Sky is the limit for Pakistan’s women fighter pilots
In a country where extended family is important and most middle-class women rely on servants for household work and child-minding, Ambreen and Nadia may be saved some of the problems faced by women in the West. —AFP Photo
ISLAMABAD: Ambreen made Pakistani history by becoming one of the country’s first female fighter pilots, but on Sunday she was due to swap her flight schedule for an arranged marriage.
“It’s all set and planned, but I haven’t talked to him,” she admits, her face scrubbed clean and wearing a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) jumpsuit – a far cry from the make-up and ornate gown she’ll wear for the wedding.
The wedding between Flight Lieutenant Ambreen Gul, 25, and an engineer from Islamabad has been arranged by their families in the best Pakistani tradition.
When she wakes up on Monday – International Women’s Day – she’ll be married to a man she has only seen once before and with whom she has barely exchanged a word.
Pakistan is a conservative Muslim country, where the United Nations says only 40 per cent of adult women are literate. Women are victims of violence and abuse, and the country still lacks a law against domestic violence.
But in 2006, seven women broke into one of Pakistan’s most exclusive male clubs to graduate as fighter pilots – perhaps the most prestigious job in the military and for six decades closed to the fairer sex.
Ambreen’s company manager father was delighted. Ironically it was her housewife mother who initially feared her daughter would bring shame on the family.
“It was because of our eastern culture. She thought people would say, ‘Why are you letting your daughter go out of the home?’
She and 26-year-old Flight Lieutenant Nadia Gul say PAF is a trailblazer for women’s rights. As respected officers with a 60,000-rupee-a-month salary, they are living out their dreams.
“It’s a profession of passion. One has to be extremely motivated. I love flying. I love to fly fighter jets, to do something for my country that is very unique,” smiled Ambreen, her hair stuffed into a pony tail.
Signing up aged 18, only a handful of girls beat homesickness and stiff competition to pass a six-month selection process and graduate after three-and-a-half years of training.
“It was the toughest time we’ve ever faced,” Ambreen remembers.
During a training flight on a Chinese-made F-7, she once blacked out for a few seconds before survival reflexes kicked in.
Nadia, whose army captain husband is serving on the front line of Pakistan’s war against the Taliban in the mountains of Swat, won a prize for academic achievement at PAF’s first women fighter pilot graduation.
“It was the first time. It was history,” she remembers, a bottle-green hijab covering most of her hair and tucked into her padded pilot’s jacket.
“I was just a girl who went to college and came back home, but now I’m in a great profession,” said Nadia.
Commanding male subordinates, they bat aside any question of sexism or men who don’t take kindly to being ordered about by a woman.
They love the respect that comes with official fighter pilot status in the armed.
“Families are very fascinated. Everyone’s very impressed,” says Nadia, describing her husband as “very supportive” and “proud”.
Forbes ranked Pakistan in 2010 as the fourth most dangerous country in the world. Officers say only a tiny elite – and no women – actually fly in combat in Pakistan’s tribal belt, a battleground against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
While PAF is outwardly very proud of its women pilots, some wonder privately whether women are strong enough to reach the top of the profession.
But flying transport and cargo planes, ferrying VIPs like cabinet ministers around the country, Nadia feels women’s lot is improving and takes issue with Western perceptions of Pakistan as backward.
“PAF are giving us this chance on an equal basis. It was really a bold step that the Pakistan Air Force has taken in recruiting lady fighter pilots,” she said.
In a country where extended family is important and most middle-class women rely on servants for household work and child-minding, Ambreen and Nadia may be saved some of the problems faced by women in the West.
They believe marriage and – in the future – motherhood can complement, not replace, a career, “provided you have a supportive family.”
Source: Dawn
Equal rights
Dawn Editorial
Monday, 08 Mar, 2010
Women activists protest to condemn violence against women in Lahore. –APP Photo
On International Women’s Day, being observed the world over today, public focus will be on the theme adopted by the United Nations, ‘Equal rights, equal opportunities and progress for all’.
This comes as a reminder that Pakistan still has a long way to go before equality of rights and opportunities is translated into reality. There is no denying the fact that the status of women in the country has improved considerably since 1947 but given the very low baseline from which women started we cannot afford to be complacent. At a time when goals of gender equality have been set universally, it is a pity that Pakistan is lagging behind in reaching the Millennium Development Goals that are to a great extent directed at closing the existing gender gap in society.
Although equality before the law — in terms of rights — should not have been such a daunting task, given that our constitution provides for it, it has proved to be quite elusive. It is only now, thanks to the efforts of many women parliamentarians, that laws on sexual harassment have been adopted. But others, such as the domestic violence bill that is another key legislation in the context of equality of rights, are still in the doldrums. Having been cleared unanimously by the National Assembly once, this bill has had to re-start its journey in the house because it was not taken up by the Senate within the mandatory period of three months. The bill has been introduced again in the Assembly as a private member bill and if the government is really committed to women’s rights, it should ensure its adoption without delay by both houses of parliament. After all, violence is the most serious problem faced by women in Pakistan today. Over 7,000 cases of violence against women — one-sixth of them resulting in brutal death — have been recorded by the UN’s database on Pakistan.
The real test of justice for women lies in the opportunities they are provided on the ground to obtain education, healthcare, employment and legal rights. It is not enough that these rights are enjoyed only on paper. Women should actually have access to these services which can facilitate their progress that in turn allows society to develop. If in this area Pakistan has failed to advance, the reason lies in the backwardness and oppression of its women who constitute half its population. The positive aspect is that women are now themselves struggling to rise. But without an enabling environment it is not possible for the marginalised among them to realise their full potential.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/editorial/14-equal-rights-830-zj-02
Women, their rights, and nothing less
March 8 is celebrated as the International Women’s Day worldwide. This day holds special significance as it highlights the plight of women all over the world. Women may have come a long way from when they initially started the women’s movement in the early 1900s but even today their plight is far from over. Though many developed nations have accorded equal status to women as that of men, most of the developing countries lag far behind in this arena. Pakistan is a glaring example of how women are still struggling to get accepted as human beings and not just mere chattel. “The true republic — men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less,” was the motto of renowned women’s rights activist Susan B Anthony’s weekly journal, The Revolution, in the 19th century. These words still hold true for many societies in the 21st century, particularly Pakistani society.
Pakistan got its independence in 1947. Sixty-three years down the line and our women are still not free from misogynist chains. It is no secret that ours is a patriarchal society. Customs worse than those practiced in the Stone Age are still a norm in Pakistan. Karo kari (honour killings), vinni and swara (exchange of women, especially young girls, to settle feuds), Quran marriages, female foeticide, gang rapes, child marriage, female slavery are but the tip of an iceberg of the barbaric traditions prevalent in our country. The laws in this ‘land of the pure’ do not give sufficient protection to women. Such is the sorry state of affairs that the police refuse to lodge FIRs in cases of domestic violence; a rape victim suffers silently just so that she is not outlawed by society; a divorcee is looked down upon and treated as ‘fair game’ by all and sundry of the male species; a widow’s remarriage is a taboo subject, among other things. Women’s rights activists have been advocating and lobbying to eliminate social practices that perpetuate violence against women and have brought them up as issues of national debate. They have succeeded in getting some sections of Ziaul Haq’s anti-women laws in the Hudood Ordinances repealed but there is a long way to go before Zia’s legacy can be reversed. The so-called guardians of Islam have been at the forefront of subjugating women’s rights. They refuse to allow girls to study or work. These mullahs have themselves forgotten the true message of Islam, which was to liberate women and give them inheritance rights and equality.
Women in Pakistan have long fought for the inclusion of their rights in all facets of society. Years of struggle by the Pakistani women have borne some fruit in the shape of high representation of women in parliament, Women’s Protection Act, Protection Against Harassment at Workplace Act and other laws protecting the rights of women. But these are just preliminary measures. We need to hit at the root of the problem and demolish the structures that give rise to gender discrimination. In addition to spreading education and creating awareness, the government should introduce practical and effective laws to abolish the base on which discrimination thrives. It is heartening to see more and more Pakistani women getting education and working. This will go a long way in changing the patriarchal mindset. On this day, the appropriate would be: “Women of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your chains!”
http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\03\08\story_8-3-2010_pg3_1