Growing up as a girl in a typical and rural background, I have come to realise that women rights in Pakistan is just a myth. Where women all around the world are demanding their rights from men, in Pakistan women are equally responsible for the termination of their rights.
Feminism is prevailing in the urban areas of Pakistan, where women can strive, drive and perform certain activities, but on the other hand there is not even a hint of feminism in the rural areas where it is actually needed. People talk about the waves of feminism that they are no longer needed but has anyone tried to explore the rural households? In the villages, divorce is considered a menace. Women are living in hell just to save their so-called family’s dignity and if any of them tries to speak against the abuse, they are blamed for it, rather than the in-laws.
Laws and principles working in favour of women do exist, but what about the constraints of the mind? And the main argument is that it is women who turn the life of other women into a hell. They raise their sons as tyrants, instead of humans. These sons have the mindset that men never work at home, even if their wives are dying, it is considered as an act of indignity. Moreover, polygamy is being encouraged. Islam is used for the fullfilment of men’s lust. If a woman takes stand for her rights, she is threatened by the name of second marriage. And no, it is not his man who threatens her, but her mother-in-law.
Women’s rights can never be fully granted unless and until the root cause, which is the patriarchal mindset of the people, is changed. Our education system needs to focus on this very aspect in order to change the mindset of the people and create opportunities for the women living in backward areas.
Zara Shamas
Sialkot
