The Role of the Judiciary in Protecting Women's Rights in Pakistan

Abstract

This article examines the role of Pakistan’s judiciary in protecting women’s rights within a complex legal landscape shaped by Islamic law, constitutional norms, colonial legacies, and international human rights obligations. Following Pakistan’s ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1996, courts have increasingly been called upon to reconcile domestic legal frameworks with evolving standards of gender equality. Focusing primarily on family law, where women’s legal vulnerability is most pronounced, the article undertakes a detailed doctrinal analysis of judicial decisions concerning marriage, consent, maintenance, divorce, inheritance, and polygamy. It critically evaluates how superior courts have interpreted statutory law and Shariah principles to advance, limit, or condition women’s rights. Particular attention is paid to the judiciary’s selective engagement with CEDAW within Pakistan’s dualist legal system and the emergence of what the authors conceptualize as a “women protection principle” in judicial reasoning. While judicial activism has, in several instances, mitigated discriminatory practices and expanded women’s legal agency, this article argues that such progress remains uneven, discretionary, and structurally constrained. This research article concludes that sustainable protection of women’s rights in Pakistan requires meaningful legislative reform and institutional cooperation, as judicial interpretation alone cannot substitute for comprehensive legal transformation in line with constitutional guarantees and international human rights standards.