Influence of three major waves of feminist movements in Pakistan

Influence of three major waves of feminist

movements in Pakistan
Written by: Salahuddin Bhutto. The writer is a lecturer in the Department of
Management Sciences, NUML, Multan. Published in Daily Times on October
30, 2019.

The history of feminists’ struggle to end discrimination, oppression and

marginalisation against women is divided into three waves. They are known as
first, second, and third wave of feminism. These waves, although they had
started in Europe, had global impact on the status of women, including women
of Pakistan.

The first wave of feminism officially started with the Seneca Falls Convention,
1848. It continued till 1920 after women of New Zealand, the United Kingdom,
and the United States gained voting rights. In between the first and the
second wave of feminism, which started in 1960s, Pakistan got independence.
Pakistani women were granted the suffrage in 1947, with the provision of
reserved seats in parliament existing throughout the constitutional history of
Pakistan from 1956 onwards. Being a woman of a newly born country, a
Pakistani woman had to do way more to establish her worth and gain some
status quo in society. Like western women, Pakistani women, during the
second wave, were also victim of sexism, harassment at workplace,
degradation and objectification. For example, Fatima Jinnah also had to bear
character assassination at the hands of a dictator, along with other setbacks,
including poor finances and an unfair and unequal election campaign.

Read article: Feminism in Pakistan: A brief history

Inspired by the second wave of feminism in 1960s, Pakistani women started to

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 Influence of three major waves of feminist movements in Pakistan

embark on a journey of improving their social and economic conditions. They

argued that having voting rights did not guarantee the end of their oppression
in the hands of men. The initial influence of the feminist movement during the
second wave in Pakistan included issuance of the Muslim Family Law
Ordinance, 1961. The new law aimed to regulate family affairs by protecting
women rights. In the subsequent year, another law, the West Pakistan Muslim
Personal Law Sharia Act, 1962 was introduced in the country. It allowed
Pakistani women to inherent all forms of property.

In an article published in Express Tribune, Mehreen Ovais writes, “Western

women’s liberation movement also influenced Pakistani men.” She writes,
“Rangeela was the first Pakistani to publicly express his concerns regarding
the treatment of women in Pakistan and support the liberation movement of
the 1970s. He did so via a film called Aurat Raaj, which he directed, produced
and even acted in. Released in 1979, the film depicted the story of a housewife
who stands up against her chauvinist husband and goes on to form a political
party for women across the country, eventually becoming the national leader.”

The third wave of feminism started in 1990s. Its focus was to globalise the
feminist movement and help every woman around the world, regardless of
race, colour, class, and ethnicity. The Transnational Feminist Networks were
established around the world to achieve the objectives. In the second wave,
Pakistan’s government worked on country’s Women in Development profile to
reduce gaps between socially defined roles and responsibilities of women and
men. But realising the need of the time during the third wave the focus shifted
to gender mainstreaming as a part of Gender and Development. Government
of Pakistan aimed at promoting gender equality by involving women in all
spheres of life.

In the new century, Pakistani women have enabled themselves in gaining

higher participation in socio-political and economic fields. They have secured
their quota in local government departments, bureaucracy, media houses and
parliament.

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