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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu_HdhUmnEI 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 of paid...
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...
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...
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. Words...
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...
