‘Mrs Khan fiasco’

Letter September 05, 2019
A paradigm shift is required more than ever before, preferably without internalised misogyny

KARACHI: Recently, I got to know about ‘Mrs Khan Fiasco’. She was acting somewhat like an extremist when she claimed that only girls are responsible for the increased divorce rate. The responsibility of making a marriage successful lies on the shoulder of both wife and husband. The words and tone that Mrs Khan used were also pathetic and beyond any justification. However, the so-called feminists were also not much different from Mrs Khan. On air, they were also being extremists but in the opposite sense. I was puzzled when a female anchorperson of a private news channel questioned the obligation of a wife to seek the permission of her husband before going out. She will have to do it in our culture. Now, feminists start saying that it is only here you bring culture and forget it soon after. To them, I would say, two wrongs can’t make a right. If a man does not fulfil the rights of his wife, he should be held accountable and must be condemned. Similarly, the wife should also do her duties. After the recent emergence of feminism in Pakistan, it has become necessary to come up with a counter-narrative. Mimicking Western feminism won’t do. Therefore, a paradigm shift is required more than ever before. There, perhaps, is nothing wrong in being a full-time housewife. This is not “just a housewife”. Being a housewife is no less than a complete job, rather more important than any other job. A mother not only raises a child but also helps nurture a generation.

Tariq Faruqi

Published in The Express Tribune, September 5th, 2019.

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