Financial Inclusion and Woman Empowerment Panel at Karachi Lit Fest Did Not Include A Single Woman

[video src="https://twitter.com/durre_nayab_/status/1230883356272922629?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1230883356272922629&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.dawn.com%2Fnews%2F1184711"][video src="https://twitter.com/AmberRShamsi/status/1230751544947007495?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1230751544947007495&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.dawn.com%2Fnews%2F1184711"][video src="https://twitter.com/sur_inqilabi/status/1230831928506535940"][video src="https://twitter.com/manalkhan07/status/1230745112268816385"][video src="https://twitter.com/laalbaji/status/1230493229440798720"][video src="https://twitter.com/manalkhan07/status/1230464646164963328"]

The Karachi Literature Festival, which is taking place this weekend, is going to be full of discussions on a wide range of topics such as Education in Pakistan: A Roller Coaster Ride, and the Story of Qawalli, to name a few.

Another talk titled ‘Financial Inclusion and Woman Empowerment’, hosted a panel which was exclusively male. Yep. A talk about WOMEN empowerment did not include a single female in the entire panel of speakers. Even the host is a man! And twitter had thoughts:

Not only that, KLF also plans on hosting a talk about student activism without a single student representative from Sindh who successfully pressued the Sindh government towards a legislation on Student union bills:

As of now, the panel titled ‘Financial Inclusion and Women Empowerment’ has made room for one woman, Ayesha Aziz, after the intense backlash from women and men all over Pakistan. A step in the right direction, sure, but not enough.

Will you be attending KLF 2020? Or has the festival lost the plot?