WUNRN
UNRISD - United Nations Research
Institute for Social Development
· Open
PDF (514KB) - Registration requested for free
document UNRISD website download.
Author(s):
Farida Shaheed
Programme Area: Gender
and Development
Project Title: Religion,
Politics and Gender Equality
No. of Pages: 46
This
is the draft of a country case study on Pakistan in the Religion, Politics and
Gender Equality Project.
The paper explores how Islam transformed from the religious identity of
Pakistan’s majority population to the central defining parametre for state and
society. This privileging of religion as the yardstick for all activities from
politics to judicial structures, from entertainment to women’s rights, has
undermined women’s already weak position in society and seriously challenges
the quest for gender equality. The paper argues that the disempowerment of
women has been the outcome, not the purpose, of ‘Islamization’ projects which
have been executed in the pursuit of greater power alignments. However, the
usage of Islam by diverse regimes has not impacted women in like manner. Women
were victims of gross negligence and paternalistic attitudes, but rescinding
women’s rights was never a main objective until General Zia-ul-Haq (1977-1988).
Under Zia the systematic and aggressive inscription of Islam into the body
politic and social fabric had devastating consequences for the polity in
general and women and non-Muslims in particular. The paper illustrates how
gender cross-sects other deeply entrenched social inequalities so that
‘Islamization’ measures have impacted diverse groups of women differently. The
state’s failure to deliver on its promises of equal opportunities, benefits and
justice has created a vacuum into which the religious right inserted itself and
was able to project itself as the harbinger of justice in a visibly unjust
world. The paper, finally, argues that, regardless of the claims to the moral
high ground of authenticity, the paramount concern of religious political
projects is power – not religion, or ethnicity, or culture.
To access document please use links at right of UNRISD website
page.
================================================================
To contact the list administrator, or to leave the list, send an email to: wunrn_listserve-request@lists.wunrn.com.
Thank you.