WHY IS FEMINISM OPPOSED IN PAKISTAN?
Have you ever noticed that whenever someone talks about feminism, women’s rights or “Aurat March” in Pakistan, a swarm of so called “Islamists” and “Patriots” start blaming the person for having a western agenda, being anti-islamic and sometimes anti-Pakistani? It’s a sad truth that when it comes to feminism, we are dangerously uneducated. Most people know only one thing about feminism and that is placecards like “Mera Jism, Meri Marzi” or “Apna khana khud garam karo”.
Lack of knowledge about the history of feminism in Pakistan has blinded men towards the true meaning and purpose of such banners. This has led us to believe that the only goal of feminists is to bring a western culture to the country by turning Pakistan into an anti-islamic nation.
In her book, “We Should All Be Feminists”, Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie writes that
“The word feminist is so heavy with baggage, negative baggage”.
This article aims at understanding some of the main reasons for this “negative baggage” in Pakistani context.
The Discounted Impact Of Colonial Rule:
The trauma of the colonial era has damaged the minds of the people so much that every new idea is considered as a threat against our existence.The common perception of American involvement in our foreign as well as internal policies during the cold war and then post 9/11 has enhanced this fear. Words like “Foreign funding” and “Western agenda” were popularly associated with feminist movements in Pakistan since the foundation of APWA (All Pakistan Women’s Association) in 1949 without any concrete evidence. WAF’s (Women’s Action Forum) struggle against sexist laws in the 80s and 90s was blamed as anti-Islamic. Similarly today, highlighting domestic violence and patriarchy in “Aurat March” is considered a strike against nationalism and a propaganda to defame the country. We have labeled feminism as an “American Ideology” and after the war of independence from British colonialism, somewhere in our minds, we are now fighting the war for our survival against American imperialism. A sense of protectiveness is triggered among the masses whenever a “gender based violence” incident comes under the spotlight. This can be seen especially in cases related to blasphemy or minority rights. This protectiveness is heavily reliant on our definition of “ideology of Pakistan” which brings us to the next important factor.
Feminism In An Islamic State:
Majority of the opponents of feminism believe that Pakistan should be a strictly Islamic country and the ideology of Pakistan is to establish an Islamic state. The fault lies in the clash of definitions of “Islamic State” between different groups. Even the religious political parties in the country have failed to provide a standard definition of “Islamic State”.This could be argued that this ambiguity is due to their selfishness and ambitions to acquire political power. Retrospection of these religious political parties is necessary to understand the behaviour of masses in the country because the ulema, which shape the religious ideologies on-ground, are deeply associated with one such party or another.
The completely opposite attitude of religious parties and ulemas towards Fatima Jinnah as an electoral candidate in 1965 and Benzir Bhutto in 1988 depicts that these parties are religious only when and how it suits them. Similarly, the consistent affiliation of these parties with military dictators also indicates that the agenda of these parties is anything but a true Islamic state. So it’s no surprise when certain religious beliefs are molded in self-serving political casts by these parties. Hence the hypocrite chants of “Islamic values” and “Shariya laws” could be heard whenever it comes to women or minority rights. Ironically, these “Islamic values” are also varied vastly among the people due to sectarian and cultural differences which highlights the next issue.
Bewildering Cultural Context:
Almost every antagonist claims that feminism is against our culture. The statement that, “Our culture is different from the west”, is used widely while advocating against feminism in Pakistan, yet there is not a single answer when asked what is our culture? Majority rely solely on religion while describing culture but considering the flaws discussed above, it is neither sufficient nor an accurate description of true Islamic culture. There are two things necessary to understand in order to discuss these cultural values that feminism is supposed to threaten.
Firstly, culture is meant to evolve and be infused with the changing social, economical and political values. Denying this cultural evolution means to accept all the outdated, brutal and racist customs.
Secondly, the modern concept of nation state denies any religion to solely dictate the cultural values of a society. The issues with keeping religion as a sole center of culture could be epitomized by two points. One, that all men must also lead their lives in accordance with religious culture, like wear beards and stop wearing any western clothes. But more importantly, enforcing Islamic customs on everyone in Pakistan would leave us no ground to stand on against forced (cultural) diffusion of secular, Hindu or Jewish culture upon the Muslims living in India or in the west.
Having said that, It is easy to understand that people are using the word “culture” only to avoid confrontation with the ongoing patriarchal values in the society. Men are afraid to lose the privileges that these men-centric customs have provided them for years. The actual challenges and threats that feminism poses is not against culture but against this unspoken entitlement. Hence the slogan of equality is opposed as it could disarm the people of privilege against the others.
Media And The Ideal Woman:
Pakistani media is to be blamed chiefly for constructing this flawed model of an ideal woman where women are portrayed as second class humans. The definition of a good woman, explained in TV dramas and morning shows, that seeped into the minds of people is :
A woman can either be good or be career-oriented. Prioritizing housework is essential to be a good wife, daughter or mother.
Even the characters representing professional women are good if they are fulfilling their domestic duties. This characterization has made us believe that a good woman is the one who is good at housekeeping.
Similarly, the questions posed to artists in interviews and shows are extremely gender biased with female artists facing questions like, “Can you cook?”, “How do you manage to work with kids?”. At the same time , male artists got questions related to their projects and hobbies etc.
Another issue with the “entertainment industry” is that some ignorant celebrities, having no idea about what feminism represents and what is meant by gender equality, start spreading hate against the movement. Ironically, they also often play the “religion card” while bashing feminism. The impacts of the words “religion” and “culture” are so strong that people often fail to see the hypocrisy of these artists and start admiring and quoting them.
The Social Media Conundrum
The evolution of social apps has drastically changed social interactions and opened up a Pandora box of fake news, opinion manipulation and intolerance. Apps like twitter are used by millions to voice their opinion about social, political and economical issues yet there is still no solid system to counter-check the facts, to control hate speech or cyber bullying. This could be argued that this absolute freedom has the potential to exchange ideas, understand different cultures and to promote ideologies. But instead of choosing social media with an open mind, we have chosen prejudice and bigotry. Instead of finding facts, we choose the statements that support our claims and declare them facts. This attitude is a major hurdle in explaining what “Aurat March” and feminism represents in Pakistan as no one is ready to listen. No one is ready to find out the ground realities and actual demands of the processions.
A single example of twitter hashtag #YESALLMEN could be used to beautifully summarize how people use social media.
We have seen harassment and gender based violence coming from men of all socio-economic classes and men from almost every walk of life have been involved in some such incident. These incidents and facts have left women traumatized. So from a woman’s perspective, she is never safe. Victim blaming in cases like motorway case and Minar-e-Pakistan incident have proved that in our minds, women are always responsible ( at least to some extent) for facing violence outside her home .While at home, she is in constant fear of violence from her family in the name of honor. 237 honor killings in 2020 in Punjab alone have burst the bubble of home being a safe environment for women. So YES, a woman is right when she says ALL MEN ARE TRASH.
But what have we done in response? Has anyone tried to figure out the faults in patriarchal values rooted deeply in our culture? Did someone mention the unfair attitude of the society towards different genders? Have we considered how the social dogmas created by men are suppressing women?
Rather we started a hashtag #NOTALLMEN to get a good night’s sleep believing that I am not the culprit. The main purpose of this hashtag remained to counter women and to win this “hashtag war”. This raises the question that if the only purpose left of social media debates today is to win the argument and to be right no matter what?
A 3 Dimensional Approach To Counter The Hatred :
The popular attitude in the country towards feminism is not positive and causes serious frustration and depression among the advocates of feminism. The hostility towards feminism is not surprising since it is challenging the years old traditions, questioning religious interpretations and trying to break the shackles of inequality. But instead of getting emotional and antagonized, a critical analysis of the situation could help us to establish a well defined mechanism to counter the bitterness and hatred. A 3 dimensional approach is discussed here to improve the ongoing situation .
Firstly, the responsibility and commitment of the state is of foremost importance to fix the flaws explained above. Improvements must start from the base by including the history of feminism in Pakistan to enlighten people that feminism is not a new idea and organizations like APWA and WAF are almost as old as Pakistan. Next focus must be on the growing religious extremism. It wasn’t long since we had suffered through this evil in the shape of terrorism.This time it must be nipped in the bud by the government before it’s too late. Lastly, the state must protect all minorities and acknowledge them as equal citizens in both letter and spirit.
Secondly, Media must accept its role in the changing socio-political environment in the country. Unbiased journalism along with gender neutral content on entertainment channels must be promoted in order to spread social awareness. We need fresh ideas, new stories and advanced concepts to captivate the audience and to demolish the hostility against women asking for their rights.
Finally, comparing the events organized by the feminists between 2018 (the birth of “Aurat March”) and 2021, a lot of improvements could be seen with each passing year in terms of organization, coverage and management. But to educate people, who are not yet ready to listen to such radical ideas, maybe instead of pointing out everything that is wrong with the system at once, a progressive approach should be taken. Such a step by step approach could prove to be a great weapon in countering religious extremism. For example, starting with the focus on the issues like rape, dowry and inheritance which still exist in Pakistan and could not be easily coated with the label of Islamic values, a large number of people could be persuaded to join the war against these tumors. Another important step to gather maximum support is to clarify that feminism aims towards gender equality and does not mean to degrade or devalue men. And lastly, since actions speak louder than words, the ground work done by NGOs must be highlighted instead of trying to win useless debates and answering idiotic opinions on social media.
These are some of the basic steps and I believe that brainstorming in the light of realities can result in other great ideas as well. Nonetheless, thorough implementation, constant monitoring and upgrading the plan if necessary is of paramount importance to enlighten women about their rights and to spread the true meaning of gender equality and social justice among the masses.
