Status of Women in Pakistan

Outline

Introduction:

Thesis Statement: Status of women in Pakistan is poor

A) Inferior to man in every walk of society
B) Poor health
C) Harassment

2) Economic status

A) Household work is not economic activity
B) Low income as compared to man
C) Economic Dependence on man

3) Political Status

A) Deprived from political activities
B) Unaware of her rights
C) Low representation in assembly

4) Status in Education

A) No permission to get education
B) Small number of girls in educational institutes
C) No institution for skill building

5) Status in family

A) No say in decision making
B) Insecurity
C) No respect

6) Cultural Status

A) Early marriages
B) Karo Kari, Watta Satta, Vanni
C) Superstitions

Conclusion



Condition of a nation is directly proportional to the condition of its women. Condition of women in Pakistan is poor as is the condition of the country. Woman is considered inferior to man in every walk of the society. She is not only victim of poor health but also of harassment and honour killing. Her economic conditions are also alarming. A common woman works in his house from dawn to the dusk, but all this physical activity contributes nothing to the economy. Furthermore, she is economically dependent on man. If she is forced to work to meet her both ends, she is paid peanuts. A large majority of women in Pakistan are unaware of their political rights. For women of backward areas politics is a forbidden fruit. Even she has low representation in provincial and national assemblies. A large majority of woman are unable to get even primary education. Those who get higher education are microscopic minority. There are no institutes for woman where they can get technical education so as to earn by their own. Her condition in family is also discouraging. In male-dominant society she has no part to play in decision making of family matters. Furthermore, she bears the brunt of all miseries in family as the poor creature is most insecure in a family. Owing to the age-old feudal culture of Pakistan she becomes the scapegoat for all atrocities. She remains within the walls of house for whole life and is not allowed to be part of public domain. Practice of early marriages is common in far flung areas. Due to narrow cultural practices she becomes victim of superstitions and psychological disorders. In order to become a progressive nation Pakistan needs to improve the status woman.

Society of Pakistan is a male-dominant society. Woman is considered inferior to man in every phase of society. In this patriarchal set up there are families in which when a girl is born, her birth is lamented. Where birth of a boy is enjoyed as he is considered as the asset for the family. They think that girls are unable to feed the family so they are a burden on them. A large number of girls in Pakistan continue to live as a burden, which is utter shame for the society.

This inferior creature also suffers in terms of her health. Her duty is to feed the children but she hardly gets enough food for herself. She is not only affected by malnutrition but also by ill treatment. She hardly gets proper medicine during her illness. A large number of woman in poor areas die while giving birth to child. She is the victim of double exploitation.

Unlike rural women, urban women have freedom to be part of public sphere. In this public domain she is victim of harassment. In offices she is sexually or verbally harassed by her colleagues and seniors. College going girls are molested by young boys. Even in universities, girls are black mailed by teachers otherwise she gets poor marks. Media girls have been constant target of their co-workers. According to popular social media trend “Me Too”, a large number of woman at one or other stage of life has been harassed by a man.

Woman is also marginalized when it comes to her economic status. A common woman is the pillar of a family. She is responsible for all house hold works. She does chores, washes clothes, cleans house and cooks food. He works all day long but all his physical activity is not considered economic activity. At the end of the day she taunted of being sitting idle in home. A house wife is not considered as a bread earner.

Even if a middle class woman determines to earn bread for her family she faces immense difficulties. She prefers to get a teaching job so that she can spare time for house hold works. As teaching is not considered a full time job, she is paid very low in private schools. A large number of poverty ridden families from rural areas settle in large cities. Women of these families choose to work in middle class families where they do cleaning and washing. These poor women are not only paid very low but also treated as slaves. Trotsky, famous Russian revolutionary leader, truly said “Woman is the slave of the slaves”.

Political conditions of women in Pakistan are also very poor. She is told that politics is not her cup of tea. She has no right participate in active politics, right to raise her voice. Even she is deprived of her rights assigned by constitution. In tribal areas she is not allowed to vote. Resultantly over all turn over in these areas is very low. If few women in rural areas are allowed to vote, they vote blindly without knowing to whom she is voting and what is the importance of vote.

She is not only ignorant of importance of vote but also of her rights. Ill-educated women never know what their legal rights are. They suffer physical assaults, abuses and harassment but never consult any court. They are not in position to take any legal measures. Freedom of speech, freedom of choice, etc are all their political rights but a large number of women in Pakistan are unaware of their rights.

Even if a small number of women are allowed to participate in politics they too belong to feudal families. Unfortunately women from feudal background do not represent women but their class interests. A common woman has no access to assemblies. That’s why problems of a common woman remain unresolved. Separate quota is reserved for woman but that too is drop in the ocean. Government needs to increase number of women seats in national and provincial assemblies.

When it comes to the education of women the conditions are more alarming. An educated woman means an educated family. Unfortunately in rural areas of Pakistan people think that the purpose of education is to get job. People think that a woman is born to do house hold work and not to work out side. Due to this reason a large number of women are unable get even primary education. Secondly parents of a girl think that sooner or later she has to get married and she is property of other family. Confined within this narrow purpose of life she is completely deprived of her right to get education.

Even if few families in rural areas allow their girls to get education, that education is restricted to primary or secondary education only. Higher education has always been a dream for these poor girls. Those who luckily are allowed to get higher education in universities face immense problems. Universities are far away from their areas. Their pick and drop is a big problem. Unlike boys, girls hardly get permission to live in hostels. Most of the conservative families are against co- education system. It is always a tough decision for them to allow their girls to be part of co-education in universities. Due to all these difficulties parents prefer their girls to keep them at home instead of allowing them to enlighten their minds.

Furthermore, there are no institutions for girls to build their technical skills. Lots of women support their families by doing skilled work at their home such as sewing and embroidery work. Skills of these women can be enhanced by giving them proper training. There are no institutes to help them. Due to this woman remains dependent on man.

Woman is also victim of exploitation in her own family. In a common middle class family, a man, being a bread earner, decides all family matters. From major steps regarding education and marriage of children to minor issues of daily life, all decisions are taken by males. Woman is just to obey these commands whether she likes or not. In case she denies obeying any decision she faces the music in the form of physical assault or abuses.

In addition woman is also insecure regarding her position in home. She has no home of her own. She lives with father during childhood, with husband after marriage and with son after husband’s death. She depends on male regarding economic and social security. Banu Qudsia, famous Urdu Novelist, wrote in her celebrated novel Raja Gidh that a woman of middle class seeks security rather than love in her husband.

In poor families a female does not have respect as compared to a male. She is beaten and abused on petty issues. Man needs full care and respect. He needs prepared meal at time, his clothes ironed, and his room neat and clean. But when it comes to care of a woman she is discriminated. Even if she is ill nobody pays attention towards her. Her disrespect and discrimination starts from family.

Culture of Pakistan is pre dominantly feudal in nature. It is woman which bears the brunt of feudal norms. A great number of poor girls in villages are married before their adulthood. Parents think that it is better for a girl to get her married as early as possible. The poor people are not concerned with a girl’s education or her career. Her only career is to become a house hold wife. Unfortunately people under feudal set up do not find any fault with these practices.

In a feudal and tribal set up, feudal lords decide the fate of a woman. Due to their rotten culture dehumanization of women is order of the day. In rural areas of Sindh girls are married with Quran. They are also victim of Karo Kari, the honour killing. In Punjab Watta Satta, practice of exchange marriage, is common. In tribal areas of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa (KPK) girls are victim of Vanni, a practice in which girls are forcibly married as part of punishment for a crime committed by her male relatives. Pakistan really needs to get rid of all these feudal and tribal norms so that women can be liberated.

This rotten culture of ill practices affects an ignorant woman bitterly. Due to her social insecurity she finds relief in opium of superstitions. Instead of finding real cause, many adverse events are attributed to the supernatural effect. Exploited women think that psychological and physical illness is due to demons and devils. So in order to heal these problems, women of backward areas consult pseudo doctors and fake Pirs. There is dire need to emancipate exploited women from all the evils of superstitions.

All this discussion shows that the women in Pakistan are facing difficulties in all areas of life. From public sphere to private domain women are facing immense problems. They are harassed and abused in patriarchal society of Pakistan. They are victims of archaic customs. Women are deprived of her social, political and educational rights. In short women in Pakistan are exploited not only by men but also by whole society. Exploitation of a woman is not only dangerous for her but also for whole nation.

For queries contact @ Shamsherseelro@gmail.com

The writer is a CSP?

__________________
You enjoy life by living, no pay-to-play needed. God hath thee.

You have lucidly articulated all the present norms and mores that a woman is confronting with. However, What I consider is that you should have mentioned some positive headings with regard to women in the last quarter of your outlines. For example, increasing role of women in sports, media (journalism), and social entrepreneurship. You could have mentioned some success of our women, such as Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, Ayesha Farooq as the first Pakistani fighter pilot. It will facilitate the examiner that you are optimistic of increasing role of women in social and strategic areas. But your outlines have well categorized the aspects.

__________________
The fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself.

Yes.He is a CSP officer

Sir trotsky,you did not quote facts and figures.Does this mean we can pass essay without them?

This was a sample essay written for students to make them understand that how one should write intro from outlines and how to support topic sentences and how to write concluding sentence. I have intentionally not used any statistics, examples are taken from common observations.

When Thesis statement says that role of women is poor than how can one go against thesis ?

Thesis statement should portray both the bleak as well as the brighter side of women, since the title of the essay does not oblige a particular direction for articulation.

__________________
The fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself.

You have to justify your thesis statement and that's all. It is the simplest definition of an essay i.e thesis statement and its justification

Dont you think that being a future bureaucrat, you have to be optimistic about the efforts taken to solve social or political crisis, and we are definitely required to showcase the positive side of our society. It is not only about articulating a thesis statement according to one's discretion for the sake of justification. The examiner might expect this from a candidate.

__________________
The fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself.