By Zunaira Mubasher Satkohi, USA

In Pakistan women can legally divorce their husbands. Through the woes of my colleagues, however, I learned about the social stigma associated with divorced women in Pakistan.  In an Islamic studies class I learned of the prohibition of female infanticide towards the beginning of Islam. Imagine my horror, when I read about a member of parliament in Saudi Arabia defending the action, calling it a local tradition. Growing up in Pakistan, I was part of a society where women have always been treated as second class citizens. Hence, I should not be surprised when I hear stories of young girls being denied education, women being beaten up by their husbands or quitting their jobs due to sexual harassment. Still, every time the news of rape in Rwanda, human trafficking in Cambodia or the wage gap among the two sexes in the US comes up, I can’t help but get frustrated. When the UN’s Millennium Development Goals have to focus on gender inequality and maternal health and only twelve CEO’s of the Fortune 500 companies are women, we know there is something wrong with the world we live in. Exposure to the plight of woman, especially in a developing country, leads me to recognize the lack of women’s rights, as one of the most threatening global issues today.

Even if I hadn’t grown up in a country like Pakistan, I would still believe that the current state of women’s affairs needs to be addressed, simply because the treatment many women receive is inherently wrong. Half the Sky, the book by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, recounts stories of the dilemma women all over the world face, confirming the ever increasing significance of women’s rights in today’s world. The authors go on to champion the solution to the challenges faced by women, education and empowerment, by writing success stories of women from places not only like Africa, South Asia and the Middle East, but also the American continents. Angeline Mugwendere was laughed at by her classmates due to her shabby, torn clothes, until she earned top scores in a national exam. Goretti Nyabenda, married to an alcoholic, confined to her home, became able to sustain her family through a micro-loan lent to her by an American organization. If these women found a way to turn things around for themselves with the meager resources they had, I don’t see a reason why we can’t easily help other women like them.

As a college bound student myself, it’s not difficult for me to recognize the impact that higher education will have on my life. Simpler yet is realizing the impact literacy will have on the fifteen year old married girl and her two year old son’s future. If the victim of brutal beating had learnt math and science along with cooking and cleaning she might have been able to leave her husband and make her own living. Educating a woman can empower an entire society. But that’s not enough; the law needs to be on the side of women as well. We need to aspire for a society where affirmative action and quota systems become irrelevant. Archaic laws that restrict women’s suffrage, prohibit women from driving, or actively discriminate against women in the workplace, need to be repealed. Instead of these unnecessary restrictions, lawmakers need to formulate laws that protect women and punish the violators of their freedom. While Afghanistan may allow women to work, go to school, and travel without a male relative, after a five year ban, newspapers are still filled with the failure of law enforcement. Backpage.com, the largest site for trafficking women and girls in the United States, is partly owned by Goldman Sachs. For those of us who thought sexual harassment was the biggest concern in the corporate world, this is a whole new nadir. New, stricter laws are required to deter rapists, traffickers, employers, alcoholics, cruel husbands and fathers. This isn’t a feminist campaign; just a plea for basic human rights. Educating and providing effective legal care to women, globally, is a long and arduous journey, but surely it will go a long way in empowering them.