Word: purdah
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Pakistan, upon its creation in 1947, began to loosen some of the old restrictions on women: purdah lost ground, women got a couple of seats (which they still hold) in the parliament. But the mullahs of Islam have reasserted the old customs; the Begum Liaquat Ali Khan, widow of the assassinated Premier and once a militant suffragist, has been forced into a quiet life, and the wife of the new Premier hides uncomplainingly in strictest purdah...
...Begum Liaquat Ali Khan, the Prime Minister's black-haired, bouncy wife, is the daughter of a Hindu Brahman turned Christian. She herself became a devout Moslem. To free Moslem women from purdah, she organized the white-pajamaed, pigtailed Pakistan Women's National Guard. "See these women?" she says, "they were in purdah once. Do you see any purdah now?" Married 17 years, Liaquat and the Begum have two sons, Ashraf, 12, and Akbar, 9, both aspiring musicians...