Unless you have been living under a rock, you have probably heard of Nas Daily, the youtube vlogger who makes the coolest one minute videos about people and places all over the world. Nas, however, holds an Israeli passport, which means he cannot visit Pakistan, as much as he may want to. In a turn of events, Nas’s girlfriend, Alyne Tamir, recently visited our beautiful country and sang it’s praises. Mostly.
One thing Alyne Tamir criticised about Pakistan, is the lack of women she saw in public spaces.
While her critique is not entirely baseless, we believe covering our entire population with this stereotypical blanket statement is not fair, or the truth. Some have even accused Alyne Tamir of harbouring the ‘saviour complex’:a phenomenon where foreigners feel it’s their moral responsibility to ‘liberate’ natives from self-imposed oppression. Travel blogger Gul Jabeen was one of the few to call out Alyne’s views for what they were:
Only 5 women were featured in her video, and Alyne Tamir decided that’s a big enough number to properly assess the unique and complicated issues of Pakistan. By only highlighting one side of the equation, Alyne has discredited the efforts made by generations of Pakistani women and the strides they have made towards gender equality. And the comments underneath her video suggest the same:
While we’re not ones to set the example of gender equality and equal representation, what country is? Countries in the West are still struggling to this day when it comes to equality. Claiming every woman in Pakistan is not allowed to go out in the evenings, isn’t allowed to receive an education, isn’t allowed to be financially independent, is incorrect and far from the truth. While Alyne’s video may be well intentioned, someone with as much influence as her should be more responsible with the content they’re producing and the stereotypes they are cementing about our beautiful country, Pakistan.