THE DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN'S RIGHTS
IN
National Liberal Club
19th
April, 2004
HE Dr Maleeha Lodhi, High Commissioner
for the Islamic Republic of Pakistan speech to the LIBG Forum addressed
Pakistan’s future and the role of women in Islamic countries. More than 70 people filled the Lloyd George
Room, many of them Liberal Democrats and/or LIBG members, together with
representative of the press and other interested groups.
Dr Lodhi
has been Editor of several English-language newspapers in Pakistan, and a
lecturer at the London School of Economics, her alma mater, as well as her
country's Ambassador to the United States on two occasions. LIBG Chair Robert Woodthorpe
Browne remarked - to general agreement – that her posting to London was a step
forward for her! The High Commissioner
did not avoid difficult issues such as so-called ‘honour killings’ and the
wearing of the ‘hijab’. She believed that the lack of
rights for women in some areas of Pakistani society was more down to lack of
education and development, and called for outside help to improve the
situation. Pakistan has a larger
percentage of women MP's that the UK parliament, and
it has required positive discrimination and quotas to achieve this.
Questioned on the ‘widows and orphans’ rule whereby female heads of Government
in Muslim countries such as Pakistan, Indonesia and Bangladesh have always had
a connection with an earlier male incumbent, she cited several examples of
ministers and diplomats who did not come from privileged political
backgrounds. She would not comment on
the recent French ruling regarding the wearing of the ‘hijab’
in schools. However, she praised her own
country where it is optional, noting that she herself chose not to wear it, but
recognised the absolute right of some of the women present in the audience to
cover their heads.
There was also considerable
discussion of ‘madrassas’ or religious schools,
considered by many as hotbeds of fundamentalism. Dr Lodhi said that
there had been a massive growth in the numbers of these schools following the
campaign to oust the Soviet Union from Afghanistan. The Pakistani government's reaction is
two-pronged: to identify how many ‘madrassas’ exist
and their locations, and to integrate them into the educational system, providing
training for teachers in non-religious core subjects. This is an area where foreign help would be
welcomed.
Cllr Qassim Afzal, giving
the vote of thanks, announced that a ‘Liberal Democrat Friends of Pakistan’
group will be launched at the 2004 party annual conference in