Rakhshinda Parveen

Rakhsinda Parveen is bringing about gender equality awareness in Pakistan by creating opportunities for men and women to reject traditional discriminatory practices and develop new inclusive attitudes. In doing so, she is encouraging respectful, loving relationships and combating violence against women.

Gender dynamics in Pakistan is a sensitive issue—and until now no one has fully addressed its complexities. Men dominate power positions, relying on religious and cultural institutions to maintain their status; meanwhile, women are veiled and hidden at home to restrict their visibility and mobility. When any threat to the existing gender system is perceived, the male response is often defensive or violent.
Rakhshinda’s campaign is championing the ideas of gender inclusion and equality in hopes of changing these ingrained cultural norms. With initial philanthropic funding, she has opened the Agehi Resource Center (ARC), where workers compile statistics on gender violence and discrimination to use in the campaign. They also run community reproductive and family planning health facilities, and are spearheading the Fight Against Dowry (FAD) movement aimed at abolishing a dowry tradition that causes violence against both women and men.
Rakhshinda realizes that young minds are ripe for gender education. She is building a youth volunteer network across the country—connected by the Internet—and a weekly educational television series. Through a flurry of campaign activities—signature collections, poster competitions, spot television interviews, meetings, news bulletins, legislative consultation, and Internet networking—Rakhshinda’s campaign against gender-related violence is ever-expanding throughout Pakistan.

Nearly half of Pakistan’s 160 million people are female—yet they are not even given half the respect that men enjoy. Girls are expected to wake up early each day to perform all the menial and domestic chores. They tend to the livestock, cut grass, carry water across long distances, care for younger children—and always eat last. Families often keep girls confined at home, locked away from perceived dangers. As a result, most young girls are uneducated, malnourished, and lack medical attention.
Perhaps most detrimental to Pakistani girls is that they are forbidden from experiencing the outside world or fully expressing themselves as members of society. They are told not to voice dissent or cry loudly—except during ceremonial wailing at the funeral of a close male relative. As they grow into womanhood, the situation only worsens. Young women of marriageable age have no say about their potential husband. They must await proposals and consent to marriages arranged by their parents and elders. Their own mothers have little power to make decisions for them because women have no property rights or control over money, and any perceived indiscretion results in punishment or death.
The most symbolic way in which gender discrimination is practiced in Pakistan is the age-old dowry custom. Dowry is the wealth a bride brings to a marriage, and the amount represents the security and status of the woman. Girls who are unable to bring a good dowry are considered lowly—and dissatisfied in-laws often mistreat her or in severe cases kill her. Wife beating is so common in Pakistan that domestic violence cases are not usually reported. In the case that a woman does take advantage of her right to seek a divorce, she is condemned for breaking up the family. If she gives birth to a girl, she is scorned, since only boy children are prized. And if a husband supports his wife he is chided for not dominating her—a social expectation that makes balanced, loving relationships nearly impossible. Women are always expected to remain loyal to male relatives and suffer abuses in silence, so discrimination and gender violence only increase.

The campaign implementation strategy is three-part: research, communication, and advocacy. The AGEHI (Advocates of Gender, Education & Health Information) Resource Center staff researches and prepares case studies about gender discrimination and violence used to convince people of the need for change. They also conducted a survey of Pakistani youth to assess perceptions. The exciting results showed that youth are an untapped, major force for change—and that mass media is an essential way to communicate with them.
Because 87 percent of Pakistani households have a television, Rakhshinda began with a television show highlighting reproductive health problems in Pakistan. She campaigned for safe sex practices and family planning, and invited prominent male public figures who supported her ideas onto the program. She also began discussions about the long-standing dowry tradition. Working to her advantage is that youth comprise 41 percent of the population—and 40 percent of them live below the poverty line so they cannot afford dowries.
In meetings and forums, Rakhshinda questions the “accidental” deaths of the many women that reportedly die from gas stove explosions. She challenges the public to ask why the deaths are mainly young married women—not a coincidence in her mind. Research at the ARC suggests this disturbing trend is the result of violence against women killed by spouses or family members. She raises the issue in order to document the indignity that young women suffer and the psychological and social destruction caused by gender discrimination. So far, there have been positive results: Pakistani youth who are connected by an on-line Internet community have already pledged not to give or take dowry. The campaign expects to mobilize young people to reject the outdated custom and remove the burden from young women and their families. She also hopes to encourage relationships based on mutual love and respect, instead of outdated traditions that devalue women.
On the legal front, Rakhshinda is using research statistics to identify loopholes in the legislation that can be exploited to mount an effective legal case against dowry-related violence. She has launched a legal advisory service with the goal of building an entire team of advocates at the national level to fight for legislative and institutional change. To build this public opinion to the level that it generates a movement, the campaign is targeting a silent and selective audience through electronic and print media in order to convert key actors into stakeholders in the movement.

Rakhshinda’s father was a professor, and she grew up as an educated urban women. She entered the medical profession and during college favored scientific and pathological diagnostics over traditional methods. During her medical studies she faced discrimination and saw female patients who suffered from gender-based inequality and violence. Greatly disturbed by these experiences, she nevertheless accepted them as part of the reality in which she lived. After managing to divorce out of an unhappy marriage, she supported her daughter initially by working as a general physician. She later joined a social marketing firm called Green Star that promoted condom and other contraceptives use. At the same time, she responded to an advertisement for a chance to become a moderator on television and saw an opportunity to educate the masses about gender issues. It was through television that she first brought her gender campaign to the mainstream.
Rakhshinda later went to Europe for her masters degree. While back in Pakistan on a research trip, she met Dr. Qadeer Khan, Pakistan’s famed nuclear scientist. By the end of their talk, she had convinced him to direct his philanthropic desires in a useful way. This led to the formation of SACHET. ARC was established a year and a half later in response to the need for such a resource center that was identified at the conclusion of SACHET`s pioneering social marketing efforts in Pakistan, specifically through a series of TV programs called Gender Watch. From that point on, Rakhshinda began building up the organization and its various campaigns on the national and international scale.