In Pakistan’s collectivist society, women are first and foremost recognised through their ever evolving familial ties i.e. daughter, wife, mother. Cultural norms tie each cycle of change to a woman’s body. Her mind is left unacknowledged. A woman’s appearance becomes a measure of how well she plays each role. If she wears Western clothes which make her curves visible, she is a dishonorable daughter. If she is unhappy occupying the four walls of a kitchen, she is an incompetent wife. If she’s dressed to the nines with blow dried hair and manicured nails, she’s a distant and uncaring mother. But the essence of a woman stems not from her body. It resides in her mind. While a woman is identified by her biology, she must not be defined by it. But society in Pakistan continuously fails to see beyond the female body, giving way to gender inequality.
Recently, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Sherry Rehman posted a tweet asking Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan to take notice of the KP police. The video which circulated on social media showed two police officers defacing truck art depicting a woman with cleavage. One curved line below the neck lead to the woman’s face being completely blackened in the name of banishing vulgarity and sustaining morality. Photographs of Sherry Rehman smoking were shared in retaliation to her tweet. PTI’s Fawad Chaudhry lent support to the police’s actions, creating a firm line of divide across Twitter between cleavage bearers and oppressors. The socio-cultural context of the image was ignored. The central point of debate remained a woman’s cleavage, making evident our society’s obsession with the female body, and hence its inability to see beyond it. And this obsession is consistently making its presence visible. Time and again society’s eyes have stopped at a woman’s body, failing to acknowledge her intellect and hence failing to celebrate her achievements.
From an ordinary young girl walking down the street to female politicians fiercely serving as the voice of our nation, women with immense intellectual prowess have continuously been the victim of this reductive and derogatory way of seeing
From an ordinary young girl walking down the street to female politicians fiercely serving as the voice of our nation, women with immense intellectual prowess have continuously been the victim of this reductive and derogatory way of seeing. Even Pakistani women who have actively defined themselves by their work are understood through their body. Pakistani-American astrophysicist Nergis Mavalvala became renowned worldwide for her pivotal role in the first observation of gravitational waves. In Pakistan, the news was followed by a criticism of her sexuality. Hina Rabbani Khar, Pakistan’s 26th Foreign Minister, was the youngest and the first female to hold the position. She was also the first woman to present our budget. Yet, Ms Khar was celebrated more for her good looks than her good foreign policies. Sindh MPA Nusrat Seher Abbasi’s questions were met with a sexual innuendo by Minister of Works and Services Imdad Pitafi. His apology came in the form of covering her head with a chador. Mahira Khan was condemned for smoking and wearing a sundress. Their brilliance was set aside. Their body gained the limelight. Thus, it is no surprise that in our nation gender inequality reigns supreme.
If society’s eyes cannot see beyond the female body, how can we ever hope to bridge Pakistan’s ballooning gender gap? Pakistan was ranked as the second worst country for gender equality this year by the World Economic Forum. From a list of 144 countries we bagged the 143rd position. The index which takes into consideration factors pertaining to economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, as well as political empowerment, is a clear indicator of the obstacles faced by our women. And Pakistan’s ranking has been falling at an alarming rate over the past years. We ranked 135th in 2013, 141st in 2014, 143rd in 2015 and 2016, before positioning ourselves just below Yemen this year. Yet, in 1947 women arrived to the newly born Pakistan, the land of the pure, with the right to vote. We gained this right much before nations we cite today as spaces providing fair opportunities to women. Women in Australia gained the right to vote in 1962, whereas women in Switzerland attained it almost twenty four years after us in 1971. But does this mean women in Pakistan have attained nothing so far? The answer is definitely no.
Women in Pakistan are consistently challenging our society’s archaic and reductive definitions of a woman. In 2013, Samina Baig became the first Pakistani woman to climb Everest and the Seven Summits. Last year three Pakistani women made it to the Forbes ’30 Under 30’ Asia list. One day weightlifter Maryam Nasim hopes to represent Pakistan internationally. But much more can be achieved if we choose to see beyond the female body. We are failing to bridge our ever expanding gender gap. And we will continue to fail unless we change the way we perceive women. Only when citizens of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan learn to acknowledge the brilliance of a female mind will our women be able to play a wholly effective role in society, thereby constructing a progressive and prosperous nation for all.
The writer has a master’s in media with a distinction from the London School of Economics. She tweets @mawish_m
Published in Daily Times, December 5th 2017.