By Zubeida Mustafa
For long, women have been an invisible force in Pakistan as they have sustained the family quietly while keeping a low profile. But the stark reality is now emerging that as workers in the informal sector their role is no less significant even though they continue to remain in the background. Continue reading Oppression of women workers
By Zubeida Mustafa
The following video is doing the rounds on the Internet. It is a talk by Patricia Ryan titled ‘Don’t insist on English’. It is one of the TED productions that definitely lives up to its claim of disseminating “ideas worth spreading”.
Ryan is a teacher of English who has worked in the Gulf states for over a decade which has given her a profound understanding of foreign language teaching. The talk is worth listening to, and can easily be located on the Internet.
Continue reading English as a barrier
By Zubeida Mustafa
HOW will women be affected by the devolution process under way in line with the Eighteenth Amendment? The relative silence from them – compared to the deafening noise from the pro and anti HEC lobbies – suggests that women are not concerned.
Continue reading Women and devolution
By Zubeida Mustafa
SO much has happened between the United States and Pakistan in recent months that it is time for a review of their relationship. It would require the two countries to step back and make a dispassionate and objective assessment of their equations.
Analysts believe that the bond between the two countries “is driven by Pakistan’s utility [for the US] in fighting terrorism”. It is about the bare minimum — terrorism and insurgency-led violence in Afghanistan and Pakistan — that is needed to keep bilateral ties going. Ironically, according to this line of reasoning this predicates “the longevity of the interest on terrorism” on failure to improve relationships. This also implies that the two sides find it in their interest to keep the pot boiling, that is keep the region destabilised.