The Need For Gender Based Governance in Pakistan.

Wrote this as an excersize on research, and because I am interested in the topic:

The Need For Gender Based Governance in Pakistan.

Pakistan is a country of around 161 million inhabitants¹, approximately 51%² of which are men. As this figure indicates higher infant mortality rates in females, it becomes the first of many indicators of gender inequality within Pakistani society. Further, the combination of often strict Islamic interpretation combined with the South Asian culture, creates an unimaginable bias towards women in open society and especially in the work place. As Pakistan's leaders strive to cross the brink into modernity, the slow pace of women's empowerment and equality within the community are constantly pulling it back. Areas of Pakistan are currently involved in a full-on civil war, a battle between hard-line islamic militants and Pakistan's more moderate army, the clash is mainly of one of normative and religious ideals.

Under the leadership of the religiously moderate President Zardari and pressure from the many international organizations that pump Billion of dollars into Pakistan's booming development sector, the country has recently shown increased levels of commitment to gender equality. By formulating policies and ratifying international accords, Pakistan hopes to show the international community its dedication to the protection and encouragement of women's rights. Pakistan has signed and/or implemented the likes of the Beijing Platform of Action in 1995 and, in accordance, later the National Plan of Action for Women (NPAW), the Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1996, the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) of 2000 and the National Strategic Framework for Family Protection (NSFFP) in 2001. In addition, the Government of Pakistan has implemented national and provincially based Gender Reform Action Plans (GRAPS) which aim to provide gender based reforms and planning on all levels of Government³. It is important to note that the majority of these regulations are based upon the direct protection of women, as opposed to the long term fostering of gender equality as a means towards development

Impeding the aims of these implemented strategies are a variety of factors spread between the political, the religious and the social. Unequal power relations between men and women (in the political arena as well as in the home) undermine attempted structures of equality, and create vast amounts of very real discouragement for the women's movement. Corruption and lack of political and financial transparency further marginalize women by using allocated funds to support projects or legislations designed through a gender blind lens. Pakistan's status as an area of conflict, also puts at risk women's access toeducation, the development of basic human rights, and sees an increase in violence against women and girls in particular.

As such, most areas of Pakistan hold stark opposition to the idea of gender equality as a necessity for national development. Even universally accepted principles, like that of a socio-economically unbiased access to basic education, face tough resistance. Pakistan is a country where it is estimated that 56.2 percent of the total population are literate; that is 68.2 percent male literacy, and 43.6 percent female literacy¹. Basic education has the ability not only to teach children the principals of literacy, but also to give them access to a world outside of their communities, one where children are taught to respect gender equality from a very young age. Due to this discrepancy in access to basic education, it comes as no big surprise that women make up only about 22%² of the formal work force, within which they are hardly protected by Pakistan's weak, and normally unenforced sexual harassment laws.

The United Nations defines gender based violence as “any act of violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical sexual or psychological harm of suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life.³” A major issue facing a woman's right to a physically and emotionally safe life, is the continued belief that violence in the home is a family matter. Furthermore, three male witnesses continue to be needed to verify the occurrence of a rape or sexual violence against a woman, and even if these witnesses exist and are willing to testify, the case is often dropped. As Dan Belt states in his September 2007 National Geographic article entitled Struggle for the Soul of Pakistan, in Pakistan “rape is a tool of intimidation”⁴. Importantly, as the 2008 Social Development in Pakistan Report states, the unfortunate reality of the situation is that “existing socio-cultural patterns have been internalized by women...the majority restrain themselves from questioning the status quo, and are often seen trapped in a violent environment”⁵. This is an unsettling problem, proving that behavioral change regarding gender equality must reach women to the same level as it must reach men.

The Social Development in Pakistan Annual Review 2009 perfectly states “In a society where the social mind-set is feudal / tribal, the legal mind- set is authoritarian, the educational mind-set is regimental, and the religious mind-set is deductive, addressing issues such as violence against women and sexual harassment becomes increasingly difficult.⁶”

By including more women in political leadership roles, it is hoped that legislations and negative cultural and religious mindsets are countered with a large opposition movement. As Pakistan still considers itself to be a democratic republic, awareness will have to be raised to challenge existing laws. After all, “there can not be a claim of real progress towards equality, development and peace as long as there is a continuing violence against women and girls⁷”. Women make up 49% of the Nation's population, and should, in a perfect world, make up the same percentage in the Nation's elected leadership. As this is far from the case, we can only hope that through training, more women will be encouraged to contest and win local and national elections. This is precisely the role of the United Nations Development Program's Gender Based Governance Systems, based upon the UNDP's Gender Equality Strategy (GES) which states that gender equality is an integral part of human development⁸. The program works by imparting gender sensitive training to planners, government officials and women leaders, who are then expected to take the goal of gender equality into consideration when planning projects, political decision-making, and for women who contest elections. The strived for result of such activities would include forms of peace keeping or peace-building on a local or federal level and with a special focus on conflict zones.

The UNDP Punjab states “Gender based governance systems is designed as a sustainable, long-term initiative to institutionalize the process of enabling and empowering local representatives, particularly women, to raise their issues and concerns in policy agenda⁹”. Until now, the UNDP Punjab, in conjunction with the Government of Pakistan, has imparted gender sensitive training to 5,694 persons, of which 4,789 were women leaders during the first three quarters of 2009, and many others throughout the rest of Pakistan. The UNDP's five year goal is to train 40,249¹⁰ persons throughout Pakistan. The elections which women are being trained to contest, have not yet been held, thus it is impossible to identify the success of this portion of the program. In 95%¹¹ of Punjab's cases however, Master Trainers report that at the end of the training sessions women feel confident and are eager to take part in the upcoming election.

With hopes that those who received gender sensitization training take gender issues into consideration, women's access and control over resources, existence of an equal daily work burden, and women's visibility and recognition in the public sphere should increase in the coming years. Access to resources include access to education, health care, income, technology, information, political power, etc. At a micro level this includes access to equal amounts of food, sleep, comfort and safety in the home and in the community. Decision-making power is also a major component of women's access to equality. Decision-making begins with the power to make choices about one's own future, body and within the home, and transpires to decision making on a much larger political, economic or social scale. The UNDP Punjab takes both macro and micro themes into consideration, the assumption remains that change must occur from the grassroots level, and not just from top down pressure. There must exist a relationship of respect between men and women in each and every sphere of life.

In part due to Government strikes against islamic militants in Pakistan's Waziristan area, there exist a huge number of internally displaced persons (IDPs). The Government is struggling to provide them with access to resources, education and health care, all of which are unquestionable human rights. In this case Pakistan falls well under needs that created the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 in 2000 as well as the 2006 'Eight Point Agenda for Women's Empowerment and Gender Equality In Crisis Prevention and Recovery', it is hoped that these points are used as a guide or are implemented, and the UNDP is successful in supporting the Pakistani Government in achieving gender-responsive capacity improvements¹²

The United Nations defines gender mainstreaming as “...a strategy for making women's as well as men's concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programs in all political, economic, and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated.¹³”

In this way, societal behavior change regarding gender inequality is the goal and the way to ensure the sustainability of the project, as well as being a means towards the realization of the Millennium Development Goals introduced in 2000. Through the results of upcoming elections, the UNDP and the Government of Pakistan will together be able to evaluate the direct success of their Gender Based Governance Project. Success will represent a move towards the elimination of violence against women (VAW), gender equality, equal representation in politics, and a means towards sustainable human development in Pakistan.

1CIA World Factbook Pakistan. Literacy – 2005 estimate. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/pk.html. Accessed on 12 January, 2009.

2Social Policy and Development Center. Social development in Pakistan; Annual Review 2007-08- Women at Work. Karachi. 2009. page xviii

3Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Article 1. 1993

4Belt, Don. Struggle for the Soul of Pakistan. National Geographic Magazine, September 2007.

5Social Policy and Development Center. Social development in Pakistan; Annual Review 2007-08- Women at Work. Karachi. 2009. page 77

6Social Policy and Development Center. Social development in Pakistan; Annual Review 2007-08- Women at Work. Karachi. 2009. page 85

7UNDP. Empowered and Equal: Gender Equality Strategy 2008-2011. Bureau for Development Policy, New York City. 2008. page 17

8UNDP. Empowered and Equal: Gender Equality Strategy 2008-2011. Bureau for Development Policy, New York City. 2008. page 2

9Gender Based Governance (GBG) Systems Project Punjab. Project Document. United Nations Development Program & Government of Pakistan Economic Affairs Division. Islamabad, 17 December, 2007. Page 7

10These figures come from the UNDP Gender Based Government Pakistan Annual Work Plan and Progress Presentation and Reports for 2008 and 2009.

11This figure comes from the activity reports submitted by each Master Trainer after each training session. Included in the report is a 'before and after' question regarding the likelihood of participants to contest elections.

12UNDP. Empowered and Equal: Gender Equality Strategy 2008-2011. Bureau for Development Policy, New York City. 2008. page 17

13The Economic and Social Council Report for 1997, United Nations, 1997.

1Government of Pakistan; statistics Division. Population Survey 2008. www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/fbs/publications/lfs2001_2002/results.pdf -

2CIA World Factbook Pakistan. Sex Ratio. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/pk.html. Accessed on 12 January, 2009.

3Gender Based Governance (GBG) Systems Project Punjab. Project Document. United Nations Development Program & Government of Pakistan Economic Affairs Division. Islamabad, 17 December, 2007. Page 1.

Rooftops

Behind me is a window to the world. Rather, to a 700 year old portion of Lahore's old city. Lower-middle class Pakistani's live here, doing lower-middle class Pakistani things. I watch the rooftops sometimes, when there isn't much to do at work. Rooftops of different heights, different shapes, widths, colours and even some with tiles. Roofs with water tanks, with stairs and chicken coops. Rooftops with charpai (the traditional Pakistani bed/cot) or acting as cricket courts and as kite-flying platforms. Although I can only see the tops and the outsides of these homes, I feel that I still get a somewhat secret glance into this world.

During Lahore's normally dusty winter days, I can only see a few, those closest, and the community mosque. But on days like today, I can see far, to the horizon, where this neighborhood blends with the next and the next, all Pakistan, all Lahore. A new neighborhood begins with each Mosque Minaret, the inhabitants of which probably know each other in passing or even quite well, as the families who live in these homes, have often lived there, generation to generation, for hundreds of years. This area houses some of the City's 9 million inhabitants, that is, those who are lucky enough to have a roof overhead.

These people do not have the servants, A/Cs and the multiple cars that the upper classes have, but they do have enough food on their tables, enough money to send their children to school and small businesses to sustain themselves. They respect their homes, and keep them clean to the best of their abilities. The homes are usually lived in by extended family units, creating an atmosphere of dependence, comfort and often joy, as children's voices ring out in courtyards or on these very rooftops. Already I see children flying small plastic kites, although the kite flying festival, or Basant, doesn't officially begin until March. The wind is starting to pick up, and these kids want practice before the big event.

The children who live in these homes often have dreams about becoming doctors or engineers. Their dreams are often squashed when they grow old enough to understand Pakistan's rigid socio-economic structure, which most often binds people to the rung into which they were born, limiting upwards social mobility, limiting the dreams of studying medicine or engineering due to the cost and the time involved. The schools they go to are not those that feed into the best universities or even give them the scholarships they would need to go abroad, rendering them largely uncompetitive even if they do pursue these dreams.

The older generations living in these homes, especially the women, may be illiterate, while the younger are learning basic English in schools, and can write both Urdu Script, and Roman English. The schools these youngsters go to still face a lack of trained teachers, up-to-date or quality materials, and will not provide students with comfort in the 8 Degree Celcius winters or the +50 Degree summers.

Children in these communities are are raised to respect and fear the wrath of Allah and to live by strict Islamic principles. A mixture of fundamentalism from older generations and the media's portrayal of a more lax western youth create an interesting paradoxical influence in the lives of these children. Most of the boys grow up to own both shalwar kameez and jeans, worn side by side on alternative days, the girls however, as they portray the family's honour and face life-long humiliation if not properly married off, remain in their traditional dress, often choosing to use a hijab, chador or full covering in later years.

The people living in these homes often exhibit an awkward combination of religious zeal and western cravings, as I assume is the case in most cities braced on the brink of modernity.

Lovely People.

I think its important to share with you my support network in Pakistan. Give recognition where it is due, and show you the people who have mattered the most:

Fatima, bringing me laughs around the clock.


Again, Fatima.

My beautiful Stefi...without whom I would surely SURELY die.

Safder, the person who showed me the true Pakistan!

Talha, my most important reason for staying...


Daria, my roommate, this woman knows everything!


These people have helped me, guided me and made me happier then they will ever know, and for that, I thank them!

The night I slept at a madrassa.

As the western perception of Pakistan (and islam in general) goes, the word “madrassa” often brings with it thoughts of brain washed students, waiting to join forces with an ever growing Taliban or Al Queda movement. It brings with it thoughts of eager young men training for jihad, excitedly looking forward to the 72 virgins awaiting them in heaven. (Side note: 72 virgins is a popular myth in Pakistan, as of yet, the persons I have spoken to have not been able to find any mention of this number in the Qua-ran. It is however stated that a hoor is promised to those who obtain martyrdom through Jihad- a virgin whose beauty is incomparable.)

In reality, the large majority of madrassas are places of learning. Places where students come to reading and writing, while filling their minds with with the Prophet Muhammad's (Peace Be Upon Him) messages of peace for the Muslim community. It gives students a place to come together, and provides a healthy environment of disciplined learning.

In many cases madrassas provide students with 3 meals, a roof overhead, and a religiously based education, alleviating some of the financial strain of low income families (and providing education where there is often none available). Madrasses come in all shapes and sizes, from boarding-school ideas where children live within the institute's safe walls, to once a week meetings in which children recite the Qua-ran.

My madrassa experience fell in between both of those mentioned above. A place for children to go on sunday mornings after Fajr prayer (early morning prayer, just after sunrise) and after school. It acts as a safe0house for students of low income families, providing children with an after school snack and a means to stay out of trouble. Students recite the Qua-ran in its original Arabic, but also learn the translated version. This guarantees that students actually receive the message of the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H.) in a language they understand. They practice reading the qua-ran and must write verses both in Arabic and Urdu. Every bit of practice is beneficial to children who come from areas where public school systems are unreliable.

Sunday morning in Farooq Abad, the small village in Pakistan's Punjab Province in which this particular madrassa is located. The village is awoken by the (approximately) 530 am Fajr or call to prayer. In the past nine months I have learned to largely ignore this call, and usually continue sleeping. This particular morning, I did the same. It was not until a few minutes later, that I heard the voices of many children, reciting the Qua-ran. As the congregation was just outside of my allotted bedroom door, I was able to hear clearly the recitation, and the children's strict attempts to keep up with 'the beat'.

To be honest, as I was not aware of this home's part-time status as a madrassa, the sounds were at first quite eerie. The children's voices, so perfectly in tune, reciting, almost chanting. But as I listened, waving between wake and sleep, the sounds had an element of beauty, of peace and of brotherhood. Just as it should.

Having recently done research on education in Pakistan, I learned of the stark inefficiencies in the educational system, caused by a number of factors. These include corruption and a lack of transparency, a lack of properly trained educators, and volatile political situation in which an outright civil war is being fought in some areas of Pakistan. These also include a weak belief in the necessities of basic education (especially in rural or remote areas), the unavailability of education (and educational facilities) in many areas of Pakistan, and the inability for low income families to pay for their children to go to school (or even to lose out on the extra income generated by their children while they would be in school). In many cases, the madrassa that operates in dangerous areas and provides students with three meals a day, a roof overhead and more than a basic education based upon strict Islamic principles is a parent's only option. These types of incentives leave parents with little choice between giving their children poverty or giving their children a future.

The problems lie, of course, in the few madrassas that do cater to the dangerous, using a students' poverty and lack of education to brain wash. Monitoring mechanisms must be put in place to safeguard the sanctity of the madrassa as a place of learning peace, and not violence. Again, Pakistan's organizational inabilities and real pressure from hardline Islamic militants discourage this type of monitoring, creating the religiously insensitive and gender biased militants of tomorrow.

Unfortunately, I was not allowed to photograph children during their recitations.