Female empowerment: Reham Khan redefines the role of Pakistani woman

PTI chief's wife criticised media's role in depicting women as always crying and deprived of their rights

KARACHI: Women should portray themselves as brave and courageous in society, stressed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan's wife, Reham Khan, at the ninth International Conference on Women Leadership on Friday.

Reham was the chief guest of the conference organised by Triple-E to celebrate Independence Day and discuss empowerment of women at PC Hotel on Friday.

The PTI chief's wife criticised the media's role in depicting women as always crying and deprived of their rights. "Today I saw that Mahira looks beautiful while smiling," said Reham, pointing towards actress Mahira Khan, who was also one of the speakers. She further clarified that she has only seen Mahira crying on television.

Encouraging women to portray themselves as brave and courageous in society, she said that women must aim to change societal perceptions. "If you think yourself as weak, you shouldn't expect anyone else to respect you and empower you," she said, addressing the 200 women seated in the hall who belonged to different walks of life.

Talking about how discrimination against women can be overcome in Pakistan, Reham suggested that society will only empower women when its men are empowered and made to understand the importance of women rights. "We need to educate our men to [make them] realise the importance of female education and women empowerment," she added.

"Women make good leaders because they don't hesitate to ask questions and make their ego a problem," she said, accosting all the male members of the audience.

Talking about choice, Reham shared an example to explain how a woman's choice can make a difference. "Women should resist domestic violence because if your son observes abuse in his house, he will take a negative message and might also abuse his wife in the future," she said.

Irrigation and information minister Nisar Khuhro also spoke on the occasion. Citing former prime minister Benazir Bhutto as an exemplary woman for the nation, Khuhro said that nothing in life comes on a platter and it was never easy even for Bhutto. He talked about how every woman has worked hard for everything and Bhutto did, too, to become the first female prime minister.

According to him, it is needless to suggest that women are any lesser than men. "We feel proud of the women who are stepping into every field and have proved how women have played their part in society," he said. "Women are equal to men".

Referring to Khuhro's views, Senator Sherry Rehman said that she does not believe in the concept of the equality of man and woman. Instead, she said, women are more than that. "We [women] are much better than men. We are much more than mothers, sisters and daughters."

Rehman encouraged young girls pursing their degrees to opt for jobs and build their careers in specific fields. She also said that a woman should not hesitate in making choices because there is no force in the world that can stop empowered women.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2015.