March in March
The notion of freedom varies from woman to woman, that is why feminism has various categories: Radical feminism, Liberal feminism, Ecofeminism, etc. All these types denote something meaningful in their agendas. However, none of existing categories is congruent with issues of women living miserable life in suffocated society of Pakistan where: 349102 women are divorced (according to census of 2017), 46.49 percent women fall under the index of illiteracy, 11 rape cases being reported every day. What Pseudo-concept of feminism has caused women to do in extremist society of Pakistan is that: few women marching on streets and roads, on 8th March, for equality are tagged with absurd words and expletives such as (Fahaash, bad kirdaar etc.) mean, characterless, immodest. It shows the attitude of people (in Pakistan) towards the concept of feminism, that is “intransigent” till now. Why it is so can be elucidated by a few examples mentioned in this article. Another pertinent argument put forth by common masses is; Feminism is portrayed more by appearances than by actions in Pakistan. However, this evokes another esoteric, controversial, and never-ending debate over human rights and grave injustice.
Historically, women have been put to merciless unfathomable grave injustices. Women were thought to be a sign of foolishness and fragility. However, today the statistics about women professionals working and contributing to growing world are significant to falsify traditional stereotypes regarding works and wisdom of women. The condition of women has been much improved except the ones living in rural and backward areas. The woman with educated social circle does not fear speaking for her rights. But the unfortunate ones with illiterate and narrow-minded social circle or those residing in slums still struggle for their human rights. Their demands for freedom are considered a sin.
Taking a bird’s eye view, the condition of women, particularly women of Rural Sindh, is beyond ordeal. One cannot find words to define misery and wretchedness brought on them by multiple factors. A woman expressing “will” to marry the person of her choice is regarded as characterless. In addition, a girl seen with a lover is brutally killed by one of the family members for the sake of honor: honor killings. Mostly, every girl after divorce is looked down and the tag is attached to a woman: “Divorced” is a sign of spinsterhood. Despite advanced technologies, women can be observed reaping crops in harsh weather. On extremely low wages, feudalists get women for hectic work. This situation of women’s hopelessness in Sindh fits what Simon De Beauvoir said ‘One is not born woman, but rather, becomes a woman.’ This fact gets further evident when the number of women in high designations is compared with the number of men. Therefore, the number of women working on equivalent designations as men are similar to those birds which disappear due to excessive hunting. This hunting is confining women to four walls and deliberately making them dependent on others, particularly men.
In fact, feminism is alien to the majority (including men and women) living in villages and remote areas which constitutes 63 percent of country’s entire population, according to the census of 2017. Because, the people, especially women, have not escaped the issues of basic needs and necessities for survival. Unfortunately, women in rural areas of Sindh are treated as “free domestic workers” or animals, who work from dawn to dusk. Their mind is not capable of thinking about freedom unless they are facilitated with basic human rights and considered humans even. Thus, lack of human security has been the greatest reason behind sufferings that women (also men) face in Pakistan on all platforms. Freedom from patriarchy is second mission for women in Pakistan while freedom from poverty remains first.
Subsequently, independence of women against all social evils is only possible through education, which these marches are not going to provide at all. Many suggest this way of promoting universal equality will further create abhorrence among people with conservative mindset. While some believe it to be the best feasible way to be noticed by world that women are not as fragile as always considered by people. Elite class women go for march in March whereas destitute and poverty-stricken women march every day for their rights. They march in front of parents, in front of husbands, and sometimes in front of the entire society. Many parents do not send their girls for higher education, not because they do not want their girls to get education but because of the challenges girls face in academic journey and chose unacceptable ways to deceive themselves and parents. And this behavior of elites in “Aurat March” with charged slogans like “Mera jism meri Marzi” do nothing but paints a negative picture of girls getting higher education.
Overall, marching on roads by few elites will not bring any good to miserable condition of women while educating women can serve the purpose. The money squandered on banners should be invested in bringing genuine reforms in policies of educational institutes to give more opportunities to women in dealing with issues they face in their academic journey. Freedom from issues of basic needs will allow girls to think about their rights of equality. Feminism should be introduced as human fight instead of women fight. Although many challenges stand between universal equality, the untiring efforts of youth in securing women against issues of basic needs will bring a lot of changes that will change the condition of women, undoubtedly!