Gender Equality in Pakistan

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Pakistan
flag_Pakistan.png
Flag of Pakistan
Population (in Mil.) 177.3
Sex Ratio (m/f) 1,07
Life Expectancy Ratio (f/m) 1.01
Fertility Rate 4
Income Ratio (f/m) 0.18
Literacy Ratio (f/m) 0,57
Tertiary Enrolment Ratio (f/m) 0,8
Women in Parliament (in %) 21,3
SIGI Rank 94
More information on variables
Did you know that Pakistan ranks number 94 of 102 countries on the OECD Social Institutions and Gender Index? To learn more, see the official country note "Gender Equality and Social Institutions in Pakistan" at genderindex.org:

Contents

Social Institutions

While the principles of equal rights and equal treatment of all persons are underlined in the Constitution, Pakistani women are in many ways only second-class citizens in practice. They are subject to systematic subordination to men, following traditions of patriarchy to various degrees across all levels of society and regions. Women are seen to have mainly a reproductive role and their movements are restricted through the Islamic purdah system. Their access to education, employment and health services is limited, although a gradual but slow decrease in the gap between men and women has been observed. Only very few women are currently aware of their rights and improved literacy rates are of particular importance in this respect. Increased poverty and lack of government resources further complicate the implementation and enforcement of reforms intended to benefit women.

Family Code

The minimum age of marriage under the Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1929 is 16 years for females and 18 years for males. Early marriages occur to some extent and an estimated 21 percent of girls between 15 and 19 years of age are married, divorced or widowed (UN, 2004). Marriages are sometimes arranged in order to settle disputes between different clans, particularly in rural areas, and women who are required to enter into such marriages are not necessarily consulted beforehand. Recent legal amendments criminalize this type of arrangements and violators may be imprisoned.

Polygamy is legal, but only under strict pre-conditions, and the practice is generally frowned upon. No official data on the prevalence of polygamy exists, but it is estimated that around five percent of married men are involved in polygamous relationships. Reportedly, men that decide to taken on more than one wife rarely obtain consent and the required letter of permission from the first wife.

In terms of parental authority, the father is the natural guardian of a child and the mother is the natural custodian. In the event of divorce, Islamic law grants the mother the right to custody of young children. Once they reach a certain age, however, custody is normally transferred to the father or his family (Uhlman, 2004).

Inheritance practices are complex and to a great extent governed by Islamic Sharia. A woman may inherit from her father, her mother, her husband, her children, and under certain conditions, from other members of her family, but her share is generally smaller than a man’s entitlement. A daughter, for example, inherits half as much as a son. This is commonly justified by the fact that a woman has no financial responsibility towards her husband and children. The social status attached to property and land often makes it difficult for widows and daughters to inherit even their entitled shares, as they may face opposition from the man’s relatives.

Physical Integrity

The prevalence of violence against women is very high and there is a gap between legislative measures and enforcement mechanisms. Domestic and customary forms of violence are particularly troublesome and include marital rape, dowry-related violence and honour killings. Although women have the legal right to press charges against their perpetrators, they rarely do so out of fear from having their accusations turned against themselves.

Provisions in the Hudood Ordonances are believed by many to provide perpetrators of violence against women immunity from prosecution and punishment, and to make an actual conviction more difficult. In the case of rape, a woman must provide enough evidence - four Muslim adult witnesses are required by Hudood - or she runs the risk of becoming susceptible to prosecution for illicit consensual sex. The laws of Qisas (retribution) and Diyat (compensation), in turn, allows victims or heirs of victims to determine whether to demand retribution or compensation or to pardon the accused. These laws have serious consequences for women as crimes committed against them rarely receive appropriate legal consequences. These laws can also work against women in cases where they are seen to be at fault.

The occurrence of missing women (including female infants and children) is widespread in most South Asian countries, and Pakistan is no exception. Census data show that close to six million Pakistani women were missing in 1998 (Hudson et al, 2005). This is primarily the result of son preference and female sex-selective abortions, or through relative neglect compared to boys in early childhood (including abandonment).

Female genital mutilation is not a general practice in Pakistan, but is known to occur in some parts of the country among Bohra muslims.


Civil Liberties

Women have the legal right to move freely, but traditions and customary practices, including purdah, restrict this right to various degrees in different regions. In this context, there have been reports from women having been prevented from voting or submitting candidatures for election. Women do have the right to apply for passports on the same grounds as men.

It is also the practice of purdah that restricts women's freedom of dress and obliges them to wear a veil in public or, in its most strict form, conceal themselves completely from head to toe.

Ownership Rights

Women’s access to land is not restricted legally, but data suggests that the share of total female land ownership is very low. A 2001 household survey found that women owned less than 3 percent of the land, even though 67 percent of sampled villages reported that women had a right to inherit land (ICRW, 2005). Further, in cases where women do own land, they may not have actual control over it. Rural women may form cooperatives and they are assisted in doing so by micro-credit lending institutions such as the Khushhali Bank and the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund.

Women are entitled to seek bank loans and other forms of credit and there are a number of credit institutions that target women. Still, women’s general difficulty to provide the required collateral is problematic. They also have trouble to acquire the National Identity Card needed to secure a loan due to illiteracy and limited mobility.

The law allows women to own, administer and dispose of property on the same grounds as men. While this is true in principle, many women let their husbands manage their property for them. The respective earnings of a husband and wife are to be seen as their own independent property.

In The News

Sources

The Women, Business and the Law

Where are laws equal for men and women? 

The Women, Business and the Law report presents indicators based on laws and regulations affecting women's prospects as entrepreneurs and employees. Several of these indicators draw on the Gender Law Library, a collection of over 2,000 legal provisions impacting women's economic status. This report does not seek to judge or rank countries, but to provide information to inform discussions about women’s economic rights. Covering 128 economies, Women, Business and the Law provides data covering 6 areas: accessing institutions,using property, getting a job, dealing with taxes, building credit, and going to court.Read more about the methodology.

For detailed information on Pakistan, please visit the Women, Business and
the Law Pakistan page.

Sources

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