This International Women’s Day, we explore the history of major female-led movements in Pakistan.
Women in South Asia have been fighting for their rights for ages. Whether resisting the British colonial powers or participating in the struggle for an independent state, women have always given their all. However, despite their numerous efforts and achievements, mainstream history books often ignore women’s movements and treat them as an afterthought.
On this International Women’s Day, images It traces the history of major female-led movements in Pakistan that have allowed women in the country to study, go to work, and even march in the Aurat March today.
As the great literary, feminist, and civil rights activist Audre Lorde once said, “When no woman is free, neither am I, even if her shackles are very different from mine.” The gender struggle continues to this day.
Years to Pakistan
Prior to the establishment of Pakistan, the dominant currents of conflict in the subcontinent focused on removing the colonial powers from India and gaining independence. For the pro-Muslim League population, it was important to decide on a separate nation-state consisting of Muslim-majority provinces and regions. On the other hand, there were trade unionists who agreed that the colonial rulers should leave the country, but that India should remain a single entity.
In the foreground emerged one of the early nationalist movements in which women played a vital role in the creation of an autonomous Pakistani state.
The years 1946-47 saw massive women’s participation in pro-Muslim demonstrations against unionist governments such as that of Malik Khizar Hayar Tiwana. Tiwana was the last prime minister of pre-partition Punjab.
Women participated in anti-Hazardous movements in large numbers. Similarly, women’s mobilization at ministerial demonstrations against the Khan Sahib Congress on the North-West Frontier (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) led the province’s British governor to declare “Pakistan made” when he saw a crowd of women dressed in burqas.
Pakistan was born
When Pakistan was founded in 1947, the newly formed country faced one of the biggest refugee crises in the world. Estimates suggest that more than 10 million people were displaced after the Partition.
Fatima Jinnah established a Women’s Aid Committee (WRF) serving refugees arriving in Pakistan. Two years later, in 1949, the committee was transformed into the All Pakistan Women’s Association (APWA) under Begum Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan as its founder.
Working side by side with governments
APWA’s focus was on women’s social welfare, including girls’ education, health, and income generation opportunities. An apolitical organization, APWA has worked with civil and military governments to achieve its goals, such as building schools, colleges and health facilities for women.
In the heyday of the APWA, the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance (MFLO), 1961, was enacted. It was the first legislation to place procedural limits on men’s right to divorce their wives and allow women to have child custody and alimony rights.
“MFLO didn’t come out of nowhere,” said Khawar Mumtaz, former chairman of the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW). Dawn Women under the banner of the United Women’s Rights Front, including APWA members in an earlier interview, took to the streets to protest the second marriage of then-Prime Minister Mohammad Ali Bogra. They demanded that family laws be legislated and that second marriage be banned or at least restricted. This is what led to the establishment of a commission chaired by Judge Mian Abdur Rasheed, who prepared the MFLO.”
During the ’60s and ’70s, more laws and policies emerged, albeit rather sporadically and gradually, but progress was being made. The 1973 Constitution, adopted unanimously by the Parliament, declared that women are equal to men before the law. This opened doors for women to enter the public service and join the public and private sectors of the workforce.
Here comes Zia
This moderate progress came to a halt under the military dictator General Zia ul Haq. Overnight, female announcers and newscasters were ordered to appear on television in full sleeves and headscarves. The dictator imposed many s*xist policies that perpetuated misogyny under the guise of morality. In 1979, the Hudood Regulations were passed during the ‘Islamization’ campaign.
Within the scope of the regulations, the nature of the crime of adultery (s*xual intercourse outside of marriage) has been changed from a crime against the husband to a crime against the state. It also combined rape with adultery, thus systematically oppressing and harassing women victims of s*xual assault.
The repercussions of this brutal legislature were seen two years later when Fehmida and Allah Bux’s case against the State was heard. A consensual married couple was sentenced by the court for adultery under the Hudood Ordinance for filing a kidnapping case against Fehmida’s father, Allah Bux. The couple should have been penalized for failing to register. wedding-name With the Union Council, they were instead convicted of kidnapping and adultery. Allah Bux was sentenced to death by stoning, and Fehmida, who was a minor at the time, was publicly rewarded with 100 lashes.
The meaning of the case was simple – if a woman decided to marry of her own choosing, she could be punished under the law by her family and the state.
Rights are not given, taken
This is around the time the Women’s Movement Front (WAF) or Khawateen Mahaz-e-Amal came into existence. It started as a group of women from Karachi who managed to collect 7,000 signatures to dismiss the case. Their protests, along with those of other women’s groups, proved effective, and the couple was acquitted after a retrial.
Zohra Yusuf, former chairman of the Pakistani Human Rights Commission (HRCP), once Dawn The day the WAF was founded on September 16, 1981, when they received news that the couple had been convicted at the home of Aban Marker, one of the co-founders of Shirkat Gah. “There were about 25-30 women at the first meeting. There was a lot of passion, the mood was very tense, and we were all determined to do something.”
Anis Haroon, member of the National Human Rights Commission and former chair of NCSW, said, “Unlike the older women of APWA, for us it was a matter of rights, not just a matter of welfare. We believed that as long as the structure remained the same, nothing would change.”
The WAF did not hesitate to take to the streets and demand women’s rights. It was a group of political and progressive activists who were often beaten and jailed. They shifted the focus from women’s well-being within their homes to their political and public emancipation.
The Evidence Law, enacted under Gen Zia’s military regime, systematically discriminated against women and imprisoned hundreds of women based on false accusations of vengeful ex-wives and resentful relatives.
On February 12, 1983, a group of 400 women and their allies led by the WAF and the Pakistani Women’s Lawyers Association (PWLA) protested the Evidence Act in Lahore when police were attacked with batons firing tear gas bullets. .they have
The late poet Habib Jalib was also there, inspiring the crowd with his resistance poems before he was beaten by the police.
This incident highlights the seriousness of the violent backlash that women’s activism has received, not only from other civic groups, but also from the state.
While women’s movements in urban areas were led by the WAF in the 1980s, Sindhiyani Tehreek (ST), a women’s movement focused more on rural women’s issues, emerged in rural Sindh.
The ST consisted mainly of peasant women from rural Sindh. He called for an end to feudalism and patriarchy, demanded federalism and provincial autonomy, and struggled to restore democracy in the 80s.
Under General Pervez Musharraf, the ST, along with the main Marxist-Leninist party Awami Tehreek, actively protested the proposed Kalabagh dam construction.
welcome to the 21st century
Pakistan welcomed the new century with another military dictatorship. However, this regime was not as harsh and discriminatory against women as before. Laws such as the Women’s Protection Act were passed in 2006 that separated rape (zina bil cebr) from adultery (zina), bringing them into the penal code, and also making the abuse of adultery provisions more difficult.
In 2018, the Aurat Walk took the stage. The first march was held in Karachi on March 8, International Women’s Day. It demanded radical and progressive changes from the state regarding the education, health and safety of marginalized groups.
This manifestation of the women’s movement was unique in its execution because, like its predecessors, it did not hesitate to speak of bodily autonomy and individual rights.
Anis Haroon said, “The younger generation has a lot more confidence and clarity when it comes to personal rights.” said. Dawn “I remember that in the early WAF discussions for the charter of the platform, some members were not comfortable adding a line that women have rights over their bodies, although they eventually agreed.”
Due to its unapologetic nature, the Aurat March has been subject to intense debate and backlash from political parties, both right-wing and religious, as well as from people who misunderstood its intentions.
Aurat Parades have been held in many major cities of the country every year to celebrate Women’s Day since its first parade in 2018.
Despite threats and intimidation, the Aurat March, like its feminist predecessors, remains steadfast in its demands for equal rights.