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| Photo Credit: triloks |
" We don't need all the basic rights, what we want is to have a say to agree and disagree." Shar BiBi requests. " To have a say when a guy comes asking for my son's or daughter's hand."
Shar BiBi, hailing from the far-flung area of Dasht, Turbat is in her thirties. Being from a very backward part of Balochistan province where the cloud of male solidarity and patriarchy hovers overhead, she remained deprived of an education in her entire life.
Gul Bibi, her eldest girl child was married before she reached puberty. Like her mother, she couldn't complete her education and was married off without her consent. She died of a pregnancy related problem lately.
Her second eldest daughter who is still very young to have a spouse, doesn't go to school but helps her mother in chores.
Shar Bibi fears for her second child.
" I fear not becasue she is uneducated,but I might lose her like Gul BiBi." Shar Bibi laments, eyes brimming with tears.
There are many factors behind the rocketing mortality rates and women dependency in the province. Shar Bibi blames illiteracy as the main reason behind it. The more educated the society, as she believes, the more prosperous and healthy it becomes.
She is not alone in her predicament. In the district of Gwadar, 43-year-old ,Hani,[a mother of three uneducated female children] is also downcast about her daughters' future. The village, where Hani lives, doesn't have a sinlge school for girls; As a result, her daughters are uneducated.
" Nobody has ever thought about my girls." She recalls." In a male-dominant society like ours, taking girls at schools is like taking away the honour of the society."
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| Photo courtesy: Freepik.com |
With a population of around 12 million (more and growing), women constitute 43 percent of the total population of the Balochistan province according to statistics. Comparing the entire gender parity of the country, situations get worse in Balochistan for women. The province is tagged with the label of having the highest female illiteracy, unemployment, mortality rate, amongst its counterparts. To take illiteracy, for example, a meagre 26 per cent from the total female population is educated. While the situations for women severely aggravates in rural areas of the province, with just 2 per cent.
Dasht, where Shar Bibi comes from doesn't have a school for girls. This is the reason as to why the area houses a large chunk of illiterate youths, particularly female.
" We have demanded for a school from our leaders from the very first day but all in vain." Shar Bibi says in despair. "Every political party that runs for elections has education sector one of their topmost manifestos. But after the party graves a bulk of votes from us and are brought to power, they never abide by their promises."
60 to 70 percent children in Balochistan are out of school as per as a report by UNICEF. Out of which 78 percent of girls of school-going age are out of school. One of the prime reasons is the distance of the schools from homes.
Another report by Alif Ailaan states, a child has to cover a distance of 30 Kilometres to reach a primary school and 270km and 370km to avail a Middle and High school respectively. The report further elaborates that 165,869 girls are enrolled annually in the primary section across the province. The number drops to 44,076 in the middle section and drastically falls to a meagre 20,015 in the high section.
A recent study by the Pakistan Social and Living Standard Measurement Survey shows that out of every 10 women and girls in the province, 7 do not receive schooling.
Those women who get a basic education are then plauged with being unemployed in the rest of their lives. According to a recent study 96% of the educated women in Balochistan cannot secure jobs.
Sitting foot out of the house is a daydream for some Baloch women, hailing from conservative families and are deprived of employment opportunities.
"For Baloch society, which remains very backward and conservative, certain boundaries are drawn for individuals," reveals a female chemistry student at the University of Turbat anonymously. "For women, cultural norms prohibit them from stepping outside their houses. Interestingly, we have plenty of men in our society who feel disrespected if anyone outside the family knows the names of their wives or sisters."
Women are considered the mere instruments of serving their family affairs; Therefore, they are deprived of a basic education, triggering a rise in child marriages and maternal morality rate.
A Deadly Mix: Patriarchy, Poverty, and Lack of Education Fueling Maternal Mortality
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| Photo courtesy: Freepik.com |
In many places in Balochistan, there are inadequate or no healthcare systems. As a result, hundreds of thousands of people travel to cities like Karachi, miles away, for better healthcare facilities. Pregnant women are also referred to big cities, but many tragically pass away on the way there. Many patients are attended to by unskilled elderly women and midwives, resulting in deaths.
Doesn't this imply that we are disrespecting a large population of people who are our sisters, cousins, and wives?
The Pakistan Health Demographic Survey (PHDS) terms long distances, poor transportation system and acute shortage of healthcare facilities as the sole reason of the whooping fraction of pregnancy related deaths. The report states that with 785 deaths for every 100,000 women, the Balochistan province leads the country in maternal mortality rate.
Balochistan's highest rate of child marriages, maternal mortality rate, unemployment, honor killings speak volumes about the gravity of the problem. Doesn't this imply that we are disrespecting a large population of people who are our sisters, cousins, and wives?
The pancea to all these problems is education. The males must bear in mind that the primitive notion to constrain the women to stay indoors needs to be up-rotted, or else, we will grow more regressed, resentful and neglected.
The government needs to prioritise the female education sector, not merely chalking out master plans and passing resolutions in the legislative bodies but ensure that these laws are implemented in latter and spirit. In the meantime, ensuring funds in primary care is the need of the hour.The government-in-rule as usual, seems neglectful of the Status quo that plagues the Baloch women.
As for the present time, shar Bibis and Hanis throughout the Province will continue to remain uneducated and underdeveloped.
* Names have been changed to keep privacy.
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