By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: News line magazine
At the recent ASR conference in Lahore on the women’s movement in Pakistan, I met a female journalist from a local Urdu language newspaper who was there to cover the opening event. She had not received her salary for two months. She tellingly asked me, “Now that women have such a substantial presence in parliament, do you think the goals of the women’s movement have been met?”
Continue reading One Step Forward
By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn
Hats off to the women who lobbied for the two bills on sexual harassment, and managed last week to move them a step further towards becoming the law. At long last the ruling coalition partners mustered enough courage to take a stand on women’s rights in this matter.
Continue reading Women’s bills revisited
By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn
THE event organised in Karachi on January 9 by the family of Dr Sarwar to commemorate the legacy of the students’ movement of the 1950s proved to be inspiring beyond all expectations. It was after a long time that people turned up in such large numbers to remember the past. That itself was something remarkable – people are too busy trying to cope with the present. They have no time for anything else, least of all for kal, aaj, kal (yesterday, today, tomorrow). The idea was to create a link between these three phases of our lives, as Rahat Kazmi who hosted the show put it pithily.
Continue reading No education, no democracy
By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn
THE government has, after much thought I presume, decided to erect a monument in Liaquat Bagh, Rawalpindi, to honour the memory of the first woman prime minister of Pakistan and the late chairperson of the PPP, Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated two years ago.
This move was long overdue as Ms Bhutto merits a tribute irrespective of the political controversy surrounding her.
Continue reading A memorial to Benazir
By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn
PUBLIC memory is proverbially short. But the bills passed on women are too recent an event to be consigned to oblivion. Twice in the last four months the government’s attempts to enact pro-women legislation – one on domestic violence and the other on sexual harassment — have ended in a fiasco.
Continue reading Mystery of the women’s bills