The 1990s were declared the Decade of
the Girl
Child in South Asia in a meeting of South Asian Association of
Regional co-operation (SAARC) ministers. These declarations
acknowledged the low status of the Girl Child, and marred a move
towards the initiation of projects that would address her
basic needs. The Girl Child project described here was set up to
create awareness and provide information. The small group of
leaders who were originally trained spread the benefits to 2.7
million individuals in the project's first phase.
The girl child is that small girl visible in
the fields helping her family harvest wheat. She is the child who
gets up early in the morning to fetch water and firewood for the
house. She is the child who sits at home and watches her brothers
go to school , while she thinks about evening meal. As Sabetha
Hafiz writes in The girl Child in Pakistan priority up in a "
continuous process of social discrimination. She lives through a
series of social practices which generate, breed and reinforce
social discrimination against her." She becomes an economic
burden add a moral liability. Yet she is expected to raise health,
hard working and educated children and be a good mother.
The Girl Child Project was a development activity
and idea conceived designed and developed by Dr Inayatullah,
who also oversaw it's implementation. It was jointly
financed by the Family Planning Association of Pakistan (FPAP),
the Canadian International Development "Agency ( CIDA) and
UNICEF. The project was visualized as a pilot effort meant to:
-
establish a base line for activities covering
a sample of 1000 girls and their families,
-
organize orientation meetings and workshops to
raise the awareness of 500 young girls and women,
-
develop a core of young girls as leaders
to act a catalysts in creating local awareness of the
problems of girls through various activates, including
workshops, meeting of mothers, debates and the
organization of local groups for participative planning of
girl child support activities:
-
develop motivational messages and advocacy/
training materials.
Orientation workshops disseminated information to
girls on health hygiene, nutrition, education , first aid, food
preservation and women's rights. The role and importance of the
girl child was discussed and girls were taught how to
conduct adult literacy training, grow tress and promote
environmental cleanliness. School girls worked with their school
administrations to solve problems like lack of playgrounds
and safe drinking water or dirty toilets.
A national workshop for leaders held in Lahore in
June 1992 was followed by evaluation workshops which began in1992: ten workshops were conducted with about 450
participants and about 50 leaders and 50 groups were
formed. Topics again focused on the issues of status,
literacy, nutrition, health and environment vis a vis the girl
child. The leaders, as organizers and trainees, drew on skills
acquired from their own involvement activities. The secondary
leaders identified during these workshops formulated action
plans along the same lines as the primary leaders,
committing themselves to continue awareness
about changing attitudes.
Thus from the tem location of phase I of the
project, a total of 127 leaders, both primary and secondary,
formed 105 groups, each containing five to eight girls. An
estimated total of 1,000 girls was directly influenced by the project
and these trained leaders father relayed information, awareness
and benefits to about 2.7 million people in all. The second phase,
building on the strengths identified in the first , began in
January 19994, sponsored by UNICEF, This phase, on a larger
scale than the first, continues the work on primary health care,
sanitation and literacy, The project has now expanded from its
original 20 locations to almost 200, posing new challenges for the
organizers, the Family Planning Association of Pakistan.
Discrimination
Against Girls
"Before the project, I never spoke out or
offered my opinion. Now I am the first to speak", says Ayesha
Malik 16. "Even my father listens to what I have to say.
This to me is the best benefit of the project. I feel so much more
confident now . My opinion counts. I feel like I am
respected."
Other project participants also unhesitatingly
cite a new a wariness, especially of their rights and self-confidence
as the biggest advantage of the workshops. For some girls, changes
have resulted. " Our society does not treat girls well,"
Says Shabnam Naheed 16, who lives in Baldia. " In my own
family my mother used to give meat to my brothers first and then to us girls. I learnt during the
workshops that this was not right. So I want home and
told my mother that even the Prophet Muhammad (s) had said
to treat girls equally. Now we all eat well . In addition, we never
had permission to go out. But after a lot of discussion,
especially with my elder brother, I now can go out to conduct project
activities." In ways like this , the workshops have
been able to initiate an entire learning process, not just
for the girls, but for their families and communities as
well.
Twelve-year-old Tanzeela lives in Ratta Amral, an
old community in the heart of Rawalpindi. Now she ways, " I
feel I know a lot and I'm ready to fight for my rights. My
grandmother used to give my brother , who is a little older than
me, two rupees while I got one rupee for our everyday pocket money.
I told her that our Prophet loved all his children and treated
them equally and she shouldn't discriminate amongst her grandchildren.
Now I get two rupees also."
Two rupees do not account for much in the
material sense, but for Tanzeela they represent a major moral
victory. Equally important, besides enhancing her self
esteem, the incident also sent a message to her brother
that she was no less than him. This is an important lesson.
Many little boys grow up thinking their sisters inferior and
seeing them treated less equitably than themselves. These beliefs
are reinforced by doting grandparents and uncles and aunts, even
in cases where parents treat their children equally.
Tanzeela has a striking confidence in her
own abilities, and a spirit that has led to her opening a home school to teach 13
children despite the skepticism of the villagers. She also tried
several times to persuade the mother of a friend to allow her back
to school even when it was made clear she was not welcome at their
house.
The responsibility takes its toll on her
education. " Yesterday, there was so much housework that I
didn't have time to finish my school work. Today I got
punished. But what can I do ? feed the family or read? The unfairness
of the situation strikes her particularly when she sees how
her brother is pampered despite his lack of aptitude. "
He was really lucky. He gets private tuition lessons that cost the
family Rs,100 a month . But he's still failed twice. I on the other
hand , can't get anything.
A Jail of
Restrictions
Perhaps the single biggest issue in the way of the
development of the girl child is the lack of support and
the restrictions that she has to face if she wants to do
something with her life beyond the traditional rode assigned to
her as domestic help, bay sitter for younger siblings, cook
and cleaner. In effect, she is under life-long
training to be a good wife when she is finally married
off.
As 16-year old Naeema
Ansari from Ratta Amral,
Rawalpindi, points out, " People here don't
educate their girls because to them girls are not
theirs. Girls are seen as belonging to their future in-laws'
families. Any investment in their future is considered futile.
They go to their husbands' homes at a young age, usually anywhere
from 13 to 17. The rest of their lives are spent looking after in
laws and bearing and bringing up children to prolong and strengthen
their husbands family line."
" We need to eradicate this type of
thinking and make education compulsory and free so
that it doesn't become a issue," Says Naeema.
"Girls should also be able to have jobs, working in a place
where no one can disapprove and preferably with other girls
so parents can't object," she says.
Nasira Sultan Ahmed 17, of
Baldia, was thrilled
when she heard that the "Bajis" from FAP wanted to
improve the status of women, despite her initial fears on hearing
that they wanted to interview the students at her
school. " My parents and brothers were dead against the
program.
My brothers thought that if I attended the workshops, I would
just learn to talk back. My grandmother was on my side,
however, and she along with Baji Farzana convinced my
parents to let me participate."
Almost all the girls refer to similar
restrictions, which stem largely from fear of the unknown. When
the girls have the opportunity to change their traditional roles,
they face a great deal of resistance, although they want only to
use their knowledge and skills to improve their situations
and those of their families, help others by reaching their
children, supplement the family income, make their homes and neighborhoods
cleaner places to live in, or grow vegetables so that the
family eats better and more cheaply.
A "Girl Child"
Ayuesha Malik runs a home school for small
children in Baldia and wants to open a schood for girls. She regrets
the lack of support in the neighborhood.
" They taunt us and say we're ruining our society. I really
wish I could convince them otherwise.
" Fourteen-year-old Khalida Parveen of Tunia, Sindh, echoes
this. It is important to teach parents to educate their girls.
They make small girls wear burqas (Veils) . There are too
many restrictions. Everyone needs to form a group to sensitize
adults about the issues of girls. If our situation is going
to be changed , it has to be a community effort."
Comparing the treatment
meted out to girls with
that given to the boys, Saiqa Rafique says, " At night we
are not allowed to turn on the light after a certain
time, even if we have to read something. On the other hand, my
brothers can even go out at that time if they want
to"
Ishrat 16, is also acutely aware of the
status of girls in her community of Ratta Amral. " I've
always regretted that I was born a girl . Sometimes when I
was not allowed to do something, I would go to my room,
cry and pray to God to make me a boy because then at least I would
be allowed to go out and play," she says. " When I
heard about the FPAP Girl Child project, I found it difficult
to believe there was actually an organization in Pakistan
that wanted to help improve girls lives. The social pressure
beg as soon as the workshops started. I remember coming home
after the first workshop to find women gathered at my
home telling my mother that I was going to be participating in bad
things . Like many of the other girls who faced initial restrictions
in attending the workshops shared what she had learnt
with her parents. After a little bit more convincing from Baji
Sabeha they me to participate."
Empowerment
Through Education
The issue of education crops up almost invariably
in all the interviews. Many of the girls had to argue and fight
for their right to education. Some were helped in
this fight by their untutored mothers who believed
that their own lives would have been better if they had had
some schooling.
Farhat's mother is supportive of her
daughter's efforts to learn. " I have sent Farhat to your
workshops in secret. Her new knowledge has brought life back
into our house. Farhat has even made a latrine for us.
I want to work for as long as I can for the happiness of
my girls. I do not want them to have my fate."
Her words are echoed by another nameless mother ,
whose 13-year-old daughter Noreen Bano is in the FPAP project
in Hudda Quett. " You know I am an illiterate woman"
says Noreen's mother, whose husband, a former
policeman is a drug addict, " But I always had an
interest in the household. My husband never understood this . He
has beaten me continuously for 13 years. That' why I feel your project
is so important for my daughter. I want her to
learn as much as she can so that she will never be dependent
on any man. She must be able to stand up for her rights."
Illiterate girls have no life , she says. "
If I knew the things my daughter does now, maybe I wouldn't have
put up with the abuses of may husband . What did I know?
All I saw was his money. But what good did that bring ? The
money just brought him a different woman every night. And then he
married again. He beats his second wife just like he beats me. So,
now two women have suffered."
Shabana Shaheen relates an interesting story about
how even the rudiments of education can make a difference in
women's lives and empower them. There is a woman who lives
near me whose name is Nusrat. She is totally illiterate. Her
husband used to abuse her because she could not read or write ,
so she went back to her parents home. She used to come to
our house and see me tutoring my younger siblings. That's when
she asked me to teach her. She studied with me for two years,
after which her husband came to see her. She thought he had come
to take her home, but really he had come to make her sign a document
swallowing her to remarry. Since he thought she was still illiterate, he
asked her for her thumb print.
Was he surprised when she began to read the paper. He
was so amazed that she decided not to remarry. They have two children now and are very happy.
Another young girl who has helped change someone
else's life is Abida 15, from Huda. I also think I have changed
the future of a girl like me says Abida. "She's my age
and lives in the neighborhood. One day I heard that she was getting
married. I told my mother and we both decided to go to the
girl's parents and try to convince them to let the girl remain
in school and postpone her marriage. At first we were ignored but
then it seemed
that our message might hit home. Indeed, my bother and I were very
pleased to learn a few days later that her parents had
postponed her marriage indefinitely. It's been two years now
and she's still not married."
Conclusion
The role of the Girl Child project
workshops in creating awareness and providing information has
been invaluable, as these comments illustrate. Many of the achievements
cited would have remained dreams without the project. And in
many cases the project workshops opened up a whole new world,
which , many girls did not even know excited. New
horizons, ambitions and goals were created. For example, one
girl who had wanted to be a teacher is now inspired to open her
own school; many others now want to be lawyers or lady health
visitors so that they can help other women.
The success of the project and
the workshops is beyond the expectations of the donors, FPAP
and the girls who participated. What is needed now is
to sustain the momentum, expand the project and
continue with the positive work that has been initiated.
This
article is written by Beena Sarwar
Editor of the Pakistan English
language weekly The News on Friday.
Source:
Planned Parenthood Challenges, IPPF
