Women in Pakistan

Women in Pakistan are as diverse as the country's population in terms of culture, religion, social status, political and community participation at local, national and global platforms. The socio-political and cultural factors including a prominent rural urban divide significantly shape the status of women across the region.

Women in Pakistan make up 48.76% of the population according to the 2017 census of Pakistan. Women in Pakistan have played an important role in Pakistani history and have had the right to vote since 1956. In Pakistan, women have held high office including Prime Minister, Speaker of the National Assembly, Leader of the Opposition, as well as federal ministers, judges, and serving commissioned posts in the armed forces, with Lieutenant General Nigar Johar attaining the highest military post for a woman. Benazir Bhutto was sworn in as the first woman Prime Minister of Pakistan on 2 December 1988.

Women in Pakistan are as diverse as the country's population in terms of culture, religion, social status, political and community participation at local, national and global platforms. The socio-political and cultural factors including a prominent rural urban divide significantly shape the status of women across the region.

Gender Concerns International reports that women's rights in Pakistan have improved overall, with the increasing number of educated and literate women. Yet, Pakistan continues to score poorly on the WPS Index in 2021, ranking 167th out of 170 countries, and has failed to make progress toward gender equality and women's rights. This score clearly reflects on existing social problems like gender inequality, domestic violence, workplace harassments, lack of decision-making power, illiteracy, limited opportunities and absence of adequate legal framework to address these challenges.

Pakistani women have been kept behind in the field of education due to low government funding, fewer schools and colleges for women, and a low enrollment rate of women in certain areas.The patriarchal system has created the social and cultural environment that is supporting persistence male domination, remains the major obstacle in the intellectual, social, and economic growth of women. Cases of rape, honor killing, murder, and forced marriages in backward areas are also reported. All these issues are related to lack of education, poverty, a skewed judicial system, the negligence of government authorities to implement laws and widespread underperformance of law enforcement agencies such as the Police.