THE Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act, 2010, was an important response to problems that directly affect women. It enabled the ombudsman to hear cases, many of which were resolved in women’s favour. A recent judgement has now eliminated an avenue that many women used to report harassment. The Federal Constitutional Court’s ruling, which narrows the interpretation of harassment, is a setback for women’s space in public life.

Unfortunately, it appears to show that a major state institution is prepared to restrict rather than expand women’s safety at work. From birth to death, women and girls in Pakistan face limits on where they can go freely, where they may go only under certain conditions, and where they cannot go at all. Visitors to Pakistan often notice their limited visibility as one of the first features of public life. This absence should not be dismissed as cultural; it largely reflects structural factors.

Restrictions on mobility — driven mainly by concerns about safety — help explain poor educational outcomes for girls, physical inactivity during adolescence, and their alarmingly low participation in the labour force as adults. The lack of safety outside the home is among the most frequently cited reasons for not sending girls to school, alongside poverty and families’ inability to afford schooling. The problem is intensified by the limited availability of girls’ schools in many parts of Pakistan.

Undoubtedly, the shortage of schools and female teachers, together with poor learning quality, creates major barriers. Millions of girls live in districts where the nearest public school is........

© Dawn