Exploring the challenges and prospects of women-related legislations in Pakistan during Musharraf government (1999–2008)

Abstract

Pervez Musharraf's rule played a significant role in Pakistan’s legislative history regarding the protection of women's rights. This era introduced several reforms for women's political participation in power corridors and made effective laws to protect women from any sort of violence and crime. Despite all his efforts, there were too many obstacles, including socio-cultural resistance, political opposition, and institutional weaknesses, that prevented these reforms from being implemented. This article explores the deep-rooted impacts of women-related legislation. We examine whether those reforms were cosmetic or brought concrete changes in society, and whether they contributed to women in the process of their socio-political awakening. It further evaluates the role of NGOs and their proliferation in the Musharraf era. NGOs played a very important role in putting pressure on the government to make laws for the protection of women against domestic abuse. Their surveys on women across different parts of the country are very helpful for understanding the impact of government policies on the ground.