Misogyny pandemic

LAST week, local and international media reported that the passing of a parliamentary bill to ban underage child marriages in Islamabad was a rare public relations victory for Pakistan. Yes, progressive legislation rarely gets implemented by a state apparatus that protects the patriarchal status quo. But symbolic victories matter, nonetheless.

Even before being signed into law, the bill was attacked by the religious right. In the aftermath of its passing, prominent clerics, including Maulana Fazlur Rahman...