Jasmin Mirza, Between Chaddar and the Market: Female Office Workers in Lahore (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2002), pp.266. Rs. 395/--.
There have been at least two important studies about women in Lahore. Anita Weiss’s, Walls Within Walls (1992 and reprinted by OUP in 2002) uses the case study method to find out how, and how much, women working mostly at home in the Old City of Lahore contribute to the family income. Then Fouzia Saeed studied the lives of prostitutes, now called sex workers, of the same section of the city (see Taboo, OUP, 2001). And now Jasmin Mirza, a woman sociologist, has published a study of the female workers of Lahore. This is a useful addition to the studies we already have about womens’ work in Lahore and, by extension, other parts of Pakistan.
The author starts by observing that in the nineties of the last century a new phenomenon emerged in Pakistan. This was the employment of women in the office sector. What makes this significant for a sociologist is that Pakistani society, especially the lower-middle-class society, is highly gendered. The most salient feature of this society is female seclusion or gendered allocation of space. The Islamic principle of modesty as interpreted in Pakistan is manifested as purdah. This may be actual veiling---the wearing of a tentlike burqa---or the wearing of a chaddar (sheet) or a dopatta (scarf covering the upper body). It also translates into using different spaces by men and women so as not to be close together. It is part of the family’s honour (izzat) to ensure that its women are not seen, stared at, talked to or taken out by unrelated males (na mahram men). With these ideas of propriety, how did lower-middle-class women, and their families, cope with the fact that, because of economic exigencies, women had to seek jobs in the office---hitherto the domain of men? This is the central question addressed by the research.
The researcher starts (chapter 2) with a perceptive view of the relationship between purdah and other phenomena such as the obiquitous oggling of women by men in Pakistan. She says Pakistani society sees women primarily as ‘women’ i.e. as ‘females’. This emphasis on sex excludes other aspects of the womens’ lives and roles in society. It is because of this sexualization and the view that womens’ sexuality is tempestuous and tempting and hence must be controlled, which makes men resort to a virtual house arrest of their women folk to save their ‘honour’. Thus, the women who do venture out are seen as easy prey and, somehow, deserving to the oggled at and even harassed. Such social attitudes make it very difficult for women to leave home to venture into the world of men.
However, these problems are compounded in the lower-middle-classes. These classes are traditional and very conservative. They do not know how to negotiate with men while both upper-class and lower-class women do encounter men in their daily lives. Moreover their families use the concept of respectability (sharafat) to differentiate themselves from the lower-classes and this involves keeping the women innocent of any sexual or romantic contact with men. Outside home, in the world of men, it is very difficult for the families to protect their women and hence the brothers, who see themselves as guardians of their sisters, generally do not permit them to leave home.
Chapter 3 and 4 are about the urban labour market. In chapter 3 this market is described. In the next chapter the case studies of four women---a la Weiss---are related. However, Jasmin Mirza does not focus on the story so much as whether it exumplifies a type or not. She classifies women according to the reason, or major reason, which made them leave home to work. In chapter 5 she classifies employers making the insightful observation that the ‘westernized employer’---the person who does not care for the gender of the employee---is actually insensitive towards the lower-middle-class employees because he is alienated from Pakistani society. Some employers see them as possible victims of their lust---but such people are found in other societies too.
The book describes the various strategies used by women to overcome the resistance to the idea of their working outside home. It looks at the innumerable problems they face in commuting to work because Pakistani cities lack a good public transport system. Further, it looks at how these women negotiate space and how they deal with men colleagues and bosses. It reaches the interesting conclusion that purdah too is flexible. Women do not observe it in the same way in all situations either in the office or elsewhere. The author tells us that most women do not deviate from the values they learn at home. Contrary to stereotypes sometimes mentioned by people they do not date men or indulge in sexual affairs. Some, but very few, do go for such kind of behaviour but this is rare because such conduct is fraught with various risks.
The author concludes that Pakistani society is being transformed rapidly. One major factor which is transforming it is the entry of women in the work market. Gender relations that were previously seen as only sexual, or predominantly sexual, as now being seen without reference to sex. Women are creating new identities; identities not related to their sexuality or position in the family but one related to their work skills and earning capacity. To this there is reaction also and many people favour restricting womens’ mobility. The women, and their families, too are in a state of flux and confusion. They often seem unaware that their work has affected their identity and is in the process of altering gender relations in a revolutionary way in Pakistan.
The author has undertaken painstaking research but, surprisingly, she has not indicated clearly when she began and completed it (internal evidence suggest that she did most of her work in 1996-97). Moreover, though she could have carried out a survey by a questionnaire and through interviews, she has not done so. If she had we could have had some quantified data and that could have given us a basis of comparison with other studies elsewhere. She has, however, used the case study method and unstructured interviewing, as well as observation, very skilfully. Her theoretical insights and references to scholarly works related to her subject is useful and impressive. One the whole this is a very insightful book and one which should be read by sociologists and all those interested in Pakistan.