The Plight of the Girl-Child in Pakistan
Ameena Khan
cwa.tnet.co.th
Pakistan ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990 and CEDAW in 1996. Although there are constitutional and legal provisions for children now, the status of the girl-child still leaves much to be desired. Given the overall vulnerability of children in Pakistan, and the socio-economic disadvantages facing women and girls, the situation of the girl-child calls for a renewed focus.
Social conditioning projects girls as being of lower status, weak, vulnerable, dependent, subordinate to males, and in need of guidance and protection. Coupled with the inadequate educational system and negative media portrayal, this leads to girls having low self- esteem, little awareness of their rights, very few opportunities, and limited aspirations.
Development planning for the girl-child is exacerbated by a lack of clarity on the age definition of the girl-child The CRC defines a child as one below 18 years; the Majority Act in Pakistan defines those below 18 as minors. However, the minimum legal age for marriage is 16 for girls and 18 for boys. In laws dealing with child labour, anyone below the age of 15 is defined as a child. Finally in some criminal matters (specifically sex-related crimes), females are defined as being adult at puberty, exposing the girl-child to criminal liabilities and to severer punishments at an earlier age than boys. The contradiction in definitions of adulthood under different laws denies the girl child the rights available to a boy of the same age.
Girls, in rural areas, tend to attain puberty at ages ranging from 9- 12 years. Sociological and anthropological research reveal that there is a continuation of the cultural norms of early marriages in rural areas. Almost 68% percent of Pakistan's population resides in rural areas, and the girls in the age group 12-14 years are either pregnant or are already mothers.
To circumvent the law, parents record their daughter's age as 16 years in the marriage certificate. Since the birth certificate is not yet a legal requirement for marriages in Pakistan, there is no way to check falsification of age on the marriage contract.
Early marriage has serious implications for girls reproductive health, especially when added to low literacy levels, inadequate access to basic reproductive health services, information and counseling. Adolescent girls enter the vicious cycle of too early, too frequent, and too many high-risk pregnancies, resulting in morbidity, childbirth complications, and maternal mortality. This robs the child of her childhood, the right to play and recreation, the right to knowledge of options and choices - in short the right to recognition as a human individual in her own right.
The need to adopt a life-cycle approach to women's development, with a special focus on the girl-child has been emphasized since the mid- 80s in the SAARC region. 1991-2000 was designated as the SAARC Decade of the Girl-Child. The decade-long SAARC advocacy for the girl- child, the CRC, the World Summit for Children and other international conferences, most notably Education For All (EFA) and ICPD, contributed significantly to the recognition of, and support for addressing the situation of the girl-child, and brought the girl- child to the Beijing agenda.
As regards the health issue, the government as well as non-governmental organisations should initiate programs to address the communication gap between mothers and daughters. This should relate to puberty and greater awareness of the nutritional needs of the girl- child.
Various initiatives on child labour issues focus on rehabilitation and providing access to both formal and non-formal educational opportunities. While these are not girl-child specific, they do not reach low income urban and periurban girls in selected locations. There is now a need to take such worthwhile initiatives to scale, and, more importantly. for the Government to take ownership fin long- term sustainability.
An issue that has consistently been ignored in development planning is that of the child domestic labour. The category of domestic servants is not covered under any of the labour laws, thereby exposing domestic servants to all forms of abuse. Sexual abuse and exploitation is a common problem of girl servants.
While Primary education has received priority focus, especially for girls, the problem is now shifting to secondary education, where the number of female dropouts is increasing due to non-availability of services/facilities.
The government needs to formulate a comprehensive, progressive and integrated policy on children, adolescents and youth with special attention and affirmative action for girl-children, particularly, the disabled. Advocacy initiatives should be taken and a detailed analysis of the 1998 census data with a special focus on the girl-child should be brought under consideration. The print its well as the electronic media should initiate sensitization and awareness- raising to mobilize community support, particularity on issue of the doubly victimized disabled girl-child. |
