Gender Agenda For those who are sceptical of the relevance of feminism, Angel Merisi reminds us why we need an International Women’s Day. March 8th marked International Women’s Day: the globally recognized and celebrated socialist movement, with over 1,314 events staged worldwide. It’s been observed since 1908, when 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding better pay, shorter hours and voting rights. Since then, improvements in favour of women’s equality and status have come to fruition, in many sectors and on many levels. Nevertheless, there are still critical territories in need of modification such as equality of pay. In today’s modern world, the recognition of women in their capacity as role model, in the workplace, and, indeed, all walks of life has increased dramatically. However, throughout various indigenous cultures of the world, we still find women dominated by age old traditions, customs and staunch patriarchal authority, as is the case for many Pashtun women of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Particular aspects of cultural and social tradition can often have adverse effects on the lives of Pashtun women. It is important to state that not all Pashtun women are heavily influenced or burdened by the nature of their culture, and therefore cannot be categorized in general, or realised in terms of being uneducated or repressed. Indeed, many Pashtun women have attained high political office in recent years, while others have successfully carved out careers in journalism and in many other areas of the social domain and workplace. Yet a significant number of Pashtun women living in rural parts, such as areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Afghanistan, are affected in many ways by the ‘code of honour’ known as Pashtunwali. This code of honour is an inherent, ingrained understanding among Pashtun society, where the tribal laws and customs are adhered to and exercised, often with force, thus affecting many women’s lives in a negative way. With a population of over 50 million, the Pashtun people are Afghanistan’s largest ethnic community, and Pakistan’s second. Separated by the geographical border known as the Durand line, the Pashtun community is a tribal, clannish formed society, traditionally rules according to male values, as seen in most patriarchal societies, with the regulated Pashtunwali at the nucleus of its culture. One of the most oppressive aspects of Pashtunwali is the responsibility to uphold the honour of the family and tribe. If honour is endangered on any level, the considered perpetrator may become an outcast, disowned by both family and clan. The fear of bringing ‘sharam’ or shame on the family weighs heavily on the shoulders of Pashtun women. In Pashtun society, if a woman suffers injustice such as domestic violence, forced marriage, chooses a husband other than the choice of the tribe, confronts a husband over infidelity, acts or speaks in a way that is considered too liberal, she will have to bear the consequences, with hostile reactions from those around her. For instance, a Pashtun woman who commits adultery can face the prospect of being stoned in public, and in some cases the sentence is death.
In constant fear of shaming their family, women are often forced to bear injustice silently, to deny and sacrifice their basic human rights in order to retain the honour and status quo of their family. Violent acts such as rape often go unreported, promoting silent subjugation on the part of many Pashtun women. In light of recent revelations concerning the treatment of girls and children at the Magdalene laundries here in Ireland, the concept of bringing shame to the family is not alien to our own collective consciousness. In the majority of cases, it was close relatives who decided these girls’ fate, and therefore wittingly sentenced them to a life of seclusion, misery and horrific abuse. Another widely practiced institution of Pashtun culture is the system known as ‘Jirga’, where a panel of honoured elders called ‘Masharan’ along with other influential men of the community, assemble in order to settle disputes and domestic problems that arise within the tribe. The Jirga practice, existed in Pashtun culture long before the advent of Islam, and the Qur’an and Sunnah were since incorporated into the Jirga system. In a recent case in Afghanistan, a woman spent six months trying to get a divorce through her local court. Eventually the case was handed over to the local Jirga council for a decision. Although the woman herself was not allowed to attend the hearing, her husband, the man she wanted to divorce, was a member of the panel. In the FATA areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan, many disputes are dealt with by the Jirga, deciding the fate of countless women’s lives. The lives of Pashtun women vary from those living in urban centres to those residing in rural areas. In Afghanistan, after many decades of war and the subsequent rise of the Taliban, considerable hardship and curtailment of basic human rights have become the norm for many Pashtun women. The threat of aggressive behaviour is enormous in certain areas of rural Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Afghanistan. These actions are sometimes driven by an inaccurate interpretation of Islamic law, as recently witnessed in the shooting of 15 year old school girl Malala Yousafzai by the Taliban. There are still many discriminatory practices affecting women across the modern world today, but, as history shows us, change takes time, particularly in societies where long standing traditions and belief systems are deeply entrenched in the collective psyche. However, events such as International Women’s Day, allows the opportunity to share experiences, promote dialogue and to encourage a deeper understanding of the lives of less fortunate and often overlooked women across the world. Images: internationalwomensday.com, theatlantic.com.
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