Women’s Rights in Pakistan as a Public Security Challenge: Constitutional Guarantees, Implementation Gaps and Institutional Capacity

This article analyses the protection and practical enforcement of women’s rights in Pakistan as a challenge to public security. Its main argument is that the difficulties cannot be reduced to a mere lack of formal law. Pakistan’s constitutional framework recognises equality before the law, prohibits discrimination on the grounds of sex, and ensures women’s full participation in national life. The state has also adopted sector-specific legislation on sexual violence, workplace harassment, honour-related crimes and institutional supervision. Nevertheless, official and publicly available evidence points to a persistent gap between legal guarantees and the protection of life. This gap is visible in gender-based violence, under-reporting, uneven access to justice, limited institutional capacity, provincial disparities, weak implementation of protective procedures and insufficiently integrated data systems. Methodologically, the article combines legal-dogmatic analysis, institutional analysis and a public-management perspective. It draws on constitutional provisions, CEDAW documentation, federal and provincial legal instruments, the National Commission on the Status of Women Act 2012, UNFPA data, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan reporting and recent comparative evidence on the global divide between women’s legal rights and enforcement. The article proposes an institutional capacity model in which women’s rights are treated not merely as declarations of constitutional equality, but as enforceable public-security obligations requiring coordination, resources, trained personnel, evidence-sensitive procedures, reliable data and accountability. The conclusion is that durable protection depends on the state’s ability to convert rights into administrative performance and safe institutional pathways for women.