Human Rights body condemns clerics for obstructing women's rights in Pakistan

Referring to another video that denounced the use of mobile phones by women relating it to 'obscenity', the HRCP in its statement released at the National Press Club in Islamabad on Saturday said that these videos use language that is derogatory towards women and also could potentially lead to incitement of violence towards women.

As several videos have been going viral on social media platforms in Pakistan that have derogatory language regarding women's rights to education and freedom, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) condemned such views given by so-called religious leaders and clerics calling it a 'deep-seated misogyny' in action. In a post on X, the HRCP stated, "The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) takes strong exception to a series of videos being circulated on social media platforms in which clerics have urged parents to pull their daughters out of school on the grounds that schooling is associated with 'obscenity'".

Referring to another video that denounced the use of mobile phones by women relating it to 'obscenity', the HRCP in its statement released at the National Press Club in Islamabad on Saturday said that these videos use language that is derogatory towards women and also could potentially lead to incitement of violence towards women. In the statement, HRCP further said, "Such deep-seated misogyny must be curtailed at once. With an estimated 12 million girls out of school, widespread cultural restrictions on women's mobility and an alarmingly high incidence of violence against women and girls, Pakistan cannot afford to give any space to derogatory and anti-women rhetoric."

The HRCP urged the government to intervene and prevent such narratives from spreading, as education and freedom remain a constitutionally protected right of females in Pakistan. Calling on the government to take action, the HRCP stated, "The state must urgently counter such narratives through strong and consistent public service messages that uphold girls' right to education--as is their constitutionally protected right under Article 25A--as well as women's digital rights more generally."

Earlier, a report released in October last year also highlighted the severe condition of female citizens in Pakistan, around 70 per cent of women who graduated from engineering programmes in Pakistan are either unemployed or do not work. The research, jointly conducted by Gallup Pakistan and PRIDE using data from the Labour Force Survey 2020-21, found that 20.9 per cent of the 28,920 women who graduated with degrees in engineering were unemployed. Only 28 per cent of them were still in the workforce, leaving about 50.9 per cent of them unemployed.

According to a analysis of the data for the three categories (employed, unemployed, and not in the labour force), 21.1 per cent of engineering graduates lived in rural areas and 78.9 per cent were based in metropolitan areas. Of engineering graduates in rural areas, 43.9 per cent had a job, whereas 36.3 per cent did not have employment, Dawn reported. Compared to the national average of 50.9 per cent, the percentage of engineering graduates in rural areas who chose to stay unemployed was significantly lower (19.8 per cent).

In metropolitan regions, 16.8 per cent of women with engineering degrees were unemployed, compared to 24 per cent who were employed. In metropolitan locations, a significant percentage of female engineering graduates (59.2 per cent) did not enter the workforce. Of the engineering graduates who chose not to enter the workforce, little over 64 per cent were married, and 28.4 per cent were single. The age range of 25-34 years had the highest percentage of female engineering graduates (50.9 per cent), followed by the range of 35-44 years (21.7 per cent). (ANI)

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