The world of Pakistani women |
| Written by Arshi Saleem Hashmi • November 2010 |
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Title: Pakistani Women: Multiple Locations and Competing Narratives Generally, the status of women in Pakistan is based on two fundamental perceptions, that women are subordinate to men, and that a man’s honor resides in the actions of the women of his family. To ensure that they do not dishonor their families, society limits women’s mobility, places restrictions on their behavior and activities and permits them only limited contact with the opposite sex. These popular perceptions have indeed severe implications for women’s participation in socio-economic and political activities, in particular in the domain of formal work. The book is based on ten chapters including an introduction by Sadaf Ahmad who opens the discourse on the anthropological and sociological research driven by ethnographic and theoretical accounts, encouraging the reader to recognize the diversity of issues and dilemmas faced by Pakistani women in a classical patriarchal society. The issues dealt with in the book also include a chapter on the life and work of women from home-based work in Lahore by Anita Weiss who very carefully takes the reader through the lives of women in the walled city, emphasizing their work is as important as any work in the corporate world. Recognition and acknowledgment of their contribution would help not only the women but the economy as well. The next paper by Fouzia Saeed on ‘Women’s participation and contribution in folk theater’ is remarkable and gives details about the often ignored field in Pakistan where women’s participation is significant as actors and as family members of theater actors. Folk theater is more of a community living together and performing in various parts of the country in an environment where performing arts are still a stigma. The next chapter by Lubna Chaudhry is an analysis of women suffering from overall poverty in rural Punjab and Sindh, giving two hypotheses; one, that women in the rural context are better able to ensure food security for their households and second, that rural administrative units are more conducive to the participation of women in public life as citizens. After a detailed analysis, the author argues that the two hypotheses would only hold true if available public service is efficient and effective. Shahnaz Khan discusses yet another important issue under the title, ‘Locating the Feminist Voice: The Debate on the Zina Ordinance’, the author takes the reader to the origin of the Zina Ordinance in Pakistan and the validity of such a law in Islam and explains the various punishments that are associated with the Ordinance. Laws against women are not considered an important issue for discussion because the women affected by them are mostly poor, socially backward having little role as a voter. Shahnaz states that the social, political and economic conditions of Pakistan make it very difficult for the government to repeal any law that threatens changing the status quo. The next chapter by Kaveri Harris is about women suffering from chronic ill health and how their health issues are interpreted by British-Pakistani men and women. An attempt has been made to establish a link between ethnicity, collective identities and chronic ill-health. She observes that for chronically ill British-Pakistani women, suffering in silence was a source of high moral status. The author writes that the chronically ill British-Pakistan projected their identities as heroic and stoical, enduring their health conditions with bravery and not allowing them to get in the way of their everyday responsibilities. The paper is an interesting analysis of the multiple interplay between gender and health. The chapter by Rubina Saigol about the Mohjir Women’s sense of identity is quite an interesting topic and needs a whole book to discuss its dynamics. Rarely touched in academic circles is the issue of the dilemma of defining the identity of the children born in Pakistan of parents who migrated from India at the time of partition. These children, now grown up individuals and having families of their own and even grandchildren, are still dealing with the issue of loyalty to the country. Rubina Saigol has hit the nail by stating that due to the monolithic structure of identity and the kind of role played by the state, an imagined community of plural, diverse and even contradictory groups is created by erasing and denying the internal dissensions, differences and incoherence of the group. Focusing on women, the author states that a shift from a strong sense of Muslim identity to an equally strong assertion of Mohajir selfhood seems to occur quite unconsciously. Citing different women in the study, the author says that women participate in the discourse on identity as interrogators of a dominant vision created by the leaders; others fracture the unity of ethnic consciousness with reference to other identities from the past and present. Within this time-space dimension, women move fluidly and occasionally between one layer and another of identity. Amineh Ahmed writes the next chapter on ‘Death and Celebration among Muslim Women: A Case Study from Pakistan’. The main focus is on Pakhtoon women and three regions of Pakistan are included in the study: Islamabad urban, Swat and Mardan. The discussion is on the mutual obligations of mourning for the upper class women and the particular social and familial networks in which they will engage during the course of their lives. The author addresses an interesting aspect when she talks about the Al-Huda initiative by Dr. Farhat Hashmi and how the lessons learnt affect the Pukhtoon women and the Pukhtoon practices when they go back to their villages. Religion is affecting the religious and cultural practices among the Pukhtoon women and the way a Pukhtoon woman participates in mourning and weddings also affects the men along with their political and social status. The final chapter by Shahla Haeri is an anthropological survey of the Muslim women in majority Muslim states. Shahla states that she was always taken aback with the kind of perception the world has about Muslim women being “victimized”, “veiled” and “hopelessly passive”. Somehow, the world tends to ignore the educated, progressive, independent Muslim women and focuses on the stereotypical images of women in the Muslim world. The book is a good effort as there is hardly any major discourse in the society on Pakistani women, though there are scattered efforts by individuals who have been involved in bringing the Pakistani woman’s plight to the forefront. This book covers status of women in Pakistani society in general as well as a range of problems affecting the lives of Pakistani women. Issues taken up in the book include conflicts and compromises with family and community while facing violence, archaic marriage rules and locally entrenched codes of conduct, the issue of human dignity and gender equality, economic deprivation and social justice, feminism and fundamentalism. The book challenges prevalent stereotypes and aims to reveal the uniqueness of each woman while projecting the diversity of Pakistani women’s life experiences and their world. Reviewed by Arshi Saleem Hashmi Arshi Saleem is Senior Research Analyst at Institute of Regional Studies and Adjunct Assistant Professor at National Defense University, Islamabad.  Arshi Saleem Hashmi is Assistant Professor, Peace and Conflict Studies Department, National Defence University, Islamabad. She is a member of Women in International Security (WIIS,) Edmund A. Walsh School, Georgetown University and has also worked at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), Pew Forum on Religion and Public Policy and Middle East Institute, Washington DC. Comments (0)
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The patriarchal culture prevalent in Pakistan expects women to consider the effects of their decisions, including their personal and career choices on society in general and their families in particular. A woman knows that if she breaks these societal rules, she might endanger her family’s reputation. They accept the cultural and societal limitation that is perhaps the reason how Pakistani women describe the situation in the book Pakistani Women: Multiple Locations and Competing Narratives by Sadaf Ahmed.
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