Mohri Pur: Men
banned Women from voting in the
village of Mohri Pur sometime around 1947, and they have obeyed ever since -- until this year, when changes to Pakistan´s election laws and women´s attitudes could shift the dynamic.At least, that is the hope of many
Women meeting beneath a Jambolan tree in the
village some 60 kilometres (35 miles) from of Multan, its shade protecting them from the blazing sun. Whether the men watching angrily as the
Women speak to AFP reporters will allow them to follow through when the nation goes to the polls on July 25 is another question."They perhaps think that
Women are stupid... or there is an issue of honour for them," says 31-year-old Nazia Tabbasum.Village elders
banned Women from voting decades ago, claiming that visiting a public polling station would "dishonour" them.So-called "honour" describes a patriarchal code across South Asia that often seeks to justify the murder and oppression of
Women who
defy conservative traditions by acts such as choosing
their own husband, or working outside the home."I don´t know where
their honour goes to sleep while they lie down at home... as
their Women work in the fields," Tabbasum adds, scathingly.But the Election Commission of
Pakistan (ECP) has declared that at least 10 percent of voters in each constituency must be women, otherwise its results will be voided.Nearly 20 million new voters have been registered in the rapidly growing country, including 9.13 million women, the commission says.It is another step in women´s long battle for rights in
Pakistan though it does little to address the gender imbalance of the 2013 elections, in which male registered voters outnumbered female by some 11 million.The shift also sets the stage for a stand-off in conservative rural areas, like Mohri Pur. Fear of violence"The main reason is that these are the areas where
Women are not allowed to even come out of the house," says Farzana Bari, a gender expert and rights activist.The ECP´s rule change should improve things -- though Bari warned that within each constituency there could yet be pockets where
Women are prevented from voting.There is plenty of precedent: in 2015 men stopped
Women from voting in a local poll in Lower Dir, in the northwest. The ECP promptly cancelled the result.In 2013 a court ordered the arrest of male elders in two other northwestern districts over banning female votes in the previous general elections.In Mohri Pur, located in Punjab province,
Women do work outside the home and some receive education, yet the
vote ban holds.Many of the younger
Women under the Jambolan tree are eager to exercise
their rights -- but not all.Widow Nazeeran Mai, 60, says it is not "custom" for
Women to vote. "(T)here is no one to stop me, but still I don´t
vote because nobody else does," she says.Others fear violent reprisals."If they go to
vote alone, there will be violence and unrest, the men will abuse and beat them, so it´s better not to go," explains 22-year-old Shumaila Majeed -- though she remained determined to get as many
Women to the polls "as possible".Even Mohri Pur´s lone female councillor Irshad Bibi -- elected under laws stipulating at least one woman on every
village council -- has never voted.When asked why, she calls on her husband to speak for her. "Our elders had set up this custom... We stand by this today," the husband, Zafar Iqbal, tells AFP. ´Nobody listens´"In any civilised democracy, half the population ought not be disenfranchised," says newspaper columnist Hajrah Mumtaz.But local politicians say they are helpless."I can´t break
their tradition... the people of this
village have to decide when they will allow
Women to vote," says Raza Hayat Hiraj from the
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party.Bismillah Noor, a member of the district council who arranged the meeting under the Jambolan tree, says the men are stubborn."I´ve been trying since 2001 but nobody listens to me," she says. "In 2005, men told me
their Women don´t want to
vote so I should not force them."Another attempt in 2013 also failed.The determination Noor hears from the
village Women now gives her a glimmer of hope -- but progress is fragile.In 2015, one woman, Fouzia Talib, became the only one in Mohri Pur to
vote in local elections. She was ostracised.Now, she is unsure if voting on July 25 for politicians she believes will do little for the area is worth the backlash. "I will see," she tells AFP.
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