Women in Pakistan face inequalities across social freedoms, economic participation: Report

Islamabad, June 30 (SocialNews.XYZ) Pakistan has been ranked last globally — 148th out of 148 countries — in the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2025. Pakistan's overall gender parity score also dropped from 57 per cent in 2024 to 56.7 per cent in 2025. These numbers showcase the inequalities faced by women in Pakistan regularly across economic participation and independence, social freedoms, political representation, education, health and personal agency and autonomy, a report has detailed.

"Statistics and lived experiences point toward inequalities, where violence against women is widespread. For women and young girls, navigating public spaces remains challenging even after decades of legislation, women’s rights activism, and work by several organisations, both domestic and international, like UN Women in Pakistan, Oxfam and so on. Yet, gender disparity, discussions of women’s rights and violence against women are among some of the most contentious subjects in Pakistan," Mariyam Suleman Anees, a Pakistan-based freelance writer, wrote in The Diplomat.

"Educational institutions, workplaces, markets, public transport, and even the home, which is often regarded as the safest place — none has spared women from violence. Earlier this month, a woman doctor on duty in a public hospital in Balochistan’s capital of Quetta was brutally attacked with acid by the hospital’s lift operator," wrote Anees.

Following the incident, protests erupted in several parts of Pakistan, demanding the safety of working women, a ban on the sale of acid and implementing anti-acid attack legislation. According to The Diplomat report, Pakistan has no official statistics about acid attacks. An estimated 200 cases of acid attacks are reported in Pakistan each year, though, like the majority of cases of violence against women, many such cases are not reported.

According to World Bank data, women only comprise 22 per cent of total labour force in Pakistan. Economic exclusion is a major hindrance and cases like the recent acid attack on a female doctor inside the hospital further discourage women from pursuing professional careers. In addition, such incidents create fear among families who want to invest in the education of their daughters despite social and economic challenges.

"The recent acid attack incident in Quetta is just one of the many cases that have restarted conversations about women’s safety in Pakistan. Here are a sampling of cases from June 2026 alone. A 17-year-old college student was kidnapped, raped, and abandoned at a hospital. A minor girl who was kidnapped three years ago, while an eighth-class student, was recovered from Karachi; she had been kept locked inside and gave birth during her captivity. An 18-year-old housemaid died in a hospital after allegedly being subjected to repeated rape by her employer’s son and his driver over the course of a year," stated Anees.

In March, a young woman from Rawalpindi was killed by her father and former husband after a jirga rejected her choice to remarry. It is one of the few cases that was reported in the news while thousands of such cases go unreported. Cases of sexual assault among minor girls have also been reported in Pakistan, one such case was of a five-year-old girl who was raped and burned to death.

On June 24, a three-year-old girl was found dead inside a sack near her home after being sexually assaulted and murdered in Quaidabad area of Malir district in Pakistan's Karachi, local media reported.

The victim, identified as 'K', went missing while playing outside her house. Her father said that the family searched for her in the neighbourhood after which they ultimately found her body in a sack at the street near their residence.

Police took the body of the girl to a hospital for medico-legal formalities. Police Surgeon Dr Summaiya confirmed that the girl was sexually assaulted and said that the exact cause of her death would be determined upon receipt of the chemical examination report, leading Pakistani daily 'The Express Tribune' reported.

Sindh's Home Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar ordered the police to use modern scientific methods to ensure the perpetrators are brought to book.

Police sources suggested that the sexual assault and murder likely happened near the victim's residence. A police personnel, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that the sack and the body's location indicate that the suspect is likely an individual who is familiar with the area, 'The Express Tribune' reported.

Authorities said that several suspects have been detained and blood samples along with other specimens are being collected to help determine the facts about the incident.

Source: IANS