Between Tradition and Equality

Credit By: DR DEEBA ANZAR

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• 05 May 2026

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Kashmiri women continue to advance despite social expectations that praise ambition only when it does not challenge patriarchy

In Kashmir, gender inequality is not merely a women’s issue; it is a social reality that shapes families, workplaces, institutions and the larger moral character of society. It is visible in the silence imposed on girls, in the limited choices available to women, in unequal access to education and employment, and in the everyday normalization of discrimination. While Kashmir takes pride in its culture, resilience and intellectual traditions, it must also confront an uncomfortable truth: no society can claim dignity or progress while half its population continues to negotiate rights that should have been guaranteed long ago.

The conversation around women’s empowerment in Kashmir has certainly grown in recent years. More girls are entering schools and universities, more women are appearing in public service, journalism, entrepreneurship, medicine and academia, and more families now speak openly about the importance of educating daughters. Yet these visible advances should not mislead us into believing that equality has been achieved. Beneath these encouraging signs lies a more stubborn reality—women are still expected to succeed without disturbing patriarchal comfort. They are applauded for achievement, but often only within limits defined by tradition, control and social approval.

For many Kashmiri women, inequality begins not in institutions but at home. Sons and daughters may grow up under the same roof, but they often inherit very different expectations. Boys are prepared for autonomy; girls are prepared for adjustment. A boy’s ambition is nurtured, while a girl’s ambition is weighed against marriage, family honour and public perception. Even when parents invest in a daughter’s education, that investment is too often seen not as recognition of her independent future, but as an enhancement of her social value in marriage. In such a framework, education becomes ornamental rather than emancipatory.

The workplace, too, reflects these contradictions. Women in Kashmir have shown remarkable ability across professions, often performing under immense social and domestic pressure. Yet participation in the workforce remains burdened by concerns about safety, mobility, wage disparity, lack of childcare support and the constant expectation that domestic responsibilities remain exclusively theirs. A working woman is still frequently judged not by her competence but by how effectively she balances professional success with traditional obedience. Men, meanwhile, are rarely asked to make similar emotional or social accommodations. This unequal distribution of freedom and duty lies at the heart of gender injustice.

There is also a deeper cultural issue that demands urgent reflection: the tendency to confuse protection with control. In the name of safety, women’s mobility is restricted; in the name of honour, their choices are monitored; in the name of tradition, their voices are softened. This language of concern often conceals structures of authority. A society that truly respects women does not merely protect them—it trusts them, listens to them and grants them agency. Without agency, every promise of empowerment remains incomplete.

In Kashmir’s social landscape, gender inequality is further complicated by conflict, economic uncertainty and conservative social pressures. Women often bear the heaviest consequences of these overlapping burdens while receiving the least recognition. They hold families together in times of grief and instability, yet remain underrepresented in decision-making spaces where policies affecting their lives are shaped. Their labour—whether domestic, emotional, agricultural or professional—continues to be undervalued because much of it is either unpaid or socially taken for granted.

The media, religious discourse, educational institutions and community leadership all have a role in either reinforcing or challenging these inequalities. If public platforms continue to celebrate women only as symbols of sacrifice, modesty and endurance, then society will remain trapped in an outdated imagination of womanhood. Kashmiri women are not merely bearers of culture; they are thinkers, earners, leaders, creators and citizens. Their identity cannot be reduced to duty alone.

What Kashmir needs today is not a token celebration of women’s success, but a sustained commitment to gender justice. This means ensuring equal educational opportunity, safer and more inclusive workplaces, stronger legal awareness, zero tolerance for domestic violence, better representation in governance, and a serious rethinking of how boys are socialised. Gender equality cannot be achieved by instructing women to be stronger while allowing systems of discrimination to remain intact. It requires men, institutions and communities to change.

The future of Kashmir will not be shaped only by infrastructure, elections or economic schemes. It will also be shaped by what kind of everyday justice it offers to its women. A society that limits women limits itself. A society that frees women expands its own moral and intellectual horizon.

Kashmir has long spoken of dignity, identity and justice. It is time to apply those values within the home, the school, the office and the street. Gender equality is not an imported slogan, nor a fashionable urban concern. It is a civilizational necessity. And if Kashmir truly seeks a future marked by peace, progress and self-respect, it must begin by ensuring that its women are not simply included in that future, but empowered to define it.

(Author is PhD in Sociology and a columnist)