a two-piece garment consisting of a full skirt and a cloak with a hood. The hood has small peepholes for the eyes, but vision is partially obstructed so that often the wife is led by her husband. A third group should also be mentioned. Beggar wo men appear on the streets clad in tattered saris, often clutching emaciated babies. Occasionally an insane wo man, stark naked, may be seen but these are indeed the unfortunates. Substantial improvement is being made in the lives of Pakistan’s women, however. President Ayub Khan, in power since the army took over in 1958, has been re sponsible for establishing certain family laws which provide for and protect the rights of women. Although he came to power as the result of a military coup, he has established a program of “Basic Democracies” de signed to carry self-govern ment into the villages. Iron ically, when the Assembly was reconvened in 1962, one of the first bills provided for the repeal of the law which prohibited polygamy. The fact that women de monstrated in protest in front of the Assembly show ed that they were ready to fight for their rights. The bill did not pass. Indeed a few seats in the Assembly are occupied by women. The key which is opening new frontiers for women is education, whether the fron tier be the other side of the home walls or the campus of a university on the other side of the globe. Pakistan is now in its second fiveyear plan for education. Many women students are attending Pakistan’s univer sities and the colleges and universities of the United States and other countries. Who has not seen their color ful saris fluttering on the campuses? There are women professors in the universities of Pakistan and women in the medical and legal pro fessions. A few women have established fabric and dress shops. The mass of Pakis tan’s women, however, are in the villages. Their tra ditional way of life will be come modern in direct pro portion to the effort the 56 PANORAMA central government puts into education. A concern for the under privileged is developing among the previously men tioned elite as evidenced by the work of such organiza tions as the All-Pakistan Wo men’s Association and The Women’s Voluntary Associa tion of East Pakistan. A delegate to a world confer ence of women’s club in Japan returned to Dacca and made the following comment in her report to her local club, “I asked a Japanese woman why her country is so prosperous while ours is so poor. She replied, ‘Here we all work. How can you expect to move ahead with half your population, your women, asleep.’ ” While education is the key to progress in Pakistan, overpopulation is the deter rent. Economic and educa tional gains have been off set by the increase in po pulation; thus, Pakistan can increase the gross national product, but the standard of living changes, little. Nature’s cruel methods of population control — flood, famine, and disease — must be replaced by education and birth control. Women have the most to gain in this struggle. The inertia of centuries may be overcome if there is a realization that a better way of life is possible. — From Delta K. G. Bulletin. September 1965 57