Legal Protection of Women Rights: An Inquisitive Study into Their Struggle during the Ayub and Zia Regimes

Abstract

The study in hand throws light on the women empowerment or otherwise measures during two powerful military regimes. The theme of women empowerment in Pakistan is always under debate and seems fresh in academic scholarship. Since colonial days women are in the arena of defense of their multifarious rights. After partition, they galvanized their efforts to secure their legal and socio-economic status first at assembly floors and later as pressure groups. Their first achievement during General Ayub regime (1958-1969) was the enactment in the form of Muslim Family Laws Ordinance 1959 which was considered a ‘ray of hope’ by both feminist and women activists, but later Hudood Ordinance of 1979 enacted during General Zia regime (1977-1988) overshadowed the endeavors of the military predecessor. Thus, the 1980s was termed as the ‘decade of women’s degradation’ by sociologists and political scientists. The serenity of the Women Nation Movement at the WAF platform soon caught the attention of international organizations which, in turn, gave their full support to this cause. UNO celebrated a ‘Decade of Women Empowerment (1975-1985) and gave a new impetus to women endeavors. Pakistan signed a number of treaties as a seal stamp to women activism. The Study in hand is a discursive and comparative effort to highlight the issues of women empowerment in the light of two ordinances. Women efforts later received dividends in forthcoming civilian and military governments. Nevertheless, this journey is not over until the destination.