Eva Pakyam
Advocating women’s rights from east to west
When Eva Pakyam left her native Pakistan for Canada with her husband and two children in 1991, she already carried the torch of a women’s rights activist. The rape and jailing of a young woman who worked for a friend had galvanized Eva and the women in her community. In response to the young woman’s incarceration, they worked with the Women’s Action Forum, lobbying prison officials and government representatives. With the help of the YWCA in Karachi, Eva and her team managed to free the woman. The rapists however were never brought to justice. The experience prompted her to spend eight years at the YWCA in Karachi, eventually becoming president of the organization in 1989.
With ethnic turmoil in Karachi and a deteriorating situation, Eva was becoming increasingly fearful about what the future would hold for her family. “There were kidnappings of children and other incidents at my kids’ school”, says Eva.
She and her husband decided to migrate with their children to Canada in 1991. Working briefly at Eatons and Bell Canada, it was not long before Eva found her way to the YWCA Toronto. “I wanted to be connected to the women’s movement and the YWCA in some form, because I had been so involved in Pakistan. Too many women in Toronto are living in poverty….and the gaps are increasing between the haves and the have-nots,” says Eva.
In Pakistan Eva had been accepted into medical school, but says her passion always lay in questioning the world about issues of inequality, particularly women’s rights and helping women in need. She has used this passion and vision in leadership roles in Canada to bring about social change.
As manager of Employment Programs at the YWCA Toronto, Eva is doing her part to help women fight poverty by designing innovative programs such as LEAP which helps unemployed women enter the workforce. A free program, it is designed to meet women’s individual needs. Since 1991, more than 22,000 have accessed LEAP and have moved on to economic stability.
Eva has also been instrumental in starting the Skills Development Centre at the YWCA as well as other innovative community development work for women in Canada. In 2001, she became chair of the South Asian Women’s Centre (SAWC) and has worked with the Women’s Right’s Action Coalition of Durham and other women’s and immigrant groups regionally and nationally helping to eradicate violence and poverty.
“I felt I wanted to take part in advocacy work on the community level, to bring some of the tools we used in Pakistan,” says Eva.
As Chair of SAWC, she helped navigate the organization through a period of policy change, bringing new governance ideas to the board. Her board experience, she says, has helped her feel more like a Canadian. “It gave me the confidence that I can make a difference in Toronto. You are not just an immigrant, you can be involved in the political process. Social activism is key for me,” says Eva.
Her volunteer work in Pakistan and now Canada, has taught her that we all have a responsibility to play our part if we want to effect change. “As people we need to take a stand. We don’t all have to be at Nelson Mandela’s level,” says Eva. “I say to my kids, you cannot be passive and do nothing; you can’t blame everyone else. You have to do your part. We all have to do our part.”
Eva participated in the 1999-2000 Leaders for Change program.
