Imprisoning Under The Garb of Protection: A Case of Girls Hostels in Pakistan
By: Bushra Mahnoor
Date: 06/02/2022
Three years ago, I first crossed the threshold of Girls Hostel 5 at Punjab University. I saw a giant board displayed at the entrance, screaming ‘female students are not allowed to leave the hostel premises after 6 pm’. That was the day I was introduced to sexist hostel curfews. The curfew is not imposed in any of the boys’ hostels. The constitution of my country tells me that no one can be discriminated against on the basis of their gender. And yet there I was, thinking there is no escape from sexism for women.
The concept of locking up girls in hostels in the garb of protection is not limited to my university only. All over the country, there is a certain time limit after which girls are not allowed to leave hostels, yet boys can come and go whenever they please. In this country, it is thought that I am mature enough to vote in an election, but I am still too young and ‘feminine’ to be allowed to leave the hostel on my own even if it is an emergency.
Every day the library in my university shuts down at 9 pm (which is a problem that needs to be addressed separately), but the female students are not allowed to stay in the library after 6 pm. Each day, three hours of productive study time is snatched away from us just because we are women while male students sit in the library and study. It is unfair that the educational institutions – which are supposed to provide all students with equal opportunities to learn – are, in fact, hubs of gender-based discrimination. How can women be expected to produce the same level of academic excellence when they are denied over one thousand hours of education a year as compared to their male counterparts.
Hostel curfews are not put in place to protect women rather to control them via restricting their mobility. Implementation of hostel curfews is nothing but an extension of rape myths. These myths hold that sexual assault happens only if you are at the wrong place, at the wrong time. Locking up women does not make them safe. The only thing that can make them safe is holding the perpetrators accountable. Lack of harassment committees on campuses is living proof of this lie that administration could be concerned about the safety of their students. Curfews in women’s hostels are responsible for enabling the systematic exclusion of women from the public sphere. Thus, women are rarely seen working night shifts.
Every day the library in my university shuts down at 9 pm (which is a problem that needs to be addressed separately), but the female students are not allowed to stay in the library after 6 pm. Each day, three hours of productive study time is snatched away from us just because we are women while male students sit in the library and study. It is unfair that the educational institutions – which are supposed to provide all students with equal opportunities to learn – are, in fact, hubs of gender-based discrimination. How can women be expected to produce the same level of academic excellence when they are denied over one thousand hours of education a year as compared to their male counterparts.
Hostel curfews are not put in place to protect women rather to control them via restricting their mobility. Implementation of hostel curfews is nothing but an extension of rape myths. These myths hold that sexual assault happens only if you are at the wrong place, at the wrong time. Locking up women does not make them safe. The only thing that can make them safe is holding the perpetrators accountable. Lack of harassment committees on campuses is living proof of this lie that administration could be concerned about the safety of their students. Curfews in women’s hostels are responsible for enabling the systematic exclusion of women from the public sphere. Thus, women are rarely seen working night shifts.
