KARACHI: The British Council’s fifth edition of the two-day Women of the World (WOW) festival in Pakistan being held in collaboration with the WOW Foundation in London, OLOMOPOLO Media and Entrepreneurship and Community Development Institute kicked off on Saturday.

Although the festival like the previous year is virtual, it kept participants glued to their screens on the opening day.

British Council’s Director of Cultural Engagement in South Asia Kate Joyce welcomed the audience. This year’s festival theme is ‘Rani’, which celebrates all the ranis in our lives.

WOW Festival’s founder Jude Kelly, who started the festival in 2010 and in Pakistan from Karachi in 2016, when she had visited here, spoke about their six-year-old movement here to help women and girls close the gender equality gap in all areas of their lives. “Making a better world is exciting, but it is complex, not simple. It means investing in bravery and courage to speak out about things that aren’t right. It also means building the stamina for change,” she said.

Two-day online WOW festival kicks off

Senator Sherry Rehman, flashing pretty silver chand balis, said WOW was a great way of sharing strengths, weaknesses and sisterhood.

“There are so many challenges, both structural and social, that hold women back and seek to victimise them and shut down all resistance, reform and real public change,” she said.

About WOW’s theme of celebrating the rani this year, she said: “We are celebrating the rani, not a woman who serves or controls, but is a leader.

“It is a great passion of mine to bring forth the voices and the work of the historically courageous, but underappreciated women of Pakistan, who have been ranis in their own right with work that challenges the patriarchy,” she said.

“In my recently launched anthology Womensplaining: Navigating Activism, Politics and Modernity in Pakistan, I have set about defining of what a fraction of women in Pakistan went through, through a historical and current prism, and still face many more problems and difficulties as they will need to speak out and fight,” she said.

“On my mind are my sisters in the Aurat March today,” she added. “This is a unique movement in Pakistan and constantly challenged by those who fear women’s voices. These women march for their rights on International Women’s Day in different cities and villages of Pakistan in a colourful multi-class coalition of women from all classes and walks of life. They want to be heard,” she said.

“Many in Pakistan still actually ask ‘why women march?’ Amazing! But this is not the only question. A great number of people, including influencers, still ask why women even want the right to their bodies and more broadly life choices,” she said.

“Many of us have spent our adult lives explaining why we want rights over our bodies, choices, careers, income, childbirth, identities and lives because these are baseline asks. Worse still, we demand equality and even some power.”

Later, festival hosts Sania Saeed and Mira Sethi took one through the special programmes. There were talks, panel discussions and performances by the amazing elderly folksinger Mai Dhai, the exciting Natasha Ejaz and the stand-up comedian from England Shazia Mirza.

Pakistan/UK New Perspectives

British Council CEO, Scott McDonald launched the ‘Pakistan/UK New Perspectives’ programme the other day to mark the 75th anniversary of Pakistan.

Pakistan/UK New Perspectives acknowledges and builds upon the deep cultural ties between Pakistan and UK, and features an expansive cultural programme spanning theatre, film, visual arts, sustainable design and architecture, digital platforms, music, literature, museums, broadcast and dialogue, capacity and skills building, research, and numerous exciting cross-arts commissions.

Through the programme, people in Pakistan and UK will have the chance to experience creative work from some of the best UK and Pakistani organisations, artists and institutions working together.

Speaking at the launch, the British Council CEO said that their core aim was to support young people, especially women, girls and marginalised communities, to access opportunities. “Arts and culture play an instrumental role in creating platforms for their voice and expression and it is excellent to see that they are an integral part of the Pakistan/UK New Perspectives programme,” he said.

The Rangoonwala Foundation is partnering with the British Council for the Pakistan/UK New Perspectives programmes.

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, another partner for the Pakistan/UK: New Perspectives programme talked about her collaboration with Scottish Documentary Institute to mentor 10 young female film-makers to create their original content through this initiative. “Pakistan’s rich cultural landscape offers so much to inspire film-makers here but producing and providing small grants for documentary films — particularly for female film-makers in non-urban parts of the country — can be a struggle. So, our timely collaboration with the Scottish Documentary Institute and the British Council means that for the first time, through Patakha Pictures, we will be able to provide small grants and mentoring for this new generation of storytellers,” she said.

The evening ended with an inspiring performance by Wahab Shah, a renowned choreographer and performer. Wahab Shah in collaboration with Inspirate UK is leading a programme that explores modes of creating new narratives through dance.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2022