Scrolling through the local television channels, a drama serial, Kutch Ankahi caught my attention. A production of Kashf Foundation, the play takes into account a wide range of issues related not only to women in Pakistan, but the entire South Asia, ranging from women’s right to inheritance, societal pressure on early marriage, son preference, women’s economic empowerment, child sexual abuse, girls education, poverty and the list goes on. However, unlike the typical dramas on the subjects, the script was crisp and witty.
The story of Agha Jan, played by Mohammed Ahmed and his family comprising wife and three daughters. The family is living in an ancestral mansion that Agha Jan inherited but is fighting court case and claims of ownership by different family members including his sister, demanding her rightful share of her father’s property.
Rewind a few years, the plot reminded of a Pakistani film Bol, directed by Shoaib Mansoor, actress Humaima Malik in the lead played the daughter of Hakeem and eldest amongst eight siblings. The film was about a religious Muslim family facing financial difficulties caused by too many children and changing times, with a major plot involving the father’s desire to have a son.
Having observed World Population Day last week, we are reminded of the fact that Pakistan’s population has grown by 70 million over the last two decades, making it the fifth most populous country in the world with a tally of more than 208 million people.
One of the abiding mysteries of our country is why our progress is so slow in ensuring that the issue of population control is not effectively handled. Despite the fact that the issue has been written about again and again, seventy plus years down the road, Pakistan’s figures speak a sorry tale.
According to the State of the World Population (SOWP) Report, launched in April this year, Pakistan will be among the eight countries to account for half of the projected global population growth by 2050, along with the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, the Philippines and the USA. Pakistan’s population is currently estimated at 240.5 million and is projected to reach 403 million by 2050.
Echoing the key message from the SWOP, titled ‘8 Billion Lives, Infinite Possibilities: The Case for Rights and Choices’, Dr. Luay Shabaneh, UNFPA Representative in Pakistan, said that the government needs to ensure that families are provided with proper services, information and understanding to implement their own reproductive decisions.
Women are not accountable for any nation’s problems, they are victims of social norms, he had said. People need to talk about population issues in today’s world of unease and uncertainty. Still, they must do so in new ways that uproot current biases and avoid perpetuation harmful, discriminatory norms and myths.
Family planning, the report suggests must not be used as a means for achieving fertility targets but as a tool for empowering individuals. Women should be able to choose if, when, and how many children they want to have.
Where women in general are vulnerable to maternal malnutrition, teen mothers are at higher risk. For example, early marriages, early child bearing that is, adolescents giving birth to a child without spacing resulting in too many pregnancies and too early unwanted pregnancies. If a mother has nutritional deficiencies, she will pass it on to the next generation in form of low birth weight. If not careful, when these females mature they will once again give birth to low weight babies. This is a vicious cycle and may affect generation after generation.
When a girl enters marriage without the psychological maturity necessary to manage her relationship with her husband and in laws, or the physical maturity necessary to cope with pregnancy, it puts her at a disadvantage for life. She is less able to negotiate crucial aspects of her life, such as the use of contraception, with her husband. Pregnancy can have devastating affect for both the mother and child when the mother’s body is not yet mature.
While the importance of sexual and reproductive health for young people is well documented, when it comes to communication about and advocating one realizes that the language we use is a significant barrier. Mothers feel shy while talking to their daughters about reproductive health and mostly young girls get incomplete information.
A culture of openness means that father and mothers must speak to their children. Break the silence around family planning. Parents seem concern about their education, welfare, marriages but they don’t feel themselves responsible for this critical issue.
Wife of Hakeem sahib in the film Bol, was giving birth to a child every year. A weak and feeble woman who started child bearing at a young age had borne 14 children.
In today’s world, it is unlikely that any woman would bear 14 children but in Pakistan, it is still happening. The film ended with a question: If killing can be a crime, why isn’t giving birth to a child (you cannot afford) considered a crime?