WOMEN EMPOWERMENT INTRODUCTION Since the creation of Pakistan in 1947 Pakistan inherited the menace of poverty.

The burden of this poverty was put heavily on the female population which is 50% of the total population of Pakistan. ON the top of it, women were neglected and under-nourished. All the governments had tried in one form or the other to develop the women but could not make a very happy progress because of various reasons. Today the present government is committed and believes in creating, an enabling environment for people in general to enjoy long, healthy and creative life and for women in particular. Economic development, if it is to be meaningful and sustainable, must involve and accrue to all citizens. At the same time economic growth alone cannot guarantee social harmony, especially in an under developed societies. National development must be balanced by a strong and real emphasis on equitable distribution of development benefits especially for the lower segments of the population. This philosophy of development i.e., growth with equity is to be embodied in all national development policies. Poverty alleviation and social development has to be the central part of the overall national development. In the developing world, the menace of poverty is deep routed, especially in the rural areas while Pakistan is no exception to it. Therefore the United Nations identified the rural women as a catalyst for change if the objective of eradicating poverty is to be attained. Invisible and industrious, neglected and under nourished, She is the pivot on which the rural household functions. She is the major contributor to the agricultural labour force producing more than 50% of the developing worlds food. She is the one who tend sows, reaps, gather crops, cares for animals, plants herbs, and looks after the families but hardly ever recognized in the statistics of production while easily made a target of cultural malpractices which not only hurts her dignity but even take her life. It is very important to bring the women into the lime light so that policy

makers could design their development interventions in a way that could politically and financially empower her enough to make a difference in the living conditions of herself and her family and her immediate surroundings. At the same time giving her the personal security and dignity that is her fundamental right.

DEFINITION. The term women right refers to freedoms and entitlements of women and girls of all ages. These rights may or may not be institutionalized DEFINATION OF EMPOWERMENT The word empowerment is not new, having arisen in the mid 17th century with the legalistic meaning To invest with authority The most common use of the term empowerment refers to increasing the low power group, so that it more nearly equals the power of high group. DEFINATION OF WOMEN EMPOWERMENT Women empowerment is to think of your own progress without relying on a mans idea LITERATURE REVIEW Women empowerment is an important useful concept in the development of a community as it represents women as active agents rather than passive recipients of development policies.35 countries conclude that if women are provided access to education, employment and health then they have more control and power over household decision making, improved child well-being, income, reduced fertility rates and increased resources. According to the Samina Malik(2003) and Kathy Courtnay(2003) that increases the participation of woman in higher education. They think that education in general and higher education in particular is recognized as an instrument for social change .The study has highlighted the role that text book play in perpetuating gender inequalities. Education's importance has been emphasized by a number of international conventions, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Programme of Action of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development.2 The Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995, recognized that women's literacy is key to empowering women's participation in decisionmaking in society and to improving families' well-being.3 In addition, the United Nations has articulated the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which include goals for improved education, gender equality, and women's empowerment (see Box 1 at end of article). The MDGs emphasize education's essential role in building democratic societies and creating a foundation for sustained economic growth. According to Bandure(1996)and pajiors(1996)changes in personal factors such as self efficiency, society,family can good impact on women empowermen.If family and society support women they can get butter awareness about their rights. : Economic participation and decision-

making (measured by the percentage of female administrators and managers, and professional and technical employees), and political participation and decision-making (measured by the percentage of seats in parliament held by women). For our purposes GEM is limited and does not capture the multidimensional view of womens empowerment. It cannot be assumed that if a development intervention promotes womens empowerment along a particular dimension that empowerment in other areas will necessarily follow. A number of studies have shown that women may be empowered in one area of life while not in others. While we do not attempt toresolve this debate, we take the position, that womens empowerment can be measured by factors contributing to each of the following: their personal, economic, familial, and political empowerment. We make a point to include household and interfamilial relations as we believe is a central locus of womens dis- empowerment in Pakistan. And by including the political, we posit that womens empowerment measures should include womens participation in systemic transformation by engaging in political action. Bandura (1986) suggests that a person's self-expectations determine whether or not certain behavior will be undertaken, the extent of effort expended by the individual, and whether the individual can persist in the face of challenges encountered. This notion of self-efficacy is mediated by a person's beliefs or expectations about his/her ability to achieve certain tasks effectively or exhibit certain behaviors . According Malhorata and Mather(1997) Kishor(1995) and 2000 Hashami (1996) According to all these we do not attempt resolve this debate, we take the position can be measured by factors contributing to each of the following their personal, economic, familial and political empowerment. According to Amin, Becker,Buyes(1998).According to these writers in many countries husband empowered their wives in household affairs. According these writers this is not empowerment. They think that empowerment mean political and legal awareness involvement in major decisions and involvement in political campagigning. Amin, Becker and Bayes (1998) split the concept of womens empowerment into three components each measured separately: Inter-spouse consultation index, which seeks to represent the extent to which husbands consult their wives in household affairs; Individual autonomy indexes which represents womens selfreported autonomy of physical movement outside the house and in matters of spending money; and the Authority index, which reports on actual decision-making power (which is traditionally in the hands of the patriarch of the family). These indices are similar to those of used by Balk in her 1994 study. Comparable components of empowerment are included in the eight indicators by Hashemi (1996): mobility, economic security, ability to make a small purchases, ability to make larger purchases, involvement in major decisions, relative freedom from domination by the family, political and legal awareness, and involvement in political campaigning and protests. Several different efforts have been made in recent years to develop comprehensive frameworks delineating the various dimensions along which women can be empowered (Malhotra, Schuler and Boender, 2002) We construct four separate components of empowerment in Table 1 that draw from many of the authors mentioned earlier and especially rely on Hashemi (1996) and Amin Becker and Bayes, (1998), as their work seems most relevant for rural women in Pakistan.

. WOMEN STATUS IN ISLAM Pakistan is an Islamic society in which most of the practices are according to Islamic teaching and Islam has given equal rights to both man and women what is not known is the status of women in Islam. An attempt will be made in the following passage to sum up the attitude of Islam with regard to women. 1 Women is recognized by Islam as a full and equal partner of man in the procreation of humankind. He is the father; she is the mother and both are essential for life. Her role is not less vital than his. By this partnership she has an equal share in every aspect; she is entitled to equal rights; she undertakes equal responsibilities, and in her there are as many qualities and much humanity as there are in her partner. To this equal partnership in reproduction of human kind ALLAH says: O mankind! Verily we have created your from a single (pair) of a male and female, and made you into nations and tribes that you may know each other.. (Quran, 49:13; cf.4; 1). 2 She is equal to man in bearing personal and common responsibilities and in receiving rewards for her deeds. She is acknowledged as an independent personality, in possession of human qualities and worthy of spiritual aspirations. Her human nature is neither inferior to nor deviant from that of man. Both are members of one another. God says: And their Lord has accepted (their prayers) and answered them (saying): 'Never will I cause to be lost the work of any of you, be the male or female; you are members, one of another... (3:195; cf 9:71;33: 35-36;66:19-21). 3She is equal to man in the pursuit of education and knowledge. When Islam enjoins the seeking of knowledge upon Muslims, it makes no distinction between man and woman. Almost fourteen centuries ago, Muhammad declared that the pursuit of knowledge is incumbent on every Muslim male and female. This declaration was very clear and was implemented by Muslims throughout history. 4She is entitled to freedom of expression as much as man is. Her sound opinions are taken into consideration and cannot be disregarded just because she happen to belong to the female sex. It is reported in the Qur'an and history that woman not only expressed her opinion freely but also argued and participated in serious discussions with the Prophet himself as well as with other Muslim leaders (Qur'an, 58:1-4; 60:10-12). Besides there were occasions when Muslim women expressed their views on legislative matters of public interest, and stood in opposition to the Caliphs, who then accepted the sound arguments of these women. A specific example took place during the Califate of Umar Ibn al-Khattab. 5Historical records show that women participated in public life with the early Muslims, especially in times of emergencies. Women used to accompany the Muslim armies engaged in battles to nurse the wounded, prepare supplies, serve the warriors, and so on. They were not shut behind iron bars or considered worthless creatures and deprived of souls. 6 Apart from recognition of woman as an independent human being acknowledged as equally essential for the survival of humanity, Islam has given her a share of inheritance. Before Islam,

she was not only deprived of that share but was herself considered as property to be inherited by man. Out of that transferable property Islam made an heir, acknowledging the inherent human qualifies in woman. Whether she is a wife or mother, a sister or daughter, she receives a certain share of the deceased kin's property, a share which depends on her degree of relationship to the deceased and the number of heirs. This share is hers, and no one can take it away or disinherit her. Even if the deceased wishes to deprive her by making a will to other relations or in favor of any other cause, the Law will not allow him to do so. Any proprietor is permitted to make his will within the limit of one-third of his property, so he may not affect the rights of his heirs, men and women. In the case of inheritance, the question of quality and sameness is fully applicable. Relations but the portions they get may vary. In some instances man receives two shares whereas woman gets one only. This no sign of giving preference or supremacy to man over woman. The reasons why man gets more in these particular instances may be classified as follows: y First man is the person solely responsible for the complete maintenance of his wife, his family and any other needy relations. It is his duty by Law to assume all financial responsibilities and maintain his dependents adequately. It is also his duty to contribute financially to all good causes in his society. All financial burdens are borne by him alone. Secondly, in contrast, woman has no financial responsibilities whatsoever except very little of her personal expenses, the high luxurious things that she likes to have. She is financially secure and provided for. If she is a wife, her husband is the provider; if she is a mother, it is the son; if she is a daughter, it is the father; if she is a sister; it is the brother, and so on. If she has no relations on whom she can depend, then there is no question of inheritance because there is nothing to inherit and there is no one to bequeath anything to her. However, she will not be left to starve; maintenance of such a woman is the responsibility of the society as a whole, the state. She may be given aid or a job to earn her living, and whatever money she makes will be hers. She is not responsible for the maintenance of anybody else besides herself. If there is a man in her position, he would still be responsible for his family and possibly any of his relations who need his help. So, in the hardest situation her financial responsibility is limited, while his is unlimited. Thirdly, when a woman gets less than a man does, she is not actually deprived of anything that she has worked for. The property inherited is not the result of her earning or her endeavors. It is something coming to them from a neutral source, something additional or extra. It is something that neither man nor woman struggled for. It is a sort of aid, and any aid has to be distributed according to the urgent needs and responsibilities especially when the distribution is regulated by the Law of God.

Now, we have a male heir, on one side, burdened with all kinds of financial responsibilities and liabilities. We have, on the other side, a female heir with no financial responsibilities at all or at most with very little of it. In between we have some property and aid to redistribute by way of inheritance. If we deprive the female completely, it would be unjust to her because she is related to the deceased. Likewise, if we always give her a share equal to the man's, it would be unjust to him. So, instead of doing injustice to either side, Islam gives the man a larger portion of the inherited property to help him to meet his family needs and social responsibilities. At the same time, Islam has not forgotten her altogether, but has given her a portion to satisfy her very personal needs. In fact, Islam in this respect is being more kind to her than to him. Here we can say that when taken as a whole the rights of woman are equal to those of man although not necessarily identical (see Qur'an, 4:11-14, 176).

WOMENS RIGHTS IN PAKISTAN If we want to discusses the rights of women in Pakistani society than it is divided into two categories.

 URBAN WOMEN  RURAL WOMEN a) WOMEN IN URBAN SOCIETY OF PAKISTAN In 21st century women in urban society of Pakistan carries all rights, majority of women are getting education, working in different field of there interest side by side with men. Women in Pakistan are now working on the post of CEOS, GT pilot, high post in Banks, doctors, engineer and what not women are free to go in any field now and complete her dream without any fear. Urban side of Pakistani is not anymore backward, urban areas women are said to be called the super women they are not behind men in performing their responsibilities. Urbanization contribute much in adopting change in Pakistani society and with change the most important thing that happened is change in mind set of parents who previously considered their daughters as burdens but now its not like that anymore and due to parents encouragement and support women are working side by side with men and sharing the burden of society as equal partner. Trend of early marriages is changing due to alteration in parents mindset. Now parents give their daughters the chance to live their life with freedom but in limits and in my point of view limit are very important for protecting the values and norms of our society. Young girls in urban areas of Pakistan have passion to do something in their lives, to make their own identity stand on their own feets and do not become burden on parents after completing education. Most of the girls are working in different fields and trend is changing that girl can only adopt the profession of medicine is not any more. Urban women are enjoying their rights although they have to face difficulties in work places, buses and from some conservative mindset people but all women are ready to cross all obstacles coming in there way of success and they all count these difficulties as minor problems. Women of urban areas do not think that what others are saying for them and they are on their way to success. The rising inflation contributes much in women empowerment and now women are working to support their families in this time of inflation. It is not the time that one person can earn the bread for the whole family and remain dependent but now women are sharing the burden equally with men. In urban areas women are performing all duties with full responsibility and now society starts giving credit for all the achievement today women are doing. Pakistani working women try to balance between work and her family. Because family is Allah blessing and to unite the family and look after for its need is the

responsibility of women and because of them only family system in Pakistan is much stronger. In my point of view Pakistani women should be the best example for others that how to maintain balance between work and family which is necessary for making healthier and organized society. b) WOMEN IN RURAL SOCIETY OF PAKISTAN Pakistan rural areas are in hold of so called Zamindar, Jagirdars, Feudal lords who suppressed the rights of women and considered them as their property. Rural women are working in fields along with men and doing all household work but despite of all the sacrifices and contribution she carries no right and has no share in anything and her life remain property of men who are dominant member of society. Women in rural areas of Pakistan are in worst condition may be there are 10 percent of women enjoying their rights but I am talking about remaining 80 percent of women those rights have been suppressed sometime on name of prestige, her life have been sacrificed on the name of honor killing and other illegal customs which have no place in Islamic teaching and are man made rules for women and make their life like hell. These women have no education nothing they are fully dependents on their men and this is the reason that they can not raise their voice against any injustice done with them and if they will be educated than they can say no to the violence and cruelty done with them on the name of so called manhood. Rural men think that if they do not suppressed the rights of women and hold their lives in their hands than how they can say themselves that we are MEN and he has all the right to crushed the rights of women under her feet because women has given the right to them to do injustice with them because they feed them and give shelter for living. May be some of my readers will be against me that it is not true and if it is wrong than what about the case of Mukhtara Mai she was gang raped, Tasleem Sulangi and all such thousands of women killed on the name of honor are buried in Kari Graveyard built to give lesson to other women that not to think about living life according to your own will, and never raise voice in front of men for your rights and if some one did so than this Kari Graveyard will be your final destination. Whatever Taliban government was doing with women of Rural areas were totally against Islamic teaching because Islam have given all rights to women and such illiterate people who want to dominate are using the name of Islam for fulfilling their evil designs. Islam is such a religion in which women respect is so important that it can be proved from the saying of Prophet Muhammad that PARADISE LIES UNDER MOTHER FEET Lastly I can only say that women respect is necessary from every aspect and they should be given equal rights whether its Pakistani society or western. West instead of raising finger on violated rights of women in Pakistan should contribute its share in raising the standard of living of rural women built schools for them so that they all get education,

vocational training should be established which can groom the inner abilities and provide the opportunities of earning to women of rural areas. In my point of view lack of earning opportunities and education is the main cause of violation of women rights. If women will be empowered then next coming generation will be educated and women can feel secure and can raise their voice against their rights without hesitation and fear. So this proves that women empowerment is very important for the progress of a country and nation. WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS THAT FACING PAKISTAN 1)EDUCATION: Education is considered as the cheapest defense of a nation. Some people thing that the education facilities for women are good in Pakistan. But this is fact that the education facilities are not good for women, specially in under developed areas .In these areas the facilities of education for women is very limited. Transportation facilities are not good.  Educational infrastructure is unsatisfactory The availability of educational facilities as well as their standard is far away from perfection. On one hand, the educational infrastructure is unsatisfactory; Firstly, the educational system of Pakistan is based on unequal lines. Medium of education is different in both, public and private sector. This create a sort of disparity among people, dividing them into two segments. Secondly, regional disparity is also a major cause. The schools in Balochistan(The Largest Provice Of Pakistan By Area) are not that much groomed as that of Punjab (The Largest Provice Of Pakistan By Population). In FATA, the literacy rate is deplorable constituting 29.5% in males and 3% in females. Thirdly, the ratio of gender discrimination is a cause which is projecting the primary school ratio of boys & girls which is 10:4 respectively. For the last few years there has been an increase in the growth of private schools. That not only harms the quality of education but create a gap among haves and have nots. Fourthly, the lack of technical education is a biggest flaw in the educational policy that has never been focused before. Therefore, less technical people means less .Fifthly, the allocation of funds for education are very low. It is only 1.5 to 2.0 percent of the total GDP. It should be around 7% of the total GDP. Sixthly, the teachers in government schools are not well trained. People who donot get job in any other sector, they try their luck in educational system. They are not professionally trained teachers so they are unable to train a nation. Finally, Poverty is also another factor that restrict the parents to send their children to public or private schools. So, they prefer to send their children to madressahs where education is totally free.  SOCIAL CONDUCT AND PERCEPTIONS On the other hand, the social conduct and perceptions are not always in favor of female education.

 Poverty
Poverty makes another reason for low enrollment and high dropout rate, especially among female students. The misconception about the purpose of education, as being a tool for earning, is another dimension of the problem. Since females are not expected to work as bread-earners, therefore, parents feel less motivated to provide them with facilities for higher education. 2)HEALTH PROBLEMS Women and men share many similar health problems but women also have their own health issues, which deserve special consideration. Today women's health is coming to be viewed as a distinctive field. Why should it be separate from the rest of health? The answer is two-fold. An area devoted to women's health:  Makes finding information about women's health matters faster; and it  Focuses directly on topics that are major health concerns for women. Women's lives have changed over the centuries. Historically, life was particularly difficult for most women. Aside from the numerous dangers and diseases, women became wives and mothers often when they were just emerging from their own childhood. Many women had a multitude of pregnancies which may or may not have been wanted. In the past, childbirth itself was risky and not infrequently led to the death of the mother. Most women in the past did not live long enough to be concerned about menopause or old age. In health sector, there is a lack of basic facilities in all areas and regions, for the whole population, in general, but women and children in the rural areas suffer the most. Inadequate community outreach and remoteness of health services centers add to the problems, caused by lack of proper care and non-availability of qualified medical staff. Unhygienic environment, widespread poverty, and insufficiency of clean drinking water are among the main reasons for poor health and high death rate. Lack of awareness in masses further aggravates the already pitiable situation.

3)Economic Situation Women in Pakistan participate fully in economic activities in the productive and reproductive sphere. The economic value of womens activities in the reproductive sphere and unpaid work as a family laborer in the productive sphere has not been recognized as productive and is not accounted for in the national statistics. In the cultural context of Pakistan, womens wage work is considered a threat to the male ego and identity and womens engagement in multiple home-based economic activities leads to under remuneration for their work. Pakistani girls and women spend long hours fetching water, doing laundry, preparing food, and carrying out agricultural duties. Not only are these tasks physically hard and demanding, they also rob girls of the opportunity to study. Women lack ownership of productive resources. Despite womens

legal rights to own and inherit property from their families, there are very few women who have access and control over these resources. Commercial banks ignore women clients due to their preconceived views on womens creditworthiness because of their dependency on men for physical collateral, high transaction cost of small loans, and difficulties in gaining information about a borrowers reliability (Box 1).The Agriculture Development Bank of Pakistan and First Womens Bank Limited (FWBL) are the only banks that have small-scale credit programs that cater to women. Other sources of credit to women include informal sources such as non government organizations (NGOs), friends, relatives, and moneylenders.

Box 1: Issues/Problems in Womens Economic Activities Immediate Lack of job opportunities for women Womens lack of marketable skills Low-paid and low-status jobs for women Casualization of employment contracts High rate of underemployment and unemployment among women Exploitative working conditions Male-dominated trade unions Low wages of women workers in the informal sector Sexual harassment at workplace Underlying Segmented labor market Structural adjustment programs Liberalization, privatization, and globalization Cultural restriction on womens occupational choice Womens segregation and ideology of purdah Under remuneration of womens work Lack of recognition of womens unpaid work as productive Inadequate labor laws Structural Gender-role ideology Capital accumulation based on exploitation of gender, race, and class Non recognition of womens traditional roles as productive

4)LEGAL STATUS
Pakistan is a country where parallel judicial systems are operating. Some of them are exclusively applicable to the tribal areas and others are applicable throughout the country. The Constitution of Pakistan includes three distinct judicial systems that function alongside the ordinary judicial system, i.e., the Federal Shariat Court, the Appellate Shariat Bench, and the Criminal Law Forums. Various amendments in the Constitution during the martial law period of 19771986 introduced these parallel judicial systems, which are causing great confusion in the

country. The 1973 Constitution of Pakistan is a contradictory instrument. On the one hand, Article 25 of the Constitution guarantees equality of rights to all citizens irrespective of sex, race, and class and empowers the Government to take affirmative action to protect and promote womens rights. On the other hand, there are several discriminatory laws that negatively impact on women. For example, the Family Law is not uniform in that its personal or customary laws govern each religious community and all of them have discriminatory provisions. Under the Muslim Family Law, women have unequal rights to inheritance, termination of marriage, minimum age of marriage, and natural guardianship of children; polygamy has not been banned or even sufficiently restricted by law; and there are grossly inadequate provisions for womens financial security after termination of marriage. Women have unequal rights under the citizenship laws, in which citizenship through descent is guaranteed only through a father, and which give the foreign wife of a Pakistani man the right to acquire citizenship, with no corresponding right for the foreign husband of a Pakistani woman. Box2: Issues/Problems of Women and Law Immediate High cost of litigation Lack of access to legal aid Delay in getting justice Complicated court procedures Sexual harassment of women in courts Underlying Illiteracy among women Lack of awareness of legal rights Lack of female judges Structural Discriminatory legislation Gender biases of judiciary and law enforcing agencies 5)GENDER GAP What is meaning by gender gap?

Definition: statistical differences between sexes: a noticeable difference in behavior or attitudes between men and women or boys and girls. Pakistan is ranked at 132, third from the bottom on a list of 134 nations compiled by the World Economic Forum for 2009. The 2009 ranking represents a slip of five places in the Global Gender Gap Index 2009 from 127th spot to 132nd from among 134 countries,

What Are the Reasons?

Pakistan still has a closely knit family system. One of the most apparent reasons for the lack of women working is the direct disapproval of senior members of the family. Although the primary reason behind a reduced female workforce is mostly considered to be the lack of education, many experts believe that family is the key issue. Employment problems mainly faced by women in Pakistan are social, be they the traditional outlook on the household status of women, the lack of safety while using public transport, inadequate educational facilities, or the non-availability of vocational training. Moreover, women are often kept in casual positions in the informal employment sector where they can be exploited as an inexpensive source of labor. Another concern and a possible reason for the non-participation of women is harassment at the workplace. Numerous human rights reports have indicated that women employed in secretarial jobs, as domestic wage workers, and in semi-skilled or unskilled employment, are targets of sexual harassment. Pakistani women faces the gender gap in every sector of life.

6)Violence Against Women

Violence against women is the most powerful mechanism used by family, society, and state to silence voices of resistance to the existing gender-related social order. It ensures that women will continue to accept gender hierarchies in all social relations of production and reproduction and perpetuates their subordination. Violence against women is a fundamental violation of the human right to life, physical safety, self-respect, and dignity. It is the manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women. The social construction of gender establishes male authority and power over women, and provides the basis for gender-based violence in the society.

 Some forms of violence against women

Some forms of violence against women, especially domestic and customary violence, are so entrenched in the culture that they are hardly recognized as violence and largely condoned by the society. It is difficult to assess the extent of violence against women due to lack of data. Also, the Critical Issues for Women in incidences of violence are grossly underreported. However, a few microlevel studies give some indication on the form and extent of violence inflicted on women. Domestic violence is fairly widespread across all classes. It ranges from slapping, hitting, and kicking, to murder. Since the society, police and law enforcing agencies view domestic violence as a private matter, it goes unnoticed until it takes extreme forms of murder or attempted murder. A study conducted by the Womens Division suggests that domestic violence takes place in approximately 80 percent of the households in the country.

 Rape
Rape is one of the most common crimes against women but grossly underreported due to the shame attached to the victim. According to official statistics, one woman is raped every six hours in the country. Women are also Rape If the male honor is compromised in any way, the womenfolk of the rival party are humiliated by being made to strip Rapeoff in public and paraded through the streets to take revenge from the family. Marital rape is not even recognized as a criminal offense in Pakistani law, which is a negation of womens right over their own sexuality. Rape in police custody is also widespread but vastly underreported as it involves members of the police as the perpetrators of this crime.

      

. Kidnapping Forced prostitution Sexual violence at the workplace are other forms of violence on the rise. Buying and selling women as a commodity, Women as barter to settle family disputes Marriage to Quran, Killing them in the name of honor are other forms of violence against women being condoned in the name of tradition and culture.

- Factors That Perpetuate Domestic Violence Cultural Gender-specific socialization Cultural definitions of appropriate sex roles Expectations of roles within relationships Belief in the inherent superiority of males Values that give men proprietary rights over women and girls Notion of the family as the private sphere and under male control Customs of marriage (bride price/dowry) Acceptability of violence as a means to resolve conflict Economic Womens economic dependence on men Limited access to cash and credit Discriminatory laws regarding inheritance, property rights, use of communal lands, and maintenance after divorce or widowhood Limited access to employment in formal and informal sectors Limited access to education and training for women Legal Lesser legal status of women either by written law and/or by practice Laws regarding divorce, child custody, maintenance and inheritance Legal definitions of rape and domestic abuse Low levels of legal literacy among women Insensitive treatment of women and girls by police and judiciary Political Under-representation of women in power, politics, the media and in the legal and medical professions Domestic violence not taken seriously Notions of family being private and beyond control of the state Risk of challenge to status quo/religious laws Limited organization of women as a political force Limited participation of women in organized political system HOW WE CAN SOLVE THESE PROBLEMS?
     Maintain the educational structure Equalization in education system Remove the regional disparity Remove the ratio gender discrimination Maximize the allocation of funds in education for woman

              

Availability of trained female teachers Introduce environment that should be favor of female education Increase the health facilities Hospitals should opened in underdeveloped areas Availability of qualified staff Increase the women wage Open the small credit programs Increase the literacy rate among women Awareness of legal rights Hired the female judges Minimize the gender gap Increasing the jobs for woman Introduce hard punishment for violence Decrease the sexual violence at the workplace Marriage with Quran strictly banned

GOVERNMENT WORK FOR THE PROTECATION OF WOMAN  Women in parliament

National Assembly
The National Assembly of Pakistan is the lower house. It consist of 342 members, 272 of whom are directly elected, 60 reserved for women and 10 for minorities. 13 women are directly elected as Pakistani law requires that at least 20% of the members be women. Presentation of budget is categorically the duty of national assembly. Members of cabinet must be the members of national assembly.

Senate
The Senate of Pakistan is the upper house of parliament. It has 100 members; 18 of these members are women, one greater than the required number. According to the constitution, the President cannot dissolve Senate. Members of the Senate are elected from provincial assemblies.

Parties

Votes

Elected seats

Reserved seats (Women) 23

Reserved seats (Minorities/NonMuslims) 4

Total

Pakistan Peoples Party Pakistan Muslim League (N) Pakistan Muslim League

10,606,486 30.6%

94

130

6,781,445 19.6%

71

17

95

7,989,817 23.0%

42

10

55

(Q) Muttahida Qaumi Movement Awami National Party Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal Pakistan  Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) 772,798
Note: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, Jamiat Ulema-ePakistan, Tehrik-e-Jafaria Pakistan and Jamiat Ahle Hadith did not participate.

2,507,813

7.4%

19

26

700,479

2.0%

10

13

2.2%

Pakistan Muslim League (F) Pakistan Peoples Party (Sherpao) National Peoples Party Balochistan National Party (Awami) Independents Total 34,665,978 100%

140,707

0.4%

18 266

0 60

0 10

18 336

Source: Election Commission of Pakistan, Adam Carr's Electoral Archive

DOMESTIC VOLIENCE BILL

The most indispensable tool for development of a society is prevailing humanitarian rights with a vital assurance that rights are maintained without gender bias and discrimination. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW) Between 70 percent and 90 percent of the 83 million women in Pakistan have been

attacked or suffered other forms of domestic abuse by husbands, future husbands or other family members. Nearly 290 women were killed and 750 permanently injured or disfigured as a result of acid attacks in 2002 alone. The National Assembly has recently passed Domestic Violence Bill. Its a crucial step considering that domestic violence was not considered a crime in Pakistan. The bill also proposes to broaden the definition to not only pertain to physical and emotional abuse , but also sexual, verbal and economic abuse. Causing hurt, use of force, mischief, assault, wrongful confinement, and intimidation to be considered as crimes. As per sources: The National Assembly passed a private bill on Tuesday aimed to prevent the prevalent curse through quick criminal trials and a chain of protection committees and protection officers. The first breach of a protection order will be punishable with imprisonment of up to one year, but not less than six months, and a minimum fine of Rs100,000, which will be paid to the aggrieved person. But a violation for the second or third time, or more, will be punishable with up to two years imprisonment and a fine of not less than 200,000 payable to the aggrieved person. Sounds too good to be true doesnt it? Heres the real icing on the cake: However, filing a false complaintwhich the complainant knows or has reason to believe to be false in a court will be punishable with simple imprisonment of up to six months or with fine of up to Rs50,000, or with both. This sounds quite familiar to the notorious Hudood ordinance, which is still being used as a strong tool against women. Some questions on how the authorities plan to implement the law : The most indispensable tool for development of a society is prevailing humanitarian rights with a vital assurance that rights are maintained without gender bias and discrimination. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW) Between 70 percent and 90 percent of the 83 million women in Pakistan have been attacked or suffered other forms of domestic abuse by husbands, future husbands or other family members. Nearly 290 women were killed and 750 permanently injured or disfigured as a result of acid attacks in 2002 alone. The National Assembly has recently passed Domestic Violence Bill. Its a crucial step provided that domestic violence was not considered a crime in Pakistan. The bill also proposes to broaden the definition to not only pertain to physical and emotional abuse , but also sexual, verbal and economic abuse. Causing hurt, use of force, mischief, assault, wrongful confinement, and intimidation to be considered as crimes. As per sources: The National Assembly passed a private bill on Tuesday aimed to prevent the prevalent curse through quick criminal trials and a chain of protection committees and protection officers. The first breach of a protection order will be punishable with imprisonment of up to one year, but not less than six months, and a minimum fine of Rs100,000, which will be paid to the aggrieved person. But a violation for the second or third time, or more, will be punishable with up to two years imprisonment and a fine of not less than 200,000 payable to the aggrieved person. Sounds too good to be true doesnt it? Heres the real icing on the cake: However, filing a false complaintwhich the complainant knows or has reason to believe to be false in a court will be punishable with simple imprisonment of up to six months or with fine of up to Rs50,000, or with both.

This sounds quite familiar to the notorious Hudood ordinance, which was tactfully used against women rather than for them. To analyse how effective the Hudood ordinance was in helping women or otherwise , the HRCP report states. Women business development centers in Pakistan ISLAMABAD: Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (SMEDA) plans to establish 14 Women Business Development Centers (WBDC) in major industrial and commercial cities throughout Pakistan with the objective of facilitating and promoting women entrepreneurship in the country. This was stated by Muhammad Alamgir Chaudhary, Provincial Chief (Punjab) of SMEDA while addressing a seminar of women entrepreneurs, jointly organized jointly by SMEDA and Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI). These centers, funded by the Government of Pakistan, will provide hands-on support to women entrepreneurs in an exclusive female oriented environment. These Centers, all required facilities like offices, exhibition/display facility and business development services (including training programs) will be offered to women entrepreneurs under one roof. The entire effort is focused at encouraging new business start-ups and support to existing businesses including the right environment for nurturing women owned and managed businesses to an extent that these become sustainable; more specifically, in start-up period (first five years) when they are most vulnerable. WBDC is a supportive entrepreneurial community designed to help grow small businesses. The Centers will be established for providing assistance to home-based businesses or those in earlier stages of development. These Centers will also serve as working place on temporary basis for women entrepreneurs performing businesses at their homes. After establishing of businesses at incubators, the businesswomen will shift to a suitable place, he added and expressed the hope that WBDC would play a vital role in development of the economy by promoting female entrepreneurship in the country. Speaking on the occasion ICCI Vice President Muhammad Ishtiaq Qureshi said women make up about 51 percent of Pakistans population but their role in our society and economy still remains minimal. He said in todays competitive world, empowerment of women has become an important issue to make them equal contributor for economic development. To fully capitalize the potential and talent of women; government should step up efforts for their skill development and capacity building, he said by adding that out of total 3.2 million small and medium enterprises in Pakistan, women enterprises represent only 3 percent which calls for revolutionary measures to enhance their role in business world. He said majority of women entrepreneurs normally opt for traditional businesses like beauty parlors, bakeries, boutiques with largest number in garments and handicrafts sector. However, government should make policies to encourage them in other sectors of the economy to realize better results from their talent. Initiative of SMEDA was lauded for establishing Women Business Development Centers across Pakistan amid hope that these Centers will provide valuable support to prospective women entrepreneurs in actualizing their dreams. ICCI, he said has also taken many initiatives in collaboration with CIPE to promote youth and women entrepreneurship and

held many seminars to create better awareness in women how to start, grow and succeed as successful business women. S