Pakistan Women Challenging Patriarchy and Fighting Against Army Brutalities
October 25,
2020
“This is a
changing Pakistan, and that change is spearheaded by Pakistani women. You’ve
seen the kind of Tabdeeli [change]
that has been brought by men over the past 70 years. This movement for women’s
rights won’t just limit itself to women, it will liberate the entire society,”
said senior activist Farzana Bari, former director of the Gender Studies
Department at Quaid-e-Azam University.
The ongoing
months has seen COVID-19 evolve into a pandemic, successively changing into the
focus of worldwide, and local, attention. however, nothing could stop the conjointly
value reaffirming protest in March led by women for continuation of an
important women’s liberation movement, that has the potential of reshaping the
country for the higher.
The Aurat
March, that began in 2018, is organised annually on March eight which is
celebrated as International Women’s Day globally – saw it grow more with
increasing numbers across Asian nation.
A
participant at the Aurat March in Karachi on March 8, 2018. | Akhtar
Soomro/Reuters
------
Placards
and slogans are designed to challenge the patriarchal established order and
highlight the hindrances for women’s rights within the country. Rallies are
witnessed in various parts of the country. In 2019 with oceans of protestors
coming out on the streets to express their solidarity. Its magnanimity in the
scale of inclusivity and diversity made people awestruck. People from different
social categories, regions, religions, ethnicities and sects came along on a
standard platform to protest the multiple patriarchies that oppress, limit and constrain
the basic rights of women. From home-based staff to lecturers, from transgender
to queer — all protested in their distinctive and innovative ways making their
presence impactful. Men and boys in tow, carrying corroboratory placards, and
therefore the marchers mirrored unity within diversity, rarely seen in
Pakistan’s polarized and dissentious social landscape. The issues that
resonated the silenced cries of women within the rally were like the enclosed
violence against girl’s right to education, molestation, systematic gender
discrimination among others.
It is these
and plenty of different gory realities of women’s rights in Asian nation that
the Aurat March bring around to attention. The right-wing parties visited the
tribunal to ban the Aurat March, but they were rejected. Then they resorted to
violence. but it is a section of political policy making Aurat March a criminal
politics.
This
movement has traditionally been formed in response to national and
international reconfiguration of power, together with using, nationalism,
Caesarism, democracy and therefore the war on terror. the connection between
the women’s movement and therefore the Pakistani state has undergone vital
shifts from mutual accommodation to confrontation and conflict.
A
Changing Pakistan
----
The image
of Pakistani womanhood has been a construction of the Pakistani state since its
beginning. Pakistani women may be executed in honour killings if they do not
meet up to the societal expectations.
The state
doesn’t stop at showing control, the national narrative however intrudes public
and personal life to make your mind up what’s legitimate and permissible as
‘Pakistani culture’ and, what’s not.
Going back
through the pages in history, Muslim girls were the most badly affected victims
of Partition; the reports suggest that
seventy five thousand girls were kidnapped and raped throughout this era.
Encouraging
additional girls to vote is just the start. girls themselves disagree over what
their role ought to be in Pakistani society. The conservative patriarchal
mindset believes feminism as a dangerous terror weapon instilled in the heads
of women from the west to destroy their holy traditions and customs. people who
advocate for equality between girls associated men – the centre of feminism –
area unit fighting an uphill battle. They face harsh words and discouragement
from the Government, religious groups and most surprisingly: other girls.
There is an
entire section of women who have undergone extreme violence and trauma and are
now single others. They are the most vulnerable of all. They are not aware
enough to know about feminism. On the other side, they have seen the most
gruesome horror men can put them through. So, they will do anything to be away
from the. This lot are the most vulnerable. They are facing patriarchy and
stigma in multiple levels: food insecurity, health insecurity. They just want
to survive yet they are scared that they might be deprived of this desire too.
A country
where women participation in election is among the worst, where there world
have half the credit to a man’s in a court, women are defying tear gas, batons
and lathis hurled at them and still trotting their way to keep the Aurat March
going. It might be really small compared to women protest marches around the
world, but the struggles and the sheer will make it impact ten times louder. To
lay the foundation of feminism and women empowerment in the society based on
acute patriarchy is a revolution. These are women deprived of their right to
investigate the outside world and adapt to the modern world. Women who have
spent their whole lives in homes, but they stand up and fight against army
brutalities. They are ahead of the men. If all women unite and stand in unison,
there is nothing stopping them.
Original Headline: A Changing Pakistan – How
Women Are Challenging Patriarchy
Source: She the People
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/pakistan-women-challenging-patriarchy-fighting/d/123294
New Age
Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism