Tag: gold digger

  • Mahira weds and the biggest, saddest debate on social: who has more money – her husband or her?

    Mahira weds and the biggest, saddest debate on social: who has more money – her husband or her?

    Pakistan’s sweetheart Mahira Khan has officially married her long-term partner Salim Karim over the weekend. Short snippets we received of the ceremony showed it was an emotional moment for the bride and groom, who could be seen shedding tears as Mahira walked down the altar, looking mesmerising in ivory.

    We’re incredibly happy for her, and we will keep championing women finding their happily ever after- but it seems like the Pakistani instinct to crush any woman in love remains ever present like some disease. Because we can’t fathom the idea that a woman could marry for love, right? Itna rata tou Pakistani dramas ko dekh kar lagwa liya hai.

    A tweet has gained a lot of traction on X (formerly Twitter) where a user shared the unverified net worth of Mahira’s husband Salim- which totaled up to $1 million dollars, claiming that the actress got married for the sake of money rather than love.

    “So in the end, its all about money. Larkooo!! Paise kamao ….” the user wrote.

    Why would the biggest actress of Pakistan- who is also an ambassador for international brands like Lux- want to marry for money? Mahira doesn’t even star in most of the biggest projects currently airing in Pakistan, yet she makes international headlines because of a small snippet from her wedding. The math is not mathing here.

    Why did we feel so necessary to write a long piece slamming this insensitive tweet, since we have lives as well? Because this isn’t just something Mahira alone has faced. Countless women in Pakistan are scrutinised for marrying of their own accord, or even being happy in their marriages because on a regular basis they are met with gossip mongers’ who assume these women married for money. But these women and Mahira are not being targetted because of money- it’s because our ghulami mindset mulk can’t imagine a woman being this happy on her wedding day and being in love with a man. It doesn’t sit right with Pakistanis that a woman is miserable since she has been bound for life to another man, and Mahira isn’t.

    Mahira Khan is a woman who is completely self-made, did not rely on any man to build up her career, and then went on to travel the entire world on her own while being a single mother. A woman living her life on her own terms, choosing to get married in her forties and doing so while having been married previously and also having a son? Not something easy to swallow for a Pakistani man.

    Our mard hazarat can’t settle on the prospect that any woman can be financially secure and choose who she wants to marry, since our cultural upbringing teaches us it is men who can be the sole providers and women must depend on them for survival so therefore, marriage is done purely on the basis of financial security, not for love or comfort. But here is a woman marrying someone she was in a relationship with for a while, and shattering this stereotype while looking phenomenal on her wedding. Clearly the knee-jerk reaction is to assume Mahira is a gold digger, right?

    Have social media users learned about the concept of leaving other people’s private business alone? It is not Mahira’s job to justify to you why she chose to get married, and it clearly is no one’s business to make assumptions about such a thing. Rather than fixating on whether an actress had any ulterior motives behind marrying, focus this much energy on your own life because trust us- by the end of the day Mahira will keep outshining her haters and so will every other woman who laughed away on her wedding.

    No woman owes any one explanations about her personal life, and we hope Mahira keeps on living rent-free in the minds of haters.

  • Yashma Gill debunks the ‘gold digger stereotype’, encourages women to be financially independent

    Yashma Gill debunks the ‘gold digger stereotype’, encourages women to be financially independent

    Yashma Gill was a guest on the Nadir Ali podcast, a clip of which has gone viral, where she passionately spoke out against the misogynist stereotype that women are gold-diggers.

    Ali said that in our society today, a man’s ugliness is considered his empty pocket:

    “Regardless of whether he is good-looking or not, he looks awful without having money. He is told to go and earn money.”

    Gill corrected this statement by pointing out that that many women in successful, happy marriages are earning more than their husbands so this stereotype that women are only in love with money isn’t true:

    “I will not give any names, but around us there are a lot of examples where a woman is more successful than her husband, and they had love marriages…Regardless of these people belonging to my field or not..I don’t like the stigma attached to women that we are gold diggers.”

    Ali brought up a sexist stereotype about women gaining financial independence and abandoning men:

    “When a man earns, he hands over everything he has to the woman. Whereas when a woman begins earning she decides to abandon her man.”

    Gill counteracted this statement by pointing out that financial independence only helps women become more confident within themselves, and doesn’t translate into not wanting a companion anymore.

    “People are confusing this with when a woman becomes financially independent, she is no longer helpless,” stressed the ‘Pyaar Kay Sadqay’ actor. “She can stand up for herself. She can remind her parents that she is no longer a burden on them so doesn’t need to be married off. She can even provide for her children…So I think that independence for women and girls can give them strength and power, not the fact that they don’t need a man. Everyone needs companionship.”

    Gill then gave the example of Hazrat Adam (S.A.W) and Hazrat Havva (S.A.W), to prove that every human being was meant to have a companion:

    “Take the example of Hazrat Adam (S.A.W) and Hazrat Havva (S.A.W), this is a natural thing that evcryone needs companionship. But there must be compatibility, respect and a lot of other things.”

    Listen to her complete interview here:

    Gill shared the viral clip on her Instagram stories to address the misunderstanding that might rise in case audience is assuming that Ali was being sexist, to which the actor had written that the host was respectful and well mannered:

    “So just to clear the air, the respectable host only meant to ask my opinion on what is a common misconception in society. Nowhere did he agree with it himself or said that it is something that he believes in. It was just one of the many things that he discussed with me – “discussed” not imposed, argued or debated. Therefore let’s not get him wrong and frame him in ways he doesn’t deserve because he was nothing but extremely kind and respectful towards me that I was honestly in awe of his nature. A true gentleman.”