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Musharraf promises women equality
March 7, 2004
President Pervez Musharraf has told Pakistani women his government will end
discrimination and violence against them.
General Musharraf said his administration wanted to ensure Pakistani women
enjoyed greater political and economic rights.
He was addressing a gathering of hundreds of women at a meeting in Islamabad on
the eve of International Women's Day.
"It is through political empowerment that women can emancipate themselves.
Political empowerment will enable women to fight for their rights themselves",
he said
In January, President Musharraf expanded the country's National Assembly to
350-seats and reserved 60 of these for women.
Violent discrimination
That may not be enough to free Pakistani women from the difficult lives they
are often forced to lead.
Last year human rights organisations reported that many women suffer beatings
by male members of their own families.
Some husbands, and occasionally fathers and brothers, have been known to
torture their womenfolk for minor mistakes or small disagreements.
There have even been reports of 'honour killings' of young women who married
against the wishes of their male relatives.
President Musharraf said he was moved by tales of discrimination told by
delegates attending the meeting.
He identified the lack of education as a root cause of women's problems.
Nearly two-thirds of all Pakistani women are illiterate, compared to just about
half of Pakistani men.
The president said this inequality would be addressed on a priority basis and
discrimination in primary education would be removed by 2010.
Hopeful signs
Some women in Pakistani cities have already taken the initiative to take charge
of their lives.
They have taken up jobs usually considered a male preserve in this
male-dominated society.
Last year, Pakistan's first women's post office opened in Karachi.
It is managed and staffed entirely by women.
While many Pakistani women from affluent families have joined the professions,
it is harder for poorer women to break into job areas traditionally dominated
by men.
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