Taliban-type forces in all major cities threaten schools to stop educating girls else they will be bombarded.
IT is no secret that today’s Pakistan is different from what it was before the 1980s. Society’s norms are changing, especially from the perspective of women. Intolerance is slowly increasing towards working women, an issue that must be addressed.
This attitude towards women cannot be resolved simply by increasing the number of female parliamentarians. Real empowerment of women can only come about when there is strong legal protection provided to women at the workplace. In addition, it is necessary for the media to monitor the treatment of women.
The present government tried to empower women through working on some useful legislation. This year in February the cabinet approved two bills making sexual harassment at the workplace a punishable offence. The first bill mandates every public, private or semi-private organisation to have a code of conduct against sexual harassment at the workplace and to constitute a three-member committee to handle individual complaints. It establishes the authority of the said committee and related major and minor penalties.
The second bill is an amendment to the Pakistan Penal Code through Section 509A which defines sexual harassment and makes it a punishable offence. Although the bill awaits parliamentary approval, women in the country are hopeful regarding an improvement in their status.
However, there is a gap between the government’s promises and actions. This is clear from a case at the Pakistan Audit Department where a senior officer was accused of sexually harassing a female colleague under his supervision. The department’s preliminary inquiry established the charges against the officer and recommended disciplinary action against him. Later, when the department sought permission from the competent authority, which in this case was the prime minister, to proceed against the said officer, the accused requested an inquiry officer other than one from the PAD. Interestingly, this inquiry officer exonerated the accused on the basis that the complainant had not submitted a written complaint. No credence was given to the fact that the accused could not produce any witness in his favour during the proceedings while over a dozen witnesses had appeared on behalf of the prosecution.
Furthermore, the extra-departmental inquiry is in contravention of the draft bill which only provides for an independent ombudsperson for the complainant under the aegis of the National Commission for the Safety of Women if she is not getting a sympathetic hearing from her own department. What is worse, the Establishment Division is even considering the accused for promotion to BPS-21.
Given this situation, one wonders what will happen to the bill once it comes up for discussion in parliament. With the likes of Maulana Fazlur Rahman and his brother or tribal chiefs sitting in the assembly, there is the danger that they might extract major concessions from the government before the bill is finally passed. After all, parliamentarians such as Israrullah Zehri could always justify changes or their resistance to women’s empowerment on the basis of archaic tribal traditions or societal attitudes.
But then the attitude of society is something that evolves or is constructed by many factors such as the approach of policymakers, opinion-makers and others. Human agency is critical in constructing social attitudes and norms. Should we forget that a few decades ago, especially during the 1960s and the 1970s, we had a different social attitude with greater liberalism than what we see today?
Liberal society then was the result of attitudes of the critical human agency. Watching some television dramas these days will explain the changes that key sectors such as the media are bringing to society. For instance, there are plays in which we are shown love affairs between the maidservant and the master of the house. The underlying message is that the lady of the house, who is probably educated and a working woman, is not good enough when compared to the less educated or illiterate maid.
Such an exercise in perception-formation feeds into attitudes at the workplace. At the risk of generalising matters it could be said that the man or boss could begin to perceive educated women at the workplace as those who are not attending to their homes and can, hence, be mistreated.
Such representation of women in the media is also an indicator of the larger danger of a kind of radicalisation in society that has gradually begun to threaten life in the country, especially in urban centres. Given such representation, is it strange that families of working women should be threatened in Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore? The other day I was talking to a friend who was in a dilemma over not being able to send her four-year-old daughter to school as it had received threats from militants in Lahore. Taliban-type forces in all major cities threaten schools to stop educating girls else they will be bombarded.
Should civil society not do anything about it? The answer is no. Given the threat of radicalisation, civil society must congregate to protest and show its resolve to fight radical elements in society. Those claiming to be the soldiers of God should not get the right to determine the future of state and society for their own power interests. Such an exercise must go hand in hand with a movement for bringing greater justice and fairness to state institutions.
It goes without saying that change will only come about when the media adopts a more constructive attitude vis-à-vis social issues. Women constitute half this country’s population. They deserve a better work environment and treatment. Portraying those who are capable as useless creatures is nothing but a travesty of justice. Without capable women, who are protected by the legal system, state and society will not be able to grow.
This attitude towards women cannot be resolved simply by increasing the number of female parliamentarians. Real empowerment of women can only come about when there is strong legal protection provided to women at the workplace. In addition, it is necessary for the media to monitor the treatment of women.
The present government tried to empower women through working on some useful legislation. This year in February the cabinet approved two bills making sexual harassment at the workplace a punishable offence. The first bill mandates every public, private or semi-private organisation to have a code of conduct against sexual harassment at the workplace and to constitute a three-member committee to handle individual complaints. It establishes the authority of the said committee and related major and minor penalties.
The second bill is an amendment to the Pakistan Penal Code through Section 509A which defines sexual harassment and makes it a punishable offence. Although the bill awaits parliamentary approval, women in the country are hopeful regarding an improvement in their status.
However, there is a gap between the government’s promises and actions. This is clear from a case at the Pakistan Audit Department where a senior officer was accused of sexually harassing a female colleague under his supervision. The department’s preliminary inquiry established the charges against the officer and recommended disciplinary action against him. Later, when the department sought permission from the competent authority, which in this case was the prime minister, to proceed against the said officer, the accused requested an inquiry officer other than one from the PAD. Interestingly, this inquiry officer exonerated the accused on the basis that the complainant had not submitted a written complaint. No credence was given to the fact that the accused could not produce any witness in his favour during the proceedings while over a dozen witnesses had appeared on behalf of the prosecution.
Furthermore, the extra-departmental inquiry is in contravention of the draft bill which only provides for an independent ombudsperson for the complainant under the aegis of the National Commission for the Safety of Women if she is not getting a sympathetic hearing from her own department. What is worse, the Establishment Division is even considering the accused for promotion to BPS-21.
Given this situation, one wonders what will happen to the bill once it comes up for discussion in parliament. With the likes of Maulana Fazlur Rahman and his brother or tribal chiefs sitting in the assembly, there is the danger that they might extract major concessions from the government before the bill is finally passed. After all, parliamentarians such as Israrullah Zehri could always justify changes or their resistance to women’s empowerment on the basis of archaic tribal traditions or societal attitudes.
But then the attitude of society is something that evolves or is constructed by many factors such as the approach of policymakers, opinion-makers and others. Human agency is critical in constructing social attitudes and norms. Should we forget that a few decades ago, especially during the 1960s and the 1970s, we had a different social attitude with greater liberalism than what we see today?
Liberal society then was the result of attitudes of the critical human agency. Watching some television dramas these days will explain the changes that key sectors such as the media are bringing to society. For instance, there are plays in which we are shown love affairs between the maidservant and the master of the house. The underlying message is that the lady of the house, who is probably educated and a working woman, is not good enough when compared to the less educated or illiterate maid.
Such an exercise in perception-formation feeds into attitudes at the workplace. At the risk of generalising matters it could be said that the man or boss could begin to perceive educated women at the workplace as those who are not attending to their homes and can, hence, be mistreated.
Such representation of women in the media is also an indicator of the larger danger of a kind of radicalisation in society that has gradually begun to threaten life in the country, especially in urban centres. Given such representation, is it strange that families of working women should be threatened in Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore? The other day I was talking to a friend who was in a dilemma over not being able to send her four-year-old daughter to school as it had received threats from militants in Lahore. Taliban-type forces in all major cities threaten schools to stop educating girls else they will be bombarded.
Should civil society not do anything about it? The answer is no. Given the threat of radicalisation, civil society must congregate to protest and show its resolve to fight radical elements in society. Those claiming to be the soldiers of God should not get the right to determine the future of state and society for their own power interests. Such an exercise must go hand in hand with a movement for bringing greater justice and fairness to state institutions.
It goes without saying that change will only come about when the media adopts a more constructive attitude vis-à-vis social issues. Women constitute half this country’s population. They deserve a better work environment and treatment. Portraying those who are capable as useless creatures is nothing but a travesty of justice. Without capable women, who are protected by the legal system, state and society will not be able to grow.
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