Progressive Women’s NGOs’ Interpretations of Women’s Rights

Abstract

What started out, by in large, as an urban-based reactive response to Zia ul-Haq’s promulgation of new laws based on his interpretation of Islam as manifest in his 1979 Islamization program has transformed into a vibrant conglomeration of distinct organizations that have helped facilitate the state’s modernity project, and urge it to go even further than it has. ¹ There are many Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that fit into this group, some having their origins just after partition (e.g., the All Pakistan Women’s Association), some in the 1970s as the UN Decade for Women was getting underway (e.g., Shirkat Gah founded in 1975), many in response to the diminution of women’s rights under Zia’s regime (e.g., Women’s Action Forum, AGHS Legal Aid Cell, ASR, Simorgh, Sindhiani Tehrik, and the Aurat Foundation founded in 1986), and others, generally newer, created in response to specific concerns (e.g., War against Rape, Acid Survivors Foundation-Pakistan) confronting women. ² In addition, there are a large number of organizations that while not explicitly identified as women’s NGOs (e.g., SUNGI Development Foundation, Pattan Development Organization, PILER), their optic nonetheless is deeply concerned with women’s rights and empowerment.