By Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar 6 2024 – Brazil is beginning to test the effectiveness of a gender pay equality law passed in July 2023, a new attempt to reduce inequality for women in the world of work.

This Friday, Mar. 8, International Women’s Day, is the deadline for companies with more than 100 employees to publish their first half-yearly salary transparency reports, with comparative data on remuneration and the distribution of hierarchical functions between men and women, and between different ethnic groups, nationalities and ages.”If you are a black woman, your chances of suffering inequality increase. Restrictions pile up for women who are black and poor from the outlying urban neighborhoods, who are over 40 years old and have had little to no education.” — Marilane Teixeira

To break down the inertia of gender inequality, the United Nations agency that promotes women’s rights, UN Women, decided that this year’s theme for International Women’s Day would be “‘Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress”, which the global community has pledged to achieve by 2030.

The wage equality law “is a measure that just remains on paper, not a practical one,” said Hildete Pereira de Melo, an economist who has been studying gender inequality for more than 40 years and doubts the effectiveness of the new legislation.

Equal pay has been legally established in Brazil since 1943, when the Consolidation of Labor Laws was approved, but it is not enforced, she argued. Even in the courts, women accept any agreement as “the weaker party,” she told IPS in an interview in Rio de Janeiro.

Wage inequality is now punished

But now it is different: a penalty will be imposed on companies that do not publish their semi-annual report, a fine of up to 100 minimum wages, totaling 141,200 reais this year (28,500 dollars), argued Marilane Teixeira, a researcher at the Center for Trade Union and Labor Economics Studies (Cesit) of the University of Campinas.

With the reports from the companies and the data it obtains through other means, the Ministry of Labor and Employment will be able to publish the first results, with an overview of how the more than 50,000 large companies in Brazil deal with the issue of gender- and race-neutral wages.

Previously a company was subject to penalties in the case of “inequalities motivated by segregation,” identified through inspection by the authorities. But now there is a new requirement of a public report, Teixeira told IPS from Brasilia.

The new exposure of companies triggered widespread complaints and arguments that improper data would be revealed, but the report does not include “any stealth data, just averages and percentages of women employees and their positions” in the corporate hierarchy, she explained.

Reactions from businesspersons and repercussions in the media reflect “the impact of the measure” and the changes it will foment, said the economist, who helped the government draft the new law.

“It is a step forward and we hope that it sticks” and is effective, unlike many laws that remain only on paper, said Isabel Freitas, a social worker and technical advisor of the Feminist Center for Studies and Advice (Cfemea).

In a Jul. 30, 2023 demonstration, black women in Rio de Janeiro protest against racism, violence and inequalities of which they are the main victims. CREDIT: Tania Rêgo / Agência Brasil

Legislative advances

Her positive assessment is based on the “two novelties”: the requirement of the half-yearly report, which constitutes a “public transparency tool” and fosters equality, and the fine imposed on companies that do not comply, of three percent of the total wages and salaries paid by the company.

But the law has limits. It only applies to companies with more than one hundred employees, which means its effect does not reach the small and micro businesses that provide 70 percent of formal sector jobs nor the informal ones that account for about 40 percent of the total number of workers. And the fine cannot exceed the equivalent of 100 minimum wages.

It does not benefit, for example, domestic workers, who number six million in Brazil, mainly black women, who suffer the worst discrimination, Freitas lamented.

But the law is “one more step” that could help in the fight against “the basket of inequalities” affecting Brazilian society, especially women, she told IPS by telephone from Brasilia.

“If you are a black woman, your chances of suffering inequality increase. Restrictions pile up for women who are black and poor from the outlying urban neighborhoods, who are over 40 years old and have had little to no education,” she said.

Inequality suffered by women is not just a matter of wages. They are concentrated in lower paid activities, such as domestic work, basic education and the poorest paid parts of the health care system.

The scarce representation of women at all levels of power is a major obstacle. There are only 91 women in a lower house of 513 deputies and 15 women senators out of a total of 81. In other words, they make up only 17.8 percent of the current Congress (2023-2026) dominated by conservative legislators.

One of the main causes of these inequalities is the sexual division of labor, which assigns to women practically all the work of social reproduction and care tasks, the three interviewees concurred.

A meeting of women ministers of the current Brazilian government with 42 female mayors of large towns and cities to discuss women’s participation in politics and the Brazilian economy. CREDIT: Ministry of Health

Cultural hurdles

Added to this is a cultural heritage that uses promotion evaluation criteria that favor male workers, said Teixeira.

When it comes to promotions, companies generally take into account activities “that exclude women, such as weekend courses, trips and dinners with clients,” which are unfeasible for those who have to take care of the house, the children and sick members of the family, she said.

“In Brazil 42 percent of women are solely homemakers, and the other half who are in the labor market are also homemakers,” said Pereira de Melo.

The basic solution to the tangle of factors leading to inequality against women are full-time basic education schools and day care centers providing care for 10 hours a day, with universal coverage for all children in order to neutralize disadvantages for women in the workplace, she said.

The ideal would be full-time school for adolescents as well, but it should be available at least in the first stage, until students are 14 or 15 years old and the absolute need for maternal care is reduced, she said.

In addition, a broad cultural transformation of society would be necessary, especially in relation to the role of women, but culture is something that changes very slowly, she acknowledged.

Initiatives on several fronts are underway in Brazil to drive these changes.

On Mar. 5 the   launched, for example, the campaign “Justice for all women”, to highlight women’s rights in general, including girls, adolescents, pregnant and disabled women, and to promote a gender perspective in all the country’s courts.

Violence against women, reflected in the increase in rape, domestic violence and femicides – gender-related murders of girls and women – is currently a priority of the campaign and the judicial system.

The Articulação das Mulheres Negras do Brasil (Network of Black Women of Brazil) is working to coordinate the action of 45 organizations distributed throughout the country that in the month of March this year are planning 140 demonstrations.

For November 2025, it is preparing a “March against racism, violence and for the good life”, a national mobilization that will culminate in Brasilia, repeating the first march of its kind that took place in 2015, with about 100,000 participants, to demand the rights of 49 million women, that is, a quarter of Brazil’s population of 203 million.

It is a global struggle. “The global economy is based on the systematic exploitation of women,” concludes a study by Oxfam, a confederation of 21 social organizations around the world.

According to its data, women earn only 51 percent of what men earn, as they are concentrated in precarious and poorly paid jobs.

By Naureen Hossain
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 6 2024 – UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini asked the UN General Assembly to urge member states to support the organization’s mandate during this period of unprecedented crisis for the region and the agency. He also called for member states to facilitate a “long-overdue political process” for the two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. Only then, in this context, should UNRWA be allowed to transition.

He was speaking at an informal session of the General Assembly on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). This was convened to discuss the ongoing situation with UNRWA’s capacity as a humanitarian and human development agency in Gaza.

Despite its existence for 75 years, UNRWA’s presence was always intended to be temporary. “It is a stain on our collective conscience that for 75 years, UNRWA has had to fill a vacuum left by the lack of a political solution and genuine peace,” said Lazzarini.

The ongoing hostilities in the Gaza Strip and the resulting destruction of UNRWA facilities, which have disrupted humanitarian services in the region, have led to calls to seek alternatives that can deliver on the scale of the agency or to raise concern about whether other agencies can deliver the necessary humanitarian aid.

“UNRWA is facing a deliberate and concerted campaign to undermine its operations and ultimately end them,” said Lazzarini.

Lazzarini argued that dismantling UNRWA during the current crisis would be shortsighted, given that the agency was designed to provide public services such as education and primary healthcare in a region without state authority. “The notion that the Agency can be dismantled without violating a host of human rights and jeopardizing international peace and security is naïve at best,” he said.

Speaking at a press briefing that same day, Lazzarini told reporters, “We can only feel that the worst is yet to come.” He remarked that since January, aid delivery to Gaza has decreased by 50 percent. Since then, famine has become all but inevitable.

Remarking on the dual investigations into UNRWA’s operations, Lazzarini stated that the investigations were necessary as an accountability measure. These investigations were announced after it was revealed that he had terminated the contracts of 12 staff members who were allegedly involved in the October 7 attacks. Lazzarini added that the “swift decision” to terminate the contracts, as well as the investigations, would likely reflect the agency’s ability to follow through on recommendations from a risk management review.

Lazzarini admitted, however, that he had not anticipated the swift action that 16 donor countries took to suspend their funding in the wake of the allegations, which he revealed were conveyed to him in an oral manner.  “I have no regret,” he said, referring to his response to the allegations, “but to be honest, I did not expect that… over the weekend, 16 countries would take that decision.”

The UNRWA chief also indicated that most donor countries would consider resuming their support. For those donor countries, the pressure to pull support came from domestic or public opinion that seems divided over UNRWA rather than foreign policy considerations.

There is some promise that UNRWA will continue to deliver on its mandate with the help of donor states, as was seen with the European Commission’s decision to continue funding the agency, starting with a pledge of 50 million euros. However, this will only go partway into filling the gap of 450 million USD left by the 16 donor countries. Lazzarini warned that without additional funding, the agency would be in “uncharted territory” and would have “serious implications for global peace and security.”

The atrocities that were committed on and since October 7 have only resulted in increasing devastation and tragedy. The international community, as embodied by the General Assembly on Monday, seems largely united in their calls for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza and for the safe release of all hostages.

Yet the ongoing hostilities in the region have prevented the UN and its agencies from fulfilling their mandate to safely provide critical emergency aid. Five months on, there is a seeming lack of forward momentum within the Security Council to deliver a ceasefire resolution. UNRWA has been contending with compounding existential questions about its survival as an agency from hostile forces in the Gaza Strip and beyond who call for its dissolution.

IPS UN Bureau Report

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By Dana Abed
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Mar 6 2024 – Marking International Women’s Day as a mere day of celebration is to strip it of its true meaning, a stab in the back of the generations of feminists who fought to make it a cornerstone for gender justice.

This day is a call to action, a collective demand for substantive change. It must insist on our deepest reflection about how the patriarchy creeps into every aspect of our lives, including into the policies that govern our macroeconomics.

Beyond the flowers and tokenism of celebrating International Women’s Day lies a stark reality, which is the persistent struggle that women face within the confines of a neoliberal economic system. Recent statistics paint a grim picture of the dwindling financial flows that aim to advance gender justice.

According to the latest data, rich governments allocate only 4% of their Official Development Assistance to programs that have “gender equality” centered as their principle objective, with less and less of those funds going directly to the local feminist movements at the forefront of the fight towards gender justice.

There is a continuing alarming trend of governments privatizing public services and cutting away social protection. Along with their dwindling support for feminist and women’s rights organizations, this poses a direct threat to the lives and well-being of women, girls, and non-binary individuals.

The capitalist system is perfectly geared to funnel all the money into men’s pockets. Globally, men own $105 trillion more wealth than women. This is equivalent to four times the size of the entire US economy. The regional differences also showcase how women from the majority world are the most impacted under these exploitative neoliberal systems.

Women make up 75% of the global workforce, particularly in essential health care services, yet it would take 1,200 years for a female worker in the health and social sector to earn what a CEO in the biggest Fortune 100 companies earns on average in one year.

Meanwhile, of course, the sheer amount of unpaid care work that falls upon women’s shoulders hinder their engagement in paid work, and education, among many other spheres. Compared to men, who spend on average around 90 minutes a day on unpaid care work, women spend three times that, on average 4.5 hours.

Our governments around the world urgently need to build a feminist economy and invest in national care systems to address the disproportionate responsibility for care work done by women and girls and ensure access to public services and living wages for carers.

The system we live under is engineered by colonialism, run by capitalism, and supported by the patriarchy. And when those three actors conspire together, it is women in all their diversities, especially women of color who pay the highest prices.

On this International Women’s Day, we demand concrete actions to dismantle and reconfigure the economic structures that are perpetuating gender-based inequalities. It is time to pivot our advocacy towards three crucial asks that can drive substantive change.

First and foremost, international financing institutions and governments must shift power to centre feminist movements and promote the advancement of gender justice. We can do that by decolonizing aid and unconditionally supporting local grassroots feminist and queer movements.

Their voices, often marginalized, deserve amplified recognition and unwavering backing. Funding for these movements needs to be flexible and sustainable to ensure their continued leadership.

Secondly, we need a gender-transformative approach to how we fund the crucial areas of social protection and public services. These are incredibly important in the struggle for women’s equality.

The implementation of progressive taxation, including a substantial wealth tax, is key to funding universal public services that cater specifically to the needs of women, girls, and gender non-binary individuals. This would be a game-changer.

Lastly, we need to guarantee living wages and protection across all sectors, particularly in the care economy. This too is a non-negotiable. This entails introducing fair taxes, including wealth taxes on those who made fortunes on the backs of the rest of us, and legislate them in favor of fair compensation for care work, prioritizing the well-being of communities within and beyond professional spheres.

This International Women’s Day, let us rally for these essential shifts, advocating not only for a day of celebration but one of tangible and equitable progress, too.

Dana Abed, Oxfam, Lebanon’s Influencing Lead in Beirut

IPS UN Bureau

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Excerpt:

The following opinion piece is part of series to mark International Women’s Day, March 8.

By Shihana Mohamed
NEW YORK, Mar 6 2024 – Recently “Days of Our Lives” star Arianne Zucker sued former co-executive producer Albert Alarr, accusing him of sexual harassment on the set of the long-running daytime show.

The complaint, filed 7th February 2024 in California Superior Court, alleges Alarr repeatedly subjected Zucker and other “Days” employees to “severe and pervasive harassment and discrimination, including sexual harassment, based upon their female gender.”

Since the #MeToo movement began in 2017, workplace sexual harassment has received a great deal of media attention, but attention towards the diversity of the women victimized by sexual harassment is greatly lacking.

Sexual harassment survivors most often sourced in #MeToo-related stories by the media are wealthy white (Caucasian) women who made complaints against senior male executives in the entertainment industry or in politics—think of high profile coverage of Harvey Weinstein’s long history of sexual assault and harassment of women, including actresses Rose McGowan, Ashley Judd, Angelina Jolie, and Gwyneth Paltrow, as well as the news about Gretchen Carlson’s sexual harassment claim against Fox News.

However, these cases are neither relatable to the average American woman’s experience of workplace sexual harassment nor representative of the reality and the severity of sexual harassment as a widespread social problem.

In contrast, the women of color sexually assaulted by Weinstein, including Kenyan-Mexican actress Lupita Nyong’o and Mexican-American actress Salma Hayek, did not receive the same media coverage or public response as white women who made similar allegations. The result is that the public perception of sexual harassment is predominantly associated with white women from middle- and upper-class identities.

This perception was mainly created by the media with its focus on stories of white women, in addition to the lack of diversity in the movement.

Approximately 81% of women have faced sexual harassment in their lives. Despite these high numbers, the overwhelming majority (99.8%) of people who experience sexual harassment at work never file formal charges. Women of color are more likely to experience sexual harassment, yet less likely to report it.

There’s a long way to go until women feel comfortable reporting sexual harassment in the workplace and feel confident in their employers that repercussions will occur.

Historically, the media stereotyped women of color and created a public perception that the impact of sexual harassment on them was not as severe as on white women. To some extent, this perception has to do with the historical context of how women of color endured through slavery, colonization, world wars and conflicts throughout history and how they were portrayed by the media.

During the period of slavery in America, white society overtly believed black women to be innately lustful beings. After the Philippine-American War, World War II, and the Korean and Vietnam Wars, the US occupation of Asian countries propelled local sex industries and sex trafficking rings to serve soldiers.

The media has repeatedly represented East Asian women in a harmful way through its exaggerated portrayal of the China Doll and Dragon Lady to further exoticize and dehumanize East Asian women, ensuring the dominance of the West. Latinas historically endured rape as part of European colonialization of Latin American countries by Spaniards.

The stereotypical depictions of hyper-sexual Latinas in the media suggest that Latinas have a higher tolerance for sexual advances in the workplace. Meanwhile, historically, white women were portrayed as models of self-respect, self-control, modesty, and even sexual purity.

Media stereotypes have a direct impact on cultural perceptions of women of color. This aspect is further aggravated by how the media objectifies women of color in TV shows, movies, and advertisements. These stereotypes tend to justify sexual harassment of women of color in real life.

Racial bias in the media attention on sexual harassment is very harmful to women of color and women from minority groups. The US media’s lack of committed reporting on sexual harassment cases of women of color contributes to the silencing of its existence as well as preventing from tackling it.

This biased, non-inclusive approach of the media creates an environment that is conducive to continuing sexual harassment of women of color. It also silences those affected women of color and discourages them from reporting sexual harassment or asking for support through any available mechanisms.

During the period from 2018 to 2021, women filed 78.2% of the 27,291 sexual harassment charges received by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Of the 1,945 sexual harassment charges filed concurrently with a race charge, 71.2% designated Black/African American and another 4.8% designated Asian as the relevant race. Data from the EEOC reflects that 56% of sexual harassment charges are filed by women of color; yet women of color only make 37 percent of women in the workforce.

According to the survey by the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) in 2022, overall, in the last 12 months, a staggering 74% of AAPI women personally experienced racism and/or discrimination, 38% experienced sexual harassment, and 12% reported experiencing gender and/or race-based physical violence.

There is also another factor why the media is paying more attention to white women through #MeToo movement. This is because white women (and men) are far better represented in the US media than women (and men) of color. For instance, the proportion of all journalists who are white men and white women is 52.12% and 31.04%, respectively.

The comparable figure for black men and black women, respectively, is 3.02% and 2.62%, while the overall figure for non-white men and women (i.e. Black, Hispanic, American Indian, Asian, Hawaiian Pacific Islanders and others), is 8.58% and 7.95%, respectively.

One in five people in the US is a woman of color (i.e. women who identify as non-white) as women of color were 20.3% of the US population in 2021. However, their stories are rarely told in the media while women of color are underrepresented in the media.

It is now more than thirty years since Kimberlé Crenshaw critiqued anti-discrimination law for its failure to recognize intersectionality, the compounding nature of race and gender subordination. Despite this, the US media still considers the issue of sexual harassment as an individualized problem of inappropriate behaviour rather than a systemic issue of inequalities of gender, race, and power.

This is why the media sees that the sexual harassment cases of white women survivors are more newsworthy than those of women of color.

The media should be part of the solution rather than a problem in addressing and preventing sexual harassment in the workplace. The combined influences of race and gender on sexual harassment should be identified and addressed immediately by the media with greater attention to the experiences of women of color and women from minority groups.

The media has the power to implement changes in whose stories are told. The US media should demonstrate a conscious and continued effort to provide equal representation in covering sexual harassment cases that is inclusive of all types of survivors, including women of color.

Shihana Mohamed is one of the Coordinators of the United Nations Asia Network for Diversity and Inclusion and a Public Voices Fellow with The OpEd Project and Equality Now on Advancing the Rights of Women and Girls.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/shihana-mohamed-68556b15/

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Excerpt:

The following opinion piece is part of series to mark International Women’s Day, March 8.

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
KATHMANDU, Nepal, Mar 6 2024 – Viable, popular national economic alternatives require conditions to help build and sustain them. An independent, accountable government can ensure supportive institutions, including laws.

National economies
For the Global South, globalisation has often meant renewed foreign domination. While dating back to the age of empire, foreign domination is less evident in post-colonial times, making it more difficult to organise against it.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

National sovereignty and independence are necessary to develop and sustain viable popular economic alternatives. This requires addressing contemporary realities. Some unexpected opportunities may even emerge from the new challenges faced.

Cooperation among significant national social forces must be maintained for an alternative to be popular and sustainable. Negotiating, preserving, strengthening and ‘updating’ such collaboration is necessary to advance popular national interests.

This becomes challenging when those involved are not on a level playing field. After all, we live in a world dominated by powerful private interests, typically working through corporations, with transnational ones being the most influential.

Most people know that such domination is exercised via economic assets. But it has increasingly also involved control of the main means of communication. Global public discourses have thus been reshaped, even in multilateral institutions.

Thus, for example, the unrepresentative corporate-dominated Davos World Economic Forum sets agendas for multilateral conferences in the interest of the ‘lords of the universe’. More than seventy heads of government and state attended the last Davos event, many more than the UN General Debate.

Can developing alternative means of communication better shape our discourses, as our interests rarely coincide with those effectively in control?

Rule by law
Katarina Pistor has shown how law is hardly neutral but instead crucial to capitalism’s functioning. Thus, setting and enforcing rules privileges the interests shaping them.

Law is made by the powerful to legitimise their interests and practices, e.g., by enforcing contracts, property rights, etc. The legal framework defines how we operate, what is considered legal and illegal, and what is licit and illicit.

The African Union-Economic Commission for Africa study, chaired by former South African President Thabo Mbeki, recognised that many illicit practices are not illegal. Such massive illicit financial outflows characterise most of the Global South.

Such haemorrhage has worsened in recent decades as developing countries competed to attract foreign investments. In recent decades, they opened their capital accounts, believing economists who claimed finance would then flow ‘downhill’ into them. Instead, it flows ‘uphill’ from ‘capital-poor’ to ‘capital-rich’ nations.

Finance has transformed economies and communities in recent decades. The growing influence of such interests has increasingly constrained national monetary and financial authorities’ ability to manage interest and exchange rates.

Hence, only governments and multilateral financial institutions can create arrangements enabling preferential access to concessional finance. Inclusion and accountability can help ensure governments better serve the public interest.

Taxation
The Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation recommended a minimum universal corporate income tax rate of 25%.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen later proposed 21%, the current US rate, to minimise political opposition in Washington. However, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson cut this to 15% at the G7 meeting he hosted.

The OECD-G20 Inclusive Framework for Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) seems to share the OECD view that such tax revenue be distributed by the country of sale, not production.

Developing countries lose out as they generally produce much more than they can afford to consume. With foreign advice shaping developing countries’ policies, their tax rates and revenue shares of output have fallen for decades. Hence, indebted nations believe they have to cut government spending.

Unsurprisingly, most developing countries have supported the African group’s resolution to make the UN the sole legitimate body for international tax cooperation, thus undermining the Inclusive Framework’s pretensions.

Trade liberalisation bias
Trade liberalisation is a double-edged sword. It can enhance exports to earn more foreign exchange but also destroys economic capacities, e.g., for industrialisation and food security.

Rich countries – including the US, the world’s biggest agricultural exporter – have sustained food production with government support using protection and subsidies. But while such subsidies are allowed, developing countries have been stopped from using tariffs for food security.

The US subsidises maize production for corn oil to make bioethanol. Corn syrup and chicken feed also get subsidised in the process. Consequently, US chicken exports have wiped out many poultry farmers worldwide.

Food prices increased sharply for some months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Jayati Ghosh showed these food price spikes were mainly due to speculation and price manipulation rather than wartime supply disruptions.

Futures markets once reduced commodity price fluctuations but have had significant disruptive effects more recently. This is mainly due to the changed nature of commodity spot, futures and options markets, especially with massive programmed financial speculation using algorithms and artificial intelligence.

* Edited remarks to the World People’s Economic Forum at the World Social Forum in Kathmandu on February 18, 2024.

IPS UN Bureau

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By Zofeen Ebrahim
KARACHI, Mar 6 2024 – Since the start of the year, there has been very little to celebrate for Pakistanis. Disrupted social media, escalating electricity, fuel, and food prices, and newly-held elections mired in controversy. But then, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Syeda Shehrbano Naqvi, did something that brightened the days of despair.

The 31-year-old’s courageous overture and foresight in the face of a potentially explosive situation have given Pakistan a reason to stand among the countries on this year’s Women’s Day with pride.

Naqvi rescued a woman, wearing a dress with Arabic calligraphy, from a frenzied mob from Lahore’s Ichhra Bazaar late last month (Sunday, February 25), who mistook it for verses from the Holy Quran and accused her of having committed blasphemy.

“There must be approximately 150–200 people by the time I reached the spot where this incident took place, around 1.45 pm,” said the police officer, talking to IPS over the phone from Lahore. She spoke to the mob with authority: “You should trust us [police],” she was heard shouting to the crowd on a video clip gone viral. Prior to her arrival, police from nearby police stations had also arrived to manage the situation.

“We had to act swiftly and get her out, as an angry mob in a close space can mean the situation getting out of control quickly,” she told IPS.

A black abayaa (a loose-fitted, long-sleeved robe worn by Muslim women) was arranged for the woman to cover her dress, which had ignited the sentiments in the first place, and her face completely covered to protect her identity when she was led out and whisked away in the police vehicle.

Following this incident, Manto, a clothing shop that uses a lot of calligraphic verses by poets and writers, put this notice on its social media pages. Credit: Manto

With permission from Masood Lohar, founder of the Clifton Urban Forest, who put up these AI-generated illustrations on his Facebook page. Credit: Masood Lohar/Facebook

Credit: Masood Lohar/Facebook

Naqvi knew exactly how to handle the situation, having dealt with similar situations in the past. But she admitted that the “five-minute walk to the police van was not without danger, despite the police forming a circle around us.”

Before the police arrived, videos posted on social media show a visibly terrified woman standing in the far corner of a restaurant with her hands covering half of her face.

The restaurant owner put his shutter down and locked it from inside to protect the woman, while others tried to calm the angry mob, who threatened to set the place on fire if the woman was not handed to them.

“Pakistanis spend so much of their time reading the Quran and reciting from it; then how can the simplest Arabic writing be mistaken for a holy verse?” asked Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy, an Islamabad-based physicist and author, referring to rote learning of the holy book by majority Pakistanis. “This episode reveals that the ability to read a foreign language without understanding it achieves nothing.”

“Fighting pressure, numbers, and situations, you upheld both humanity and law; I thank you, and we are very proud of you,” said a press statement issued from the newly-elected chief minister of Punjab province, Maryam Nawaz’s office, commending officer Naqvi.

“Shehrbano Naqvi has set a new standard for the police force,” said young Pakistani activist Ammar Ali Jan, secretary general of the left-wing socialist party, Haqooq-e-Khalq Party.

“This is the way to stand up to a mob; it’s never happened before and it will set an example for others to take similar action,” he said, especially if she’s rewarded.

The Punjab police chief has recommended Naqvi for the Quaid-i-Azam Police Medal for her gallantry.

Jan said the incident should be looked at through a gender lens. “It has highlighted the need for more educated and qualified women to be inducted into the state apparatus.”

However, for many, what happened after the rescue has left a bad aftertaste.

ASP Shehrbano Naqvi put aside her own safety and came to the rescue of a woman falsely accused of blasphemy. Her bravery has been recognized and some of the people involved are now under investigation. Credit: ASP Shehrbano Naqvi

Conceding the policewoman put up a brave act and prevented it from getting ugly, Farah Zia, director of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan asked: “Why was the rescued woman, under the same police watch, forced to seek forgiveness and declare herself to belong to the majority Sunni Muslim sect and thus can never think of doing anything to harm the sentiments of her fellow Muslims? Does it mean those belonging to minority faiths or sects can be expected to?”

Zia said it sent a signal that the government and the state are helpless and weak in the face of violent mobs.

The apology video, showing the woman sitting in between two bearded men who also put words in her mouth during the recording, was shot at the police station, but Naqvi insisted it had nothing to do with the police.

“It was decided between those nominated by the mob and the woman’s family that she would apologize,” clarified Naqvi and that the job of the police was just to “ensure law and order is maintained; there is no loss of life and no material damage.”

However, she added: “It is pertinent to remember that this incident either could have become a trauma in the life of the woman or we could have helped by placating the issue in a manner that puts an end to any further conversation that would ensue in the future. We decided to do the latter, despite criticism from various quarters. Given certain realities of our society, she now has a better chance of living a normal, healthy, and happy life,” pointed out Naqvi.

“The progressives among us may not like the tactical approach employed,” said Jan, referring to the apology coerced from the accused woman, but he explained: “The threat is real and potent, especially for someone who is marked.” He further added that the balance of forces in society is tipped in favour of extremists.

Hoodbhoy said the incident was reflective of an education system that “feeds religious fanaticism,” because of which Pakistani society and even its educated class have turned extremist.

“No longer can illiteracy alone be held responsible. The hyper-religiosity promoted through state institutions and the toxic education in our schools are not getting us admiration anywhere. Instead, it is producing a wild, uncontrollable population. Even our friends now fear us,” he lamented.

“Who in his right mind—apart from dedicated mountaineers—would want to vacation in a country where the population is ready to burst into flames at the slightest provocation?” he warned.

Blasphemy is punishable by death in Pakistan but as has often happened in the past, even before the case goes to trial, the accused is lynched.

According to the data collected by the Centre of Social Justice Pakistan, at least 329 people were allegedly accused of blasphemy in the year 2023.

“This is merely a list of cases reported in the press; the number can be higher than that,” Peter Jacob, executive director of CSJP, told IPS. Seven people were killed extrajudicially in 2023, he said.

At least 2,449 people have been accused of committing blasphemy between 1987 and 2023 and 95 people were killed extrajudicially between 1994 and 2023. No one has ever been punished except Mumtaz Qadri, who assassinated Punjab governor Salman Taseer in 2011.

Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi, chairman of the Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC), applauded the policewoman for showing immense courage in the face of such incidents; he said many others had buckled under similar circumstances in the past.

“She put her life in danger to save this woman and she should be commended for that,” he told IPS.

With “every political party and every political leader agreeing the law is misused and the accusations are false and have led to deadly consequences,” Jan said they need to come up with a grand national strategy.

“Begin by punishing those who falsely accuse others of blasphemy.”

Ashrafi wholeheartedly endorsed this. “Make it the test case,” demanded the PUC head, so that such incidents do not happen again.” He said all those who instigated this incident should be tried under the state’s anti-terrorist law.

Since the filing of this story, the Lahore police have lodged a First Information Report (FIR) against dozens of alleged miscreants so that the process of investigation can begin.

IPS UN Bureau Report

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