The Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Qazi Faez Isa has restated the fact that denying women their rightful inheritance is a serious offense besides being against the principles of Islam. Article 25 of the Constitution ensures equal treatment and provides for the protection of women, children, and marginalized segments, the CJP recapped this by addressing a symposium titled ‘Inclusive Justice’ in Islamabad.
Besides speaking on the issue of honor killing, education, and parliamentary representation of women, the top judge said the Constitution is flawed in neither substance nor spirit, but rather in its execution. The CJP has also called for measures to ensure women’s representation in Pakistan’s spheres of life.
The CJP has rightly indicated that the issue is not about having laws, rather the problem is with their implementation. A former CJP -Justice (Retd) Mian Saqib Nisar – earlier said the judiciary is mandated to ensure fundamental rights. He said the developed life is education, good leadership, strong adjudication, and the rule of law. The Supreme Court and other superior courts are guardians of these rights.
It is important to note that Pakistan is sick on all global files when it comes to human rights, particularly women’s rights. It ranks 145 out of 146 countries on the Global Gender Gap Report 2022. It dropped seven places in the Human Development Index (HDI) in the 2021-2022, placed at 161 out of 192 countries, and ranked 129 out of 140 on the Rule of Law Index. Who is responsible for all this is a question.
The answer to this question indicates that we as an entire nation are responsible for this situation. In the implementation area, Pakistan ranks 125 out of 163 countries according to the Sustainable Development Data portal. The constitution guarantees the right to education for all but Pakistan scores 0.825 in educational attainment in the Global Gender Gap Index 2022, ranking 135 out of 146 countries. An estimated 22.8 million children aged 5-16 are out of school. According to the UN Women 53% of females (15-64 years) in Pakistan reported they never attended school. In the labor market force, females who had completed Grade 12 or above, are only 30% while males are 83%. In technical education and training, 0.5 million students were enrolled in 2021 of which females were 33% and males stood at 67%. The overall labor force participation rate (LFPR) of women aged 15-64 years is 26% while 84% is for men.
Educational attainment is a key factor for women’s development, about 60% of women in the labor force have no education. More than 70% of all employed women in Pakistan are in vulnerable jobs and this ratio in rural areas is 81%. Violence Against Women (VAWG) is another area of high concern in Pakistan.
According to the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS) 2017-18, 23% of ever-married women (15-49 years) report having experienced physical violence, 26% emotional violence, and 5% sexual violence at the hands of husbands. Nearly 28% of women facing poverty experienced physical or sexual violence. A cross-provincial picture on justifications regarding physical violence by intimate partners shows that between 25% (Punjab) and 59% (KP), women believe that beating of a wife by a husband is justified. Of those who never reported domestic violence – 24% – believed that the violence was not serious, 15% were embarrassed to report it, 12% did not want to bring a bad name to the family, 9% feared further violence, and 8% didn’t report for the fear that their marriage would end. More than 90% of working women, in both private and public sectors, acknowledge being harassed, yet more than 50% do not know that harassment at the workplace is a crime and only 17% of women reported such incidents.
More than 80% of women face harassment in public places according to a Women Safety Audit undertaken by UN Women in 2020, the majority (90.3%) of respondents did not consider it to be a crime. When shared with the families, 85% told them to ignore the incident giving a message of silence to the women and girls. About 68 percent of the individuals targeted by online harassers were found to be women. Meanwhile, the process of obtaining justice is scary for many women. Official figures show that 56% of women survivors never sought help or told anyone. Women’s access to justice has long been an issue of concern, and the barriers they face start from the initial report to the police and not end to the last of the case.
It is no surprise that many women drop their cases before they reach a conclusion and even for those who persist till the end, the low level of conviction rate (around 2%) means that they are unable to obtain justice. Weak implementation of laws and a lack of awareness among survivors of violence as well as duty-bearers limit the effectiveness of such cases. As a result, Pakistan ranks 129 out of 140 countries worldwide in the Rule of Law Index 2022. In many parts of the country, informal justice systems still exist to deal with crimes, civil disputes, and family matters do not have access to the formal justice system.
Despite the guarantees by the Constitution, women’s political participation particularly at the decision-making pistons is invisible. How many women presidents, prime ministers, and chief ministers have we had in our history? How many female chief justices have we historically had in our justice system? It easily reflects our standards for women. Gender biases and prejudices against women candidates in our systems exist at large. To bring about substantial change in what the CJP has pointed out, implementation and education are the core areas that need attention. The picture of other marginalized sections of society and children have their issues to be discussed, but all can never improve till there is a will, there is proper education and improved equal systems for all. What the CJP has pointed out needs to be taken serious at all levels. If his speech had been political, there could have been a large hue and cry, but now when it was about the rights of women, no one came even on social media in its support. These needs change. To effectively address this area, the criminal justice system requires a major surgery.
(Senior journalist Rana Kashif has authored this article)