The legislative assembly of Pakistan has enacted a number of measures designed to give women more power in the areas of family, inheritance, revenue, civil and criminal laws. These measures are an attempt to safeguard women's right to freedom of speech and expression without

gender discrimination Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primaril ...

. These measures are enacted keeping in mind the principles described by the Quran.

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

s such as the Muslim Personal Law of Sharia (addressing a woman's right to inherit all forms of property), the Muslim Family Law Ordinance or MFLO (intended to protect women against unjust but prevailing practices in regards to marriage, divorce, polygamy and other personal relationships), and the Hudood Ordinance have been legislated for ensuring the rights of women. The Hudood Ordinance was seen as working at cross-purposes to the rights of women by victimizing women only, which was corrected by the introduction of Women's Protection Bill. The Sexual Harassment Bill was created to ensure women's safety in public and work spaces, while the Prevention of Anti-Women Practices Bill sought to constitutionally protect women against discriminatory social practices, such as forced marriages, intended to deprive women of their inheritance rights. The bill incorporated strong penalties for offenders. The Acid Control and Acid Crime Prevention Bill aimed at controlling the import, production, transportation, hoarding, sale and use of acid, and provide legal support to acid burn victims. Penalties include imprisonment anywhere from fourteen years to life and fines of up to 1 million rupees.

Constitutional equal rights

Constitutionally, Pakistani Muslim women are able to vote, participate in elections, hold public offices and pursue most professions.

Laws which protect the rights and safety of women

* The Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill (2009) * The Acid Control and Acid Crime Prevention Act (2010) * The Protection Against Harassment of Women in the Workplace Act (2010) * The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act (2010) * The Prevention of Anti-Women Practices Act (2011) * The Women in Distress and Detention Fund (2011) * The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act (targeted at preventing acid-related crimes) (2011) * The Domestic Violence Prevention and Protection Bill (2012) * The National Commission on the Status of Women Act (2012) * The National Commission for Human Rights Act (2012) *

Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2018 The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2018 is law in Pakistan which was enacted by the parliament in 2018 to legally provide equality to transgender people and to safeguard their rights. The law aims to legally recognise transgend ...

* The Dowry and Bridal Gifts Act * The Women, Violence and Jirgas Act * Marriage in the Quran * Women Agriculture Bill 2019 * Sindh Women Agriculture Workers Act (SWAWA) of 2019 passed in 2021

Family laws

* The Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act (1939, amended in 1961) * The Muslim Family Laws Ordinance (1961) * Hindu marriage laws in Pakistan

Marriageable age and divorce

Divorce in Pakistan Divorce in Pakistan is mainly regulated under the Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act 1939 amended in 1961 and the Family Courts Act 1964. Similar to global trends divorce rate is increasing gradually in Pakistan too. In Punjab (Pakistan), in 2014 kh ...

is mainly regulated by the Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act (1939, amended in 1961) and the Family Courts Act (1964). The Child Marriage Restraint Act or CMRA (1929) set the marriageable age for women at 16; in the province of Sindh, as per the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act, it is 18.

Inheritance

Under British rule, the Married Women’s Property Act (1874) was in force, which primarily defined issues related to pre-marriage and post-marriage assets, liability and insurance. The

Muslim Personal Law All the Muslims in India are governed by the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937. This law deals with marriage, succession, inheritance and charities among Muslims. The Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939 deals with the cir ...

(Shariat) Application Act (1937) and its successor, the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act (1961), provide Muslim women with limited inheritance rights; they received half of the amount assigned to sons, raised to two-thirds if there were no sons, and further complex calculations settled the remainder per sectarian principles. While this right to inheritance existed on paper, customarily it was not observed in fact, so the

Government of Pakistan The Government of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=hakúmat-e pákistán) abbreviated as GoP, is a federal government established by the Constitution of Pakistan as a constituted governing authority of the four provinces, two autonomous territorie ...

enacted strong provisions in sections 498 A and 498 C of the Prevention of Anti-Women Practices (Criminal Law Amendment) Act (2011) to ensure women received their proper inheritance. Pakistan, as a signatory of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), is expected to progress towards eliminating property discrimination and recognizing the equality of citizens as a fundamental right.

Law of Evidence

Until 1987, the British

Evidence Act Evidence Act (with its variations) is a stock short title used for legislation in Australia, India, Malaysia and the United Kingdom relating to evidence. The Bill for an Act with this short title will have been known as a Evidence Bill during its ...

of 1872 remained applicable in Pakistan, which otherwise did not have any laws regarding gender discrimination in the legal system. Since the 1970s when the process of

Islamization Islamization, Islamicization, or Islamification ( ar, أسلمة, translit=aslamāh), refers to the process through which a society shifts towards the religion of Islam and becomes largely Muslim. Societal Islamization has historically occur ...

under General Zia Ul Haq started in Pakistan, many laws have been altered according to Islamic Sharia. As part of the same process, the Evidence Act was replaced by Qanun-e-Shahada on 26 October 1984, though it did not come into effect until 1987. As of that year, in cases of

Hadd ''Hudud'' (Arabic: ''Ḥudūd'', also transliterated ''hadud'', ''hudood''; plural of ''hadd'', ) is an Arabic word meaning "borders, boundaries, limits". In the religion of Islam it refers to punishments that under Islamic law (sharīʿah) are ...

, the evidence of women is not admissible. Further, in cases involving financial or other future obligations, written instructions and documents must be attested by either two men or one man and two women. In other legal proceedings it is left to the judge's discretion whether to admit a woman's testimony as equal. According to Nida Usman Chaudhry:

Other

In 2021 the

Lahore High Court The Lahore High Court () is based in Lahore, Pakistan. It was established as a high court on 21 March 1882. The Lahore High Court has jurisdiction over Punjab (Pakistan). The High Court's principal seat is in Lahore, but there are benches in th ...

banned the use of virginity tests in cases where women claim they were raped.🖉

References

{{Constitution of Pakistan Women in Pakistan Women's rights in Pakistan Family law in Pakistan Women's rights legislation Acts of the Parliament of Pakistan History of women in Pakistan