To divert their attentions towards village women than catering to those who already are independent
ISLAMABAD: Women in almost every village of Pakistan live restricted lives. They spend almost all of their lives serving their homes — making food, heating water, walking for miles to bring fodder for animals, taking care of children and so on and so forth. They don’t have time to take care of themselves or think about their future.
They are often not even allowed to visit doctors in urban centres and are left to the hands of those who don’t have proper degrees to practise medicine. If they complain about their illnesses a lot, some husbands remarry, only leaving the second wife to the same fate as the first one.
Feminist activism mostly takes place in urban areas. Urbanites have access to electronic as well as social media, and feminists extensively use these facilities, only occasionally arranging seminars for rural women. But seminars do nothing, if they did then village women would not have been living depressed lives.
So I would urge feminists to divert their attentions towards village women than catering to those who already are independent and can take care of themselves. They should take practical steps to free our caged women living in villages. However, it is not just the duty of feminists but it’s the moral responsibility of every citizen to do this.
The incumbent government should build home-economics schools and colleges in villages because village girls and women are talented and can learn every skill.
Muhammad Irshad Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, December 6th, 2018.
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