'Honour Killings' in Pakistan and Compliance of ... - Aurat Foundation

elatives), in effect excluding all men. As a result, women were ‘allowed’
to play in segregated compounds and were free to play against
international teams under Islamic conditions within the country, but were
not allowed to participate in events held abroad.
Other efforts to segregate women included banning official coeducational
social evenings, of stopping the promotion and recruitment of women in
national banks, of cancelling the foreign postings of single Foreign Office
women, and preventing women from taking up scholarships abroad.
Concurrently, women’s legal status was also methodically being reduced,
in effect formalizing their secondary position in society. The
promulgation of the Hudood Ordinances of 1979, the Law of Evidence
and the Qisas and Diyat Ordinances were some examples of this. Even
gender neutral laws that were meant to protect women were implemented
in an extremely discriminatory and anti-women manner, creating a long
lasting erosion of women’s legal status.
All of this had a distinct negative psychological effect on society. For
women, it resulted in feelings of insecurity about their status and
identities, while also creating a fear about the repercussions of their
behaviour. This was strengthened by the reaction of the men, as the
environment gave support to the more conservative factions of society,
allowing them to take advantage of the situation to openly pursue their
own agendas.
With regards to women’s attire, this scenario created an atmosphere in the
country whereby all males became the judge of women’s modesty and
status in society 10 . The atmosphere also allowed for men to decide what is
appropriate or inappropriate behaviour for women. It placed women in
such a weak and insecure position that men could behave with them in
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