Are you serious Mr. President?

In a powerful opinion piece, published in the Volume XXI, No. 6, April 2004 edition of SHE, Zubeida Mustafa views President Pervaiz Musharraf’s efforts towards female empowerment in the country as superficial and lacking genuine commitment. She acknowledges his political work including reserving one-third seats in the local election bodies for women that drove up their numbers in the government. However, the writer expresses intense wariness when the President suggests that women in power now must use their positions to improve conditions for themselves. 

Mustafa brings in statistics from Human Rights Watch pertaining to crimes of violence committed against women that keep rising in numbers despite Musharraf’s vision for women empowerment. She suggests that if the President is genuinely concerned for the social, political, personal, and economic advancement of women in the country, he must change archaic laws that permit victimisation of women, create better protective policies and systems, and repeal the Hudood Ordinances. Mustafa’s article is a shining example of freedom of speech supported by SHE and demonstrates a thoughtful stance representing the courage of all Pakistani women.