There are millions of women who are not allowed to step outside their homes, have no contact with men outside family.
NIDERRAU, GERMANY: This is with reference to Ayesha Tammy Haq’s article of December 31 titled “Politics — the women monologues”. I agree with the writer’s intentions of bringing to focus women’s issues but have a feeling that articles such as hers are relevant to a very small percentage of women.
There are millions of women who are not allowed to step outside their homes and have no contact with men outside the family. They are living as if in a prison and are, by and large, unable to cope with the world. I saw a good film recently, made by a Turkish director. The plot was that a man of Turkish origin, living in Germany, marries a woman from a village in Turkey. He brings her to Germany and expects her to remain inside their flat and leave the home only in his company. But the husband suddenly dies and then the woman goes through a traumatic experience because she is unable to communicate with people. This woman ends up coming across as a child, suddenly forced by circumstances to grow up and cope with the hard realities of adult life. Unfortunately, this woman has many sisters in Pakistan. The problem with Ms Haq’s article is that it doesn’t speak for such women and only for those who speak English — and that is a miniscule proportion in Pakistan.
Sharif Lone
Published in The Express Tribune, January 1st, 2011.
