I've traveled the world as a writer
and an activist for my entire life.
What we are talking about is a revolution.
We are the women that our parents warned us about.
And I can tell you that by confronting the problems
once marginalized as women's issues,
we can tackle the greatest dangers
of the 21st Century.
Pakistan
Behind every major crisis,
there's an unseen factor at play,
a story you've never been told.
The greatest indicator of the world's stability,
wealth, and safety is the status of women.
Whenever religious fundamentalist groups
come into political power,
the equality of women is threatened.
In Pakistan, the Taliban has controlled wide swaths
of tribal land for decades.
They use violence and terror to assert male dominance
over women in ways that permeate every facet of society.
We traveled along the border
with Afghanistan to learn how this religious tide
is affecting the lives of millions of women.
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Grand Karachi, my hometown,
which is the largest city of Pakistan,
has a population of over 20 million.
Um, it's also possibly
the most liberal city of the country.
Yet as a Pakistani woman, over the last decade or so,
I've noticed a huge cultural shift
after the rise of the Taliban
that oppresses and marginalizes women.
But it hasn't always been like this.
Our constitution ensures
that women have equal rights to men
and outlaws gender discrimination.
All we are interested in is peace and stability.
In 1988, we even elected Benazir Bhutto
to be the first female leader of Muslim Nation.
But the tribal areas that stretch along Pakistan's
1,500-mile border with Afghanistan
have become a hotbed of extremism
that threatens all of Pakistan.
We're traveling to the borderlands now
to see how this violence started
and how women are suffering and fighting against it.
In the mid-1990s,
the Taliban seized power in neighboring Afghanistan.
When U.S.-led coalition forces toppled the regime after 9/11,
the Taliban moved across the border
into Pakistan's semiautonomous FATA,
or Federally Administered Tribal Area.
The mountainous region is largely governed
by traditional tribal law
and already sheltered other extremist groups.
Because of ongoing military operations aimed
at eradicating the militants in FATA,
thousands of civilians from this region
have been pushed into refugee camps like this one.
Even though some of the women have agreed to speak to us,
where the men haven't let the women leave their homes.
Right now, we're just trying to get access.
Despite the risk,
we found a woman willing to speak to us
while her husband was away.
We've been trying to get stories from women over here.
And we found it very difficult.
Women don't want to come forward
and talk to us because they're scared.
What are they scared of?
How did life for women change
after the Taliban took over your area?
Okay.
And we had to cut the interview short
because, the woman who was speaking with us
hadn't told her husband
that she's going to be giving an interview.
Um, and it was almost time for her husband to come home.
She was really scared. So we obviously had to wrap up.
Speaking to us without the permission of her husband
puts this woman at risk
because the vast majority of these refugees
adhere to a cultural and semireligious practice
called purdah.
Purdah literally means "curtain" or "covering."
But the practice also dictates how a woman behaves in society.
In its most liberal from,
purdah simply implies a loose covering
for women in public.
But in this ultraconservative region
under the influence of the Taliban,
women must wear what's known as a full shuttlecock burqa.
They have limited interaction with the world
outside of their home
and can't leave it without the permission
of a male family member.
Lawyer and human-rights activist Rukhshanda Naz
explains how subjugating women is actually a terror tactic
used by militant extremists to maintain power.
By restricting and persecuting women,
militant extremists have created a culture of fear
that destabilizes communities
and makes them easier to control.
It's hard to understand why it's so important to men
that women remain covered and secluded.
I'm in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province
at a community center for displaced people.
Here, I meet two men from North Waziristan,
a Taliban stronghold where purdah is strictly enforced.
Throughout the borderlands,
militant Islamists turn their extreme interpretation
of the Quran into laws that subjugate women.
But even in this region, there are places
where women are pushing the limits imposed on them.
Rukhsana Jabeen is the Vice Chancellor
of Sardar Bahadur Khan University,
where women from even the most conservative families
can get an education.
Located in Quetta,
capital of the volatile Balochistan province,
it's one of the few places
where women are free to shed their purdah.
But in 2013, the safety of the university was violated
when a bus filled with university students
was bombed by a militant extremist group
targeting girls from a minority sect.
For these women, just pursuing an education
comes with great risks.
They know that the reason they've been targeted is
because an educated woman is a threat
to the existing power structure.
But they refuse to become victims of this violence.
They've taken ownership of their fate.
They're challenging their fate.
And they're using education to change their future.
Women along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan
are fighting the religious extremism
that has overtaken the region.
Some by getting an education
and others through a more unconventional approach
that defies gender norms in their culture.
We're on the way to Hangu now,
which borders with the Federally Administered
Tribal Areas in Pakistan.
The streets are really isolated,
and you will hardly see any cars.
It's an area that's rarely visited by journalists
because it's considered too dangerous to get to.
We've just entered the police academy in Hangu.
We are here to meet Shahzadi Gillani,
who is the highest-ranking female officer
to ever serve in this conservative province.
Since her family adheres to strict purdah culture,
Shahzadi has had to give up everything
to be a police officer.
Although her parents eventually accepted Shahzadi's decision,
her job has done her job as extended family.
Even though she is a commander,
Shahzadi cannot leave the compound
because she is a woman and it would be too dangerous.
Instead of being active in the field,
she's limited to teaching antiterrorism measures
to officers in training.
Although she is confined to the academy,
Shahzadi believes she is making a difference.
In order to play such a high-ranking role
in the fight against terrorism,
Shahzadi has had to make sacrifices.
But the next generation of police women
answering the call to serve
are finding ways to fight extremism
without giving up their purdah culture.
The escort's just arrived.
So now we're gonna head to the Elite Force training center.
Today, a new generation of women are devoting their lives
to defending Pakistan against religious extremism
by becoming commandos
in a specialized antiterrorist squad
run by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police department.
After 9 months of training
that includes hostage negotiation...
...heavy-weapons firing...
...and hand-to-hand combat,
these women will be sent out
on raids of urban terrorist hideouts.
Wow.
These women are transcending
the societal limits dictated by their gender
while still honoring their purdah culture.
As a result, women are now seen
as an asset in the war against terror.
Pakistan!
The lives of so many women
that we've encountered throughout this journey
have been affected by conflict.
The struggles that we've seen of people
who have been displaced, people who have lost loved ones,
those are the stories
that actually form the fabric of society now.
But they say that when a country is affected by conflict
and by war, the communities that have long-been
suppressed begin to rise.
And you are seeing that with women in Pakistan.
The most striking part of these stories
is that all of the women we filmed were taking a risk
simply by speaking to us.
That's because their voices alone are a threat.
It's a powerful reminder
that women are the best weapon against oppression.
Those who not only demand change,
but who become it
through their own courageous words and actions.
To support women's rights in Pakistan,
go to viceland.com/woman.
**