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Most Pakistanis I’ve come across don’t believe in feminism, don’t have a stance when it comes to feminism or simply don’t care enough to have an opinion of what feminism is. And let me be honest, most of these Pakistanis are women.
I’ve noticed that whenever I am surrounded by Pakistanis who come to know that I am a feminist, it becomes a joke.
“What is that even, a feminist?”
“I don’t believe in this feminism stuff, women are just bored.”
“Are you really a feminist?”
I don’t take any of these remarks personally because I truly believe that my fellow Pakistanis do not understand feminism. Belonging to a culture that is so rooted in systemic patriarchy and is struggling to dismantle traditional gender roles in which women are subordinate to men, I understand why feminism is a foreign ideology and one that just doesn’t want to be understood.
When I say I’m a feminist, I am in no way saying that I hate men. What I am saying is that I believe that women be given equal opportunities as men, that they are treated with the same regard and respect as men, that they are able to choose the lifestyle they want to lead without society favouring the efforts of men more than women. That the society which has for too long been structured to cater to…
