ll women want are to be treated as equal human beings
KARACHI: On International Women’s Day, attempts were made by many private and government institutions to brand themselves as women empowering entities. They made special TVCs and campaigns advocating for women’s right. Ironically, fairness brands that give in to societal standards of beauty that have been crippling the confidence of young girls and women alike were also the first few to chant the women’s empowerment slogan. The campaigning seemed more like a rat race that also indirectly gave way to some dangerous ideas.
While such initiatives are definitely important, it is equally significant for the campaigning to be well-thought out without reinforcing the stereotypes. For instance, a campaign that was aired by one of the leading FM stations of the country irresponsibly connoted ‘honour’ with women with their slogan ‘aurat izzat hai, bojh nahi (women are an honour not a burden). While the idea of it was to advocate that the girl-child is not a burden as believed in our conservative society, but associating honour with women has given way to numerous honour killings. And it’s time this needed to change.
Similarly, saying that women are better than men and not equals, as stated by Indian cricketer Virat Kohli in his Women’s Day instagram video, once again takes away women’s agency from themselves by putting them at a higher pedestal. All women want are to be treated as equal human beings — ones that are allowed to make mistakes and live on their own terms — than to be given a holier than thou position.
As the wise saying goes ‘if you can’t say anything good don’t say it all’ and perhaps it’s time brands and celebrities reconsidered their idea of being progressive. A cause shouldn’t be advocated if people advocating it don’t truly understand what they are fighting for.
Ramsha Jahangir
Published in The Express Tribune, March 9th, 2018.
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