An imperative point of discussion throughout the course of our discussions has been how conflict affects women – those receiving it have always been a center of attention but female teachers in specific are direly affected in terms of security, livelihood, and employment, which is why we concluded that Pakistan is a perfect case study for education and conflict. Operations like Zarb-e-Azab are launched when there is also a dire need for policy responses to violence in KPK. It’s imperative to recognise that there are matters to be catered to beyond this as well. Educational response hasn’t ever been a clear priority in Pakistan and no attention is paid to the post conflict requirements especially for females.
Connecting this back to our course content, we even highlighted women in positions of power and notions such as the perception that when women accept militarist notions of power it is easier for them to become part of national security and state institutions. This is a major challenge to feminist culture and thinking.
An imperative example is of Benazir Bhutto who brought first female judges e.g., Fakhar-un-Nisa Khokhar and Nasira Iqbal. Her occupying the prime minister office during her pregnancy reiterated the sheer need of this system to have a man at the helm of affairs. Beyond man and woman, we are more focused in terms of more masculine and feminine – it’s second nature to us being led by a man, or an aggressive aura possess by female. And in the Pakistani context especially, all women have to be docile while all men have to be aggressive. Benazir’s public appearance in the dupatta was post her office beginning to be approved by the Pakistani society. For cross cultural context, the picture from the Abbottabad attack situation room of Hilary Clinton as the only individual with a ‘feminine’ expression of worry, reiterates the worldwide system of building a certain narrative.
We must therefore push ourselves to think how we as a society accommodate women both in times of need, and when they are deserving to be part of the decision making process. The layers of biases we have are sometimes unconsciously hidden, even from ourselves.
This was an interesting read. This got me thinking that most of us have had female teachers throughout. We've been led by them, taught by them, nurtured by them, yet somehow the society fails to give women the due respect. All our 'amazing' people have been taught by women in their formative years, yet they mange to persecute them. It baffles me that up unitl yet we've had only one female prime-minister while the majority of population is men. Allam Iqbal recently had their first ever female head of department for surgery despite our country's obsession with getting girls to do MBBS. The current state of affairs is beyond disappoinitng. And with issues like the wage gap and workplace harrasment,…
Gender-based violence is the greatest danger girls face. In times of conflict, women and children face unparalleled levels of sexual assault, abuse, and torture. Conflict reinforces women's and girls' objectification since they are often seen as weapons of war, utilized by perpetrators of violence to exert power. Women and children make up more than half of the world's conflict-related refugee population.
War and gender-based violence are inextricably intertwined, with women and children often subjected to physical, verbal, sexual, and psychological abuse during war. This kind of violence is also employed in conflict to exert dominance, undermine families, commit ethnic cleansing and genocide, and discourage resistance and destabilize communities.
Women often bear the burden of transferring families, maintaining livelihoods, and keeping…
I believe that women on a daily basis have to face situations which over and over again tells them that they are not supposed to go beyond a certain point. Even in recent times people believe that women should not be over qualified. Especially when it comes to marriage, men are very careful that their wives are less qualified than them so that they can maintain their hierarchy. I remember reading a post on twitter which was a story about a woman who passed a test and the husband did not pass it so he did not let her continue. Example of Benazir Bhutto remind us how women have to work ten times harder to gain the same position that…
Great post, would just like to add if you have seen the recent video of two prime ministers who are women meeting for a conference and a news reporter stated "are you meeting for common interests?" the point I am trying to make along with benazir's scarf and also Hillary clinton being the only woman in that picture highlights how our society is threatened by females being in power or female receiving education - in the case of Malala, they were not scared because she was raising her voice but scared as what she could do if she was educated. I think sometimes that the states do not encourage female education because they are scared that if these women come…