he Sindhiyani Tehreek (Movement of Sindhi Women) was established on November 26, 1982, by women associated with the Awami Tehreek, a left-leaning political party founded by Rasool Bux Palijo, a distinguished leftist intellectual and political leader. The manifesto of the Sindhiyani Tehreek articulates its commitment to addressing the injustices and oppression faced by women in a patriarchal society.

The movement champions the advancement of women’s education, the assurance of equal employment opportunities and the guarantee of equal wages for women in Sindh. Moreover, the Sindhiyani Tehreek strives not only for the emancipation of women but also for the uplift of all marginalised communities in the class-based structure that has persisted in Pakistan since its inception.

One distinctive aspect of the Sindhiyani Tehreek that differentiates it from many other women’s organisations is that its leadership comprised of politically aware women from the lower classes in rural Sindh. Some of its leaders have been uneducated or had very little formal education. Although the organisation includes many literate and highly educated women, it has maintained its tradition of empowering both well educated and less educated women from villages and cities to lead in unison.

The ST has played a significant role in socio-political movements in Pakistan. For instance, during the Zia regime, while the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy was spearheaded by the Pakistan Peoples Party, the Awami Tehreek, along with its women’s wing, Sindhiyani Tehreek, transformed this movement into a public campaign. During this period, hundreds of women from various parts of Sindh, particularly Hyderabad, courted arrest. This act of defiance aimed to draw attention to the arrests, thereby generating momentum for the movement.

In 1979, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was executed by the martial law administration under Zia-ul Haq. That same year, Gen Zia introduced the Hudood Ordinance, a series of laws that incorporated shariah-referenced injunctions into Pakistan’s Penal Code. One of the most controversial aspects was the Zina Ordinance, which dealt with extra-marital sex. The ordinance was particularly detrimental to women, as it stripped them of legal protections against rape and sexual assault. Under the new law, a woman who had been sexually assaulted was required to provide four witnesses in court to prove that the assault occurred. If she could not produce witnesses, she could be accused of extra-marital sex face severe punishment, including rigorous imprisonment and stoning to death.

During the Zia regime, the MRD was spearheaded by the PPP. However, a progressive political party, the Awami Tehreek, and its women’s wing, Sindhiyani Tehreek, transformed this movement into a public campaign.

In 1982, when these laws were enforced to the detriment of women and non-Muslims throughout the country, the ST was established under a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist ideology as the women’s wing of Awami Tehreek. Prior to its formation, the Women Action Forum had emerged and effectively challenged Zia’s Hudood Ordinance, with notable contributions from women in Lahore. However, the WAF primarily focused on issues affecting women and consisted mainly of upper-class women from urban areas. In contrast, the ST directed its efforts towards rural Sindh, concentrating on the challenges faced by lower-class women while also remaining actively engaged in political affairs.

The ST condemned the practice of so-called honour killing, where women were unjustly labeled as kari and murdered in the name of honour. They also criticised the absurd and illegal custom of ‘marrying girls to the Quran,’ the tradition of wattasatta (exchange marriages) and various other forms of oppression against women, including domestic violence, the marriage of young women to older men, forced marriages and the denial of women’s rightful share in inheritance.

An intriguing debate has arisen regarding the ideological underpinnings of ST. As previously mentioned, it was established as a sister wing of the left-leaning Awami Tehreek. However, the key question remains: is ST a feminist movement? Interestingly, the leadership of ST maintains that it does not identify as a feminist movement, as they associate feminist thought with liberalism. Conversely, the Marxist-socialist feminism advocates for a system in which not only women are fully emancipated, but men and all marginalised groups are regarded as equals. This perspective aligns with the Marxist ideology of achieving a classless society.

The origins of Marxist feminism can be traced back to Friedrich Engels’s work, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, which outlines the emergence of patriarchy. The Marxist feminist movement gained significant traction in Canada during the 1960s and 1970s. A central slogan of the movement was, “No Socialism without Women’s Liberation! No Women’s Liberation without Socialism.”

The ST has actively resisted the status quo in its pursuit of a society free from class, gender and ethnic oppression, where everyone is regarded as equal in both law and practice. This embodies a Marxist feminist approach. I believe that if the ST identifies itself as a feminist movement, it can effectively align itself with women’s movements around the world. It has already challenged societal norms by, for the first time, having the women of the organisation carry the body of Rasool Bux Palijo, the founder of Awami Tehreek, to the graveyard. While this drew criticism from some right-wing groups, it was widely appreciated across the province.

The writer is an assistant professor and chairman of the Department of History and Pakistan at Aror University of Art, Architecture, Design and Heritage, Sukkur. He can be reached at qasim_shu2016@yahoo.com