A Long Road Ahead: The Struggle for Gender Equality
Founded in 2000, Shakarganj Foundation was established with a clear mission: female empowerment in Pakistan’s underserved communities. The team sought to bridge gender disparities, particularly in rural areas where populations remain sparse, livelihoods depend heavily on agriculture, and opportunities for women are scarce.
For someone from a developed nation, be it the U.S., Canada, or Germany, understanding the complexities of driving social change in such regions can be challenging. When I took leadership of the foundation, I knew the road ahead would be difficult. Yet, I quickly realized there was no universal manual for running a grassroots social initiative. For months, I scoured books and research, hoping to find guidance on implementing programs in rural Punjab. Most available literature, however, focused on African case studies, not Pakistan. Eventually, I set aside my search for a perfect blueprint and committed to learning through action, determined to make a tangible difference on the ground.
The Stark Realities of Gender Inequality in Pakistan
Pakistan is a nation of immense beauty and potential, but deep-rooted gender inequalities persist across its society of 250 million people. These disparities manifest in education, healthcare, economic opportunities, and entrenched social norms.
In rural Punjab, I have seen firsthand how girls are often denied education, forced into child labor, or pushed into early marriages. Financial hardships lead families to prioritize sons’ schooling, driven by the flawed belief that boys will someday support the household, while girls will marry and leave.
Healthcare access is another critical issue. Women in these regions lack reproductive health resources, proper nutrition, and maternal care, endangering both mothers and children. Cultural conservatism further strips them of autonomy over their own health decisions.
Without quality education, women remain trapped in cycles of dependency, lacking the skills for gainful employment or entrepreneurship. Social norms reinforce these barriers, confining women to domestic roles while men control resources like land and credit.
A Moment of Clarity: Lessons from Melinda Gates’ Memoir
In 2022, I stumbled upon an article about The Moment of Lift, a memoir by Melinda French Gates. Though I did not read it until recently, its insights answered many of the questions I had carried since taking charge of the foundation. While much of the book details her work in impoverished African nations, I recognized the same struggles I had faced in Pakistan.
Gates writes about workshops for social change, empowering women through healthcare, economic self-sufficiency via education, and rebalancing marital responsibilities, issues universal across socioeconomic divides. But one lesson stood out: Lasting change begins with dialogue, not demands. When people feel attacked, they cling tighter to tradition, mistaking progress for erasure. The key? Engaging community elders first, letting them champion the message.
A Village Chief’s Awakening: Nearsightedness of the Heart
One passage struck me deeply. In Senegal, Gates met a village chief who had once allowed child marriage, viewing girls as commodities. His transformation was profound: “We used to take money for our girls—like buying and selling. Men said, ‘This is how it is,’ but we didn’t understand. Marriage should bring happiness. If a woman refuses, it fails. Now, there’s no forcing—no child marriage. These things never aligned with our true beliefs. Before, we were nearsighted. Nearsightedness of the eyes is bad, but not nearly as bad as nearsightedness of the heart.”
Senegal’s progress validates his words: Child marriage rates there dropped from 33% in 2010 to 22% in 2021, thanks to grassroots education and advocacy (UNICEF, 2023). Yet the fight continues, 1 in 5 Senegalese girls still marries before 18.
That final line lingered. How often do we resist change simply because “it’s always been this way”? Before computers, we wrote letters. Had Bill Gates accepted that norm, Microsoft would not exist. Progress demands defiance of inertia and without it, humanity’s future dims.
Progress Amid Challenges
At Shakarganj Foundation, we wake each morning with a singular purpose: to rewrite the future for Pakistan’s women and girls. Ours is not a distant mission but a daily commitment in every village we enter, every woman we empower, every opportunity we create. We work where progress is measured not in headlines but in quiet revolutions: a girl attending school instead of working fields, a mother opening her first bank account, a community collectively rejecting child marriage.
This is how real change takes root, not through sweeping declarations, but through the accumulated power of countless individual transformations. We recognize that equality cannot be gifted, it must be built, brick by brick, across generations. The road is long, but we walk it with unwavering determination, hand in hand with the women and communities we serve.
Together, we are more than participants in the equal rights movement, we are architects of a new Pakistan where daughters inherit the same dreams as sons, where women’s potential is limited only by the sky above, not by the ground beneath their feet. This future is not only possible, with every life we touch, it becomes inevitable.
