Daily Times

March 8 is globally marked as an International Women’s Day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. As stated, no one government, NGO, charity, corporation, academic institution, women’s network or media hub is solely responsible for International Women’s Day. Many organisations declare an annual IWD theme that supports their specific agenda or cause, and some of these are adopted more widely with relevance than others.

IWD is all about unity, celebration, reflection, advocacy and action at the local level to reduce the gender disparity. It is more than a century now when the women launched their campaign for equal rights in the society and at the workplace. Since the beginning of the industrialisation in the USA and Europe, women realised that they were being exploited. So, they continued with spreading the word of equality and equity.

On February 28, 1909 the first National Woman’s Day was observed in the United States. The Socialist Party of America designated this day in honour of the 1908 garment workers’ strike in New York, where women protested against working conditions. The Charter of the United Nations, signed in 1945, was the first international agreement to affirm the principle of equality between women and men. Since then, the UN has helped create a historic legacy of internationally-agreed strategies, standards, programmes and goals to advance the status of women worldwide.

If we go back to our own roots, the advent of Islam assured all the rights to women. Despite Islamic democratic, women in Pakistan are still struggling even for their basic rights. They are striving hard to get their due place in every profession to play their dynamic role to boost the economy and to make a robust society. In this struggle, they face many hurdles and stigmas, and unfortunately their work and struggle is undermined despite long journey of advocacy and awareness-raising efforts by the government, non-government and international partners.

We need to recognise, appreciate and celebrate the women’s role in our society, and their work to inspire more womenfolk to become part of the economic productivity. Women working in the culture sector are more stigmatized in Pakistan especially those engaged in the professions such as dance, music and theatre. Perhaps that is why women needed to come up with the ‘AuratMarch’ in Karachi last year.

The ‘Aurat March’ on March 8, just a couple of days back, hit the headlines in the national and internal media for two reasons. Firstly, the number of women joined the feminist women’s march and its spread from Karachi alone last year to some metropolitan cities this year. It showed that the feminism is growing from strength to strength in Pakistan. We may hope that the future for Pakistani women would be more socially and economically equitable.

Both men and women need to support each other for the social, economic and political growth of the society

The second reason for which the women’s march hit the headlines in media was not so adorable. They were the bold and controversial slogans carried on some of the placards. For the sake of conventional morality and ethics, some of the slogans and their interpretation cannot be carried here. However, it may be concluded in some decent words that some of the Pakistani women don’t want to live in the conventional family system that is recognised worldwide as the basic unit of the society. Some of the women don’t want to produce babies, and they might like to have different sexual orientation too. They don’t want to oblige their husbands in finding out their socks or cook for them.

Good enough. Every woman rather every person has the basic right to adopt whatever the way she or he wants to live. Caring each other or living rudely is also the choice of individuals. But, I firmly believe that such individual traits or the possible choices should not become part of the street advocacy campaigns. If some women want no uterus, they should simply go for removing it. Does anyone on the street needs to know that they want ‘no bachadani’ (uterus). If men are trash creature for some women, they can opt for living unmarried and independently. I believe no one would force them to marry except their own mothers. For those women who even don’t want to see the men’s faces, they may build up their own all-female states or societies. Who stops them doing it?

I humbly ask the ill-guided adventurist women ‘activists’ for God sake don’t damage the rights-based feminist movement in Pakistan. It is not developed in a day. Our well-aware and mature women have struggled a lot for the realisation of their basic rights in our society. The educated and sensitised men also struggled for the women’s right shoulder to shoulder with the genuine women activists. It took a century to reach at the point where feminism is recognised and accepted as a phenomenon. Feminism does not mean an excluded society where men should be insulted, mocked or ridiculed. Actually, it is the belief in social, economic, and political equality of the sexes. Let it be as defined and accepted.

Crossing the line of morality and conventional ethics had not served the women living in Europe and USA, and it would not serve the women in Pakistan too. We need to keep in mind that learned women activists are always supported by the men at all levels, right from their homes to the parliament. They were the men who realised the need of women-friendly legislation, equal social and economic opportunities. They were the fathers and brothers who provided better education and health to their daughters and sisters to able them to go out to raise their voices for the rest of the womenfolk. They were the husbands who capacitated their spouses to take their decisions independently and gave them opportunities to live the way they want to. If their men had not been allowed them, they won’t have been part of the Women’s March.

Life is a two-wheeler. It cannot be run without either gender. Both men and women need to support each other for the social, economic and political growth of the society. To achieve it, both need to give space to each other without mocking anyone. We need to strengthen the AuratMarch – the feminist women march to raise a collective voice to further the agenda of social equality and legislation ensuring all the social, economic and political rights to our women but sans the ultra-liberal ‘women activists’ who are insensitive to the philosophy of the women rights movement.

The writer is an Islamabad-based policy advocacy, strategic communication and outreach expert

Published in Daily Times, March 13^th 2019.