Daily Times

An upsurge of a social political wave, upon the crisis of women’s rights issues, opposed by right wingers, as the country needed passive women to serve as unpaid workers to prepare a brigade of labour needed for the industrial revolution. Most of the women themselves were against this movement, only few thousands were on the roads marching. This was 1920s in UK and USA. Those few women in Europe marched and protested to earn the right to vote and carry inheritance. Initially few hundreds of women marched, protested and they were criticised.

They were arrested, went on hunger strikes, carried out picketing and pressure was generated to get the right to vote. Today all the women exercising this right to cast vote, owe it to those who marched. This achievement was criticised as the women of colour were disenfranchised from this right. This was said to have catered to the middle class white women, however the next wave of feminism was much more inclusive and covered a lot on rights of black women. Black women from southwest of America in 1930’s started joining labour unions and started protesting on poor wages and unendurable work environment. Katy Millet, in her book “Sexual Politics”, wrote about the structure on patriarchal lines that oppresses gender both socially and politically, later it extends to racism and class. One of the biggest achievement of this wave of feminism, was the law passed on equal wage.

There is social and political uprising from 2019 in Pakistan on gender based oppression. The Aurat March debate had taken over like a storm, there is a huge divide on those favouring it and the one against it, these debates themselves are leading towards awareness in households. In a country where for any female walking alone in a street means being at risk of harassment and rape, the public space access to chant for social political rights in itself is a ray of hope.

The right over one’s body is present on Amnesty charter as children and women’s bodies are manipulated, oppressed, assaulted and raped. In the years to come the legal and social achievements on women’s right in Pakistan will elaborate the true meaning behind the marches and slogans that are in reaction to our degenerating and suppressing society. Unfortunately the polls on social media are held up to cast vote in favor of a misogynist abusing woman on national TV. The women body has long been discussed in every slang abuse of our language, all abusive words lead to the literal meaning of f-ck your mother/sister, and this is spoken as a slang on uncountable basis.

In every era the threshold against women’s right had been there but each wave eventually won the few of the legal battles and social rights. But till today access to public space, women’s basic safety, their right to attain education, persue , career, equal wages, under age marriage, child mortality, lack of access to health centers due to stereotypes, right of family planning, acid victims, karo kari, traditions like Swara, rape, harassment , emotional abuse, suppression and absence of basic freedom of choice these are the issues even among the so called educated lot. Women, who are pursuing careers have their own tale based on bitter experiences and breaking the glass ceiling with utmost resilience. The lower we go in social status quo, the deeper the problems are, poverty, abuse and violence is multifold on basis of gender. The transgender especially does not even have any acceptance by our society the social construct is so tyrant against them that we all have literally internalized the abnormal behaviors, view and practice them. The women and men of Pakistan has a long way to go on their social and political movement for their rights. Debates should be based on ideologies rather than slogans as a movement based on gender equality has a lot more to offer. A surface argument just exposes the lack of content and understanding. However this definitely is leading to basic sensitization, by sensitizing people on issue of gender inequality and voicing against oppression a journey of a thousand miles has at least started. The oppressed ones always desire to voice their opinion, as in words of Maya Angelou, is:

The free birds leaps

On the back of the wind

And floats downstream

Till the current leads and dips his wings

In the orange sun rays

But a cage bird that stalks

Down his narrow cage

Can seldom see through his bars of rage

His wings are clipped and

Feet are tied

So open his throat to sing

The cage bird sings with fearful trill

Of the things unknown

But longed for still

And his tune is heard

On the distant hill

For the caged bird

Sings of freedom.

The writer is a PhD scholar, researcher and teaches gender studies