Now that the winds of feminism have finally began to blow in Pakistan, it’s great to see women, and even some men, empowering other women. Acts of female friendship and sisterhood are increasing in frequency day by day and it fills us with all kinds of warm and fuzzy feelings inside. Yet, it seems every time we take a step forward, we take two steps back.
When Lulusar featured Faiza Saleem in their plus sized collection, majority of the hateful and mean spirited comments were from women. When Dua Nisar was kidnapped, the comment sections were filled with disgusting remarks, mostly by men, yes, but there were enough from women too, when there shouldn’t have been any. ‘ She is a woman, she should’ve known better than to be out that late’ , some said. She was out at 8 pm. ‘ She is a woman, if she wears clothes like that of course this is what’s going to happen.’ Not that clothing matters at all in these situations, but she was wearing a loose, long sweater and jeans. So what now?
We, as women, complain about not having equal rights as men, and not being treated fairly in every field of life. The undeniable fact is that men are given the upper hand in most situations, not just in Pakistan, but all over the World. And when we already have a large chunk of men against us, why do other women feel the need to stand in the way of other women too? Do we not have enough against us already for our own kin to be against us too?
Celebrities aren’t immune to this either. Not so long ago, one of the top supermodel’s of Pakistan, let’s call her ‘B’, hosted a brunch, and did not invite a certain someone, also a model, let’s call her ‘G’, to the gathering. This did not sit well with the latter, and G decided to run a smear campaign of sorts against B. She physically went around taking people to B’s old home, which is in one of the run down areas of Lahore, to belittle B. Did this mean spirited act generate an invite for G and turn back time so she could also attend the event?Did it make G feel better about herself by putting another woman down? We have no way of justifying such an immature and spiteful act. It just goes to show, some women just can’t see other women happy and prospering, and this is a HUGE problem.
Like every therapist and aesthetically pleasing quote says, you have to love yourself before you can love someone else. Just like that, we have to create love and acceptance between ALL womankind in order to take a step towards equality between genders. Support each other, compliment each other, BELIEVE each other, and don’t throw mud at a situation you know nothing about it. It’s always better to stay silent when you have nothing nice to say.
