Her Kashmir

8216;8216;You might find a male doctor in branches like gynaecology, but forensics and microbiology are run completely by women,8217;8217; says Dr Reshi. 8216;8216;Over the past decade, Kashmiri women have outclassed the men in education.8217;8217;

What she doesn8217;t say: If the men got embroiled in violence, women looked at other ways to get ahead.

Smooth Passage
EVEN the experts agree. While the strife of the past one-and-a-half decades has affected every aspect of life in the Valley, few areas can boast of as positive a impact as women8217;s education. 8216;8216;Infrastructure development may have gone for a toss, but statistics indicate education8212;more so, women8217;s education8212;has benefited,8217;8217; says Bashir Ahmad Dabla, head of the department of sociology at the University of Kashmir.

According to the latest statistics compiled by the state education department, about 30,000 girls cleared their class XI and XII exams in the Valley in 2005; 16,000 of them went on to enroll in bachelor8217;s courses.

College enrollment in the Valley, in fact, is said to be one of the highest in the country. 8216;8216;The drop-out rate after class XII is one of the lowest in the country, so it follows college enrollment is very high,8217;8217; says A G Madhosh, former dean of education, University of Kashmir.

Tradition Upheld
AT the Government Medical College GMC, one of the only two medical colleges in the Valley, flowing dupattas held in place by stethoscopes are more common than mustachioed countenances. It has been like this almost since the early 1960s, when the college was set up.

8216;8216;A couple of generations ago, women opted either for teaching or for medicine as careers. While there are plenty of women-only colleges, GMC is the only co-ed college that was considered a 8216;safe8217; place for women to study,8217;8217; says Dabla.

A big boost to the number of women in medicine was undoubtedly the 1989 decision to set aside 50 per cent of entrance-level seats for women at GMC; Jhelum Valley Medical College, set up in the late-1980s, also follows the same reservation model.

8216;8216;Maybe it8217;s because women attend classes more regularly than men or maybe it8217;s because as a group we8217;re more attractive, but you8217;ll always notice more girls than boys on the campus,8217;8217; says Shazia Rehman name changed, a student in her pre-final year at GMC.

Nor is it just their vivacity that makes them stand out. In 2004, two of the three toppers in the final MBBS were women; in 2003, all the toppers were women. 8216;8216;Girls outperform boys every year,8217;8217; says Dr Zaffar Abbas Khatib, lecturer of pharmacology at GMC and associate editor of the college magazine Kashmed.

The faculty reflects this: nearly 40 per cent of it is women; they also head the prestigious departments of anatomy, forensic medicine, gynaecology, microbiology and physiology.

The diversification is a byproduct of the reservation policy. According to Rehman, the women8217;s quota was basically aimed at producing qualified gynaecologists; nowadays, though, women prefer cardiology and surgery.

The alumni have already shown the way: Among them are Dr Arifa Khan, one of the most eminent radiologists in the US, Dr Mehmooda Khan, a leading surgeon and sundry graduates scattered all over the world. 8216;8216;The alumni have done us proud in both the Middle-East as well as the US-UK,8217;8217; says Dr Khatib.

Support System
THOSE working in the state are equally content. For 15 years of her medical career, Dr Reshi has been balancing home and work perfectly. Married to an engineer and the mother of two teenage boys, she says her work has helped her grow as a person.

8216;8216;I married very young, while I was still doing my MBBS. I managed my home, did my post-graduation even after motherhood. The passion for what I am do kept me going,8217;8217; she says. 8216;8216;Family support is important but in Kashmir8212;and more so in Srinagar8212;working women are the norm rather than the exception, so we always have the family to fall back on.8217;8217;

The reverse is also true. 8216;8216;While in other Muslim societies, working women are looked down upon, here marriage becomes difficult if a girl is not well-educated and employed,8217;8217; says Dr Naseema Firdous, associate professor in gynaecology and obstetrics. 8216;8216;Kashmiri women have always preferred to be financially independent.8217;8217;

Though many liberties may have been fiercely curtailed in the Valley in the past decade-and-a-half, women8217;s rights have largely remained outside the ambit of conflict. 8216;8216;Part of the reason is that Kashmiri women are well-grounded in local cultural and social mores,8217;8217; says Dr Tasleema Chisti, professor of gynaecology. And any attempt to restrict those freedoms would invite a backlash.

8216;8216;In most families today, women have been educated for three-four generations. When we joined medical college, there were just five girls in the MBBS course. But our parents, while not very educated, were very liberal,8217;8217; says Dr Firdous.

That attitude has percolated down to widespread respect for the woman doctor across Kashmiri society. 8216;8216;In the 30 years of my career, I have never faced any discrimination,8217;8217; says Dr Chisti.

Uncertain Everyday
THERE is, however, a flip side to working in the Valley. Uncertainties are a part of everyday life, but perhaps nowhere more than in Srinagar.

8216;8216;The most difficult part is the early phase of your career, when you8217;re posted in the hospital wards,8217;8217; says resident doctor Ruksana name changed. 8216;8216;I remember one night a few years ago. It was late November, the delivery room was completely quiet. The senior doctor had just wrapped the 7.5 pound new-born girl in a pink-and-blue cotton blanket, pulled a matching cap over her brown hair and gently passed her to her mother when we heard a commotion outside. Rushing outside, we saw young men and women bathed in blood being wheeled into the operation theatres and the ICU.

8216;8216;Within seconds of relishing the joy of a perfect birth, I was fighting to save the life of a 20-year-old. I watched as the doctors struggled to get IV lines into his collapsing veins, injected him with drugs and took turns doing manual compressions on his chest. All I could do was comfort the youth8217;s mother, who was trying to break through the web of IV machines to just reach her son.8217;8217;

But then, life8212;and, inevitably, death8212;up close and compressed is one of the principal reasons why the best brains study medicine. At the most crucial moment in a trauma centre, gender is hardly an issue. Even in Srinagar, where, increasingly, the caregivers are women. And the recipients, men.

The other Muslim

A little help from the state, a lot of support from tradition. That8217;s the way the Kashmiri woman makes it big

TOUFIQ RASHID

ALMOST six decades after independence, Muslim women across the country report the lowest notches on the socio-economic indices. They comprise the most disadvantaged, least literate, economically impoverished, politically marginalised sections of Indian society.

Kashmir could be in another world. While the 2001 census shows a decline in school enrollment for girls in most Muslim societies, Kashmir reports a steady rise in female literacy over 20 years8212;seemingly oblivious to the fact that at least 15 of those were of turmoil.

Though nationally, the state still risks being labelled educationally backward8212;the literacy rate according to the 2001 census is 54.46 per cent and 42 per cent for women8212;but the change is visible in all parameters, especially so in the field of female literacy: Just two decades ago, the figure was 19.55 per cent.

In the urban areas, the female literacy rate stands at 62.22 per cent, much above the national average of 54. The rural areas do a respectable 35 per cent. 8216;8216;Kupwara district reported 5 per cent female literacy in 1981. It rose to 29 per cent in 2001,8217;8217; points out Mohammad Yusuf Bhat, deputy director, planning, department of school education. 8216;8216;Kargil district jumped from three per cent female literacy to 42 per cent in two decades.8217;8217;

According to official data, the school enrollment ratio of girls to boys is a respectable 52:47. Drop-out rates after Class VIII, too, have dropped from 40 per cent a decade ago to 20 per cent.

The reason, say officials, is that there8217;s a school within a kilometer of every residential locality. In the eight districts of Kashmir, including Kargil and Leh, the government has established 8,394 schools so far and plans to set up more.

8216;8216;Funds under the innovative activities component for girls8217; education will be spent in the uncovered areas by conducting remedial teaching,8217;8217; says Bhat. The government is also planning to conduct awareness campaigns, including gender sensitisation modules, among the community.

At the college level, enrollments for women are encouraging: In 2005, out of the total 45,000 students who took admission in college, 19,000 were women. 8216;8216;About 6,000 girls have enrolled in various undergraduate courses in the Government College for Women in the heart of the city in the Lal Chowk area,8217;8217; says N D Wani, director, college education.

The state administration, however, isn8217;t too happy with the school enrollment figures. But the 52:47 ratio doesn8217;t reflect the fact that the first girls8217; school to be established in the state8212;in the Fateh Kadal area of Srinagar8212;was a Christian missionary institution dating to 1912. A women8217;s wing at the college level was established as late as 1951; by 1940, less than 50 women were on the rolls. In 1947, only six Muslim girls were studying in the college.

Women8217;s education became a movement because of educationists like Miss Mehmooda, Begum Qadri and the burqa-clad Begum Zafar Ali. The fight for women8217;s rights in the Valley attained a new height with the opening of the first women8217;s college in Lal Chowk in August 1950. The mass education movement has gained momentum since than.

While Muslim women in India are yet to constitute an undifferentiated, homogenous category, Muslim women in Kashmir have moved way ahead of their contemporaries. 8216;8216;There8217;s a perception that the Indian Muslim women8217;s social status is decided by certain class factors. The reinforcement of certain stereotypes makes them culturally separate. Kashmiri women have been treated very differently in this regard,8217;8217; says Bashir Ahmad Dabla, head of the department of sociology, University of Kashmir.

8216;8216;Kashmiris have always wanted their daughters to be better educated as there is hardly any gender discrimination in the society. The misconceptions and misrepresentations of Islam are not prevalent here. As a whole, local society is aware of the respect Islam gives to women,8217;8217; says Dabla.

A UNICEF-aided study conducted by the department in 1996 backs up this theory, showing that the majority of Kashmiris consider educating women necessary. 8216;8216;It also revealed that the traditional idea that women should not work outside their homes has faded away,8217;8217; says Dabla.

By extension, says the professor, women enjoyed respect in society as well as at home, with the burden of domestic decision-making shared equally by men and women.

Interestingly, the study also showed Kashmiri Muslims tread a distinct path so far as polygamy or talaq were considered. 8216;8216;We found 0.01 per cent of the male population in Kashmir had two wives. Talaq is regarded as the most undesirable act in Islam, so divorce rates are very low,8217;8217; says Dabla.

8216;8216;Even marriage patterns are different. Here the groom8217;s family doesn8217;t demand dowry, the bride8217;s family gives what they want of their own free will.8217;8217;

Another indication of the intrinsically emancipated society comes from the virtual absence of purdah. In the early 20th century, the practice was confined to upper classes like the Sayeds and Afghans Khans. The professional groups8212;the Kandars bakers, Dandars farmers, Gor milkman, Dhob washermen, Hanji fishermen8212;did not observe purdah as their economic activities encouraged mixing of sexes.

8216;8216;It is only now that purdah has been adopted by the lower and the middle-classes. Militancy has given it momentum,8217;8217; says Dabla.

8216;8216;Generally speaking, Kashmir is a liberal society which respects its women. The increase in literacy among females in the state is re-establishing the fact that Kashmiri society doesn8217;t discriminate on the basis of sex,8217;8217; he says.

According to the professor, the freedom of the Kashmiri Muslim woman could well inspire Muslim women elsewhere in India to participate in the contemporary debate on Islam and women8217;s rights. 8216;8216;It is imperative for Indian Muslim women to reclaim their right to religious knowledge, enter the discourse on the Shari8217;a and challenge their historic marginalisation on the basis of discriminatory interpretations of their religion,8217;8217; he adds.