According to Maliha Zia, while there are strong movements for women's equality and non-discrimination, there is no over-encompassing feminist movement. Zia divides the history of feminist movements in Pakistan into three phases: the first one beginning in 1947, the second one in the period after the
Zia-ul-Haq dictatorship ended in 1988, and the third one since
9/11.
First phase: 1947–1952 Muslim women were some of the most affected victims of
Partition; it is reported that 75,000 women were abducted and raped during this period. Soon after,
Fatima Jinnah formed the Women's Relief Committee, which later evolved into the
All Pakistan Women's Association. Jinnah later founded a secret radio station, and, in 1965, came out of her self-imposed political retirement to participate in the
presidential election against military dictator
Ayub Khan.
Begum Ra'na Liaquat Ali Khan helped the refugees who fled India during partition and organized the
All Pakistan Women's Association in 1949, two years after the creation of her country. Noticing that there were not many nurses in
Karachi, Khan requested the army to train women to give injections and first aid, therefore allowing women to be in para-military forces. Nursing became a career path for many girls. Khan continued her mission, even after her husband was assassinated in 1951, and became the first female Muslim delegate to the
United Nations in 1952. According to Ayesha Khan, in the initial decades after independence, women's leadership was largely elite and invested in Muslim nationalism, striving for limited rights for women. Women in civil society came into confrontation with the government when dictatorial
Islamization started limiting their rights. According to Madihah Akhter, General Zia ultimately sought to
morally police the role of women in the public sphere, which brought unexpected pressure on Pakistani women. As a reaction to the form of Zia's Islamization, many Pakistani women, including writers, academics, and performers, became active in the opposition of these policies. Akhter argued that the younger generation of 1980s activists were more feminist in their outlook and approach; the Women's Action Forum, she says, used "progressive interpretations of Islam" to counter the state's implementation of religiously interpreted morality, and in doing so, gained the unexpected support of right wing Islamic women's organizations. They campaigned through various mediums such as newspaper articles, art, poetry, and song.
After Zia: 1988–2008 After the end of General Zia's rule, Pakistan elected its first female prime minister,
Benazir Bhutto. Under her administration, all-women police stations were founded and female judges were appointed for the first time. However, many
anti-feminist laws of the General Zia era remained. In the post-Zia era, activists have been able to produce research that has focused on strengthening the political voice of women and promoting inclusive democratic governance. They have also produced some of the first Pakistani research and awareness-raising material on the sexual and reproductive rights of women, environmental issues, and citizen-based initiatives for peace between India and Pakistan.
2008–2017 This was a period when the
People's Party of Pakistan (PPP) was attained political stability within the country and was able to avoid economic decline. The PPP held all parts of government, the president, the prime minister, and the speaker. It became the first party to hold a 5-year term, and add a constitutional amendment that decentralized governmental power. This comes from the party's belief that the central government had been overpowering local governments but the PPP remained in opposition to the socialist leftist movement of
Muttahida Qaumi Movement/MQM. This was also a time period where more women of different backgrounds were getting involved in the mainstream political spear. Good number of
women related laws were passed in between 2008 to 2012. Elections Act, 2017 expects minimum 10% women voter turn out per constituency otherwise election commission has powers to declare lesser women turn out election to be void. This law besides on field efforts by NGO 'Women in Struggle for Empowerment (WISE)' founded by Bushra Khaliq, helped improve women voter participation to some extent. More women from marginalized and low-caste statuses were politically organizing. There was still a general lack of attention to women's rights by all mainstream political parties.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is a documentarian and a filmmaker who seeks to tell the stories of marginalized voices in her community. Obaid-Chinoy has worked all over the world to tell the stories of survivors who have not been given a platform. One of her most notable films "
Saving Face" details the experiences of Pakistani women who have survived acid attacks and their processes of physical and social recovery. She won an Oscar for this project and helped raise awareness of the realities faced by these survivors. She also produced a film about honor killings,"
A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness" from the perspective of a rare survivor. This film reached the prime minister who was inspired to pass a law that ended a loop-hole within the legal system for honor killings. Her story telling is closely tied with activism; she believes that movies have more power in places where literacy rates are low. She explains, "[b]y bringing the voices of the ordinary people faced with extraordinary challenges to television screens around the world, I hope to affect change in one community at a time". When she was 10 the
Taliban took over her community and banned girls from participating in public education. She and her father criticized the Taliban. Yousafzai started an anonymous blog where she spoke out about her concerns. She became internally displaced in 2009 due to the conflicts within her community. Once she returned she advocated openly for her right to education. She was awarded both the Pakistan's National Youth Peace Prize and the International Children's Peace Prize. Yousafzai was subsequently shot by the Taliban while riding the school bus. She survived the severe injury and went to study in the U.K. and earned her degree from Oxford. Yousafzai has gone on to write a book,
I Am Malala, about her experiences and advocacy work. Yousafzai also runs a nonprofit that focuses on advocating for the education of girls in the global south by conducting research, and connecting local activists to funds.
2018 – present The feminist movement in Pakistan was altered after 2008 with the popularization of social media. The movement gained momentum as women were increasingly able to share their ideas and beliefs.
Aurat March (Women Marches) are now held in numerous cities over the country, advocating for issues such as increased political participation and representation of women, gender and sexual minorities, religious minorities, and other marginalized groups in Pakistan. The movement has also demanded for public spaces to be made safer for women and transgender people, as well as called for an end to all violence against women and transgender people. == Variants ==