Abstract
Pakistan is a signatory of several international human rights instruments on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action (1994) and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995). These agendas call for strong and comprehensive commitment to gender equality and women’s and girls’ SRHR. This chapter explores the extent to which the Pakistani state has fulfilled these international commitments and the reasons for its lack of adequate laws on women’s SRHR. The chapter chronicles the law and policy-making process around SRHR by looking at selected instances in the legislative history, to understand how it was controlled and influenced by the larger political narrative on national culture and womanhood. Using qualitative data derived from secondary sources, the chapter reviews the existing literature and finds that identity politics continue to intersect with religious idioms, local socio-cultural norms, and traditions, and that this combination has led to serious gaps in SRHR-related laws and policies and limited progress on Pakistan’s international SRHR commitments.
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Notes
- 1.
Purdah is the practice of keeping women from being seen by unrelated or stranger men. Purdah is practiced through either keeping women in a certain part of the house which is not accessible to the public, or by covering women’s faces and bodies with an additional piece of garment.
- 2.
Khandaan (literally, “family ”) comprises of immediate kinfolk including parents, siblings, uncles, aunts, first cousins and grandparents. Often members of the khandaan live in the same house and this kind of joint family living is very common in both rural and urban areas.
- 3.
Biradari (literally “community ”) is a network of extended family/blood relationships and close community members who belong to the same caste and often live in the same village.
- 4.
Literally, “not related by blood”.
- 5.
Jirga is a traditional assembly of local community leaders, gathered to resolve community disputes through consensus-based decisions and in accordance with the local community’s traditional customs and practices. Jirga is also known as faislo in many areas of the Sindh province, and as panchayat in rural Punjab.
- 6.
General Muhammad Ayub Khan was a military dictator and the second president of Pakistan. He assumed the presidency in 1958 and resigned in 1969.
- 7.
General Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan was a military dictator who took over the presidency after General Ayub in 1969 and continued in that capacity until 1971.
- 8.
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was president from 1971 to 1973. After the adoption of the 1973 Constitution, he handed over the presidency to Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry and assumed the position of prime minister, continuing in that role until 1977, when General Zia declared martial law.
- 9.
General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq was a military dictator. He assumed the role of president after declaring martial law in 1977. He continued as the head of state until his death in 1988.
- 10.
Benazir Bhutto’s elected government (1988–1990) and (1993–1996); Nawaz Sharif’s elected government (1997–1999); General Pervez Musharraf’s martial law (1999–2001) and presidency (2001–2008); Asif Ali Zardari’s elected government (2008–2013); Nawaz Sharif’s elected government (2013–2017).
- 11.
Literally means women, wealth, and land.
- 12.
Vani and Swara are cultural practices found in some parts of Pakistan whereby girls and women of a family are forcibly married to an adversary to settle disputes.
- 13.
Literally means ‘black female’, a metaphoric term for adulteress.
- 14.
Literally means ‘black male’, a metaphoric term for adulterer.
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Shahbaz, S. (2020). Caught in the Cross-Fire of Religion, Culture, and Politics: Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Pakistan. In: Jamil, I., Aminuzzaman, S., Lasna Kabir, S., Haque, M. (eds) Gender Mainstreaming in Politics, Administration and Development in South Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36012-2_11
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