74 % of Pak minority women faced sexual harassment: Report

Almost three-quarters of women from Pakistan's minority communities have faced sexual harassment while 43% complained of religious discrimination at workplaces, educational institutions and neighbourhoods, according to a new report.

The report, prepared by the National Commission for Justice and Peace, states that about 74% of the women faced sexual harassment.

"Some 27% minority women (Christians and Hindus) faced discrimination in admissions to educational institutions and were forced to take Islamic studies in the absence of any alternative subject," NCJP executive director Peter Jacob said.

The report came following a survey in 26 districts of Punjab and Sindh, the two provinces where 95% of the minorities live.

Jacob said the study looked into the social, political and economic conditions of the minority women with the help of a baseline survey.

"As many as 1,000 Hindu and Christian women were interviewed. The two communities form 92% of the entire minority population in Pakistan," he said.

The study reviewed literature available on minority women.

Issues such as legal disparity, review of personal laws for minorities, religious and gender biases, forced conversions, lack of policy focus and segregated data were part of this study that focussed on everyday life of the minority women, Jacob said.

The survey revealed that only 47% of minority women were educated, lower than the national average of 57 per cent, and far behind urban literacy among women, which was above 65%.

The data showed a higher infant mortality rate among minorities than the national ratio.