Ali, A., and Shah, N. A. (2011). Women Prisoners In Pakistan: Changing Practices To Enforce Laws & Rights. Kuwait Chapter of Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review. 1(4). 57-63.

In Pakistan, rates of female imprisonment have increased significantly over the recent decades. Ali and Shah identify the Hudood Ordinances as one of the major reasons for the increase. They cite that a report by National Commission on the Status of Women states that 80% of female prisoners are locked up because they cannot disprove rape charges and have subsequently been convicted of adultery. (They did not provide which year the report was released.) Furthermore, 80% of them are raped in police custody.

Ali and Shah note that only 10% of the judges in the country are female. They argue that people (including judges) carry the cultural prejudices of their society. Having predominantly male judges reflects the patriarchal norms that work against women. The lack of representation of women in the judicial system is troubling. I want to find out the percentage of female judges in lower and higher courts and see whether more restrictive laws are applied to rape charges in the lower or higher levels of judiciary. This will enable me to see if there is a higher correlation between male judges and restrictive laws issued.

Ali and Shah conducted a study at Youth Offenders and Special Prison for Women, a jail founded in 1993 in Peer Ilahi Bakhash Colony, Jamshed Town. After surveying 200 women prisoners under the jail staff’s supervision, they concluded the following: