National Women's Day (Pakistan)

Pakistan's National Women's Day is on February 12 every year to mark the first women's march in Pakistan which was on 12 February 1983. The date 12 February is significant in the history of women's rights struggle in Pakistan because the first such march was brutally suppressed by the martial law enforced by the police of General Zia ul Haq's military regime.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

For other uses, see National Women's Day (disambiguation).

Annual commemorations

Pakistan's National Women's Day is held annually on February 12 to mark the first women's march in the country held on that date in 1983. December 22 is also celebrated as a National Day for Pakistani Working Women. These two days, in addition to International Women's Day, were acknowledged for celebration by Pakistan's government from the time of Yousaf Raza Gillani the former Prime Minister.[7][8][9][10]

Among those honored in 2012 were Shahnaz Wazir Ali (PPP’s adviser to the PM ), Nilofar Bakhtiar (PML-Q Senator), Bushra Gohar (ANP MNA), and Kishwer Zehra (MQM MNA), for proactively working on women's rights related bills.[1] 2013 National Women's Day was commemorated at Fatima Jinnah Park with awareness stalls about gender-based violence, where activist presented skits and speeches.[2] The 2013 event was also observed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA with awards were distributed to prominent women in the women's rights movement in Pakistan.[11]

The theme for the 2020 event held at Karachi was "Women's social protection in the context of gender-based violence". Its focus was to evaluate various socio-legal steps taken by the Sindh government and NGOs to improve the status of women in Pakistan.[10]

A song ‘Kaun Kehta Hai Beikhtiyar Hoon Main’ written by Aaliya Mirza sung by Zainab Fatima as part of a six-song album called ‘Gao Suno Badlo’ (GSB) issued on National Women's Day February 12, 2015 is dedicated to women who participated in 1983 Women's March, Lahore.[12]

1983 Women's March, Lahore
Main article: 1983 Women's March, Lahore

On 12 February 1983 a women's march led by the Women's Action Forum (WAF) and the Punjab Women Lawyers Association assembled at Mall road in Lahore and processed toward Pakistan's Lahore High Court to protest against the discriminatory Law of Evidence and other Hudood Ordinances.[1][2][3][4] The proposed evidentiary law was intended to reduce the value of women's court testimony to half of that of men; the Hudood ordinances, reduced women's rights by the dictatorship's use of Sharia laws.[4] The marchers were tear gassed and baton charged by police injuring many women. Fifty of the marchers were arrested for defying the existent ban on public assembly.[1][2][3][4]

Bibliography
  • Khan, Ayesha. The Women's Movement in Pakistan: Activism, Islam and Democracy. United Kingdom, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018.
  • Weiss, Anita M.. Interpreting Islam, Modernity, and Women's Rights in Pakistan. United Kingdom, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. Page 49.
  • Omvedt, Gail. “Women in Governance in South Asia.” Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 40, no. 44/45, 2005, pp. 4746–52, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4417361.
  • Imran, R. (2005) 'Legal injustices: The Zina Hudood Ordinance of Pakistan and its implications for women', Journal of International Women's Studies, 7(2), pp. 78–100
  • Jalal, A. (1991). The Convenience of Subservience: Women and the State of Pakistan. In: Kandiyoti, D. (eds) Women, Islam and the State. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-21178-4_4
  • Korson, J. Henry, and Michelle Maskiell. “Islamization and Social Policy in Pakistan: The Constitutional Crisis and the Status of Women.” Asian Survey, vol. 25, no. 6, 1985, pp. 589–612, https://doi.org/10.2307/2644377.
  • Women's Movements in Asia: Feminisms and Transnational Activism. United Kingdom, Taylor & Francis, 2010. Page 167
  • Re-Interrogating Civil Society in South Asia: Critical Perspectives from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. India, Taylor & Francis, 2021. Page 191 / 192

References
  1. Ali, Sehrish (2012-02-10). "National Women's Day: 'We will raise our voices against discrimination'". The Express Tribune. Retrieved 2022-04-15.
  2. "National Women's Day: Struggle for equal rights will go on". The Express Tribune. 2013-02-12. Retrieved 2022-04-15.
  3. "Women's achievements highlighted at event to mark National Women's Day". www.thenews.com.pk. Retrieved 2022-04-15.
  4. Reporter, The Newspaper's Staff (2019-02-13). "Women remember iconic 1983 demo, vow to fight oppression". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2022-04-15.
  5. Hassan, Taimur-ul (July–December 2010). "The Performance of Press During Women Movement in Pakistan". South Asian Studies (A Research Journal of South Asian Studies). 25 (2): 311–321 – via eds.p.ebscohost.com.
  6. "WAF calls for remembering Pakistan Women's Day". www.thenews.com.pk. Retrieved 2022-04-21.
  7. APP (2010-12-22). "Gilani declares Dec 22 as national day of working women". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2022-04-21.
  8. "Women's achievements highlighted at event to mark National Women's Day". www.thenews.com.pk. Retrieved 2022-04-21.
  9. Jadoon, Alveena (2019-02-12). "It Is National Women's Day And Here's Why We Celebrate It". Maati TV. Retrieved 2022-04-21.
  10. Hussain, Nida Mujahid. "National Women's Day 2020: Karachi event discusses measures to end gender-based violence". www.geo.tv. Retrieved 2022-04-21.
  11. Khan, Ayesha (2018). The Women's Movement in Pakistan. I.B. Tauris. p. 214. doi:10.5040/9781788318815. ISBN 978-1-78673-523-2.
  12. Anwer, Zoya (2015-02-12). "Gao Suno Badlo releases first song on National Women's Day". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2022-04-21.
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