THE Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act, 2010, was an important response to problems that directly affect women.
asserted
that → affect → women
It enabled the ombudsman to hear cases, many of which were resolved in women’s favour.
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many → enable → favour
A recent judgement has now eliminated an avenue that many women used to report harassment.
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women → eliminate → harassment
The Federal Constitutional Court’s ruling, which narrows the interpretation of harassment, is a setback for women’s space in public life.
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which → narrow → life
Unfortunately, it appears to show that a major state institution is prepared to restrict rather than expand women’s safety at work.
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institution → appear → work
From birth to death, women and girls in Pakistan face limits on where they can go freely, where they may go only under certain conditions, and where they cannot go at all.
uncertain
they → face → conditions
Visitors to Pakistan often notice their limited visibility as one of the first features of public life.
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Visitors → notice → life
This absence should not be dismissed as cultural; it largely reflects structural factors.
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it → dismiss → factors
Restrictions on mobility — driven mainly by concerns about safety — help explain poor educational outcomes for girls, physical inactivity during adolescence, and their alarmingly low participation in the labour force as adults.
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Restrictions → drive → adults
The lack of safety outside the home is among the most frequently cited reasons for not sending girls to school, alongside poverty and families’ inability to afford schooling.
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lack → cite → schooling
The problem is intensified by the limited availability of girls’ schools in many parts of Pakistan.
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problem → intensify → Pakistan
Undoubtedly, the shortage of schools and female teachers, together with poor learning quality, creates major barriers.
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shortage → create → barriers
Millions of girls live in districts where the nearest public school is more than an hour away and therefore out of practical reach.
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school → live → reach
These supply-side failures prevent many girls from even imagining that they could enter a classroom.
uncertain
they → prevent → classroom
Perceived danger reinforces the barrier at home: some girls never enrol, while others drop out at puberty.
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others → reinforce → puberty
At the very least, girls who are fortunate enough to live near a school should not be excluded because the journey is unsafe.
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journey → live → school
Women’s limited ability to work outside the home is probably the most affected by structural factors.
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ability → work → factors
A Population Council and Unicef study, Adolescent Girls’ Voices on Enhancing Their Own Productivity, found that parents were reluctant to send girls to school because of fear of harassment on the way.
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parents → enhance → way
This fear has been exacerbated by an incredible surge in social media-related harassment and cyberbullying, thanks to the proliferation of mobile phones and other digital devices.
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fear → exacerbate → phones
Requiring a chaperone or private transport immediately increases the costs of sending girls to school.
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Requiring → require → school
Not surprisingly, an estimated 8.3 million girls aged 10 to 19 lack official status — they are neither in school, at work, nor married.
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they → estimate → work
This large cohort of girls depicts a decade of lost productivity, learning, and, above all, self-esteem.
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cohort → depict → all
The state’s role is clear: protect the rights of all its citizens from harassment and unsafe spaces.
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role → protect → harassment
It must remove these hurdles by providing structural solutions that enable girls to attend and complete school.
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that → remove → school
Harassment laws that create safe routes and workplaces must be seen as educational policy requirements, not peripheral issues.
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that → create → requirements
Women’s limited ability to work outside the home is probably the most affected by structural factors.
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ability → work → factors
Female labour force participation rates have remained stagnant at around 22 per cent for the last 15 years.
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rates → remain → years
When women earn, they tend to spend more proactively, with direct payoffs for children’s education, health, and general welfare.
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they → earn → education
But this will not happen if women feel unprotected at the workplace.
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women → happen → workplace
Although women are generally accepted as schoolteachers and in some health professions, attacks on doctors and Lady Health Workers threaten even these spaces — many work mostly out of economic desperation.
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many → accept → desperation
Employers are reluctant to give women jobs with longer, more secure contracts because of perceived hazards and domestic duties.
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Employers → give → hazards
At the other end of the spectrum, highly educated and affluent women participate in the labour force, cushioned by family support and private transport.
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women → educate → support
The result is some improvement in women’s participation at the top end for highly educated, privileged women and, at the other end, for the truly desperate who must leave home to buy food and ensure their families’ survival, ie, domestic help, cleaners, and informal sector workers who do the most menial work.
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who → educate → work
Most elected women come from privileged families, but not all, as the pool expands.
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pool → elect → families
The trend began with the mandatory party quota for women.
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trend → begin → women
Otherwise, trends of an even more male-dominated parliament would have continued.
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trends → dominate → parliament
The handful of women lawmakers have made headway in legislating, or at least highlighting, issues important to women and human rights.
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lawmakers → make → women
Comparable action is required in laws and public policy to expand women’s participation in every public sphere, especially formal employment.
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action → require → sphere
Increasing the number of women in decision-making and other critical positions — particularly in the police and judiciary — would make a tangible difference.
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Increasing → increase → difference
Greater representation in formal paid work will generate positive spillover effects in other sectors.
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representation → pay → sectors
…and 7 more, not listed.
The Aporia
