Women and career are often seen standing at a crossroads
KARACHI: Women and work or working women often used interchangeably comes off as factually cynical in practice. The mindset masses adhere to still sees two at odds implying being a woman making it up to the criteria society deems fit requires one to master in one of the either realms: a good homemaker or a competent colleague and not being able to juggle the two together.
Women and career are often seen standing at a crossroads. Though many in a society like Pakistan belonging to middle-class households are married off at an early age, others continue to face discrimination by society.
However, at the same time the particular social class a woman belongs to might be less concerning as many renowned women who have made it big in their respective field of work have no different experiences. Renowned socialite and CEO of Catwalk productions Feriha Altaf was left at the altar in her wedding dress by her husband to-be because of her mother-in-law’s disagreement with her son marrying a girl from the fashion and glamour industry that society doesn’t consider to be modest. Similarly, many television female actors and fashion models, or, perhaps, women doing desk jobs leave their work as a prerequisite to marriage.
Unsurprisingly, such women are looked down upon and ridiculed by conservative households and sections of society. This, once again, raises the age-old custom of a woman’s chastity being questioned upon the grounds of her future aspirations.
Ironically, while many might be bound to give up on their work or career in order to get married, some women, however, are fortunate enough to be able to work after their marriage with supporting spouses and in-laws.
Nonetheless, the good thing is that over the past few years the situation has considerably changed, age bracket for marriage has expanded and women continue to work even after marriage or perhaps, even pursue higher education. But there is still a long way to go, from a perspective of the common and underprivileged man, the same old tale of traditionally defined gender roles are highly at play where males are the bread earners of the household and females mere care-givers.
There is a dire need to change this, especially when there is an open discourse on challenging the patriarchal setup of our society and breaking glass ceilings.
Muntaha Zubair
Published in The Express Tribune, August 5th, 2017.
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