Iqbal on women

KARACHI: This is with reference to Dr Riffat Hassan’s article ‘Iqbal’s view of an ideal Muslim woman’ (May 27). I cannot believe that a woman, in 2010, has written this article, without pushing Iqbal’s argument a bit further. I am a professional woman and a mother. I know that by being motivated as a person, being engaged with my career and the world around me, by having the financial independence to demand that my husband treats me like an equal partner in our relationship, by being intellectually and professionally satisfied, I am being the best person I can possibly be — and thus the best mother I can possibly be.

If I were sitting at home achieving nothing and participating in no useful way in my society, I would have very little to offer my children in way of guidance, advice or example.  Please, our country already treats women horribly. Can the educated women in Pakistan have the courage to push their agenda a bit more explicitly?

Published in the Express Tribune, May 31st, 2010.