The point is not for women simply to take power out of men’s hands, since that wouldn’t change anything about the world. It’s a question precisely of destroying that notion of power. Simone de Beauvoir
Achieving equality among all sexes and gender identities, elimination of all forms of hierarchy and all structures of supremacy is an intricate enterprise also known as Feminism. There is no longer binary division of gender but women including trans women have yet to transcend the structural patriarchy. The collective equality of all women in letter and spirit, despite variations in the optics of policy and legislation, rankings on gender inequality, human development and economic growth, has yet to be reached in any society. The world is still driven by hegemonic masculinity. The toxicity of foul power is not only prevalent but tolerated too. The attractive liberal face of the developed countries is often blemished by the issues of class, race ,immigrants, biases having origins in religion and the desire to maintain the artificial transformative leadership in politics. The global South is not only trapped in the vicious circle of poverty, unending debt, sham democracy, repeated dictatorships, NGO-ization of social development, religious dogmas but also facing a failure to eradicate all aspects of colonialism and neocolonialism.
The portrayal of sexism guised as many confident women (as some of them at some point do disclose the real story, the systematic harassment etc.) in the advertising and show biz industry; effective funding of women empowerment initiatives by elite owned think tanks and non-profits; visible disconnect of the women who are in charge of empowerment projects in public and private sectors from the communities of women with disadvantages of different forms and tactful assurance by the powerful of the systems that despite some pro-women legislation the real benefits can never be drawn are some of the many concerns that are virtuously vanished. The status quo is not at all challenged or questioned. Resultantly in spite of glossy reports documenting successful implementation of different initiatives, a common Pakistani woman usually can never think of certain right things for example; leaving her spouse even if she is battered regularly, leaving her home even if she faces abuse and or incest, having ownership and control of her earned income, property and body and the list is almost endless. The verification of these rather apparently sweeping annotations can be derived from a random visit to any urban slum, village and middle income household in Pakistan, number of out of court settlement of the disputes related to women and scanning the pedigree and networking of the Pakistani women who are in enviable positions. This remains a bitter but unacknowledged truth that many self-made skilled women who are part of formal economy fail to become popular in a talent hostile environment . Mostly those who go higher are those who by choice or under compulsion cooperate with the coteries found in nearly all in office and formal sector environments. Most of the political manifestos and contemporary contemplation on social development initiatives and even the language of the documents related to the SDGs that underscores inclusiveness and reaching the farthest first are at large devoid of the will for the reconstruction- the unselective revamp of the society, that is the underlying requirement of feminism and humanism.
Visible disconnect of the women who are in charge of empowerment projects in public and private sectors from the communities of women with disadvantages of different forms and tactful assurance by the powerful of the systems that despite some pro-women legislation the real benefits can never be drawn are some of the many concerns that are virtuously vanished
The iconic women like Emma Watson, Angelina Jolie, ,Melinda Gate, ,Orpah, Mashal Obama, Malala and few others do act as voices and agencies for emancipating women. There are magnificent moments created by the # Me Too movement as well. As a trickledown effect a very small percentage of those living on the margins and those from the urban middle class also benefit and get the opportunity to visit foreign lands and get education, training and mentoring. The smartest among those are taken away from the land of pure (and I am really happy for them and like the rest of us regularly tweet about their gains in those societies). A proportion of those who do return back, however, either never demonstrate their critical thinking to thrive in the cruelly competitive development outfits or the ones who dare to be vocal and speak up on noticing that social justice and social transformation are not appearing in any policy, program and practice are duly rewarded by being sidelined and ultimately effectively excluded from the system .However, for a vast majority of women even in the developed countries ( as women are never and nowhere a homogenous category) remain unheard, incredible because there is an absence of social justice.
Alas! a successful Aurat (women)March, powerful favourable opinion pieces in English press and appreciation on social media by the movers and shakers in development sector become only short-lived motivations and are too less, too insufficient and too in equipped to give clout to the vast majority of women in Pakistan. The need is to accelerate the momentum, mass and magnitude of such efforts, apply empathy in legislative business and development practices. A common self-made woman on the podium, at the center of the stage and influencing public policies is the face of an authentic, visible, sustained and scalable version of the empowerment of women.
Ps: Men globally need urgent lesson in basic mathematics regarding representation of women. Any mention of equality of women inevitably give rise to questions of morality of women. There is a dire need to realize that there is no morality in inequality.
The author is a former TV anchor & Producer and activist whose 25-plus year career includes public policy advocacy on gender, youth& disability issues, research, community work, organizational development, training, mentoring and social entrepreneurship.
She tweets @dr_rakhshinda & can be reached at [email protected]