Sindh, the second-largest province of Pakistan, is a land rich in culture and history. However, the status of women in Sindh is fraught with challenges, deeply rooted in patriarchal traditions and feudal systems. This article delves into the multifaceted roles of women in Sindhi society, the systemic injustices they face, and the potential pathways for change.
Sindh is a province where I was born, grew up, studied, and worked for many years. By nature, Sindhis are a loving, polite, and generous people. They cherish their land, homes, and fields, often preferring to stay in Sindh. Women in Sindhi society play crucial roles as mothers, sisters, and wives. However, their contributions are frequently undervalued, and their lives can be perilous.
In Sindh, patriarchal customs impose restrictive codes of behavior on women, rigid gender segregation, and specific family and kinship structures. A powerful ideology links family honor to female virtue, entrusting men with safeguarding this honor by controlling female family members. When a woman's behavior is perceived as a threat to the patriarchal order, her body is punished through beatings, burnings, sexual abuse, and even murder in the name of "honor."
Women in Sindh are particularly disadvantaged by the entrenched feudal system, religious fundamentalists, and a government dominated by the ruling feudal caste. Several factors impede women's development, including their low legal status and the lack of political will to address gender disparity. The status of women is reinforced by family structures and a general acceptance of this low status by many women, who cannot even imagine the concept of equal rights.
Women contribute significantly to the agricultural sector, often as part of family labor. In rural areas, women typically work 16-hour days, including household and field duties, fetching drinking water, and fuel for cooking. Their subordinate position limits their access to resources and benefits. Domestic work, especially child care, furthers their dependence and subordination within marriage and weakens their position in the labor market, contributing to low wages and poor working conditions.
Sindh is part of a region where women's status is disadvantaged by systemic injustice. Human development indicators such as sex ratio, literacy levels, educational attainment, and labor force participation are abysmally low, while maternal mortality, fertility, and crimes against women are extremely high. Sindhi males are customarily suspicious and mistrustful of their sisters and wives. It is common for a man to prohibit a stranger from talking to his sister or wife, and in either scenario, it is often the woman who is punished for the perceived shame.
The practice of Karo Kari, or honor killing, is a tragic reality in Sindh. When there is a monetary, land, property-related, or other petty dispute, unscrupulous individuals may use their sisters, wives, mothers, or daughters as tools to gain an upper hand. The accused woman is often killed on the pretext of having an illicit relationship, and the alleged guilty person ultimately settles the dispute on the killer's terms to save their own life. The law does not protect women from this practice, nor does it prosecute the male murderers.
In Sindh, it is also common to marry one's daughter to inanimate and holy objects, like the Quran, or even a tree. This practice, known as "Haque Bakhish," is used to avoid transferring land property out of family hands. Male family members force girls to marry the "Holy book" and withdraw from the right to marry. Additionally, it is not uncommon to arrange marriages between mature women and young boys or young girls and old men.
Personal jails run by Sindhi Wadayraas (Feudal Lords) are common in Sindh. These jails imprison Harees (poor peasants) and their families who are unable to pay their ever-increasing debts to the landowners. Imprisoned Harees are not protected by law, and their treatment inside these jails is egregious.
A colleague of mine shared the story of a young girl named Meeran, who lives in Khosa Goth, a small village in Kandiyaro and Darbelo in the district Naushehro Feroze. Meeran, like many other women in Sindh, faces constant surveillance and control by her male family members. She works in the fields all day, bearing the heat and sun, and lives in fear of being accused of dishonoring her family.
The stories of honor killings are tragically plentiful. In an interview with a young woman named Rozina, it was revealed that she fled her village in the Khairpur district because tribal elders declared her "kari." Her husband and father-in-law leveled false charges against her because they opposed her being a schoolteacher. Rozina's story is just one of many, highlighting the pervasive and deadly nature of honor killings in Sindh.
In Sindh and Pakistan generally, advocating for human rights or women's rights is often met with hostility from authorities. Many human rights workers are killed, forced into exile, or commit suicide. Families belonging to the feudal and wadera classes have been ruling the country for years, depriving the poor and oppressed of their basic rights and the right to rule. The country's fundamentalist forces and the Army Generals protect this medieval feudal system, opposing those who speak against oppression.
The status of women's education in Sindh is deplorable. For feudal landlords, there are few benefits to having educated serfs. Educated men and women are less likely to tolerate being treated like slaves, so landlords have opposed universal primary education from the beginning of Sindh's history. Rural Sindh, the heart of the feudal system, has an almost non-existent education system, especially for girls. The female literacy rate in Sindhi villages was only 13% in the 1997 census.
Achieving women's rights in Sindh and Pakistan requires addressing democratic and human rights issues. The most oppressed strata in Pakistani society, the producing classes, are the only groups with a long-term stake in institutionalizing such rights. Women must turn to an alliance with these classes to ensure their rights. Proponents of human rights must also demand a secular society. As long as religion is interlinked with the State, any gains will be incomplete.
The status of women in Sindh is a complex issue, deeply rooted in patriarchal traditions and feudal systems. While the challenges are significant, there is hope for change through alliances with the most oppressed classes and a push for a secular society. Only then can women in Sindh achieve the rights and status they deserve.
This article provides a comprehensive overview of the status of women in Sindh, highlighting the systemic injustices they face and potential pathways for change. The inclusion of statistics and case studies adds depth to the discussion, while the references to authoritative sources lend credibility to the information presented.
