image source, Urooj Jafri
Amna Nawaz Khan, a social activist associated with women’s rights, is also a classical dancer.
When I was leaving for London in 2001 to join the BBC’s Urdu service, my cousin, who was several years younger than me, was preparing to set up her own house.
My father had passed away but my mother had given me permission to go to London to fulfill my long-standing dream.
I was the first girl in my family who went out of the country on a work permit to work in such a big broadcasting house and that too before marriage.
They say, ‘The feet of the child are visible in the cradle’, the atmosphere of writing, reading and art in our house was such that it was as if the feet of the child were written in the cradle.
Among us five siblings, three sisters chose writing as their career. The eldest sister was a creative director, after a few years she passed away.
Saman Apa and I chose journalism.
Just as my mother had sent me to London, she had also brought me back with me after resigning from the local job in June 2004.
Mothers are also strange, first they allow their dreams to be fulfilled and then they sing the song ‘Get married’.
I also got married, as per my choice and decision, to a professional journalist.
image source, Urooj Jafri
Uruz Jafri (top) with social activist
freedom
Your decision both liberates and binds you. I broke some social taboos from the very first day after marriage.
People in my husband’s village look at me and say, ‘Benazir’s rule has come’.
I have always believed that whether it is a city or a village, educate your daughter and give her a share in the property.
In this entire journey, the most important thing has been that my husband always accepted me on the basis of equality.
The profession that we sisters chose was considered quite different in our time.
Very few women were working in these professions. Now times have changed and many Pakistani women are involved in creative professions.
When I asked some educated professional women where they saw themselves in Pakistani society, their answers were full of courage and encouraging.
image source, Urooj Jafri
Sitara is an artist and a single mother.
Sitara is an artist. She is not only associated with colors but being a single mother, she has seen many colors of life.
He believes that society is not free and getting work is also not easy.
Society takes advantage of being a woman but there is more struggle for women.
It is difficult for them from paying bills to taking a house on rent.
Sitara also has two young daughters with her, so renting a house to three women is also a difficult challenge in the society.
Women get less help from the society. If you are a teacher or a doctor then maybe it is somewhat easier but even today there is no society etc. to see women in the field of creativity.
Amna Nawaz Khan, a women’s rights activist, is also a classical dancer.
She believes that she dreams of a society in which everyone has equal rights and development is not limited only to the privileged class.
Amna says that social issues have also become the bane of military rule in Pakistan.
Unless there is an environment for discussion on all this, women will continue to be targeted on every issue.
A women’s group believes that women are free, society is free. But the society is divided into pieces based on customs and religion and all this is difficult but not impossible.
image source, Urooj Jafri
chains on legs
Rehana Shaikh, who works on gender issues in the society, believes that the issue of security is most important in Pakistan, hence society and development get minimal attention, and women’s issues are left far behind.
Until society comes out of its orbit, neither woman nor society will be free.
Afrasiab Khattak, former chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, also believes that Pakistan is a security state, where women are doomed to face every crisis of the country. Along with this, the chains of religion and society are at their feet.
In the eyes of society, men are the protectors of women. Unless women are given freedom in their decisions, the path to their development will not open.
Another challenge that women face is that even educated women become enemies of their community.
image source, Urooj Jafri
Urooj Jafri’s elder sister, Sheema Kamal, was one of the well-known creative directors of Pakistan.
women in changing times
It is also said in the society that there is no blessing or prosperity in a woman’s earnings, when this is believed then it also seems scary for a woman to be a worker.
In such a situation, the role of the young generation becomes important. Girls of the young generation believe that they can get freedom to study, think and take decisions only if they deal with the men of the house equally.
On one hand, if restrictions on women have increased in Afghanistan, on the other hand, women of Iran have thrown off hijab and burqa and have also faced severe punishments.
But times are changing and women and girls in Pakistan will have to pay a big price for this revolution.
After going through all these political and social difficulties, today women like Malala Yousafzai, Mukhtaran Mai, Jalila Haider and Benazir Bhutto have given identity to Pakistan.
This post originally appeared on www.bbc.com