Society needs to remove leash
KARACHI: This is in response to Dr Shenila Khoja-Moolji’s article titled ‘Stop policing women’s clothes’ published on October 17th. Dr Shenila has rightly mentioned the problem of the notion behind policing women’s clothes. Talking with reference to history, she has indeed made the readers understand better why in 2017 what women wear is still of concern in our patriarchal society.
It is true that often when confronted with the idea of letting women choose what they want to adorn, people often come up with the counterargument saying “so you would be okay if women decided to wear mini-skirts in Pakistan?” The only sensible answer to this is yes, because women should be allowed to wear what they want to wear and feel comfortable in. Whether it is a dress or perhaps a hijab, the choice should be hers. She is capable enough of making her own decisions and, in fact, that is the real problem than the mini-skirt because the idea of women making her own decisions leaves men helpless since they have been conditioned to think it’s their right to decide for them as a woman doesn’t know better. It’s like letting your dog off leash, humans crave control but it’s problematic when that control suffocates another’s well-being.
Wajiha Ismail
Published in The Express Tribune, October 20th, 2017.
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