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Blogs

  • Red Birds: A lament to love, a rant against war and an ode to pacifists

    I was a married woman now. Things sank in. I was married with children and Lahore was my home. I had inherited everything that was my husband’s – his seven dogs, his weird pheasants and his senseless chickens, all crammed into the backyard. I had…

  • A Lament to Love, a Rant Against War and An Ode to Pacifists

    Red Birds is about the destruction that inevitably follows love. Many say this Mohammed Hanif novel is an anatomy of the wars men wage and the carcasses of pain women and their children must sweep up, each with their own indignities, but I don’t. I am sure it…

  • Women are more important than cookies

    Most of this month, Pakistan, its legislators, media pundits, policymakers and intellectuals are in feisty debates surrounding cookies, helicopter per km rates and the banning of cheese imports to Pakistan. I would like to insist that this is a great strategy that works in favor…

  • Addressing disability in education is an emergency, not an objective

    I was invited to speak at an event in a 5-star hotel on the inclusivity of women in public space. My co-panelist was a disability rights activist, a young woman in an electric wheelchair. When she arrived to speak she had to be lifted by…

  • Adolescent girls in Pakistan need more than just vocational skills

    I thought I had seen it all in my decade-long work on gender equity in Pakistan. Then I was asked to be the lead communications consultant in the USAID Pathways to Success program for the KP province. It is only now, that I really feel…

  • The transgender community finds a hero in Marvia Malik

    Last month Pakistan held its largest women’s march – a collective feminist movement to bring women’s status closer to a human being and less close to a pet. Since then, there have been even more strides in the civil society – our films contain more…

  • Fasting because the state asks

    Ramadan of 2018 came to a close two weeks ago and this holy month reminded me of a tragedy—a wholly preventable one—that took place during Ramadan of 2015. Three years ago about 1,000 Pakistanis died during Ramadan. They died because piety was thrust upon these impoverished day-wage…

  • Girls need pens more than they need rolling pins

    Schools are not places to develop learning outcomes in Pakistan. Rather, they are political tools. There is graft during teacher induction, neglect during knowledge transfer; pedagogical understanding is non-existent and a whole lot of misspending happens by the provincial governments. Public school children suffer the…

  • Pakistani women’s #PushForProgress       

    When the sun rises on the 2018 International Women’s Day, Pakistan would do well to bow her head in shame. Politicians, populists, policymakers, development consultants and the financial sectors have all collectively and individually erased women in the country – diminished them to the edges….

  • #JusticeForKhadija will lead to Justice for Khadija in the courts

    A lot of men in conservative societies often say feminist social media movements are not suitable. They say societies like Pakistan cannot live out these online movements because they propel foreign notions of gender equality. That these #metoo-esque efforts are for women who are unhinged,…

  • Labeling a failing state is less helpful than fighting one

    Indian actress, Swara Bhaskar, called Pakistan a “failing state” on an Indian talk show while promoting her film that was banned in Pakistan for nudity and obscenity. States cannot fail for banning films merely, they fail for something much more insidious – the policing of…

  • Labor day is about that cup of tea

    When most working women in Pakistan return home from a long often-humiliating workday, the first thing they do is make tea. They serve it eagerly. Just the right color and texture, otherwise it could be splattered across a wall by an angry father, brother or…

  • #MaiBhi could be Pakistan’s turning point

    Someone asked feminist icon, Gloria Steinem, what she would say to the concerns that the #MeToo is worrying men that women have too much power that they are now abusing. The #MeToo campaign was launched to call out sexual misconduct in the US. Her response…

  • Malala is Invictus

    There was a newspaper cartoon that depicted a woman in a burkah in the driver’s seat, except that the car she was in was remote-operated. The remote control was firmly in a snarky man’s hands. Muslim majority countries run by men, fueled by a toxic…

  • Nasira Javaid is a feminist, but her powers will be limited as president

    Justice Nasira Javaid is now retired as an icon of women rebels. She had a mother who was a legendary philanthropist and a force in the Pakistan independence movement. It was going to be unlikely that a woman with a women role model like her…

  • Real mothers can be feminist too

    The ‘One size fits all’ model doesn’t always lead to happiness, success, economic progress or even environmental sustainability. Yet it is proposed, enforced and demanded over and over. Lately, this has been a focus on the defense of the good old values and our culture….

  • Pakistan votes: Will democracy follow?

    I returned from a polling station in the G8 sector of Islamabad. It seems as though Imran Khan is set to become the prime minister of Pakistan. This line sounds like an alarm bell; a shrieking of a car right before a bang; nails on…

  • Garlanding a rapist is bad politics

    1976 film actress Shubnum Ghosh’s house was broken and entered into and a “dacoity” took place. This is a euphemism for rape. In that pre #metoo era this popular Bangladeshi film actress who made Lahore her home and Lollywood her profession lived on in Lahore….

  • Being Pakistani is not Singular

    What would it take for a modern Sufi to lose his optimism? A lot, it seems. Raza Rumi has published yet another book called, Being Pakistani, and it has three things that will come in handy this post-election season: the effortlessness and readability with which…

  • Review of Red Birds by Mohammad Hanif

    Review of Red Birds Author: Mohammad Hanif Publisher: Bloomsbury, 2018 Red Birds is about the destruction that inevitably follows love. Many say this Mohammad Hanif novel is an anatomy of the wars men wage and the carcasses of pain women and their children must sweep…

  • Sexism is violent, even when its casual sexism

    What is it about a woman that makes her jeer worthy? I wonder because the Chief Justice of Pakistan decided to open his speech last week with a statement that compared the length of an ideal speech to that of a woman’s skirt length. Winston…

  • Sunita Parmer: This too is Pakistan

    Tharparker is a forgotten speck in southern Pakistan. It is defined by grass thatched roofs and a dysfunctional feudal-electoral system that has always undermined 1.6 million of its residents. Then, of course, there is the fact that half of its population is Hindu in Muslim…

  • The driving right for Saudi women is a gift – take it before it is rescinded

    Camels replaced cars, but in Saudi Arabia, women who once rode these animals ended up getting pushed into the seclusion of their homes. The region in 7th century was somewhat matriarchal. Rich women led caravans at that time and yet today in 2018, it is…

  • The extension of jurisdiction to FATA bill needs to first extend to its women

    It’s hard to believe, but there is actually something worse than being a woman in Pakistan. Being a woman in The Federally Administered Tribal Areas is worse – The abysmal rock bottom. FATA is the notorious tribal belt designed to be outside the fold of…

  • The irreplaceable Asma Jehangir

    Asma Jehangir was no short of a superhero for Pakistani women who wanted someone with grit to show it to The Man. Be it the military’s overstepping, the popular autocrat’s absolute power or the sitting Democrat government’s chest thumping. She was ready to push them…

  • The silencing of Samina Sindhu

    In Larkana, boys will be boys. This feudal town, where oppression is linked to how landed you are, festers a super-bug kind of misogyny, one that no feminism can antidote. In Larkana, boys will be misogynists because they invariably get away with it. In Larkana,…

  • Women need feet before they claim wheels

    There is very little difference between Pakistani women and women who are crippled. Going by the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a “cripple” can’t move because they can’t but “an able bodied person who doesn’t move” will also remain “exactly where they are.” Just like the person…

  • This woman won’t cast her vote

    I recently critiqued a political party called PTI for giving a known rapist a party seat and celebrating it with garlands, handshakes and photo-ops. A believer in PTI was offended by this take on a party that, after all, promises an end to status quo….

  • Meesha’s song needs celebration

    Pakistan, they say, is having its #metoo moment. I think Pakistan is only having a shadow #metoo moment. A real #metoo moment is a solidarity moment with a woman who comes forward with a harassment or abuse claim. A real #metoo moment is one where…

  • Interview on consent on the internet

  • In Pakistani justice by local councils, women punished for wrongdoing by male family members

    Quote in Japan Times: “It’s an honor-based system, and there’s nothing more dishonorable than the rape of a woman within your family,” explained women’s rights activist Aisha Sarwari. The men of the aggressor’s family must be shamed through the loss of their women’s dignity, Sarwari…

  • A feminist moves to Peshawar and nothing happens

    I got a job in Peshawar and moved here from Islamabad. As a workingwoman, I’ve scaled it all across Pakistan – Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. When headhunters used to suggest a job in Peshawar though, I’d say, no way in hell. Peshawar was an hour…

  • This is what sisterhood looks like

    In a BBC interview Pakistan’s favorite actress, Mahira Khan made a profound statement when she was asked what type of conduct on her part led her to not be harassed in the film industry in Pakistan and elsewhere. She said that her conduct had nothing…

  • Sharmeen Obaid’s sister deserves support not take downs

    I have two reasons to believe Aga Khan Hospital is our nation’s foremost hospital in terms of quality of service and standards. First reason being that my husband got his brain tumor removed last week from there and is on his way to recovery. The…

  • Women in Politics – A long road home

    When a woman in Pakistan gets into politics it is like she’s consciously decided to walk onto a bloody battlefield. There are only two outcomes. She will either be marred to oblivion or have to live with the ensuing media riot aimed to defame her…

  • Taliban launches a woman’s magazine and it is time to panic

    I’ve been writing about the inclusion of women for over a decade with some of my fellow activists and now it seems like we have to pause, because we’ve perhaps preached to an unwanted foe – the Taliban. In producing a glossy glamouresque magazine called…

  • Aisha Sarwari on BBC World on Maternity Leave in Pakistan

      Aisha Sarwari, Co-founder of Women’s Advancement Hub (WAH) talks to BBC World about women in Pakistan balancing family and work. The challenge remains for working women that as they feel financially strained, they have few safeguards from employers. Whereas the law mandates 3 months…

  • Aisha Sarwari quoted in Daily Mail on Jirgas

    “It’s an honour-based system and there’s nothing more dishonourable than the rape of a woman within your family,” explained women’s rights activist Aisha Sarwari. The men of the aggressor’s family must be shamed through the loss of their women’s dignity, Sarwari explained. “That’s the balance…

  • Aisha Sarwari’s Interview on TRT World on Revenge Rape in Multan

    Jirgas are 400-year old patriarchal systems that punish women routinely.

  • Aisha Sarwari in Newsweek Pakistan

    PAKISTAN’S POPULATION BOOM Giving women more of a choice in the matter could help, argues Aisha Sarwari, a feminist activist who has previously written on population and women’s rights. “Access to birth control for women can be a game changer,” she told AFP. “Ultimately the…

  • Revenge rapes need to be punished harshly

    A 400-year-old panchayat system is meant to protect only men. Men alone reap benefits from this system that operate out of the formal legal system of Pakistan. This is a system that proliferates male privilege. The same system made up of all-male village or tribe…

  • Careem’s rishta aunty reinforces patriarchy

    The rishta aunty is the biggest omen of patriarchy. She reinforces the segregation of sexes and takes the agency of young women into her own hands by choosing who young women will spend the rest of their lives with. Probably pushed to the sidelines of…

  • Dyslexia will push us back if we let it

    I grew up in a school where corporal punishment was the norm. Another norm was I being on the receiving end of it. Teachers were almost always displeased at my reading and writing ability. It took me longer than my classmates to read a passage….

  • Another woman politician, same Khwaja Asif

    Misogyny, in Pakistan is largely a bipartisan exercise. However, with Khwaja Asif’s recent tweet about Firdous Ashiq Awan joining PTI and insinuating that she is a “newly acquired dumper,” he made PML N take the cake for misogyny. I won’t be surprised if secretly, he’s…

  • The Anti-Harassment Diva of Pakistan

    “I can’t fade.” Tanzeela Mazhar is the woman who took a man down on charges of harassment in the workplace. She has so much of what young people today call swag. When she walked in to meet with me this is the last thing I…

  • Mashal Khan’s Lynching in Pakistan points to a bigger loss

    A tragedy always has a greater one lurking behind it. Waiting to descend like a slow mist over the aftermath of what is the first strike. Pakistan however has had a series of them. When Mashal Khan was dragged through the corridor of Abdul Wali…

  • Pakistani Women’s Stories need to be part of policy

    Over a thousand women are killed for honor in Pakistan every year. At the Women of the World Summit in New York this month, Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, the Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker from Pakistan spoke about honor in Pakistani society. She said her films on the…

  • KP’s anti-dowry act

    As if it wasn’t already difficult enough for a woman in Pakistan, there is this bile-inducing custom to have a woman weighed in against what material and monies she brings into a marriage. Dowry determines a woman’s worth in this culture. About 95% marriages are…

  • Of rogue men and hijabs

    Where did Syed Raza Ali Gillani’s toxic masculinity come from? His all-boys education that can only breed contempt and bone-chilling fear of female sexuality; his feudal roots or his deep-rooted sense of insecurity about being a pious devout. Wherever it came from, it was rewarded…

  • Book Review: Tanya Tania by Antara Ganguli

    Antara Ganguli’s Tanya Tania is like being in Karachi and Bombay at the same time. It is like being there at a time when these two cities were both ugly and beautiful. Reading it you have that same feeling you have when you butter your…

  • Aisha Sarwari on the Court ban on Valentine’s day

    On @BBCWorld Facebook live on why Valentine’s Day is not the states business. The ban on valentines is an attempt to control and repress women’s sexuality. https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews/videos/10154398657882217/

  • Aisha Sarwari on #Qatloghairat

    Aisha Sarwari speaks on BBC Urdu for a special series on honour killing called #Qatloghairat https://business.facebook.com/bbcurdu/videos/1367506823290947/

  • Aisha Sarwari on BBC Urdu – Anti Honor Killing Bill

    I come on at 7:30 minutes on the anti-honour killing bill. @BBCUrdu  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17fa0fU6SgY

  • The province in the lead for women’s empowerment

    Divulging in to the state of affairs for women in Pakistan is an unsettling activity. Currently ranked at 143rd in the Gender Gap index among 144 countries, Pakistan is among the worst countries to live a life as a woman. Conditions here are worse than…

  • Anti-Harassment Ombudsperson Unappointed KP

    I was in a hotel in Islamabad invited by a friend whose friend had a farewell. It was Ramzan of last year. We were opening our fasts at the sit-down dinner so I chatted to the person next to me who turned out to be…

  • Women Harassment App

    A woman in Bengaluru, India was walking home one night when she entered a secluded street. Two men on motorbikes turned onto the street. One got off and grabbed her, molested her and then both of them attempted to carry her off. When she resisted,…

  • The black goat and the black plague

    Our national carrier brought a goat to the airport and slaughtered it next to the ATR due to fly to Multan to ward off evil spirits. The sacrificial black goat’s blood drained on the tarmac, behind it, the wheel of the carrier. This is not…

  • Thin link between load shedding and divorce

    Cooking is not a moral act. In fact it is the least bit fun when it is mandatory. Therefore, the fact that women in Pakistan are presumptuously handed this task is an abomination. No one likes to stare at a sink full of dirty dishes…

  • The UN Women #BeatMe campaign

    The UN Women Pakistan have done something laudable. They have launched a campaign against violence against women by naming the devil and spelling out that men beat women, pretty often and pretty viciously. When the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), a body better left to…

  • Trumps presidency and women

    If someone told me that life is going to be tough for a man who insulted, debased and demeaned women; that a man with who had sexual assault charges against him would pay through his teeth, I’d be very confused right now. With Donald Trump…