Woman’s choice

The new NADRA rule provides the space for women to continue using their maiden name even after marriage

A small step with a leap forward impact. Married women can now retain their father’s name on their national identity cards, and are free to choose adding their husband’s name, too. This is a breakthrough of sorts, and comes as a formal policy decision by NADRA. Earlier, the policy format was quite puzzling, and even in the absence of specified bye-laws, women were under compulsion to redo their identity card’s registration by adding their husband’s name or surname. The authority’s chairman Tariq Malik took pride in pronouncing, “It’s their choice and not of a man’s.”

This measure should be seen in the wider perspective of women’s empowerment. Women constitute more than 51% of the populace, and have made great strides in public and private sectors. In a country, which is patriarch in essence, issues such as divorce, lawfare, custody of child, property inheritance, and even second marriage, have acted as great impediments for the fairer-sex, and they come across severe litigation discrepancies. Especially, in cases of land transactions, this name issue poses additional inconsistencies. Moreover, a glance at western decorum of personal recognition, as well as Islamic teachings, also reveal that women enjoy utmost respect and any attempt to overshadow or conceal their birth-right identity is highly castigated.

This phenomenal change as a national narrative is most welcome. It certainly comes as a relief for women. It provides the space for women to continue using their maiden name even after marriage. The need of the hour is to revisit a plethora of laws that have come to discriminate against women, and denied them their due socio-legal mileage in an otherwise men-dominated society. Pakistan luckily has many examples of outstanding women who have prided themselves over their inherited family names, and to count a few are Fatima Jinnah and Benazir Bhutto. They and their likes have made Pakistan proud, and are iconic in essence. This humble initiative of NADRA will go a long way in rewriting the indispensability of a woman’s identity and usher in renewed honour, respect and value.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 19^th, 2021.

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