Driving Change in Aceh and Kashmir

Q: What do you get when five human rights activists from Pakistan travel to the tsunami-ravaged regions of Indonesia?

A: Constant comparisons between the social-cultural and legal barriers women face in each country, and a lot of laughter!

UUSC is hosting five members from its Pakistan partner organization, Bedari, for eight days in Indonesia to visit UUSC’s partner organizations there that are focusing on protecting women’s rights, particularly their inheritance rights, after disaster.

Aceh is rebuilding after the December 2004 tsunami, and Pakistan is rebuilding after the October 2005 earthquake, and both places share similar cultural and legal characteristics. Both places are also majority Muslim and Sharia (Muslim) law deeply influences customary and legal practice. And in both places, women – especially widows – encounter a variety of similar obstacles to recovering from disaster and protecting themselves and their families from becoming poorer.

So there are a lot of comparisons to be made.

But the thing that has surprised the people from Pakistan most is that so many women in Aceh drive motorbikes! Women in Pakistan don’t – it’s culturally unacceptable. But here in Aceh, the Pakistani women have ridden with some of their new-found female friends, laughing the whole way.

Another surprise has been the ease with which Acehnese women talk about their concerns and challenges. For example, domestic abuse and rape are common themes of conversation when we meet with communities here. These issues also concern the Pakistanis – but it’s much harder to talk about them in Pakistan. This can mean that it’s much harder to make changes that will decrease such violence against women. It's a grave topic, but there have been plenty of opportunities for giggles and jokes that were shared despite double and triple language barriers!

Interestingly, the Pakistani group has also noticed that human rights activism in Pakistan is stronger and better-coordinated than in Aceh. This, the Pakistanis think, can help their work on promoting and protecting women’s land-inheritance rights in post-earthquake Pakistan. Bedari is already planning to reach out to more lawyers, students, and religious and community leaders in Kashmir to reinforce Bedari’s work.

And who knows, maybe Bedari's efforts to drive change for the better in Kashmir will soon include motorbikes and women driving them!