Feminism is deemed as an extremely controversial topic and is not well received by the majority of the people in Pakistan despite the fact that the country ranks third-worst (151 out of 153 countries) on the Gender Parity Index of the World Economic Forum.
This aversion to the women’s movement can be attributed to the fact that feminists of Pakistan seem to be more interested in degrading men than securing rights for women, as depicted by infamous slogan cards carried by participants of Aurat March. But recently, the Pakistani narrative of feminism appears to be undergoing a significant shift. Many women, previously known as strong advocates of feminism, have come forward with a softer outlook on the issue.
One of such names is Sarwat Gilani, who grabbed public attention through her extraordinarily bold and controversial web-series “Churails” which, without any doubt was a feminist’s dream. However, in an interview with Mira Sethi last week, Gilani surprised the viewers by asserting that she wouldn’t call herself a feminist.
“Toxic masculinity is the worst virus. I wouldn’t say I’m a feminist; I feel a man has his own place,” she said.
“I won’t keep chanting woman this or woman that. I feel there’s a certain time when women do need men, no matter how independent.”
She added “A lot of people think feminism is all about women but I feel it’s not. It has to do with men as well. A man making alterations within himself can also be touted as feminism. We misunderstand the term. That’s why I wouldn’t call myself a feminist but someone who believes in equal rights.”
Actor and host of the show Mira Sethi, however, opined slightly different. Sethi assured her guest that “feminism doesn’t say that a man doesn’t have its own place.” She also reinstated that Sarwat was still a feminist as she advocates equal rights for both men and women. Later, when a Twitter user wrote, “Why are Pakistani celebrities so scared of being called a feminist?”, the “Hello Mira Sethi” host responded with her own tweet.
Have asked many of my colleagues this question on camera. A lot of it is fear: alienating their massive followings.
While Sethi lauded Urwa Hocane, Ayesha Omar, and Osman Khalid Butt for being “compelling in their defense of it”, some of these celebrities have also come forward with a moderate stance on feminism. In the recent past, Urwa Hocane also appeared in Mira Sethi’s youtube talk show and voiced her opinion about feminism.
I am a feminist. But I don’t think feminism is about hating the other gender.
“It’s about knowing you’re no less, knowing your place. It’s about coexisting. I don’t even want to use the word equal or say feminism is about equality because even that is misconstrued. I would rather say it is about coexisting and so that people understand that we also exist and so we have our rights,” she concluded.
Before Urwa, Hareem Farooq had also shared her views on feminism and said that her stance on the matter is not the same as extreme feminist views.
“Definitely there a few feminist views I might not completely agree with. But one thing that I do absolutely agree with and I am talking about extreme feminist views, I am not talking about the basic feminist views,” she said.
She continued: “Feminism is all about equality. It’s not I am better than a man, or a man is better than me. It is definitely about equality, there is nothing more to it. Feminism for me is not about that ‘Oh my God, I am going to kill all those men.”
Prior to that, actress and supermodel, Iman Ali had also stirred controversy by presenting her position on feminism. A clip from her interview with Iffat Omar, originally recorded in April last year, started to circulate on social media in November in which “Khuda k liye” star is seen redefining feminism.
“First, I think we should understand what feminism is. Feminism, to me, is to celebrate being a woman. Trying to become a man is not feminism,” Iman said.
When women try to become masculine and embarrass themselves in the name of feminism, this isn’t the right way. Feminism is not being portrayed correctly in the world; we are not getting it right. We are just annoying everyone now. Make them understand instead.
With more public figures coming out with a reasonable outlook on feminism, It looks like feminism in Pakistan is finally moving on the right track after decades of misconstruction and misinterpretation. It must be noted that across the Eastern border too, celebrity women exhibit a flexible version of feminism where many Bollywood Divas including Kareena Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, and Madhuri Dixit not only chose to get married in the prime of their careers but also opted for motherhood.
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