The Digital Census 2023 informed that the population in Pakistan stands at 241.4m and is growing at the rate of 2.55%. The gender ratio stands at 1.06 with 124.32m (51.48%) males and 117.15m  (48.51%) females. Transgenders are reported at 20,331 in 2023 as compared to 21,774 in 2017 which is a clear anomaly.

If women are 50% of the population then they are an equal and undeniable majority so stop labelling women as a “marginalised group”.

Without a shadow of a doubt, women remain a vulnerable group. They have been systematically pushed out of public spaces, denied leadership positions, and not even considered equal rights holders. This has not happened by default but most certainly by design.

Political power brokers in close cooperation with religious power holders have successfully established and maintained a stagnant and ever regressive gender normative framework despite progressive legislation and affirmative actions.

This socio-religious construct legitimized the position of females as an inferior being, with limited rights, and no voice, choice, and/or consent, all of which have not only internalized misogyny and upheld the patriarchy but have destroyed our institutional systems, processes, and practices.

The word Feminism – which stands for equal rights – has since been turned into a slur representing Western agendas and labeling women propagating it as being ‘characterless’. The media especially the entertainment industry instead of being a harbinger of progressive change have since been delivering this regression to each household that justifies character assassination to violence against women.

Pakistan’s feminist history is rich with strong voices that have consistently and steadily fought against the State and society for the advancement of Pakistani society at large, the empowerment of women, and gender equality.

However, the one constant that has remained and has been faced by Pakistani women – whether feminist or not – is the backlash, which has gotten uglier. Social media is a platform for amplification and the anonymity factor enables rampant abusiveness.

Today, digital violence not only validates physical violence but gives it social acceptability. A handful of feminists – activists turned into groups, organizations and now collectives – continue to raise their voices and fight back but the question arises: Till when? And where, if at all, will it end?

The first wave of feminism can be tracked pre to post Partition in 1947 when women of nobility equally participated in political processes at public spaces towards the making of Pakistan.

Post Independence, their role became stronger as they became part of politics, diplomacy, community engagement, and humanitarian support for refugees’ settlement and rehabilitation. Political events soon fell prey to palace intrigues that were complicated by Quaid-e-Azam’s early demise in 1948.

At that time the names of Fatima Jinnah, Rana Liaqat Ali Khan, and Shaista Ikramullah, were on equal political footing. Unfortunately, post-independence, the role of women in active politics gradually started to fade away both by design and default.

The plethora of issues faced by Pakistan in 1947, both as a nation and as citizens, did not manifest into a mainstream role for women in public life, social settings, and politics. The creation of Pakistan was a passionate struggle with the equal support of women, but post-mission accomplishment palace intrigues not only initiated political instability but also edged out politically active women.

Despite challenges, feminist women contributed to our constitutional and electoral developments. The first Constituent Assembly had two women representatives, Shaista Ikramullah and Jahanara Shahnawaz. The Constitution Committee of 1972 had three ladies, Nasim Jahan, Mrs. Jennifer Qazi, and Begum Ashraf Abassi, as its members.

Taking a long challenging road we have had a female prime minister and speaker of the National Assembly that created social ripples. Yet only 23% of women are documented in the workforce; 53% of women have had no education; the Maternal Mortality Rate of 186 is the highest in the region; 28% have been facing violence since the age of 15; and 53% justify spousal violence.

Women’s feminist collectives have over the years seen activists like Asma Jehangir to Nighat Dad and organizations such as the Women’s Action Forum (WAF) to Aurat March. Numerous women and human rights defenders have been the torchbearers and voices for the voiceless. They have courageously challenged the State, right-wingers, and religious interest groups despite being gassed to being beaten by batons, and arrested.

They continue to be a formidable opponent to social regression that power brokers legitimize using religion. They laid the foundations and are strengthening not only women’s collective but also striving for voice, choice, and agency for women and gender equality sans any discrimination.

Feminists in Pakistan continue to face accusations of being a ‘western agenda’. The description ‘anti-Islam’ was a dangerous one and many lives were at risk. Space for anything that did not fall within the realm of Islam – a very narrow version of it was acceptable – was viewed with suspicion and hostility.

Women in leadership roles even at the level of the Prime Minister’s office not only faced it but were straight-jacketed to tread carefully on this razor-thin line. At the social activism level feminist women were labeled characterless, obscene (fahaash) and prostitutes.

The backlash at the societal and normative framework level consent, rights, voice, and agency for women, in both public and private spheres, got synonymized as a threat to our Eastern cultures, and religious values and a recipe for moral degeneration. It impacted women and girls’ right to education, health, economic empowerment, and even life. Sexual crimes, abuse, and violence against women got impunity by being constructed in causal relation to honor.

The term ‘NGO Aunty’ – affiliated with a Western agenda and anti-Islam – was coined as a means to insult the women and groups that attempted to debunk politics and the political economy of such regressive mindsets to its religious legitimization. Public and social discourses were flooded with sexual innuendos to the extent that they compromised the mobility and safety of women. The use of derogatory language against women in politics and the construct of violence and honor crimes lead to reduced space for women in public spaces, as role models, and equals.

Social change does not take effect in a vacuum. The struggle for women’s empowerment to gender equality evolved and could result in affirmative actions (legislation policies) but societal and normative frameworks remained unaddressed which deepened the divide between action and impact.

The socio-cultural normative frameworks consisting of vocabulary and practices have sapped women’s ‘consent’ and ‘right to life’ and placed females as second-rated inferior beings that are to be controlled by men at the individual, family, community, and state levels.

Women who challenged the patriarchy via access to male-controlled public spaces and the male gaze were labeled as Awaara. Media, entertainment industry, and social media solidified such a mindset as a ‘social right’ and all other voices got labeled as ‘social evils’. It generously distributed the title of bad women/ Awaara/ characterless for women in the public sphere beyond the controlled movement of home to school/work.

On the other side women activists and collectives – with donor support and thanks to international obligations – continued to carve space for women’s voices, presence, and perspective as mandatory.

Digital technologies and spaces have contributed to both public and policy discourse as a democratizing medium where everyone has an equal say and can interact directly. Offline hatred has found its way into the digital realm. Social media and digital spaces on the one hand help amplify the cause but on the other hand, also strengthen critics.

The presence of women in public spaces – in a protest or political rally or to celebrate Women’s day is viewed as being a club of ‘bad girls’ who wish to be promiscuous.

Use of language is used to nit-pick and malign women and its causes. The debate around the word ‘sinf’ and ‘jins’ is a prime example. When translated into English both mean gender yet one is considered apt to describe biological gender and the latter as a sexual reference.

Women in politics and media have also faced similar fate by being abused on the floor of the House, catcalled in political rallies and their pictures and videos photoshopped and abused to the desire of anyone’s heart. Social media has clubbed sexual slurs, rape threats, and revenge porn with terms like NGO Aunty, anti-Islam, and Western agenda to demean any and all feminist voices.  Moral policing and religious batons adorned with blasphemous nails come out instantly if anyone dares to not conform to the mainstream normative framework of ‘controlled and captive women’.

Yet when it comes to women’s empowerment, gender equity and equality, it has become an unchecked/free range for hate speech and Tech Facilitated Gender Violence (TFGBV).  It is quick to label any voice and person to not only push her into self-censorship but to the extent of jeopardizing her life.

Simultaneously, it unveils social and societal hypocrisies at the individual, community, and State levels when women exert consent and control over their lives, bodies, and choices. The prime example is that of Qandeel Baloch – she was producing content around her body exerting her choice and control on life. It was labeled ‘unacceptable’ by society despite being readily consumed by millions in society which was her source of earning. In doing so, she ruffled politico-religious interest groups and unveiled their hypocrisy.

Her earnings from a non-kosher act were deemed kosher by men of the family (brother and father) as long as it fed them. But when she wanted to remarry and live a private life with a husband, her brother killed her because she wouldn’t be able to bring home the money. It was labeled an honor killing, a term used when a girl was accused of behaving unacceptably.

As the world deliberates Beijing+30  – we debate over whether feminist is a slur or a mandatory thought process to enable 50% of Pakistan to move forward for equitable national progress.

All our gains have been nullified by having not worked on normative barriers that still profess and make society believe that girls are a waste of investment & burden on the natal family to be undone by marital family; education will make girls characterless; child marriage is key to sexual security of a girl; reproductive health of a woman is inconsequential and nothing to do with population control; the impact of climate and conflict are gender blind; and Feminism means faahashi.

It is on the State to question why it has failed Pakistani women and girls. As more and more women pick up the mantle from all walks of life and either fix the mess left by history or plug in what is essentially a sinking ship, they give the country its substance. Yet repeatedly ostracised, the indifference with which women operate is their strength. The loss is that of the male gender who remains caught in self-created cycles of abuse and oppression, out of which none has emerged a hero in the gender war. Truly, it is time Pakistan recognized that Pakistani women are its pride.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. They do not represent the views, beliefs, or policies of the Stratheia.