Molana Tariq Jameel

In the history of Pakistan, it is believed that women have never had a voice in politics and society has been completely dominated by males for a long time.

In fact, in this respect, we are almost as backward as our male counterparts from 50 years ago. But if you think about the current situation of Pakistan today, where gender discrimination is making headlines every other day or the news of which is happening around the country is reported and discussed on social media daily, then to see a woman being a part of these discussions is simply unimaginable.

But unfortunately in Pakistan, many girls are not even considered at an early age as they are seen as ‘unwanted’ and this is often because their sisters are the closest friends to them so they feel like they are underdeveloped or underrepresented, if only because their sisters are the most popular persons in their family. They feel unwanted but they do not understand why. This can be frustrating at a young age and sometimes at the end of your teenage days, it becomes difficult. The frustration can make it hard to come to terms with life without having to go through years, decades of emotional turmoil, and trauma.

Then when you are older, there isn’t much hope for changing and it’s normal for you to become frustrated at the same time. After all, there have been no female politicians in Pakistan since the 1950s. Only two out of 20 years ago, the last woman to win a seat in Parliament was a British Pakistani, Pusrat Bhutto who was elected for a record third term in 1998, she served on National Trust boards and as a member of the International Islamic University System. She was also one of the youngest people to ever write the Urdu Newspeak Dictionary.

Unfortunately during the past few days, we have seen more females than the overall population, and more are becoming doctors. Dr. Shaukat Ali, Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan Khan, Dr. Ararika Shah, Dr. Yasmin Fatima Parvez, and Dr. Ihtish Mina Shah all belong to this group. There are over 80 female nurses working in hospitals and Upazila health centers. Most of them speak English fluently.

Women’s education is getting better but still lacking. There were very few female students to complete higher secondary studies (SSPs) for the year 2013-2014. We still lag in science and technology and there has been progress in medicine, law, and engineering but still, there are a lot of things that need to be done to improve health care and to give equal opportunities in all aspects of society to everyone. Unfortunately, most women are not included in these aspects in Pakistan. For example, although we are seeing gender parity in many fields and some professions, we still lack diversity in other fields, yet, when it comes to gender in politics, we also don’t get the majority.

There are two important things you can change, firstly, if you are interested in political careers, that is the main reason why you would need to complete SSPs to pursue that career. You need the required level of exposure and preparation in whatever field to make sure that you will be able to excel in that field. At least, if you wish to be a politician, you must be ready to get involved in politics! The second thing is that one important thing society can do to help Pakistan, especially now, is to promote equality and diversity in society, we all need to stop fighting against each other, let’s focus more on the public sphere and work together to uplift our people by giving them a bright future for themselves and the nation, we can’t expect all our citizens to achieve in one way or another but we can look forward to a brighter future and a cleaner society.