People have a tendency to create stereotypes of people they know little about. One of the most common stereotypes is of women in the eastern part of the world. On the news and in different texts, Americans have seen images of the suppression of women by the Taliban and other regions such as Afghanistan. They see images of veiled women who are not allowed to show anything but their eyes. They are not allowed to have jobs, other than taking care of their husband and their home. In 1959, the male oriented government of Afghanistan allowed women to go out in public unveiled and guaranteed the right to be educated and to work; however, this lasted until 1978 when waging jihad and the idea was intensified by the Taliban. Public humiliation and beatings that sometimes led to death became common in Afghanistan.  Because the American people see women depicted this way, they often draw the conclusion that all women in the east are treated like this; however, this stereotype, like most stereotypes, is not true of all countries in the east. For example, in Sri Lanka, women are active in the government and have jobs other than housekeeping. Sri Lanka was one of the first countries of this century to grant women the right to vote. Sirimivo Bandaranaike was the first female prime minister in the entire world. Her daughter, Chandrika Kumaratunga, was the first female president of Sri Lanka. Kumari Jayawardena and Sunila Abeysekera are also influential women and play a large role in women's rights. In Pakistan, Benzair Bhutto served in the government for many years. Asma Jahangir and Begum Liaquat also played a role in women's rights. The stereotype that all eastern women are suppressed and don't have any rights is false, and is apparent in places such as Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

            In 1960, Sirimavo Bandaranaike became not only the first woman prime minister of Sri Lanka, but the first woman prime minister of the world. In 1798, Sri Lanka was made the Crown Colony of Ceylon under British rule. In 1802, Sri Lanka was officially ceded to the British. Sri Lanka gained its independence from Britain in 1948, and kept the name Ceylon. Bandaranaike was born into a wealthy, aristocratic landowning family. Her family members held high offices under the ancient line of Sinhalese kings. Her grandfather was a Kandyan chieftain, her father was a member of the Ceylonese senate, and some of her other relatives also held positions in the local government. As a young girl, Bandaranaike was very interested in politics and did not pay a lot of attention to things such as fashion. In 1941, she joined the Lanka Mahila Samiti, which strove to improve conditions for rural women. Bandaranaike married Solomon Bandaranaike, who founded the nationalist Sri Lankan Freedom Party (SLFP) in 1950. He became prime minister of Sri Lanka in 1956, but was assassinated by a Buddhist monk in 1959. After his assassination, Bandaranaike was elected the president of her party. Then, in the 1960 election, Bandaranaike was elected the 7th prime minister of Sri Lanka and the first female prime minister of the world. Bandaranaike changed many things in Sri Lanka while she held power. She changed the name of the country from Ceylon to Sri Lanka and tried to get rid of the customs which had been brought by the British. In 1965, Bandaranaike lost the election to the United Nationalist Party (UNP); however, she remained the leader of the SLFP and was reelected in 1970. Bandaranaike lost the election again in 1977, and was found guilty of abuse of power in office in 1980. Because of this, Bandaranaike was stripped of her civic rights for seven years. In 1994, she was reappointed prime minister by her daughter, President Chandrika Kumaratunga, until her death in 2000.

            Sirimavo's daughter, Chandrika Kumaratunga, became the first female president of Sri Lanka in 1994. Chandrika studied in Colombo, Sri Lanaka and at the University of Paris. As a child, she was very interested and active in politics. Chandrika served as a director and a principle director of the Land Reforms Commission and then became the chairman of the Janawasa Commission. This commission passed the Janawasa Commission Law which allowed for the settlement of educated and uneducated children. She also served on the Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) panel of expert consultants. In 1993, Chandrika was elected to the Western Provincial Council and was appointed the Chief Minister of the Province. The provincial councils in Sri Lanka were created to reduce the central governments power. Each council governs over one of Sri Lanka's nine provinces. Their duties include those of the former Central Government Ministries. In 1994, she was elected to parliament and was appointed the prime minister in the People's Alliance government. Later that year, Chandrika was elected president with 62% of the votes. In 1999, she was reelected into office, which she still currently holds. Other women have also held positions in the Sri Lankan government. There are currently seven women in parliament and the Minister of Women's Affairs, the Minister of Social Services, as well other deputy ministers are women.

            Kumari Jayawardena is a leading feminist in Sri Lanka. She teaches many courses about women's rights. She attended secondary school in Sri Lanka and the London School of Economics, where she received her Ph.D. She taught Political Science at the University of Colombo in Sri Lanka and the Women and Development Masters Course at the Institute of Social Studies in Hague, Netherlands. Jayawardena has written many books such as Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World. She plays an active role in women's research organizations and civil rights movements in Sri Lanka. She is also the Secretary of the Social Scientists' Association.

            Another woman active in women's rights is Sunila Abeysekera. Sunila was born in 1952 and has been working on women's and human rights in Sri Lanka for twenty years. She has also been lobbying at UN conferences since 1992. Sunila focuses on the issue of mainstreaming women's human rights concerns within the international human rights system. In 1994 she received an M.A. in Women and Development from the Institute of Social Studies and won the award for best research paper.

            Many women in the east, including Sri Lanka, play an active role in their government and women's rights. Although the common stereo-type is true of some women, such as the Taliban and Afghanistan, it is not true of all women. In Sri Lanka, womenare legally eligible to participate in the government. Although the number of women in the government is not large, it continues to grow, and the women of Sri Lanka, such as Sirimavo Bandaranaike and Chandrika Kumaratunga, are very active members of their society.             

Pakistan became an independent country in 1947 and since then they have been dealing with issues about Islamic identity including women's roles. Women of Pakistan are always stereotyped of how they have no rights in their country. Images on T.V., newspapers, and magazines, show women killed for not obeying the Pakistani Islamic Law. The stereotype continues with photos and articles on how women are beaten by their husbands or other men. These stereotypes make most people believe women have absolutely no power and no say in government. However, the statements about women not having any rights are true, but women do have say in government. One great example of this is Benzair Bhutto who served in the Pakistani government from 1988- 1990 and 1993- 1996. Two other women active in women's rights were Asma Jahangir, and Begum Liaquat. Both women were actively involved in improving women's rights in Pakistan. In short, the stereotype of women in Pakistan is partly false because their say in government has improved over years with women in government, even though the horrible stereotype is true.

Benzair Bhutto is the daughter of Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Born into the knowledge of government, Bhutto became the first woman to become prime minister of Pakistan. She came to power after being imprisoned and exiled. Before Bhutto, Prime Minister, Zia-ul-Haq, wanted the "moral purity of early Islam," and one of the targets for women. Before Zia, women did not have important roles in religion and government, although women's rights movement in Pakistan helped them to gain more respect. However, Zia changed the roles of women. Zia went back to the traditional ways of life from 30 years ago. He legalized the Hudood Ordinances which changed the law of rape and adultery and made fornication a crime for the first time in Pakistani history. He rejected laws penalizing injury to the body.

Bhutto represented the women's rights policies after Zia died in a plane crash by becoming the first woman to hold office in any Islamic state. Bhutto campaigned to rid the Hudood laws and discriminatory rights. However, in the two years in office, she was unable to repeal any of Zia's laws. Her opposition to parliament forced her out of office, but she was re-elected again in 1993. Her struggle for women's rights was successful, for the parliament listened. She was thrown out of office in 1996 for corruption. She even faced charges for corruption and was unable to serve again in government. Her motivation to win over women's rights and continued effort to help women encouraged her to serve again.

Begum Liaquat was a political activist before Benzair Bhutto. Liaquat married Pakistan's first Prime minister and became politically involved in Pakistan. Liaquat was born Moslem in India. Liaquat wanted to spread her rights of Moslem women to othercountries such as Pakistan. She became the founder and life-long president of the All Pakistan Women's Association (APWA) in 1949. Schools, homes, and institutions were founded by the APWA and eventually became active in Pakistani women's rights. Liaquat believed education and economic independence were the most important factors that would help women achieve their goals. Liaquat became the first women delegate to the UN in 1952 and was the first woman ambassador of Pakistan. Being the ambassador she was in charge of representing Pakistan as well as the Netherlands, Italy, and Tunisia. Her political achievements were recognized and rewarded for a Pakistani woman had done so much for her country. In the 1980's Liaquat publicly attacked Zia for passing Islamic laws that were contradictory to Islamic teachings against women. Out of respect, Zia did not publicly fight back because he recognized her achievements in Pakistani history. Although Liaquat died shortly after that, her achievements are not today recognized by the general public. Most people only know the killings and beatings of women in Pakistan.

            Lastly, Asma Jahangir spent most of her days protecting women and fighting for their rights in the Pakistan society. Asma became one of the most controversial figures in Pakistan for her continued movement to change the rights of rape victims, women divorcing abusive husbands, and child labor. Along with other women of Pakistan, Asma rejected the Hudood Ordinances. The rules she opposed were in light of saving Pakistani Christians, Hindus, and some Muslims that were falsely accused.

            The stereotypical view of women in Pakistan is obviously wrong, for women did and can speak out against the government of Pakistan. The laws today, according to the 8th Amendment is the police may do whatever punishment they want to a woman. However, political activists throughout the world are trying to help the women of Pakistan. Successful women such as Benzair, Begum, and Asma are rarely recognized because the media focuses on the killings and beatings of women. They need to recognize that women have spoken out against the laws, and today, women serve in the Pakistani government. The stereotype can be changed by getting rid of the negative images and tell the public about Pakistani women who were successful activists.