04-05-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
Blatant gender discrimination
EDITORIAL: The notion that women are dependent on men for financial security, deeply rooted in this patriarchal society, is being successfully challenged in courts.
Earlier this month, a Supreme Court bench hearing a case of blatant gender bias had reinstated a woman who was appointed as a primary school teacher in a Khyber Pakhtunkhwa town under a deceased person's son/daughter quota in 2013 but on getting married was told she could no longer keep the job because a married daughter is eligible for compassionate appointment only if separated from her husband. A two-member bench headed by Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah has been hearing a somewhat similar case involving a woman who was given a job on the demise of her husband but sacked when she remarried.
As per details of this case, the woman in question was appointed as lower division clerk on a two-year contract with the Tax Department in Bahawalpur in May of 2010 under the Prime Minister's Assistance Package for the Families of Deceased Government Employees.
This worked fine as her contract kept getting renewed until she decided to remarry. That is when the department abruptly informed her via an office memorandum that her services no longer were required. The obvious assumption being, like in the case of KP teacher, that a woman is a dependent of her father or husband and that gaining financial autonomy is an exclusive male preserve.
Creditably for her, the sacked employee insisted on her right to work and approached the Lahore High Court (LHC). There the case was disposed of with a directive to the member (administration) of the Federal Board of Revenue to address her grievances through a speaking order. The matter was reviewed but rejected once again.
The aggrieved party then filed a second petition and was reinstated by the LHC, only to face a fresh legal challenge from the chief commissioner of Regional Tax Office, Bahawalpur, who went into appeal before the Supreme Court against the LHC's decision. This back and forth is reflective of social expectations arising from traditional view of gender roles, effectually debunked by the SC bench in its ruling announced on Wednesday.
The five-page order authored by the honourable Justice Shah while upholding the right to work of the person at the centre of the present case secures the rights of many others like her. 'Widows are too often viewed through the prism of loss and dependence, rather than as individuals with agency and resilience', he wrote, adding that this perception restricts their choices, particularly when it comes to remarriage or economic independence.
Furthermore, said the Acting Chief Justice Shah, the law must reject these harmful cultural narratives and affirm that widowhood is not a diminution of identity but a life circumstance deserving of dignity, protection, and equal opportunity. 'It is incumbent upon courts to ensure that public policy reflects this understanding and shields widows from both overt and covert forms of systemic discrimination,' he emphasized. The apex court thus has laid out basic principles by which society must seek to ensure gender justice.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
