Pakistani Women Pilots Azka Malik and Her Colleagues Defy Odds to Close Gender Gap
New
Age Islam News Bureau
09
March 2023
•
Hyderabadi Woman, Indira Eegalapati, Drives Metro Trains In Saudi Arabia
•
Aurat March: Thousands of Women Rally in Pakistan despite Legal Hurdles
•
Arab Women's Group 'Khateera' Dares To Defy, One Narrative at a Time
•
Women's Day Protesters Rally around the World for Rights, With Focus on Iran
and Afghanistan
•
Afghan Broadcaster Tolo News Airs Rare All-Female Panel to Discuss Rights on
Women's Day
•
Women Fully Capable To Play Role in Development Of Society: Jamiat
Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl) Women Wing's Chairperson
•
Female Workers in Kingdom’s Industrial Sector Up 93% since 2019
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/pakistani-pilots-azka-gender/d/129284
--------
Pakistani
Women Pilots Azka Malik and Her Colleagues Defy Odds to Close Gender Gap
Pilot
Azka Malik sits in the cockpit of a Cessna aircraft in Karachi, Pakistan, on
March 7, 2023. (AN Photo)
------
Khurshid
Ahmed
March
08, 2023
KARACHI:
After four years of training to become a commercial pilot, Azka Malik is
entering the male-dominated industry, where she and her colleagues are trying
to pave the way for other women.
Globally,
women make up around 7 percent of commercial pilots, according to Women in
Aviation International data. Although the percentage in Pakistan is not exactly
known, the number is much lower.
“All
around the world, there are less than 7 percent pilots who are women. And in
Pakistan the ratio is further lower, which is obviously a very big challenge
for us girls to come out here,” Malik, 23, told Arab News as she sat in the
cockpit of a Cessna aircraft at her aviation school on Tuesday.
She
recently graduated from the Sky Wing academy in Karachi and is now entering the
profession, undeterred by the challenges she may face as a woman in pursuing
her career.
“The
freedom you feel when you’re in the aircraft, when you fly in the sky, it’s
amazing. It’s like no other experience in this world,” she said.
“There
are a lot more women who are joining this field now, so things are progressing,
things are getting better.”
Women
are also already present at the forefront of mechanical support and aircraft
maintenance.
Komal
Khalid, a 25-year-old technician and also a Sky Wing graduate, believes that
women have proven that aircraft maintenance is not only a man’s job.
“Definitely
it is a tough field but it is not that women can’t do it. We are present and
are doing it, in front of you,” she said. “There is no work in the world that
only a man can do. This thinking is getting obsolete.”
For
another aircraft maintenance technician, Subhana Anwer, 25, the job was neither
a male nor female field but one for those who can go through the thick science
texts needed to master it.
“Being
an aviation maintenance as a career, it takes a lot of studying, it takes a lot
of hard work,” she said.
“If
I speak from my heart about aviation, it takes a lot of work. It’s not easy.
There’s a lot of studying to be done. There is a lot of late-night work. There
is hardship ... and, you know, honestly, it takes a lot of grit and how much
you’re willing to put in.”
More
women are up for the challenge.
Sky
Wings has trained 25 pilots and 42 aircraft technicians since 2019. Out of
them, seven pilots and 22 technicians were women. There are eight other
aviation academies like Sky Wings in Pakistan.
“We
have trained several women pilots, engineers and technicians in the aviation
industry and now they are successfully working in different airlines within
Pakistan and abroad,” Imran Aslam Khan, the school’s chief executive, told Arab
News.
“We
believe that until the time we bring in women in all the industries, no country
can progress.”
Source:
Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2265021/world
--------
Hyderabadi
Woman, Indira Eegalapati, Drives Metro Trains In Saudi Arabia
The
woman metro pilot Indira Eegalapati
------
By
Irfan Mohammed
7
MARCH 23
Jeddah:
Saudi Arabia was once known for being the only country in the world that does
not allow women to drive vehicles. However, women are now breaking stereotypes
with women empowerment as part of Vision 2030 in full flow in Saudi Arabia.
Among
those making a mark is Indian woman loco pilot Indira Eegalapati. A native of
Guntur settled in Hyderabad, she is now a pilot with the Riyadh Metro Train.
Before coming to drive trains in Saudi Arabia, Indira worked with the Hyderabad
Metro Rail for over three years and so far, she has logged 15,000 train
kilometers.
An
IT engineering postgraduate, who chose to be different even when her friends
chose the software field, Indira could be among a rare group of women who have
worked as loco pilots at home and abroad as well.
“While
I was a child, I used to assist my mechanic father by giving him tools and
spare parts, and now I am driving one of the most advanced trains of the
world,” Indira told ‘Telangana Today’.
“We
are three sisters and our father gave utmost importance to our education,
though some of our relatives opposed spending on education instead of saving
for dowry,” she recalled.
“When
I was selected for Riyadh Metro, most of our relatives were apprehensive as to
how a single woman could go to Saudi Arabia to work as a train pilot. My
determination didn’t deter me and I made my way to Saudi,” Indira said.
Indira
also operated the train in Doha during the Football World Cup after being sent
there by Saudi Arabia.
She
is full of praise for her Saudi female colleagues and impressed with women
empowerment in Saudi Arabia as part of Vision 2030. It is noteworthy to mention
that Saudi women pilots constitute a major part of metro train pilots in the
Kingdom.
Indira
is now married, with her husband also working as a loco pilot in Qatar.
Source:
Telangana Today
https://telanganatoday.com/hyderabadi-woman-drives-metro-trains-in-saudi-arabia
--------
Aurat
March: Thousands of Women Rally in Pakistan despite Legal Hurdles
March
08, 2023
LAHORE,
Pakistan: Thousands of women took part in rallies across Pakistan on Wednesday
despite efforts by authorities in several cities to block the divisive marches.
Known
as the Aurat (women) March, the rallies have courted controversy because of
banners and placards waved by participants that raise subjects such as divorce,
sexual harassment and menstruation.
Each
year, some of the most provocative banners ignite weeks of outrage and a slew
of violent threats.
“The
whole point of the Aurat March is to demand the security and safety that women
are not afforded in this country and society,” said Rabail Akhtar, a
schoolteacher who joined a crowd of around 2,000 in Lahore to mark
International Women’s Day.
“We
are not going to sit silently anymore. It’s our day, it’s our time.”
Videos
posted on social media showed several police officers baton charging
participants as they tried to join the demonstration.
In
a tweet, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said the capital’s police chief had
been summoned and the officers involved suspended.
City
authorities had at the weekend refused to provide security, despite allowing a
“modesty” countermarch to go ahead, before a court ordered them to back down.
“It’s
ridiculous how we have to go through the same drama every year... Why are they
so afraid of women demanding their rights?” asked Soheila Afzal, a graphic
designer.
In
Karachi, judges dismissed a legal challenge by an individual to ban a related
rally scheduled for the weekend so that working women could attend.
In
the capital Islamabad, organizers refused to comply with orders to confine the
gathering to a city park where a woman was gang raped in February.
Hundreds
of women gathered instead outside the city’s press club, where police
eventually removed a barricade and allowed the march to begin.
“Women
used to be quiet, but now we have women on roads talking about their rights and
justice and I think that is the change they were looking for,” said 24-year-old
NGO worker Aisha Masood.
The
Aurat March is seen by critics as supporting elitist and Western cultural
values in the Muslim country, with organizers accused of disrespecting
religious and cultural sensitivities.
Countermarches
are also held in most cities, where women from right-wing religious groups call
for modesty and “family values” to be upheld.
“I
will not defend men because we live in a patriarchal and male-dominated
society. But we have to ensure an end to violence while confining ourselves
within the parameters of Islamic Shariah,” said 45-year-old Asia Yaqoob, a
housewife veiled in a hijab at a rally of more than 1,000 women in the capital.
“The
beauty of a woman lies in covering her body in a way that our religion
teaches.”
In
2020, groups of hard-line Islamist men turned up in vans and hurled stones at
women participating in the Aurat March in Islamabad.
Much
of Pakistani society operates under a strict code of “honor,” systemising the
oppression of women in matters such as the right to choose who to marry,
reproductive rights and even the right to an education.
Hundreds
of women are killed by men in Pakistan every year for allegedly breaching this
code.
Source:
Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2264916/world
--------
Arab
women's group 'Khateera' dares to defy, one narrative at a time
Salim
A. Essaid
March
8, 2023
DUBAI
— The Arab women-run media outlet Khateera, which is the feminine form of the
word "dangerous," says that it's creating what’s lacking in the
region: Arabic media content for women that is progressive, authentic and
purpose-driven on mainstream media platforms.
The
platform’s flagship program is "Smatouha Menni," or "You Heard
it from Me." It is a one-woman show on Khateera’s YouTube channel starring
Maria, who presents facts but also offers comic relief as she addresses topics
not commonly discussed in the Arabic-language news.
Topics
range from misconceptions about women’s capabilities, gender discrimination in
the medical field and unpaid labor, to heavier topics such as sexual rights and
honor killings, toxic masculinity and the shame around menstruation in Middle
Eastern society.
Viral
content challenging the mainstream
Season
one’s popularity has already engaged about 20 million viewers with a pan-Arab
audience between the ages of 18 to 35. Of that number, 30% are men
predominantly in Saudi Arabia and Egypt as well as Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine
and Syria, according to Khateera’s analytics.
Rana
Askoul, the co-founder and co-CEO of Khateera in Dubai, attributes the growing
viewer engagement to the platform's content starring intelligent and capable
women taking on issues rarely seen in the mainstream media.
“We’re
creating characters that represent what women have in their heads but maybe are
not able to fully embody on a day-to-day basis,” she said, referring to the
feedback she received from focus groups about the first season.
Some
of the characters like Maria on the platform are perceived as imaginary given
that they are so bold, outspoken or powerful to exist in mainstream Arab
society, said Askoul, and it gives them a tangible figure to aspire to,
following the philosophy that seeing is believing.
Since
its 2019 launch, the outlet has been producing articles, video series programs
and comics to fill the void of Arabic-language content online.
Arabic
is the fourth most used language online but only makes up 1% of content,
according to a 2018 study by Dubai-based marketing consultancy Red Blue Blur
Ideas. Content on topics relevant to or representative of women is even more
scarce.
“What
is common now is the portrayal of an educated, seemingly empowered woman who is
written such that her sexuality is still treated as her main virtue and value,
which is still patriarchy,” she told Al-Monitor.
Major
regional networks are realizing the narrative is changing and that authentic
female content is gaining appeal with an untapped audience and revenue stream
as the industry struggles to engage viewers, explained Askoul.
Netflix’s
2021 all-girl high school drama, "AlRawabi School for Girls," was a
major hit, she said, because it showed a more authentic representation of what
teenagers in Jordan face and content viewers are hungry for.
Also
from the kingdom came the film "Banat Abdul Rahman," or
"Daughters of Abdul Rahman," which she said is a powerful women-led
story about the known but silenced struggles familiar to female audiences.
“It’s
resonating, but it’s not popular. It’s the exception,” Askoul told Al-Monitor.
However, major networks are becoming more aware of this potential. For example,
the Dubai-based Orbit Showtime Network has OSN W, which features women-focused
shows, documentaries and movies.
Women
in the Middle East region had the worst representation globally in print, radio
and television news between 1995 and 2020, according to the Who Makes the News:
6th Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) 2020. The report surveyed media
representation in 10 Middle Eastern and North African countries including
Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, South Sudan, Tunisia
and Turkey, but did not include any Gulf countries.
Women
made up a global average of 25% of news coverage but only 17% in the Middle
East and had the second weakest growth in news media representation over the
past 25 years at 3%, ahead of only Africa, which saw no growth.
The
GMMP report found the voice and visibility of women in Middle Eastern economic
stories “dismal.” This characterization mirrored the state of their inclusion
in stories reporting on crime and violence, which was 19% for Middle Eastern
women and the lowest compared to regions globally.
Giving
up on Western campaigns
Western
campaigns to help women in the Middle East tend to fail, said Askoul, due to a
lack of understanding and imposing solutions at arm's length to an issue that
is multilayered.
“I
am a brown, Muslim and Palestinian refugee woman,” she said, adding that her
identity cannot be separated, nor does it represent the reality of all Middle
East women.
“We've
seen campaigns trying to import Western movements to the Arab world, like Me
Too, to stand up and expose your harasser. But for a significant portion of
women in the region there are real consequences that could put their lives in
jeopardy,” she explained. That’s why Khateera is determined to offer a
homegrown Arab woman and feminist narrative.
“We
are all Arab women who live and breathe in the region,” said Askoul of
Khateera’s team of seven who work with different communities to find out what
content and resources viewers want.
For
season two of "Smatouha Menni," which is set to be released this
month, Khateera worked with the Muslim feminist organization Musawah to review
scripts about an episode on religion.
Similar
to how they researched masculinity in season one, Abaad is a group that
counsels men and boys on masculinity issues in the region. Khateera worked with
them to research their episode about masculinity in season one of the program.
When
looking at Western feminism in the region, Askoul said one cannot separate
patriarchal resistance from other social resistances that define Arab women’s
identity.
This
includes Palestinian resistance and Khateera's creation of the first
Palestinian female comic superhero Yafa, who was developed as a direct response
to Marvel's announcement of the 2024 movie, Captain America: A New World Order.
The
movie is set to introduce Israeli superhero Sabra, whose name is a nickname for
Israeli Jews born in Israel but also part of the name of a Palestinian
three-day massacre, Sabra and Shatila, that occurred during Israel’s 1982
invasion of Lebanon, when Christian militiamen allied with Israel massacred
between 800 and 2,000 Palestinians.
The
fictional character Sabra develops a hatred of Arabs after her son is killed in
an attack by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). Her arch nemesis is
the Arabian Knight, an angry and misogynistic anti-Semitic figure who
transforms into a diplomatic character after meeting Sabra.
“When
we look at Western feminism, you can't stop at the Palestinian question. You
can’t ask Arab women to fight patriarchy and not occupation movements against
them. Feminism has to be practiced across the board,” Askoul said. “As Arab
women, we’re calling it out.”
Yafa
is a character created to represent Arab women in their struggle of cultural
resistance while battling the occupation and the dehumanization that
Palestinian women, and men, face.
Yafa,
whom Khateera dubbed "Daughter of Earth," will wield nature-based
powers such as growing trees, digging tunnels and swimming through soil, in
addition to a shield made from woven olive branches that can morph into
different shapes to protect her people from bullets and missiles.
The
cover photo created immediately after the 2022 Marvel announcement was viewed
more than 250,000 times on its combined media platforms. The first issue of the
raven-haired defender is set to debut in November this year.
Source:
Al Monitor
--------
Women's
Day Protesters Rally around the World for Rights, With Focus on Iran and Afghanistan
Mar
9, 2023
Mexico
City/Istanbul: Rallies marking International Women's Day took place around the
world on Wednesday with a focus on Afghanistan, where girls are denied the
right to education, and Iran, which has seen mass protests on women's rights in
recent months.
Activists
donned purple and held demonstrations from Jakarta and Singapore to Istanbul,
Berlin, Caracas and Montevideo.
In
the Americas, reproductive rights were a key theme after the landmark Roe v.
Wade U.S. abortion ruling was overturned last year and with abortion tightly
restricted in much of Latin America. Women have also demanded action on high
rates of unsolved killings of women and girls.
In
Mexico City, 67-year-old Silvia Vargas said she had been attending
demonstrations since her daughter Maria Fernanda, who was lesbian, was killed
in 2014.
"Not
everyone gets human rights, governments and institutions determine them,"
she said, saying authorities had made her feel her daughter's sexuality and
murder were shameful. "I'm going home to an absence that has marked me for
life."
Across
South America, from Montevideo on the Atlantic coast to the Andean city of
Quito, thousands took to the streets, including indigenous people, students and
workers.
In
Brazil's Rio de Janeiro, women demanded the legalization of abortion and action
on femicides, while in Chile's Santiago, protesters, dancers, artists and even
pets crammed the streets.
In
Manila, activists calling for equal rights and better wages scuffled with
police blocking their protest. "Girls just want to have fun ... damental
rights", read one poster. Turkish police fired pepper spray to disperse
protesters in Istanbul.
In
Paris, demonstrators marched to demand better pensions for women who work
part-time and in Tel Aviv, women formed human chains to protest against a
judicial overhaul that they fear will harm civil liberties.
Protesters
flooded the streets of several Spanish cities to demand equal rights and the
rooting out of "machismo" but divisions in the feminist movement over
issues such as transgender rights and prostitution led to competing rallies.
Many
protests included calls for solidarity with women in Iran and Afghanistan.
"Afghanistan
under the Taliban remains the most repressive country in the world regarding
women's rights, and it has been distressing to witness their methodical,
deliberate, and systematic efforts to push Afghan women and girls out of the
public sphere," Roza Otunbayeva, head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in
Afghanistan, said in a statement marking the day.
In
London, protesters marched to the Iranian embassy in costumes inspired by the
novel and television series "The Handmaid's Tale", while in Valencia,
Spain, women cut their hair in support of Iranian women.
The
death last September of 23-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of
morality police in Tehran unleashed the biggest anti-government protests in
Iran in years.
In
recent days, Iran's clerical rulers have faced renewed pressure as public anger
was compounded by a wave of poisonings affecting girls in dozens of schools.
Iran has arrested several people it said were linked to the poisonings and
accused some of connections to "foreign-based dissident media".
As
Washington marked International Women's Day, the United States imposed
sanctions on two senior Iranian prison officials it accused of being
responsible for serious rights abuses against women and girls.
Britain
also announced a package of sanctions against what it described as "global
violators of women's rights", while the EU announced new sanctions on
Tuesday.
New
pledges
Some
governments marked Wednesday with domestic legislative changes or pledges.
Canada
repealed historic indecency and anti-abortion laws, French President Emmanuel
Macron said he backed the inclusion of the right to abortion in the
constitution, and Ireland announced a referendum to remove outmoded references
to women in its constitution.
Italy's
first female prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, said state-controlled companies
should have at least one leader who is a woman.
In
Japan, which ranked 116 out of 146 countries on gender parity in a World
Economic Forum global report last year, chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu
Matsuno said progress had been made on improving women's working conditions but
more had to be done.
"The
situation for women, who are trying to balance household and workplace
responsibilities, is quite difficult," he said. "Measures to tackle
this are still just halfway complete."
In
Russia, where International Women's Day is one of the most celebrated public
holidays, the head of its upper house of parliament used the occasion to launch
a vehement attack on LGBT lifestyles.
"Men
and women are the biological, social and cultural backbones of
communities," Valentina Matviyenko wrote in a blog on the Federation
Council's website.
"Therefore,
there are no dangerous gender games in our country and never will be. Let us
leave it to the West to conduct this dangerous experiment on itself."
In
the Colombian capital of Bogota, 45-year-old psychologist Paulina, who did not
give a surname, said "invisible violence" was a problem for women
everywhere.
"Even
as we are victims of abuse, they say 'You had a skirt on, a shirt showing
cleavage, you were looking for it, right?'."
Source:
Times Of India
--------
Afghan
Broadcaster Tolo News Airs Rare All-Female Panel to Discuss Rights on Women's
Day
Mar
8, 2023
KABUL:
Afghan broadcaster Tolo News on Wednesday aired an all-female panel in its
studio with an audience of women to mark International Women's Day, a rare
broadcast since the Taliban took over and many female journalists left the
profession or started working off-air.
A
survey by Reporters Without Borders last year found that more than 75% of
female journalists had lost their jobs since the Taliban took over as foreign
forces withdrew in August 2021.
With
surgical masks covering their faces, the panel of three women and one female
moderator on Wednesday evening discussed the topic of the position of women in
Islam.
"A
woman has rights from an Islamic point of view ... it is her right to be able
to work, to be educated," said journalist Asma Khogyani during the panel.
The
Taliban last year restricted most girls from high school, women from university
and stopped most Afghan female NGO workers.
Another
panellist, former university professor Zakira Nabil said women would continue
to find ways to learn and work.
"Whether
you want it or not, women exist in this society ... if it's not possible to get
an education at school, she will learn knowledge at home," she told the
panel.
Due
to growing restrictions as well as the country's severe economic crisis, the
International Labour Organisation said female employment had fallen 25% last
year since mid-2021. It added that more women were turning to self-employed
work such as tailoring at home.
The
United Nation's Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) on Wednesday called on the
Taliban to reverse restrictions on the rights of girls and women, calling them
"distressing."
The
Taliban have said they respect women's rights in accordance with their
interpretation of Islamic law and Afghan culture and that authorities have set
up a committee to examine perceived issues in order to work towards re-opening
girls' schools.
Source:
Times Of India
--------
Women
Fully Capable To Play Role In Development Of Society: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam
(Fazl) Women Wing's Chairperson
Sumaira
FH
March
08, 2023
ISLAMABAD,
(UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th Mar, 2023 ) :Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl
(JUI-F) Women Wing's Chairperson and Parliamentary Secretary for Communication
Shahida Akhtar Ali on Wednesday said women had full potential to play their
role alongside men in the development of society.
The
JUI-F had always spoken for the women's rights and protection and would
continue so, she said in connection with the International Women's Day that is
observed around the world, every year on March 8.
She
further said the JUI-F would continue the struggle for women's rights inside
and outside the parliament, under the direction of Maulana Fazlur Rehman.
She
was of the view that without women's social, political, and economic uplift,
Pakistan could not compete with the world.
Source:
Urdu Point
https://www.urdupoint.com/en/pakistan/women-fully-capable-to-play-role-in-developme-1655760.html
--------
Female
workers in Kingdom’s industrial sector up 93% since 2019
March
08, 2023
RIYADH:
The number of Saudi women employed in the industrial sector rose by more than
93 percent between 2019 and 2022 to 63,892, the Ministry of Industry and
Mineral Resources said.
The
highest concentration of female industrial workers is in the Riyadh region,
followed by Makkah and Eastern regions, it said.
To
mark International Women's Day, the ministry highlighted its role in achieving
the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030, which stresses the importance of
empowering women in the labor market.
It
said it would continue to support the creation of jobs for all citizens through
the adoption of automation, application of modern technologies and reduction of
reliance on low-skilled labor.
Source:
Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2265036/saudi-arabia
--------
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