The writer is editorial consultant at The Express Tribune, news junkie, bibliophile, cat lover and occasional cyclist
There is much that is different in the Pakistan of today compared to when I first visited 21 years ago –– which does not mean that there is much that has changed. An area that is minimally altered is that of gender relations; how men in particular perceive and interact with women and how women are no less a “property” than they were almost a generation ago.
It was a chance encounter with a Western journalist who has also worked as a gender adviser, which sparked a critical examination of what benefit was being derived from the countless millions of dollars being spent by donor agencies in an attempt to right the gender imbalances of Pakistan.
A half-hour spent searching the internet for material yielded some depressing information. There was ample record of countless gender-sensitisation training sessions being delivered to diverse groups –– doctors, journalists, politicians of every type and stripe from district nazims upwards, the police everywhere, teachers and lady health workers –– the list was as long as my arm. But there was precious little evidence, either academic or anecdotal, that any of this effort and expense had made a scrap of difference to the big picture.
There was no shortage of carefully crafted reports detailing the many injustices and inequalities that are faced by women, of their sufferings at the hands of a misogynist and patriarchal society and of the deeply-ingrained prejudices and attitudes of the men who were in the majority when it came to perpetration. There did not appear to be any reporting of outcomes measured as perceptual change that was long-lasting and self sustaining, in that those trained were able to influence for the better the perceptions and attitudes of others.
One of the pieces I read was written by a person who writes for this newspaper. It concluded that gender-sensitisation workshops would fail if there was no effort to “radically alter the stereotypical images of women and girls in our textbooks, popular media and homes”. And there is not.
You can send off staff and employees to gender-sensitisation workshops until hell freezes over and the impact will be negligible unless there is an enabling mental environment and a willingness to be receptive to new ideas and perceptions. People have to show up for training with a desire for knowledge and personal change. They have to attend with, at least, a glimmer of awareness that something is wrong that needs putting right and they might be the people to do that. And they do not.
Millions of dollars are spent every year teaching people how to construct a thin patina, a surface sheen, of gender sensitivity which satisfies the reporting requirements of the donor agencies, but barely scratches the underlying architecture of patriarchy, feudalism and the broad perceptions of women as being of less value than men –– and in some instances, animals.
A ‘gender-sensitised’ bubble has grown that is inhabited by people who are able to pull off the trick of looking and sounding like they are the very models of positive outcomes, but quite otherwise for the most part. True, there are those who really have changed and a tiny minority of those are themselves or have the potential to be — agents of change; the pearls in the oyster. But the reality is that this remains a deeply patriarchal society that is highly resistant to change and is developing the mechanisms to protect the status quo –– thus far very effectively.
The numbers attending the endless gender workshops are infinitesimal when measured against those that are not. The numbers that come out the other end of the gender business with the capacity to make a difference are equally infinitesimal, but the illusion is being created that change is in the air, that things really are getting better for women, that there is greater political representation –– and it is all a bit of a mirage.
Women are no less likely to be raped, sexually harassed in the workplace, have acid thrown in their faces, forced into marriage or sold off to pay a debt of ‘honour’. Gender-sensitisation training? Oooh, yes please! Up for a bit of a change are you? Err…no thanks, not today.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 10th, 2014.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
COMMENTS (6)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
The SECOND comment by @Parvez.........is bu me, who regularly comments. The first one is certainly not my style but the use of my handle ( my actual name ) is flattering.
Seminars and workshops are useless.....if results are needed someone with the necessary clot should, for example, shut down the CII..........that in itself would be a positive start.
Change at society level can only be achieved when a society allows individuals to be different from what society believes how every individual ought to think/behave. Pakistanis live in a glasshouse with a very low ceiling (my comments on LUMS bubble). Change in a "controlled" society is frightening as everyone is trained to think/behave in conformity. Change breaks with accepted standards. Just imagine how frightening it would be for atheists if scientists one day would prove that God exists or that the earth is really only 6000 years old or that men are born to rule women. No matter how many workshops, you will have a hard time to convince people of these new truths as this would put their worldview upside down. During the enlightenment period individuals were breaking the standards and many paid with their lives for their daring thoughts.
Where did you pick up the idea of these moustaches. They are certainly Choudhary type and Choudharies have little regard for gender gap.
Women subordination has many phases. We do condemn rapes and honor killings and feel we are liberals standing for the rights of women. Right? Not quite. We accept women not allowed to step out of homes, We accept that whereas men go out alone, walk in the park, meet other men, we do not ask ourselves why majority of women cannot do that. Yes, you see women in big towns driving and walking but watch closely. Fiist of all it is a tiny minority and second, all they are doing is shopping.
The author is right no major change has taken place; in fact it is moving backwards in cerrtain quarters. One way to encourage change is if women have financial independence. That can be achieved if quota system makes sure that a certain % of all jobs is alloted to women. Unfortunately, even the most liberal voices do not back such proposals. As the author says: are you for a change. No thank you is common reply
Excellent and timely article, but the writer has not touched on the core of the problem that is ingrained in the culture guided by a religion where women subordination to men is not even debatable but it is quite understandable why a white journalist from the west living in Pakistan would refrain from venturing into this territory of sacrosanct landscape. Sadly enough an injustice cannot be efficiently fought where the victims themselves (many religious women in this case), due to preconditioning, have bought into their own exploitation under the garb of honor and the so called protection from the evil eyes of men, that speaks for itself.