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South Asia | Pakistan | Crimes

Pakistani officials claim women trafficked into prostitution in China after marriage

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Faisalabad, Pakistan—With waves of arrests, Pakistani investigators are trying to unravel trafficking networks that convince impoverished Pakistanis to marry off their daughters to Chinese men for cash and they say evidence is growing that many of the women and girls are sold into prostitution once in China. At least two dozen Chinese nationals and dozens of their Pakistani partners have been arrested in recent weeks in raids by Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency. Pakistani government officials, however, have ordered police to remain quiet about the extent of the networks, fearing it
South Asia | Pakistan | Activism

Women are suffering silently in Pakistan – is #MeToo the answer?

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When I was in seventh grade in Pakistan, a classmate tapped my best friend’s shoulder and remarked: “Nice bra”. We were 12, and accustomed to friendships with boys. But youthful idealism meant less tolerance for unsolicited sexual innuendo. We marched to the headteacher’s office ready to change the world, only to be asked to repeat verbatim, several times, the words that had been spoken. “These things happen in co-education,” we were told. The headteacher downsized our trauma, reducing our complaint to a cheap, inflated scandal. The boy escaped without punishment and the message
South Asia | Pakistan | Career

Interrogating women suspects is tough, says the only lady constable in this village in Pakistan’s Punjab

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The toughest job for me is to interrogate women suspects, says Samina Noreen, the first and the only female police constable in the small village of Mouza Kot Khair Shah in Chiniot district of Punjab. Against all odds in a conservative village, Noreen broke the shackles and became the first girl along with her three sisters to go to a ‘city’ school in Chiniot, thanks to her father Dost Mohammad who is a daily-wage, illiterate labourer. He decided to educate his four daughters along with his four sons. “My father is my hero as he believes that education for girls is as
South Asia | Pakistan | Crimes

Woman Stabbed 23 Times in Pakistan Wins Appeal Against Assailant’s Acquittal

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The Pakistan Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned the acquittal of a man accused of stabbing a woman 23 times, nearly three years after the attack prompted a national debate on violence against women. Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, leading a three-member panel, reinstated the conviction of Shah Hussain, accepting an appeal from Khadija Siddiqi, who survived the attack in Lahore in May 2016. Ms. Siddiqi said that Mr. Hussain, a former classmate, had attacked her after she rebuffed his romantic overtures. Mr. Hussain was rearrested in the courtroom on Wednesday. Ms. Siddiqi, a 24-ye
South Asia | Pakistan | Sports

Pak’s Asian Games gold medals pave the way for growth of women’s cricket

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There’s no doubt how big cricket is in Pakistan. Fans go all out for the men’s team, proclaim them to be heroes. In comparison, only a handful of families support the dreams of a female cricketer in the country wanting to pursue the sport. However, two Asian Games gold medals (Guangzhou 2010 and Incheon 2014) have changed all that. Today, women are encouraged to take up cricket. “My mother used to stop me from going to play cricket, saying our society is not like that, but my father always supported me. He used to tell my mother to let me go and play. My uncle motivated me to pursu
South Asia | Pakistan | Society

In Pakistan, young female boxers punch through gender barriers

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In a dense and dusty neighborhood in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, eight young girls lined up against a cement wall, touching their hands to their faces in prayer before boxing practice began. For the last six months, these athletes-in-the-making have been training at the Pak Shaheen Boxing Club in Lyari, a packed Karachi ward known more for its internecine gang warfare than for breaking glass ceilings. During the week, a dozen girls, aged eight to 17, go to the club after school to practice their jabs, hooks and upper cuts for hours in the hope of one day bringing a medal home
South Asia | Pakistan | Crimes

Pakistan province passes landmark law protecting women against violence

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Lawmakers in Pakistan's largest province on Wednesday gave unprecedented protection to female victims of violence, in a bid to stem a rising tide of gender-related abuse in a country ranked as the world's third most dangerous place for women. The new law criminalizes all forms of violence against women, whether domestic, psychological or sexual, and calls for the creation of a toll-free abuse reporting hot line and the establishment of shelters. Muslim-majority Pakistan, home to roughly 190 million people, sees thousands of cases of violence against women every year, from rape and acid a
South Asia | Pakistan | Leadership

Pakistan’s Fiza Farhan appointed Member of the UN’s first-ever High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment

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In an announcement this week Fiza Farhan from Pakistan was named Member of the first ever High-Level Panel of the UN Secretary-General on Women’s Economic Empowerment. The establishment of this distinguished panel was announced in January at the World Economic Forum in Davos with UN Women serving as its secretariat. The Panel will provide recommendations for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to improve economic outcomes for women and promote women’s leadership in driving sustainable and inclusive, environmentally sensitive economic growth. It will provide
South Asia | Pakistan | Adventure

Her motorcycle diaries: A Pakistani girl’s boundary-breaking bike journey

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Zenith Irfan's father used to dream of leaving his home in Pakistan to travel around the world on a motorbike. His early death meant he never fulfilled his wish. As his eldest child, Irfan decided to take up the challenge -- and along the way smash stereotypes in Pakistan as a female biker. The 21-year-old student from Lahore, northeast Pakistan has become a fearless rider in the past two years, traveling through regions of the conservative country where it's taboo for women to venture out unaccompanied, let alone on two wheels. But the transformation didn't come easy to her.
South Asia | Pakistan | Education

Pakistani women at forefront of drive to give poor rural girls an education

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Nearly half of Pakistan's 53 million children aged 5-16 are out of school and 55 percent of those are girls. Pakistan has the third largest number of out-of-school girls in the world, a fact that hit headlines globally in 2012 after Taliban militants shot 14-year-old schoolgirl and education advocate Malala Yousafzai, now a Nobel Peace prize laureate. Now amid this largely patriarchal society, Pakistani women, be they educated campaigners or illiterate mothers, are at the forefront of advocating for girls' right to school. Fatima's luck changed when local community workers visited her
South Asia | Pakistan | Activism

Swat girl wins international award for fighting child marriages

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A teenage girl from the Swat district has been awarded the third Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award for dedicating her life to ending the practice of child marriages in Pakistan. President of Global Ties USA, Dr. Jennifer Clinton, gave the 13-year-old women’s rights activist, Hadiqa Bashir, the award. Bashir successfully stopped several child marriages in her area, and has become the youngest recipient of this award. The award ceremony, hosted by four-time Olympic gold medallist Janet Evans, took place at the Marriot Louisville. The ceremony recognised people from around the world who hav
South Asia | Pakistan | Culture

Breaking Taboos: First Pakistani female truck driver

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Shamim Akhtar is a 53-year-old single mother from the garrison city of Rawalpindi. She is now Pakistan’s first female truck driver, who stepped out to feed her children after breaking the country’s traditional domestic rule that calls for women to stay home. “Nothing is too difficult if you have the will, however, if women make themselves believe that they can’t do certain tasks then nothing works for them,” Akhtar said as she prepared herself to transport a load of 7,000 bricks from a factory in Rawalpindi to 120 miles away in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. As her family was going
South Asia | Pakistan | Entrepreneurship

WomenX is a World Bank-funded initiative to foster entrepreneurship

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Pakistan ranks second-lowest in the Gender Gap Index 2014 report produced by the World Economic Forum. Worryingly, the trend has been in a constant decline since 2006, when the report was first published. Access to economic participation and opportunity for women is actually going down, resulting in a slide in the ranking from 112 in 2006 to 141 today. Only Yemen ranks worse Pakistan’s growing gender disparity has undoubtedly caught the attention of international development agencies. One of the ways they’re trying to arrest the gap is by encouraging women entrepreneurs. They help t
South Asia | Pakistan | Business

In Pakistan, solar lamps turn women into green energy entrepreneurs

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A s the sun sets and darkness falls over a village outside Bahawalpur, Shama Bibi switches on her solar lantern and starts sewing clothes for an upcoming family wedding. Not long ago, nightfall would have forced her to stop working. But now with access to solar-powered lamps, Bibi can sew as long as she needs to. "The solar lantern has changed my life," said the 35-year-old widow and mother of three. "I can sew clothes even in the night and earn enough to make both ends meet." Bibi has recently become a "Light Lady", one of the women that the Buksh Foundation, a non-profit organisatio

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