Contents
- Introduction
- Afghan Refugee Women in
Pakistan
- Gender Equality In Islam
- Traditional Justice System
in Afghan Refugee Community
- Intervention for Women’s
Organization
- Gender Awareness Training
- Female Committees
- Economic Empowerment
- Female Empowerment in
Conflict Transformation
- Mediation /Arbitration
- Family Group Conference
- Female Jirga (circle)
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
Introduction
When women first organized themselves in different
parts of the world to work against the male dominated society, their main agenda
focused on attaining suffrage for all women. The Netherlands and Soviet Union
achieved women's suffrage in 1917; Canada and Luxembourg in 1918; America in
1919 and Indonesia and India in 1949. But change in the Muslim world was very
slow. Apart from the religious and fundamental elements in different Muslim
countries, traditional taboos caused tremendous hurdles for the rights of women.
The male monopolized societies in Muslim countries use both religion and
traditions as effective tools to keep women away from their rights. Women in
individual Muslim countries continue to work together to gain their rights but
gender reforms are still slow and hard fought. In 1999 the Emir of Kuwait, for
the first time, gave women the right to vote in and stand for election to the
Kuwait parliament, the only lively Arab legislature in the Persian Gulf region.
Bangladesh made many changes in its constitution to bring the women folk into
the main stream, passing legislation increasing the punishments for crimes
against women, including rape, kidnapping and acid attacks. Egypt has banned
female circumcision and made it easier for women to sue for divorce. In Qatar
women have the right to participate in municipal elections and are promised the
same rights in the first ever parliamentary election scheduled to take place in
2003. Bahrain has assured women voters and candidates that they will be included
in new elections for its suspended parliament. Saudi Arabia, the chief holdout,
has at least pledged to start issuing ID cards to women.
Turkey is the
most advanced country within the Islamic states and women enjoy all freedoms,
based on the model of western countries. Very recently, the Turkish parliament
passed another important resolution reforming family law; previously the man was
head of the family, but now the female can be the head and can do many things as
the men do. They also increased the marriageable age for women from 15 to 18
years.
After Pakistan
gained its independence in 1947, Pakistani women tried to organize themselves to
fight for their rights. They gained some rights but the traditional system kept
them far behind the rest of the world’s women. The most oppressed women are
tribal women living in the Northwest Frontier Province and in Blauchistan. The
Pukhtoon women are across the Durand line in Pakistan and Afghanistan. In
Pakistan they are a minority and make up only 17% of the total population, but
in Afghanistan Pukhtoon are in the majority, making up about 75% of the total
population.
On both sides
of the border, there is a clear-cut division between the urban and rural
populations. In the cities the women enjoy all sorts of freedom, having access
to education and other social institutions, while in the rural areas they are
restricted to their compound only and have no say/share even in domestic
affairs. The rural women face a lot of hurdles in daily life, including domestic
violence, honor killing, polygamy and many others. They cannot even complain to
someone outside, as women’s affairs are considered totally internal affairs. If
a woman brings the matter outside the house, she will suffer more and may even
be killed. In the Pathan land, whose beautiful daughters gather fuel in the
hills and carry it on their heads, reap the harvest and walk through the
battlefield. One author wrote, “There is no place for purdah (veil). The
purdah did not exist in the past, it does not exist today (except by custom) and
it will never be there in future”
Ghaffar Khan,
the frontier Gandhi, struggled hard right from the start to bring the women of
the Pukhtoon community on equal footing with the men. Once in his speech to the
women he said, “My sisters, I am feeling a peculiar sort of pleasure, because
wherever I went in India and saw the nationwide awakening of the Hindu and Parsi
women, I would say to myself, ‘Would such a time come when our Pathan women
would also awaken?’ If we achieve success and liberate the motherland, we
solemnly promise you that you will get your rights. In the holy Koran, you have
an equal share with men. You are today oppressed because we men have ignored the
commands of God and the prophet. Today we are the followers of custom and
oppress you, but thanks to God that we realized that our gain and loss, progress
and downfall are common.”
Afghan Refugees women in
Pakistan
Afghan refugees
came to Pakistan after the Russian invasion in 1979. Most of the refugees were
from a rural, agrarian background, where women were living in the villages and
helping the men on agricultural land. Education opportunities for the women were
not available at all and their involvement in family and community
decision-making was nil. Women’s movements were restricted to the boundaries of
the compound and outside the home they were to follow the traditional values and
wear the veil. They mostly relied on the traditional medicine system or on
self-medication for health care, but religious methods of treatment were
considered an important treatment option. Delivery of children and women’s
health problems were all treated within the houses through traditional ways and
means.
Discrimination
between male and female children was alarming. In the tribal system, man is
considered the bread earner and provides old age support to the parents. He is
also the sole owner of inherited properties. Even though women have all legal
and religious rights for inheritance they cannot exercise them, as traditionally
those rights are not accepted. Daughters are considered a liability to the
family, because they leave the family after marriage. The only education for
them is to learn to be good in house keeping and cooking, and to learn to
respect and serve all the family members. Women arrange most religious education
for the females within the compound. Girls’ movements are restricted from a
very early age so they become used to the future challenges.
Gender Equality in Islam
Before
God, men and women are equal, but each is considered to have their own rights
and responsibilities towards Him, themselves, and others. In Islam there is no
distinction between girls and boys up to the age of puberty. They are
considered children and have the same privileges and rights. After puberty men
and women are distinguished according to their sex, but still most of the rights
are common. Both women and men in Islam have complementary roles to each other
but before God both are equal. The Muslim woman has been given the right to
choose her life partner, to decide to divorce if she does not feel happy, and to
have all inheritance rights from her father, husband, sons and daughters. She
can do her own business without the support of the male if she wishes. Even the
husband has no authority over the wife’s personal property. Muslim women are
encouraged to seek education up to any level.
In
worldly affairs, whoever is a good believer and practices religious values is
near to God. In the Koran Sura, V.16: 97, God says, “Whoever works
righteousness –whether male or female—while he (or she) is a true believer (of
Islam) verily, to him we will give a good life (in this world with respect,
containment and lawful provision), and we shall pay them certainly a reward in
proportion to the best of what they used to do.” In another chapter of the
Koran, God reveals, “Verily, the Muslims (those who submit to God in Islam) men
and women, the believers men and women (who believe in Islamic Monotheism), the
men and women who are obedient (to God), the men and women who are truthful (in
their speech and deeds), the men and women who are patient (in performing all
the duties which Allah has ordered and in abstaining from all that Allah has
forbidden), the men and the women who are humble (before their Lord—Allah), the
men and women who give sadaqat (i.e.Zakat and alms), the men and women who
observe saum (fast),the men and women who guard their chastity (from illegal
sexual acts) and the men and women who remember Allah much with their hearts and
tongues (while sitting, standing, lying, etc); Allah has prepared for them
forgiveness and great reward (i.e. Paradise).”
In a
famous incident, recorded in V. 33:35, a man came to the prophet and asked, “O
messenger of Allah, who is the person who has the greatest right on me with
regards to kindness and attention?” He replied: “Your mother.”
“Then
who?” He replied: “Your mother.”
“Then
who?” He replied: “Your
mother.”
“Then who?” He replied: “Your father.” (Ahmad and Abu Dawud)
On another occasion the Holy Prophet said. “That Heaven is
beneath the mother’s feet”. Who ever makes the mother happy will definitely go
to heaven.
Traditional Justice System
in the Afghan Refugee Community
Afghan refugees
are from the same Pukhtoon ethnic group that stretches along the Durand line on
both sides of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Most disputes are resolved through the
local jirga by men. Women have no say and make no contribution in the
decision making process, even in domestic affairs. Their involvement is
considered to be a shame to the family, community and tribe. Two important
places within the community are commonly used for solving community problems,
the mosque and the hujra. In the mosque men perform prayer five times a
day, come to know each other’s problems and take remedial action wherever they
can. Hujra is the community center where, along with other community
issues, jirga decides community problems. Women have no representation in
either of these places due to the strict veil system.
Females have
some places within the community, where minor issues can be discussed and solved
without the knowledge of the men. The women get together in the morning after
the men leave for work, gathering at the tribal chief’s house (or a house of
another respectable member of the community) for gossip and to discuss their
issues. The community oven is another area where women gather for informal
meetings and problem settlement. Women who fetch water from the stream (goder)
and wash clothing or utensils use that as another opportunity to discuss and
solve their issues with each other. Women also go to the religious scholar’s
home to learn the Koran and to discuss some of their problems and here the
religious women decide their issues. There are some influential women in each
community (i.e. traditional birth attendants) who visit different houses
frequently and due to their age and experience, can easily discuss any problem
with the men in the community. Such women inform the jirga members of any
individual woman’s problem if it is of a serious nature. The jirga members will give consideration before raising the issue to the male members of
the conflicting family, as in most of the cases a family problem is considered
personal, and any outside interference can make the problem worse or even make
the life for the individual woman more difficult within the house.
Intervention by Women’s
Organizations
Any approach to
the women needs proper permission and full briefing of the tribal elders,
decision makers and especially the religious elite within the communities. The
refugee men, after taking refuge in Pakistan, were organized into jirga organizations at each level of the village to help the local administration, UN
agencies and NGO’s in their work. Soon the need was felt to involve the women in
projects for women’s, as even the refugee men were not allowed to supervise and
look after the women’s project. Meetings were arranged with the men and they
were fully briefed about the international donors needs for women’s
organizations. In the majority of the cases, the jirga members agreed
with some reservations. The organizations started working with the elderly women
who were not in strict veil. Their access to males was also possible in order
to brief the men on day-to-day developments. These women collected first hand
information concerning women’s problems, including such areas as the widows’
list, skilled women list, children without immunization etc. At the same time,
the women were also approached from other directions.
Children in
each community have special impacts on their family members. Whatever they
learn in the school is disseminated in their homes with others members of the
family. They are listened to and followed well by the elders. In the female
schools, special programs like “child-to-child” were introduced to spread the
message of children’s rights in the communities. Soon after the successful
children’s rights awareness programs were implemented, gender awareness messages
were also included in their syllabus. Children also played an exemplary role by
involving the children who were not attending school. As most of the parents
were not educated, the need was felt to help bring awareness to the
parents/grandparents and other uneducated family members within the house. The
children can play an effective awareness role if they are equipped with
publicity material.
The
child-to-child program was expanded into child-to-adult programs with gender
messages. This opened the way for getting women get into different programs. In
the middle and high schools, a girl’s guide was introduced to involve the youth
in decision making with special training packages. Within the community of
“Malgara Joona,” young girls were introduced to ways of empowering both girls
and women. One of the girls, Nigina, exclaimed, “Except for the Pathan, the
women have no enemy. He is clever but is ardent in suppressing women…o Pathan
when you demand your freedom, why do you deny it to women.” Such feelings were
expressed by girls and women’s organizations, and helped empower them to work
for themselves within their communities.
Gender Awareness Training
Being a male
monopolized society, the gender training was first organized for the male jirga in the refugee camps to see/observe the reaction of the men. Different
community elders within the jirga were invited to discuss gender issues
in depth. In the first training, on the very first day, the elders reacted very
strongly to women’s rights and empowerment. Some of them linked it to the
Russian invasion in Afghanistan, while others gave traditional and religious
examples from their previous experiences and showed their resentments to
bringing any change in their existing structure. In light of the sensitivity of
the issue and the nature of the training, the gender discrimination turned from
the male/female issue to boy/girl and daughter/son discrimination in the
existing culture. The girl child, with the invention of ultrasound, is totally
neglected, as is the mother, even before the birth. If a woman gives birth to
two or three daughters continuously, she is threatened by a second marriage etc.
A son enjoys all rights and privileges while a daughter is not even allowed to
attend school and does all the odd jobs, which are supposed to be done by the
male.
The new
strategy worked well, and on the second day of the training, the participants
brought different ideas and changes that they then took into their homes. They
also suggested many changes, in light of religious teachings, to include in the
training, as it is very relevant to the teaching of Islam. The training was
extended to all the male committees and after the male training, it was
introduced to the female committees. It created a lot of awareness among the
female folk. Immediate reactions to it included enrolling girls in high school,
immunization of the children, admission to the labor room for women and
establishment of more female committees on the camp level. The female committees
started their work on the same pattern as the male jirga, which was the
first successful parallel to the male jirga but with a different name and
a female committee. Other issues like management, organization and
administration were also included in the gender training package to empower the
women to run their own affairs. Side by side in the male/female children
package, gender balanced messages were included to create awareness and to
support the women’s efforts at empowerment.
All the steps for empowerment of the women were taken only
through the female staff and no male intervention was involved at any stage,
although the male community leaders thoroughly observed the implementation
process. The female staff also followed and observed all the traditional rules
and regulations to show unity and respect to the cultural and traditional norms
of the community. Such practices made the female staff role more credible and
the male community members fully supported the jobs of the females in each
respect. With their training and implementation jobs, the staff also looked for
active female individuals for further organization and strengthening of the
female activities in the future, as the traditional birth attendants were mostly
old women, uneducated, and busy in other community activities.
Female Committees
Establishment
of the female committees as a parallel to the male jirga (male
committee), and empowering the women to run their own affairs was the great
challenge to the female staff and donor agency workers. The men, especially the
warlords, tribal chiefs, and religious leaders, considered themselves the only
spokesmen of the refugee communities. The female staff intervention, with the
help of the traditional birth attendant, made the job easier to identify active
community members for female committees. Training creates awareness and opens
the ways and means for empowerment and organization. Women were organized and
given the task to identify vulnerable women in their communities and to suggest
different options for their support. There is a big difference between the
western and traditional concepts of vulnerability. The western NGO’s mostly saw
the need to help widows, orphans and the disabled, while the Afghan women
identified additional categories, such as men who were old with three or four
wives, needing to support large families, or skilled women who had no access to
the market for selling their finishing products, or a mother of heroin addicts
who totally relied on her young adult male children but who were not able to
support her.
Women became
supportive of their community’s vulnerable women. Old and disabled males were
identified to bring their products to the market. Female committees also gave
support to other organizations within the community. The women’s committees for
girls’ education and children immunization supported the child-to-child program
for the children. In some of the areas where awareness among the parents was
less, child-to-child programs were reshaped into child-to-adult programs to
train and bring awareness to the parents at home. Eventually, the message
spread to the rest of the communities.
The six basic
children’s rights were well accepted by the community from the child-to-child
program and with the active support of the female committee. Young girls who
were not allowed to attend school were also organized in separate groups to
receive education within home schools, either with religious education or to
develop their skills. Competitions were arranged to encourage such youth to
develop further education and skills. The committees shared money to start their
own income generation program and also to share their skills with each other. It
created an opening for the NGOs and within the community, double access to
support the women folk in learning to stand on their own feet. To solve
community problems in a peaceful way, the women’s committees used whatever means
they had access to. Anything beyond that was referred to male committees for
further solutions.
Economic Empowerment
The main hurdle in gender-based discrimination is the women’s
dependency on men. In Afghan communities, women depend on their men for each and
every minor financial item. Men keep all the money and women have no access to
it, neither do they know the assets of the men. The total dependency on men in
financial matters makes women more dependent and vulnerable to what is called
gender discrimination and gender imbalance. The different female organizations
at the community level, with the full fledged support of the donor agencies,
helped make women independent to a certain extent, as the women themselves
established different ways and means to earn their income. Women started small
businesses in their own community through the help of donor agencies or through
their own contributions and started earning a sufficient amount of money. Men
never interrupted as the businesses were totally in the women’s hands and within
the traditional customary framework. In some cases where the male bread earner
was sick or old, the female become wholly responsible to look after the family
affairs.
Youth also learned much from the donor community, along with
different skills and new knowledge to make them self-reliant. The traditional
skills that they brought with them to help make their businesses flourish were
fully supported as well by the donor agencies. By selling their products, the
women become more independent to buy whatever they liked. They would once have
relied on men, and had no say in their clothing of daily use, as bought for them
by their father or brothers. Women’s economic independence also had a very
positive impact on their children’s futures and especially in their children’s
education. Due to a lack of financial resources, children were compelled by
their mothers to become street children. They collected rubbish from different
houses in close by local Pakistani populations to sell and earn some money for
the household. Most of the children were involved in this business without the
knowledge of the males, leaving their education incomplete. Different criminals
like drug peddlers trapped such children and ultimately they were to become the
criminals of the future. After gaining economic independence and earning their
own living, women tried to send their children to school to make them useful
members of the community. There are some traditional taboos against school
education that mostly stop the females from going to school. Even in the male
education there are some common slogans like:
Those who learn in school
Are none but money’s tools?
In heaven they will never dwell
They will surely go to hell.
After the women
became more independent, they tried to admit their children, especially their
daughters, to school. If the fathers were not supporting their daughters in
their education, the mothers themselves sometimes took the responsibility to
educate their daughters. It was an encouraging sign among the women. As they
became more independent in their financial matters, they could support, not only
themselves, but also their children.
Female Empowerment in
Conflict Transformation
Women play both
positive and negative roles in any family or tribal conflict. Most of the Afghan
refugee problems are due to three Z factors--zan (women) zameen (land) zar (wealth). Women either instigate the conflict by motivating
and inspiring the men for revenge or cool down the conflict so it can be settled
through peaceful means. In both cases, the men mostly depend on the female to
determine in which direction they will turn the conflict. In the committee
training, special attention was given to teach the women to be responsible in
their actions. Responsibility brings coolness and passion to any problem’s
decision. Women in the community weekly meeting brought all problems and
discussed them with each other in detail to try their best to find the
solutions. After organizing meetings in different houses of the female committee
members, the need was felt to provide a place for the female committee where
they could meet without any one else’s influence and discuss their issues.
Community centers in different refugees camps were established for such purposes
where the female committees arranged their meetings on a regular basis.
It was again
another achievement on the hujra pattern for females within the
community. Afghan Social Animators and Pakistani female social workers were
present at the female committee meetings to guide the women in the right
direction. Most of the committee members received formal or informal training on
war affected children, trauma healing, and mental health issues, so they could
utilize their knowledge and skills to support those women who were suffering in
their daily lives. They also extended all possible help to the women who lost
those near and dear in the war or because of enmities. They tried in their areas
to approach such women and provide counseling or assistance to help heal the
traumatizing situation. Similarly, they worked to help children with different
disabilities to be integrated with normal children. Mediation has been done
among the women’s groups, but if needed, men from the same communities were
asked to join them in cases where the conflicting parties were men and women.
The men and women committee members approached both the parties separately to
bring them to the negotiation table. They then decided jointly in a family
mediation.
Mediation/Arbitrations
Mediation and arbitration are commonly used and carried out by
the Afghan women in their communities. Arbitration is the way for men and women
both to bring resolution through shuttle diplomacy, parachute diplomacy or any
other way to come into the middle of the parties and solve problems voluntarily.
As there was no jirga system among the women, arbitration was possible
and it was the only way for the influential women within their neighborhoods to
act and solve the women’s disputes. Those influential women who were members of
the female committees were identified, organizing from all corners of the
refugees’ villages. They were provided proper training to handle different
problems in their localities and were also given a place, the community’s
center, to discuss the issues and solve then through consensus. Here the victim
and offender problems were discussed in their absence before the process began.
They were also given a chance to come and discuss it with an individual or with
the whole group later on. The committees assigned the task to one or many
members of the committee to approach the parties, inquire about the facts and
report back to the committees. Looking to the nature and issue at hand, the
parties are approached on an individual basis and motivated before mediation. If
the parties do not reach a consensus, the members sometimes use arbitration to
settle the issue.
The committee also takes the responsibility of looking after
areas such as fetching water from the tube well or shallow well by being present
at the distribution point to facilitate smooth distribution. They are also
present in the Basic Health Unit to help the health staff look at patients in a
timely and accurate manner. These are small preventive measures that the
committee members provide to the community. In the case of a major dispute, the
matter is referred to male committees for solution and further action.
Arbitration and meditation play an important role in family disputes, i.e. the
cases of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law conflicts that are very common in the
joint family system and often lead to major conflicts. It also plays a role in
domestic violence. The word masher (elders) is very common in Pukhtoon
code of life and masher is always respected in the community regardless of
gender identity. The second respectable name is the guest. When the community
elders (masher women) and the guests (committee members from other parts of the
refugee village) come together they are well respected and listened to by the
parties in conflict. Their special status and experience helps resolve the
problems of women. The committee members living closely to the parties take
responsibility to follow up on the truce or agreement, to normalize the
relationship and to avoid further escalation of the conflict in the future.
Family Group Conference
The family
group conference is traditionally very common in every family’s good and bad
occasions. During happy events, the family jirga comes first to chalk
out the program in advance and to work out sharing the duties with each other.
By dividing the responsibilities the house family members become relaxed, as it
becomes the obligatory duty of the individual to carry out responsibilities as
designated. When problems occur, again the family member comes first and
divides the responsibilities.
The same
practice is very common among the women folk, where on special occasions women
come together and share responsibilities. An elderly woman sometimes distributes
the responsibility on her own to different individuals of the family and tribes.
With the
traditional system, the new concept of female committees makes the job easier.
When they also share the responsibility with household members, the young girls
groups take the responsibility to look after the guest and the food to be
distributed among the people to avoid any conflict. Similarly, the elderly women
of the committees distribute the food items and make arrangements for the
lodging and boarding of guests and house members in cases of marriages/death or
any other family gathering.
Family group
conferences take place in a variety of manners. The first one usually takes
place when all the male and female members of the family come together and
discuss the issues in detail, trying to determine the responsibility of the
parties involved in conflict and to identify both the victim and the offenders.
In the majority of the cases, they are not successful as no one takes the
responsibility, and they blame each other for instigating the conflict. In the
second stage, the committee members and other elderly women of the community
come forward to listen to the parties and provide mediation and arbitration if
possible, to settle the dispute. If the men are involved in the family conflict
the tribe elders/wise men from the same tribes are invited to discuss the issue
and solve the matters. In such cases, the male/female committee members with all
other close family members are present, to listen to each other’s arguments and
decide the issue in the light of prevailing custom and tradition. If the matter
is not solved, then it is referred to the male jirga for solution. In the jirga the elders of the tribe prefer to come forward voluntarily so as
not to involve an outsider in the family affairs. If again it is not solved, the
issue is referred to jirga. The jirga members look at the matters
from different perspectives before taking any direct actions. In the majority
of cases, they avoid indulging themselves in the women’s affairs and advise the
parties to solve their problem through the family group conference or the
tribe’s own elders.
Female Jirga (Female
committee) circle
Female
committee members follow the same pattern as the male Jirga in most of the
cases. All of them are invited to the community center instead of hujra,
as in the case of male Jirga, meeting on a weekly basis and acting according to
the planned agenda for the week. All the community issues identified by the
committee members or animators and donor agencies workers are brought into the
committee meeting for discussion and action on individual conflicts. The
committee members sit with the social worker in a circle and prioritize the
issues according to the nature of their importance and then solve them
accordingly. All the committee members are volunteers and do the job purely on a
voluntary basis. Most of the problems that come to the female committees are
relevant to the welfare of the communities as the rest of the individual
problems are mostly solved through mediation and family group conferences. They
collectively look after the female interests and their empowerment. They also
highlight further areas of common interest, especially Income Generating
Projects where females gain independence from their men in their daily financial
matters and help their children in education and other daily life necessities.
Since the refugees normally live as a tribal society, the active community men
and women tried their best to divert the donor agencies towards their tribes in
the majority of cases to gain more benefit from them. The same was observed in
early days when there was no NGO access to the female communities, but with the
help of female committees the vulnerable groups from each tribes were identified
by them and targeted to the donor agencies for help/assistance. Monopoly of one
group over another is thoroughly checked by the female organization and equal
distributions of the resources are given preference.
The girls have
the right of inheritance but it does not look good within the custom for a woman
to claim her inheritance from her parents. Most of the women try their best to
compensate their daughters through providing a dowry in marriage. They start
planning for the dowry right from the birth of a daughter. With the help of NGOs
they are trying to start more income generating projects to make more women and
girls self-reliant. Health hygiene, education for girls and child immunizations
are some of the important task for female committees to deal with in circle.
In major
disputes within tribes the female committees try to influence the jirga members for peaceful settlement; they visit their respective tribal chief
individually or in groups to motivate them for peaceful settlement. They cannot
go to the other side of the tribes due to the veil system, but in the cross
marriage system they also influence the opposite parties to whom they belong. In
some of the community disputes like sharing of water from the same tube well and
community electrification, the committee members keep an eye on misuse by the
community women. In case of major problems or epidemics they bring awareness to
the women folk through a mass campaign. In some of the tribal disputes, female
committee members by the request of male Jirga motivate the female members of
the warring faction as they create hurdles for the male to solve the disputes
peacefully. They do the job well and make the process easy for the male members.
Conclusion
Islam has given
the same rights to women as to men, in their daily life. All gender
discrimination is man made, customary and traditionally originated within
different societies. Our approach to such communities is top down. A few
feminist groups are active in this field, headed by female individuals for a
gender-balanced society. Any approach to such communities will not be successful
unless and until it is bottom up and coincides with the existing customs and
traditions. Men of male-monopolized communities need awareness and a friendly
approach for launching any community based program. Before approaching women in
traditional communities, men need proper training and an organizational network,
which will become a bridge for further access to the women folk. NGOs and donor
agencies mostly come to work with such communities in emergencies and bring
their own agendas, without proper preparation or understanding the importance of
taking the men in confidence. Their direct approach to the female groups without
knowing traditional and customary law makes the situation not only worse for
them, but life becomes more miserable for the women in that community.
All such
efforts need preparation and planning before hand. The first important task is
to identify the main stakeholders and decision makers within the community. The
next important task is to motivate and train the male community members and
start a small project for the men first, that they should know the benefit of
the project and practically see that there is no harm if also implemented for
the female folk. Any approach to the female in the beginning should be made
through those males already trained and motivated. After taking in confidence
the men, identification of female stakeholders and decision makers to provide
the access to the females become easy. The open-minded female, having a less
restricted veil system, can identify other active members within community for
organization and networking. Training will open the minds of the women and will
also give access for further identification of active members. Every social
problem leads to an economic problem and economic problems lead to social
problems. Economic self-reliance for females is very important to gain further
independence in other social sectors. Once the women gain education and economic
independence, they then play other roles against gender discrimination
effectively. Justice is also linked to economic independence; when the women
earn on their own way they also organize themselves to solve their problems
collectively. Economic independence does not necessitate competing with the men
in different fields of life. It creates problems in a male-monopolized society,
if women challenge their independence totally and cut their links with the men.
Undertaking such efforts within the boundary of the cultural values and norms
needs proper attention for further progress and achievements in the future.
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Kathhina Juma. Unveiling women as Pillars of peace, Peace building in
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Horizons International Graphic Tucker Street. Beltsville MD. June/July 1997. 6. Abdul
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ALI GOHAR
(A Hanbook For Relief Workers)
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