THE AURAT MARCH IN PERSPECTIVE

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2020/03/08/aurat-march-perspective/

A well-known male playwright’s despicable invective against a female activist on a television show has a horrifying number of supporters. You wonder which of his words make people support him. Is it asking a woman to ‘go take a look at your body!’ and ‘what the hell is it like?’ Is it telling her that he would ‘spit on her’? Or is it calling her an ‘ulloo ki patthi’, a foul phrase of abuse? That was not all the ‘man’ said to the woman on the show, but it was enough to indicate the stuff he is made of, and it is nothing smart, civilised or humane.

As for the lady who has been attacked, she has stood up for many aspects of women’s rights over the years and has been greatly persecuted as a result. She is probably used to it, which does not excuse any of it.

It has been said that this was a ploy for free publicity, that she provoked him by interrupting him repeatedly while he spoke… none of which excuses him. No decent man would speak anyone this way, let alone to a woman. His words should actually be enough to make all self-respecting television channels refuse to carry his plays or seek out his opinion.

Perhaps the episode served a purpose by putting the Aurat March in the spotlight, and in perspective. Certainly, with opinions such as the playwright’s and his supporters, the March becomes even more pertinent.

What, after all, does the Aurat March demand as per its charter?

The charter calls for environmental justice, rights to the city, greater political participation of women, transgender and non-binary people, an end to the sexist treatment of women and transgender persons, and rights for the disabled.

Despite laws for the provision of disabled services, exceedingly few places provide them in Pakistan.

And despite the fact that transgender persons are now eligible for identity cards, they are subject to a great deal of discrimination.

In 2018, the State of Nevada in the USA became the first State in the country with a majority of women in the legislature. The results were as follows:

Firefighters, who have a higher rate of cancer due to exposure, were given suitable compensation in case of this illness. Employees were allowed at least 40 hours of paid leave, including sick leave, per year. Gender discrimination in salaries became illegal. Laws relating to sexual violence and assault and sex trafficking were passed.

So, back to the Aurat March, whose charter also demands economic justice.

According to a study of a 149 countries, Pakistan comes out second from the bottom regarding gender equality. Only 25 percet women may be found in the workforce, while the world average is almost double that figure. One reason of course is that while Pakistan’s overall literacy rate is just around 58 percent, only a small proportion of this consists of females. The greater proportion is male. What’s more, according to a World Bank Global Index Report in 2017, only seven percent of women in the country have financial accounts.

The charter demands minority rights and an end to forced conversions for all, but in this case, of course, particularly for women.

There is little protection for women in Pakistan (witness the way the playwright spoke to the Activist… and got away with it) but minority women have the additional dagger of forced marriages, conversions and allegations of blasphemy hanging above their heads, the latter for both men and women. Let’s not forget Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman, accused and in prison for years following charges of blasphemy on exceedingly flimsy evidence. She has since found asylum in another country. A matter of great shame for Pakistan. In addition there are the cases of Hindu women, allegedly abducted and forced to marry Muslim men, and minority women (and men) killed with few repercussions for the killers.

The charter demands an end to violence and sexual harassment of women.

A study by Human’s Rights Watch carried out a few years ago “estimated that 20 to 30 percent of women in Pakistan have suffered some form of abuse. An estimated 5000 women are killed per year as a result of domestic violence, with thousands of others maimed or disabled.”

According to a survey conducted last year by the Punjab Bureau of Statistics and the Punjab Commission of the Status of Women, in Punjab alone one in every three women between the ages of 15 and 64 has faced some form of violence.

Once again, according to a report produced by Pakistan’s Family Planning and Services Commission, ‘in Pakistan one in every five women wish to use contraceptives but do not have access to them.” As a result the country has around 10 percent of global unsafe abortions and a very high maternal and newborn mortality rate.

Which of these demands is indecent, and not supported by the religion of the majority of this country?

All the above also makes the Aurat March slogan: Mera Jism Meri Marzi extremely pertinent.

There is a simple reason for constraints, discrimination and persecution of any sort, and that reason is Fear.

The furore against the Aurat March, the paranoia against immigration, and religious intolerance, it is fear that leads to all of these. The end result is never positive.

Europe saw its era of persecution. Under Nero, Rome started a policy of persecuting monotheists. This ended a few years later, following which Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire in 380 AD. After the Jewish Holocaust in Germany the Jews managed to get their own homeland.

Women fought and obtained the right to suffrage, and God willing they will also obtain their rights in Pakistan, along with justice and non-discrimination, despite men who condemn these fundamental human rights– not for themselves but for women– only because they fear that this will spell an end to their right to treat women with disrespect, dishonor, and cruelty.