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1 Maha Khan Dr. Erin Dietel-McLaughlin Multimedia Writing & Rhetoric 11 November 2012 Careless Media: A Risk to Pakistani Women Media around the world can be perceived in many different ways. The way reporters present their stories determine the reactions that various audiences will have. In the last ten years, Pakistani media has gained freedom that was unknown when only one governmentpaid news channel was available on cable. Often times, the face of Pakistan in the media is an incorrect representation of the troubles that Pakistan is suffering from. One such recent example is Malala Yousufzai1. Malala started blogging at the age of 11, writing against the Talibans actions of destroying girls schools. On 10 October 2012, 15 year-old Malala was shot by a member of the Taliban in the head and neck while entering her school bus. Since Malalas shooting, the media has exploded with stories about Malalas courageous campaign. These stories, although true, put Malala and girls like her at a higher risk. Under the spotlight, Malalas campaign, even though it will not bring any physical harm against the Taliban, will never progress because of fear of Taliban retaliation. I will further unpack Malalas story in my essay. Pakistani womens lives are risked because of misrepresentations and misunderstandings about their lives in the media. This makes Americans underestimate the help that Pakistani women need. Media stories about activists, laws, politicians and education involving the women of Pakistan are often incorrectly understood and can leave the women of Pakistan at a standstill in the fight for their lives and their rights. The work of activists in Pakistan is often exaggerated in American media and this has proven to cause harm to said activists. One such case is that of Malala Yousufzai. The word
Malala Yousufzai will be referred to by her first name, Malala, throughout the rest of the paper because that is how she is publicly known in the media.
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Khan 2 activist itself is often freely used in the media. Does it necessarily describe anyone who speaks about social change? Or does it describe only those who are successful in their campaigns? In Malalas case she only spoke about change but unfortunately never had the opportunity to further her campaign. By calling her an activist the media associates a sense of change in Pakistan with her. Malalas adventures have been reported in BBC News, New York Times and Newsweek. BBC News Magazine described her as the progressive face of Swat, a Pakistani heroine, a symbol of resistance (Malala Yousufzai: Portrait of a Girl Blogger). Malalas shooting has escalated her time in the media. To a Taliban that still uses the radio to put fear in the hearts of Swats people, chances are high that her blogs were not read by them. If only the idea of a teenage girls blog entries against the Taliban caused them to try and kill her, then the fight is most certainly not over. Malalas publicity risks the lives of several Pakistani women under Taliban restraint because even though it may seem like a chain reaction of activists will be sparked, most husbands and fathers will ensure their wives and daughters safety first. My own father sent me 7000 miles away from Pakistan to get educated at the slightest threat to my life. I would never doubt that Malala is not an incredibly courageous girl, but I disagree with the notion that women under the Taliban are making progress, as the media suggests. Another recent article by the New York Times has covered Malalas story in the same way highlighting her efforts, but ignoring the violence to come. In this article the New York Times portrayed a battle going on between Malala and the Taliban. They described Malala as a symbol of defiance against Taliban subjugation. In response, Taliban spokesperson, Ehsanullah Ehsan, described Malalas actions as an obscenity (Walsh). The fact that Malalas actions are under the Talibans radar is not a positive notion. Under the Talibans radar, Malalas actions will be thoroughly followed and any new ideas she voices against the Taliban will be shot down, like the last one. Malala had only begun to write about her views

Khan 3 on girls education. To think of the reaction from the Taliban if she actively build more girls schools in Swat is a scary thought. The story of Swat is not one of battle between the women and the Taliban. It is one of an authoritative Taliban suppressing the women of Swat so they can no longer roam about freely in their own city. This sense of a battle in Swat is a false idea. The women are not allowed to build up an opposing force to the Taliban. Four decades ago, during the Soviet-Afghan War, refugees from Afghanistan were flowing to the northern areas of Pakistan for protection. Now the tables have turned and the people of Swat are rushing to the Pak-Afghan border to flee from the Taliban. Despite the obvious proof that there is nonexistent progress in Swat, Newsweek published an article not only stating, like BBC News and the New York Times, that there was an ongoing battle in Swat, but instead falsely declaring that Malalas campaign was flourishing (Baker). Katie Baker, a Newsweek correspondent, went on to say that even though Malalas school was shut down and her family was forced to evacuate Swat for some time she couldnt be stopped and she refused to be silenced. The media tended to forget that Malala was a little girl who wanted to be educated and not a ferocious enemy as she was being portrayed. But was Malalas defiance against the Taliban really forcing the Taliban to rethink their strategy in Swat? Girls schools are still shut and women are still being publicly beaten and killed for defying the Taliban but despite this, American and global media and the connotations associated with it do not reflect that. For example, all authors address Malala Yousufzai by her first name, Malala, instead of her last name, Yousufzai, as all other wellknown people are addressed in the media. Addressing her by her first name allows readers to connect more with her work even if they dont understand her struggles. This intimacy can result in compassion, but that is not what the women of Pakistan need. This is not meant to undermine Malalas work, but if the media had correctly portrayed Malalas work through her blogs instead of displaying her as a figure out to destroy the Taliban, perhaps her shooting

Khan 4 could have been avoided. The women of Pakistan need Americans to get riled up over their issues and help them fight for their rights. Perhaps these news articles should say that Malala is lucky her fate was not like the hundreds of women whose bodies lay on the streets days after they have been killed instead of sending a message to America that Pakistan is on its way to success. Another example of false representation of progress being made by Pakistani women was when the Hudood Ordinance was in the spotlight. Former President General Zia ul Haq brought about the Hudood Ordinance. He came into power after Article 25 had been established under the constitution of Pakistan. Article 25 states, All citizens are equal before the law and are entitled to equal protection before the law (qtd. in Critelli 239). Even though Article 25 was never repealed from the constitution, General Zia came up with the Hudood Ordinance to please the religious leaders who supported his reign. The Hudood Ordinance stated that a case of a womans rape will turn into a case of her adultery if there are not four Muslim men to testify to her victimization (Critelli 240). The woman herself is not a witness to her own rape. The media coverage in the days of the repeal of the Hudood Ordinance is an example that brings risk to Pakistani women that is often overlooked by the American media. In 2006, the Womens Protection Bill revised the Hudood Ordinance. Media in English exploded with broadcasts about how the women of Pakistan had finally won the war, whereas media in Urdu, the national language of Pakistan, showed several religious leaders talking about how important Shariah (Islamic) Law was and that the Hudood Ordinance must not change. In Taimur ul-Hassans article, The Performance of Press During Womens Movement in Pakistan, he declares that the English media addresses more womens rights issues than the Urdu media (311-12). It is, of course, the more emancipated English media that is viewed by Americans everywhere.

Khan 5 A few weeks after the Womens Protection Bill had been used to revise the Hudood Ordinance, I remember walking into my parents bedroom and watching my nanny, Khursheed, sob into her shawl. Her neighbors had raped her 13-year-old niece. Khursheed was telling my mother that the neighbors were still living feet away from them and that her family had decided not to go to court. When my mother asked why, Khursheed matter-offactly explained that her brother, the rape victims father, had received a small amount of money from the rapists that would feed the family for a whole week. My mother promised her that she would do whatever she could. Several months later the rapists were put in jail for nine months only. The rapists roam freely again. The Womens Protection Bill has not helped women in situations of rape and justice remains second to survival. If my parents had not been involved in the case of Khursheeds niece then the perpetrators would never have been sentenced to even a mere nine months in jail. The truth, according to former Federal Minister of Religious Affairs and Minorities and son of former President General Zia ul Haq, Ijaz ul Haq, is that the Womens Protection Bill only changed the procedure of how a case of adultery or rape can be brought to court, nothing else. When asked whether he supported the idea that four Muslim male witnesses are needed to testify to a womans rape he said yes without hesitation. He claimed that in Shariah Law there are severe punishments like cutting off someones hand for burglary and stoning to death for zina (adultery). Therefore, an extra step must be taken to ensure that no one is wrongly accused. But when I later brought up the fact that cutting off hands and stoning people to death were not practiced in Pakistan he said that the Hudood Ordinance is under Islamic Law and it remains in other Muslim countries also so we must practice it. If an interview like the one Ijaz ul Haq gave me were to be aired on American television, what sort of a response would that spark? Perhaps one in which the American people no longer believe that Pakistani women are on their way to equality? Perhaps one in which the American

Khan 6 people will seek out to help more Pakistani women? Perhaps one in which the American people will reconsider the actions of Malala and properly understand the risks to Pakistani women? Another such ignored bill was the Domestic Violence Bill that came into affect in 2009. The medias reaction was similar to that after the Womens Protection Bill revised the Hudood Ordinance. The Urdu media was filled with religious leaders who opposed it (Shaheed 106), while the English media praised the Senate for passing the bill. The bill ordered anyone guilty of domestic violence to spend six months in jail and to pay a fine of 100,000 rupees, or approximately $1,100 (AFP). Later that year a story was leaked about Shabana, a female dancer in Mingora, Swat. The Taliban found out her real profession, dancing, and killed her on the streets of Mingora. The people of Mingora were prohibited from touching her body and her corpse lay on the streets as a sign of Taliban rule (Constable 185). The Domestic Violence Bill was not implemented. According to Article 17 in the constitution of Pakistan, which was established during General Zias regime, the testimony of two men is equal to that of one woman. In the book Pakistan: Tradition and Change, the authors, Khawar Mumtaz and Yameema Mitha, state that this law establishes a stereotype of women as mentally inferior, unreliable and inconsistent (36). Whether it was this law or the threat of Taliban retaliation, no man or woman testified to the killing. Despite the English medias burst of praises on the bill, people were still scared to speak up for victims of domestic violence, putting the victims at greater risks. The global media does not just wrongly portray the meanings of certain events and activists in Pakistan, but also the work of certain politicians and how their work influences the perception of Pakistani women. One such politician was Benazir Bhutto. Benazir Bhutto was the first female Prime Minister of Pakistan, and the first female Prime Minister of any Muslim state. Both Pakistani and American media quickly became obsessed with Bhutto. Her

Khan 7 pro-America stance in politics led the American media to view her as a forward-thinking leader who would fight for womens rights. During Bhuttos reign, some college women started dressing more liberally and stopped covering their heads (Constable 144). But there were no laws passed that officially helped womens rights. As Pamela Constable states in her book, Playing With Fire, Bhutto championed secular reforms but never fought the enemies of womens rights, in other words, the religious leaders against womens freedom. Bhutto was exiled from Pakistan because of charges of corruption and remained in Dubai and London for eight years. She returned to Pakistan in October 2007 and was assassinated by a suicide bomber and a gunshot wound to the head while exiting a rally in Rawalpindi, Pakistan two months later. Reporters later assumed that Islamic extremists were responsible for the killing of Benazir Bhutto because she had liberalized Pakistan, and its women in particular, during her last reign. Because the media had shown Bhutto as one of the most liberal leaders Pakistan had ever seen, the Taliban decided to retaliate. Exaggerated media on Bhutto resulted in a negative response from the Taliban, ending her life. Another Pakistani leader who suffered the wrath of Islamic extremists was the Governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer. He openly supported the release of Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman, who had been detained as a violator of the blasphemy laws in Pakistan. Governor Taseer was shot 27 times by his bodyguard, Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri. Nobody tried to prevent Qadris 27 shots and after Qadri was done with Taseer he placed his gun on the floor and raised his arms in surrender. When Qadri was being arrested, people threw flowers on him to support the killing (Constable 146). Constable claims that the reason the extremist group gave for Taseers assassination was his liberal way of life. Pictures of the women of Taseers family in shorts and bathing suits had spread on the Internet. The extremists referred to this as proof of evil (146). Bhutto and Taseer both had liberal ideas for the way women should lead their lives in Pakistan, which they proudly

Khan 8 voiced in the media. Unfortunately, the two leaders who would have otherwise been regarded as supporters of womens rights were punished for expressing their thoughts. Since these thoughts were unique, they were given extra attention by the media. This made extremist groups afraid that action might be taken to establish laws to help women in Pakistan. The two leaders had been in power long enough that if they wanted to establish any such laws, they would have done it by the time they were killed. The results of Bhutto and Taseers modern ideas in the media must be taken into account in order to see that the women of Pakistan still need help. Another way in which the media dilutes a real image of Pakistani women is through false conceptions of womens education. The media is correct in saying that middle class families have started focusing more on girls education (Bolognani and Lyon 215), but what about girls in the lower class in both urban and rural areas who are forced to stay at home and learn how to be good wives? At the slightest opportunity for an education the boys are sent to school, but the girls are never taken into consideration. A Pakistani politician and human rights activist, Asma Jehangir, once said that women dont learn skills to earn money and when they get stuck with horrible drug-addicted husbands they fall into poverty (Mumtaz and Mitha 61). As stated in one scholarly article about gender roles in Pakistan, exposure to violence and controlling behaviors is part of everyday life for women (Ali et al. 7). This expectation of subordination affects womens general reproductive health (Ali et al. 1). Parents teach their daughters that they can never return home once they are married because a divorce would ruin the familys honor (Ali et al. 5). So women get married at young ages and feel obliged to suffer from any and all abuse by their husbands because of the associated stigma. Those few women who get divorced are discriminated under the law and receive little money to start their new lives away from the home that rejected them (Ali et al. 7). The conclusion of this scholarly article is that mass media everywhere needs to play a role in

Khan 9 bringing equality between genders (Ali et al. 8). It is essential that the media not forget about the women in poverty who are denied an education. In order for mass media to be effective it needs to paint the entire picture of women in Pakistan, especially the parts of backwardness because if those are overlooked then nothing will be changed. The story of Mukhtar Mai is an example of how the media showed both the negative and positive sides of her story. I remember a couple of years ago when her story was aired by the media. Mai was gang-raped in 2007 and the group of men who raped her forced her to flee naked back to her home. Emotionally broken, Mais voice was heard through the media. The risk that Mai was taking in speaking against the men of her rival clan who had raped her was constantly highlighted and yet, through her aired speeches, you could see her confidence growing. As a young child, I was mortified of her story but I remember the security that her interviews often gave me. Mais story revealed to me that women need help to speak up after suffering such trauma and most women dont receive the help they need to stand up. Women like Mai are almost impossible to find and it is the medias duty, as well as the duty of those who view the media, to help protect women like Mai and portray their true stories. Media around the world sometimes portrays an enlightened image of Pakistan. Unfortunately, this is not always accurate. These enlightened images put Pakistani women at risks by allowing viewers to forget about their true struggles against the Taliban, the law and domestic violence. Some politicians speak up and are taken out by the people who threaten the women they stand up for. The media needs to weed out politicians and activists whose words will never be converted to actions to save those politicians and activists lives and to save Pakistani womens lives. In order for Pakistani women to fully succeed, they need to stop being second to men. This success must start from educating both boys and girls equally. Girls need to learn more about the rights that they have and dont have so that they can fight for themselves. Boys must continue getting educated so they can help their mothers, sisters

Khan 10 and wives in their battles and not turn against them like the Taliban. My plea to the American people is to look deeper into every media story about Pakistan because if they look hard enough they will find the real story. Hopefully some day Pakistani women, even in Swat and other rural areas, will roam on the streets independently just as American women do.

Khan 11 Works Cited Page AFP. Senate Unanimously Passes Domestic Violence Bill. The Express Tribune. 20 sssssFebruary 2012. Web. 5 November 2012.2 Ali, Tazeen, Gunilla Krantz, Raisa Gul, Nargis Asad, Eva Johansson, and Ingrid Mogren. sssssGender Roles and Their Influence on Life Prospects for Women in Urban Karachi, sssssPakistan: A Qualitative Study. Global Health Action 4 (2011): 1-9. Web. 30 October sssss2012. Baker, Katie. We Are All Malala Now. Newsweek 160.13 (2012). Academic Search sssssPremier. Web. 29 October 2012. Bolognani, Marta and Stephen Lyon. Pakistan and its Diaspora. New York: Palgrave sssssMacmillan, 2011. Print. Constable, Pamela. Playing With Fire. New York: Random House, 2011. Print. Critelli, Filomena. Beyond the Veil in Pakistan. Affilia 25.3 (2010): 236-246. Web. 31 sssssOctober 2012. Hassan, Taimur. The Performance of Press During Women Movement in Pakistan. A sssssResearch Journal of South Asian Studies 25.2 (2010). Web. 30 October 2012. Inskeep, Steve. Female Workers Break Stereotypes in Karachi. Global Issues in Context. sssssWeb. 31 October 2012. Malala Yousufzai: Portrait of a Girl Blogger. BBC News Magazine. n.p. 10 October 2012. sssssWeb. 29 October 2012. Mumtaz, Khawar and Yameema Mitha. Pakistan: Tradition and Change. Oxford: Oxfam, sssss1996. Print.

2 This

author is continuously referred to as AFP. This may be because he or she wants to remain anonymous.

Khan 12 Shaheed, Farida. The Womens Movement in Pakistan: Challenges and Achievements. sssssWomens Movements in the Global Era: The Power of Local Feminisms. Ed. Amrita sssssBasu. Boulder: Westview Press, 2010. 89-118. Print. Ul Haq, Ijaz. Personal interview. 1 November 2012. Walsh, Declan. Taliban Gun Down Girl Who Spoke Up for Rights. New York Times. n.p. 9 sssssOctober 2012. Web. 30 October 2012.