Gender Studies Lecture 2

Bilal Rasheed
CEO Havelian
 Topics for Lecture 2
1. Status of Women’s health in Pakistan
2. Status of Women’s Education in Pakistan
 3. Status of Women’s health in
Pakistan (1/7)
• Anaemia:
• Due to Iron deficient nutrition and blood loss throughout a
woman’s life
• Four Delays in Pregnacy:
• Delay in Decision
• Delay in Transportation
• Delay in Emergency Care
• Delay in Recognition of Post-natal Complications
– Losing three women per hour
– 30000+ deaths per year i.e. 340/100000 pregnancies because of
Hemorrhage, hypertension and infection, the three major
causes of maternal death

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 3. Status of Women’s health in
Pakistan (2/7)
• Major complications faced by pregnant
women:
– Vesico Vaginal Fistula (VVF), Recto-Vaginal Fistula
(RVF), Depression, Chronic Pelvic Pain, Loss of
Uterus, Infertility, Pelvic Inflammatory Diseases,
etc.
• 80% + women are delivered at home
• Villages lact proper road networkss.
• EmOC isn’t available at most RHCs and BHUs.

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 3. Status of Women’s health in
Pakistan (3/7)
• Girl Child
• Termination of pregnancy based on ultrasonic
confirmation of gender.
• Girl Child infant mortality rate is higher than male child
infant mortality rate
• Little access to playgrounds, social funcitons and other
community activities
• Marriage without consent.
• Bartered and given as ‘blood money’.
• Traditions like Vana, swara, watta satta, dundee, karo
kari, etc.

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 3. Status of Women’s health in
Pakistan (4/7)
• Cancers of Women:
• Breast, cervical, ovarian and colon cancers are
leading causes of death
• No screening programs and very few trained
surgeons
• Chemotherapy is extrememly expensive.

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 3. Status of Women’s health in
Pakistan (5/7)
• Violence against women:
• Acid throwing, rape, etc.
• At least 1 in every 5 women suffers rape or attempted
rape in their lifetime.
• Mental Health and Women:
• Depression, organic brain syndromes and dementias
• Povety, hunger, malnutrition, overwork, domestic
violence and sexual abuse
• Sense of loss, inferiority, humiliation, etc.
• 80% of the people affected by violent conflicts and
wars are women

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 3. Status of Women’s health in
Pakistan (6/7)
• Gender Biases in Health:
• Many health workers tend to have gender
biases.
• Communication between health workers and
women patients is extremely authoritarian
which makes woman’s disclosure of
psychological and emotional distresss difficult.

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 3. Status of Women’s health in
Pakistan (7/7)
• Steps to be taken to improve this situation:

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 4. Status of Women’s Education in
Pakistan (1/7)
• Status:
• Literacy rate of females
total rural urban
Province
females males females males females males
Baluchistan 24 56 15 48 44 76

KPK 36 72 33 70 52 70

Sindh 44 67 19 51 65 80

Punjab 54 59 44 66 73 82
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 4. Status of Women’s Education in
Pakistan (2/7)
• Drop outs from schools
• Alif Ailaan’s 25 million broken promises, 2015.
• Out of 25 million out of school children, 55%
are girls
• Child labour

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 4. Status of Women’s Education in
Pakistan (3/7)
• Hurdles:
• Social Hurdles:
• Patriarchal values/negative social behaviours towards
female education
• 34% of the out of school girls are so because their
parents won’t allow.
• Gendered labour:
• Females specialize in reproductive labour
• Economic hurdles
• 15% of the out of school girls are so because their
parents are poor.

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 4. Status of Women’s Education in
Pakistan (4/7)
• Insurgency hurdles
• By 2012, 710 schools had been damaged or destroyed
by the terrorists in KPK.
• Malala was shot in the head in Oct 2012
• Rural vs urban
• Infrastructure issues
• 60% students study in government schools and 9% of
those schools are without a building, and buildings of
38% of them are not in a satisfactory condition.
• Educational system is unable to retain students

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 4. Status of Women’s Education in
Pakistan (5/7)
• Importance of women’s education:
• Ability to form social relationships and have
self-respect
• Mobility – access to jobs and political
processes
• Access to legal system and justice
• Have their own choices

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 4. Status of Women’s Education in
Pakistan (6/7)
• Women are linked with other facets of human
development i.e. childhood care, nutrition,
water and sanitation, community
empowerment, peaceful resolution of
conflicts
• Developing organizational, managerial and
administrative skills
• Economic benefits for the country

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 4. Status of Women’s Education in
Pakistan (7/7)
• Steps to Improve the situation:

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