Role of Women Musakhel
A few women have joined the formal sector through government jobs, specially in the field of education. Since 1995, the government has started employing girls who passed middle school as women health workers under the Prime Minister’s Programme for Family Planning and Basic Health. Through opportunities such as these women strive towards economic independence. However, most women are either deprived of income generating activities or being exploited by being underpaid or not paid at all. The help they offer through grazing livestock is unaccounted for and is considered of no economic value.
The economic independence of women in Musakhel does not fully translate into social independence. Sometimes her performance is restricted to the limits which suits her husband, father or other male family members. For example, she is free to move around, but just to graze her livestock or to fetch water and collect fuel wood. She makes many of the routine domestic decisions, but decisions regarding major issues, like the children’s marriages, are made by the men in the family, while the women may only give their advice. Girls have no say in the decisions about their marriages. Although purdah is not very strictly practised in Musakhel, very few women are seen in Musakhel Bazaar. It is not decent for women to go outside their homes alone, even for a medical check-up. She needs to be accompanied by a male family member.
Musakhel is a male dominated society where male children are preferred. This preference results in discrimination of female children in education, health, nutrition, and love. Expenditure on female education is considered a waste. This way, women lose their chance to be financially independent and they remain dependent on men. Due to male child preference, mothers without a male child are required to conceive repeatedly without an appropriate break, which endangers their lives. In the whole of Musakhel district, only 2 health care centres for mothers and children are available. There is not a single lady medical officer in the whole district. The only political role women in Musakhel can play is casting their vote, but usually they cast their vote to the will of their male family members.