Majyd Aziz & Dr Rania Ahsan
WHERE is a woman safe in Pakistan? It is a painful and uncomfortable constitutional question confronting the nation today. Is she safest within the walls of her own home? Domestic violence, incest, child sexual abuse and honour-based violence suggest otherwise. Is she safe in schools, universities, workplaces, public transport, parks or shopping malls? Every day, countless women change their routes, avoid travelling after dark or simply choose not to go—not because the law requires it, but because fear does. Every Constitution is ultimately judged not by the laws it contains but by the security it provides.
Violence against women is becoming one of the extremely prevalent socio-cultural problems in Pakistan. While the incidences of gender-based violence has increased exponentially in the Islamic Republic, despite the fact that this does not represent the ideals of Islam on treatment of women, but it does lead to the negative stereotype that Islam condones such brutality. It is also notable that authentic Hadith collections report that Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) discouraged hitting women and is reported never to have struck his wives. Violence on and subjugation of women, are more often a result of misguided misogynistic mindset rather than societal endorsements or divine sanctions.
Even institutions established to protect citizens are not beyond scrutiny. Allegations of abuse in police custody and detention facilities undermine public trust. Meanwhile, the digital world has created a new geography of fear, where hidden cameras, intimate videos, AI-generated images and online blackmail allow violence to continue long after physical or mental assault has ended. For millions of Pakistani women, citizenship is experienced not as freedom of movement but as the constant management of risk. Every journey begins with the same silent question: Will I return home safely? The real question is no longer whether Pakistan has enacted enough laws, but whether the State has built a protection system that reflects the realities women face. Justice remains fragmented as institutions operate in isolation, forcing survivors to navigate multiple agencies while carrying the burden of trauma. A woman’s geography should be defined by opportunity—not by fear. The geography changes. The fear remains.
Harassment, stalking, domestic violence, rape, trafficking, cybercrime and honour killings are often treated as separate legal issues. Women do not experience them that way. Violence exists on a continuum, beginning with intimidation and harassment, escalating into assault or rape and continuing through digital recording, online circulation and blackmail. The violence changes form, but not purpose—to control, humiliate and silence. Pakistan has enacted laws on workplace harassment, rape, domestic violence, child protection and cybercrime, supported by multiple institutions. Yet a woman confronted with violence still asks one simple question: Where do I go? Violence against women is not only a human rights issue but also an economic one. Fear discourages girls from pursuing education, limits women’s mobility and labour force participation and weakens national productivity. No country can realize its economic potential while half of its population must constantly calculate the personal cost of participating in public life. Women’s safety is therefore not welfare policy. It is economic policy.
The Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act, 2010, strengthened in 2022, was a key step. It highlights three significant manifestations of harassment in the workplace environment, i.e., abuse of authority, creating a hostile environment and retaliation. There are recorded instances and cases galore of women workers and officers having suffered the dire consequences. Although the law is in place, the dice is still loaded against those women who make prescribed or private complaints to the competent authorities. But the workplace is only one geography in a woman’s life. Millions of women work in homes, farms, markets and the informal economy, while many others face violence in spaces entirely unrelated to employment. Violence does not distinguish between formal and informal lives. Neither should protection.
In June 2019, at the ILO International Labor Conference in Geneva, the ILO Convention on The Violence and Harassment Convention 2019 (C190) was adopted and where Employers Federation of Pakistan also voted for it. C190 established new global standards aimed at ending violence and harassment in the world of work and is the first international treaty to recognize the right of everyone, including gender-based, to a world of work free from violence and harassment. Pakistan has also taken a positive initiative in this direction. The Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Amendment) Bill 2022 expands the definition of workplaces to cover both formal and informal workplaces and closely reflects C190. It specifically includes domestic workers who are often isolated and marginalized and more vulnerable to workplace violence and harassment.
Real reform requires prevention, coordination and accountability. The government’s response remains overwhelmingly reactive. The State intervenes after violence has occurred. Pakistan needs an integrated National Protection Framework for Women and Girls that connects policing, prosecution, cybercrime investigation, health services, legal aid, psychological support and social welfare into a survivor-centred system. Academia must teach respect and responsible digital and social behavior. Media should reject sensationalism that turns survivors into spectacles. Public institutions must stop treating violence against women as isolated criminal incidents and recognize it as a national governance challenge. Moreover, some women organize the Aurat March in Pakistan where their slogan “my body, my choice” manifests bodily autonomy and their right to make decisions without coercion, violence or discrimination.
Until every woman can answer the question, “Where am I safe?”, the geography of fear will remain one of Pakistan’s greatest constitutional failures. A poignant and empowering quote on women’s safety comes from author Aysha Taryam: “If we are to fight discrimination and injustice against women we must start from the home for if a woman cannot be safe in her own house, then she cannot be expected to feel safe anywhere”.
—Majyd Aziz is President Employers Federation of Pakistan. Dr Raania Ahsan was Additional Secretary/Executive Director Board of Investment.
