Marginalization of People with Disabilities on September 1, 2020“Survival of the Fittest” has been the cornerstone of the theory of evolution of species. This led Herbert Spencer to call it “natural selection” in a society. Perhaps more than any other scientific research project, On the Origin of Species has directed the sociological, political and cultural discourses (not to mention the religious arguments) in […]
Are We Ready to Embrace Diversity and Pluralism? on August 9, 2020Religion had been the raison de etre in the genesis of Pakistan. The founding fathers believed that religion could have been an adhesive force for the disparate and diverse populations of the regions constituting the new country declared as the homeland of the Muslims of India. The demographic diversity made it quite a task to […]
World Day against Human Trafficking on August 1, 202030th July is a UN day to raise awareness against human trafficking. Human trafficking is the first and the oldest form of man’s exploitation of man. The hieroglyphics on the walls of the caves tell the story of men brutalized for labour, from building astounding structures to growing grains, one party living off, and quite […]
Effectiveness of our digital media for rights advocacy on June 2, 2020The privacy versus security debate has got valid and cogent arguments on both sides. The dilemma is that on one hand it should only be the governments having an access to the digital communication of its citizens and on the other hand, like so much else, least government regulation is welcome here. The principles of […]
Advancing or Retreating? on May 5, 2020In our country, rights movements had been a step forward and two steps back. It was hardly a month when the Aurat March generated so much of the debate in the public as to agency of women with regard to their physical beings that the jubilant sensation of bringing the debate into the open for […]
Paradise and Objectification of Women on April 24, 2020Social media is abuzz with the criticism of choosinggraphic description of “Hoors” to motivate the Faithful. Such inducements, indeed, lead less to a life of piety and more to objectification of women. The most ironical part of such sermons is picking at the base instincts of man and even worse sexualizing the heavenly rewards. Often […]
Mandela Day and our prisons on July 20, 2019Once we used to find heroes for every decade but in the fast changing world, thanks to the digital media, heroes too are made and unmade, celebrated and forgotten, quite quickly. Mandela day passed unnoticed by our media. Since 2009, July 18th has been designated by the UN as Mandela Day, in recognition of Nelson […]
Physical mobility keeping women from social mobility on July 11, 2019Majority of our urban planners, social scientists and gender activists may have hardly noticed the link between transport mobility and social mobility of women, though women themselves are very much aware of this problem and painfully so. A major barrier in the social mobility of Pakistani women is their physical mobility too in terms of […]
Gender responsive urban planning on July 8, 2019Like so much else in our development and planning regime, gender responsiveness too may not be on the radar of an urban planner designing a new project or a parliamentarian seeking funds for the development programs of his constituency, not perhaps even for the female parliamentarians nominated on the women’s quota. This is the high […]
Budget 2019-2020 and gender responsiveness on June 22, 2019June is the month when the Federal Government and all the Provincial Governments express their vision for the future and priorities, not only through the loud and calmourous mouthpieces in the Ministry of Information but more importantly through the dull and drab digits and numbersof their respective budgets put together in the Ministry of Finance. […]