Sindh textbooks tainted by gender stereotypes

KARACHI:

In the last several decades, the left-leaning Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has come to fore as a strapping advocate for gender equality in Pakistan- at least in comparison to other mainstream political parties, whose agendas and tenures have largely remained shy of any service to women’s liberation.

This image has also allowed the Bhutto-spirited party into the good books of many, including the country’s various apolitical factions. Yet however, there appears to be something greatly amiss in the party’s visual representation of women, which by contemporary standards, seems to be stuck in the past.

The notion is most vibrantly reflected in school textbooks published by the Sindh Textbook Board, an official body of the PPP-led Sindh government. One of its publications, Asan Sindhi for Grade VI, a beginner-level Sindhi-language compendium, does so by stereotypically limiting women’s role to the extent of a hausfrau throughout its depictions of gender.

Read: Sindh education dept. officials rebuked over state of public schools

Chapter 18 of the book titled Sughar Zaal- which loosely translates to skillful housewife- teaches children that the onus of running a household rests upon the women living in it. The condition of a house, it goes on to impart, is indicative of the character of its female residents. A good woman, as described by Sughar Zaal, is one who keeps her house tidy and knows how to cook, clean and sew. “It is a wife who can make or break a home,” the book reads at some point into the lesson.

Ironically enough, the book’s cover, much like all publications of the Sindh Textbook Board, also features an image of the slain PPP leader Benazir Bhutto, lauded as the first female prime minister in the Muslim world.

Despite the many lacunas in the Pakistani curriculum, academics have worked on updating the syllabus at different times in the past. Serious efforts in this regard were made during former military ruler General (Retired) Pervez Musharraf’s tenure, including the constitution of a curriculum review committee. The committee, after reviewing the national curriculum, recommended several changes pertaining to discriminatory themes, such as those promoting religious intolerance or hindering women and minority rights.

Speaking in the regard, Professor Arfana Malah, who was also a member of the review committee, said that it was a federal level body that had recommended the necessary changes in the national curriculum. “Following the passage of the Eighteenth Constitutional Amendment however, education was devolved to the provinces along with other federal responsibilities. Thus, it is upon the provinces now to form their own review committees to rectify and update their syllabi,” said Malah. “Sindh so far, has no such committee or a think-tank to review the province’s curriculum. Much of the responsibility, to date, rests with the provincial bureaucracy,” she added.

Read more: Is Sindh on the brink of an education emergency?

Addressing the particular chapter, Malah said that its content is reflective of the dearth of female textbook authors and editors. “The word Sughar in reference to a housewife is itself a brainchild of the male mindset,” she explained.

Per Nasim Abro, a local working-woman-turned-housewife, the theme and title of the chapter although limiting is not entirely negative. “This can be a positive message. A housewife has many roles and her domestic responsibilities shape the society of tomorrow,” she opined.

According to local activist and Aurat March organiser Atiya Abbas however, the assertion of such themes and images in children’s books promotes gender stereotyping, which in the long run gives rise to discriminatory attitudes towards women. “Although PPP has often been the first to come out in support of women’s rights, there is still a lot under the party’s governance which continues to affect women’s everyday lives and needs to be addressed and worked upon,” she told The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 17^th, 2021.