Illiteracy, honor killings, maternal mortality, and acid attacks – clearly, conditions for women in Balochistan are shockingly poor, and they are getting worse. But despite claims of action, there is little evidence that the chief minister Dr. Abdul Malik Baloch or his all-male cabinet have done anything of significance to address the situation. For now, it appears that Balochistan’s women will continue to suffer.

In Balochistan’s traditionally patriarchal society, women regularly face discrimination, assault, and murder in the name of “honor.” They have little space in the political, cultural, economic, or social fields. Balochistan tops the rankings in Pakistan in terms of maternal mortality, female illiteracy, unemployment, and gender disparities. Conditions are even worse for Balochistan’s women in rural areas. Take female literacy, a shocking 2 percent in rural Balochistan, compared to 26 percent for the province as a whole.

Interestingly, in Balochistan’s more enlightened Makran division, which consists of the Panjgur, Kech and Gawadar districts, female literacy is comparatively high. The reason: Co-educational private schools are flourishing. These schools have produced an educated class of women, who today have established themselves as educators, politicians, and doctors. Among them is Zubaida Jalal, who was born into a poor Baloch family in the town of Mand, in Kech district. From 2002 to 2007, Jalal was the first federal education minister.

In recent years, though, the number of girls dropping out of education has surged, in the wake of attacks and threats to privately-run co-educations institutions in Makran division by religious fundamentalist groups.