Pak’s 1st Hindu woman DSP vows to fight patriarchy

Karachi, July 29

Beating all odds and rising to become Pakistan’s first Hindu woman Deputy Superintendent of Police, Manisha Ropeta is thrilled to have “proven wrong” her relatives and is looking forward to take on new challenges: to be a “women protector” by leading a feminism drive and encourage gender equality in a patriarchal society.

Society hostile towards women

Women are the most oppressed and the target of many crimes in our society and I joined the police because I feel we need a ‘women protector’ in our society. Manisha Ropeta, DSP

Ropeta, 26, who is from Jacobabad in interior Sindh province, believes women are the target of many crimes and are the “most oppressed” people in male-dominated Pakistan.

Ropeta cleared the Sindh Public Service Commission examination last year. She ranked 16th on a merit list of 152 successful candidates. She is undergoing training and will be posted as the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) in the crime-infested area of Lyari.

“Since childhood, my sisters and I have seen the same old system of patriarchy where girls are told if they want to get educated and work, it can only be as teachers or doctors,” she said.

Belonging to a middle-class family, Ropeta says she wants to end the notion that girls from good families should refrain from joining the police service or working in district courts.

“Women are the most oppressed and the target of many crimes in our society and I joined the police because I feel we need a ‘women protector’ in our society,” she said.

Physical and sexual violence, honour killings and forced marriages make Pakistan one of the worst countries for women. The ‘Global Gender Gap Index’ of the World Economic Forum, had ranked Pakistan third from the bottom a couple of years ago. Pakistan was ranked 151 out of 153 countries.

Ropeta feels her working as a senior police officer will empower women and give them authority.