ISLAMABAD: International Women’s Day is on the 8th of March. And in celebration of this oncoming day to recognise the struggle to give women more rights, the mood in Islamabad was almost as enthusiastic as on Valentine’s Day almost a month ago.
Various events were organised in the city to raise awareness of issues that still need to be made progress on and on the achievements that have been made.
Conference: A conference on latest research and findings in Pakistan in the field of Maternal and Newborn health was held at Serena Hotel.
The conference lasted the full working day and brought together various researches that have been carried out under the banner of Research and Advocacy Fund (RAF). “But these women don’t want to come to you for abortion,” exclaimed one researcher while another countered, “so ultimately the role of the midwives has to be enhanced?”
Meant to provide evidence of pilot studies, the conference aimed to influence policy to bring large scale changes on-the-ground.
“They hammer the problems but don’t offer solutions or implementation methods and year after year it’s the same problem,” said one conference attendee.
But Zeba Sathar, country director of Population Council, countered: “The British Council and the RAF have done a lot in terms of raising the bar in standards of research.”
While the criticism might be valid, the first conference was a step in the right direction and if policymakers show willingness, it will be a platform for them to find the right policies.
Along with the many different women health organisations present in the conference, others also used the 7th of March to flag alarming issues. Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without borders) highlighted the ever alarming maternity mortality rates in Pakistan.
Women march: Next to National Press Club in the vague center of Islamabad, some 70 to 80 women gathered for a march to Super Market and back. A multi-organisational effort, the march brought together many women and organisations.
“If every International Women’s Day event held in 2012 includes girls in some way, then thousands of minds will be inspired globally. The major goal is to mark the economic, political and social achievement of women and to create awareness among the youth of Pakistan,” expressed President Islamabad Crescent Lions Club Nasira Jamil.
Cultural show: A cultural show Ummeed-e-Sahar Ki Baat Suno was organised by information ministry in collaboration with Pakistan Television (PTV) at the PNCA.
Folk singers and Kathak dancers mesmerised the audience with their live performance.
Information Minister Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan was the chief guest.
Speaking on the occasion, Awan saidPrime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had agreed, in principle, to construct a working women hostel for journalists and funds in this regard would be released soon. She said the federal government would also provide additional funds for the establishment of a day care centre for working female journalists in National Press Club (NPC) so that they might perform duties without any liability. During the artistic performances, a local journalist Syeda Batool Jaffri got a round of applause from the audience for her poem which highlighted problems of women.
Sain Zahoor, Zaeeq Afridi, Samina Kanwal, Sanam Marvi and Dr Masooma presented folk songs.
Art work: No movement is complete without its artists and poets. Habib Jalandhari and Kishwar Naheed have captured women’s imaginations with their emotive poetry but in galleries, the field was open to newer and younger artists.
Nomad Gallery hosted over eight female artists’ works. Nahid Raza, Meher Afroz, Anjum Ayub, Samreen Asif, Samra Khan, Riffat Ara Baig, Humera Jawad and Nageen Hayat were some of the painters – miniaturists, printmakers and expressionists who contributed their art for the cause.
From Samina Ali’s depiction of good and evil to Samreen Asif’s messages of eternal hope of freedom and liberty to personal emotions and vibrant colours, all came together to celebrate both woman and human being behind their complex worlds.
Documentary screened: Kuch Khaas saw another enthusiastic gathering with stalwarts of the women’s movement in Islamabad.
Samar Minallah showcased her documentary highlighting ways in which women face oppression from the curse of anti-women practices and forced marriages to sheer poverty, effects of displacement and lack of education opportunities.
Minallah’s chaddar-clad women of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa showed enthusiasm for their empowerment and shared the difficulties they face. But in the shiny sparkly world of Kuch Khaas, their world seemed far removed until this poem sparked the imagination:
“I fear the night, I stay awake…the silence makes me uneasy. Darkness spreads, my luck falls asleep… I wrap myself up with my dupatta, I cover my body… my brother reckons my price, my father’s eyes towards me have changed…my neighbour knows I’m no longer a child…Where should I go, Where should I hide!” These words echoed and the audience swooned feeling the pain in their hearts. And as Mumtaz Begum was called on stage to sing the ‘song of the sisters’ she had written during Gen Ziaul Haq’s time, it seemed that women had in fact made some progress in Pakistan.
Where are we going?: “Yes women have made progress, but they go two steps forward and are pushed four steps back. It is very difficult, but look at the level of awareness today, look at the level of education, there has been success,” was Mumtaz Begum’s evaluation from then till now.
“These events are good for advocacy, but advocacy is such a very small part of what needs to be done. Yes issues like acid throwing are important but they don’t represent the fundamental rights of women that are violated in Pakistan on a daily basis.
The right to life, right to choice, to education, to dignity – all of these are rights not of women but of human beings, and so women’s movements need to not work in isolation but recognise that women’s problems are part of a whole fabric.”
These were the thoughtful comments of a serene Farah Ali, member PFFB and part of the audience at the event.
Ms Ali said it was not just a matter of women, it should be made a basic issue of justice and fair play – women’s problems cannot be solved in isolation.
And it is this diversity of opinion that showed the true force that is in the women of Pakistan. From the passionate Khaddi wearing activists of Islamabad to the bangle-laden treasures in rural Sindh, what marks this women’s day is a great, almost incomprehensible diversity that this country offers – and much that has been done, but also the long, long way to go.
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