Tag: women empowerment

  • Mariam Ansari is not okay with holier-than-thou comments on her pregnancy shoot

    Mariam Ansari is not okay with holier-than-thou comments on her pregnancy shoot

    Kuch behtar nahi hai apni zindagi mein karne kay liye than to think that a happy pregnant woman is doing something wrong with her life?

    Pakistanis are used to watching unhappy women both on screens and in their lives. When they watch a woman celebrating a pregnancy or being happy in her marriage, they see it as a sign that she needs to be reminded of how miserable life actually is.

    When actress Mariam Ansari shared pictures of her pregnancy shoot announcing the birth of her daughter, several commentators were overjoyed and congratulated the couple. Then there were those who thought qayamat has started early because a woman shared her baby bump on the internet.

    There were A LOT of absurd comments shaming the actress for sharing pictures of her baby bump, a normal thing every woman goes through. Like this one cynic wrote:

    “Allah ko kia muh Deko ge behn Kuch cheze prde mei ache lgte he tm log ku apna Deen khrb kr rhe ho behaye phla rhe ho kuch shrm kro Allah se dro.”

    Pregnancy is a natural, beautiful thing that happens to every woman, baji. Wo kya gunah kar rahi hai kay wo isko chupa kar rakhay?

    Mariam eventually responded with a video where she slammed the haters in a video, expressing her frustration at the unnecessary hate piled on to her for simply sharing pictures of her baby bump:

     “Oh my god, the amount of hate I have received on my pregnancy pictures just shows…what do I even say? What do I say?”

     “It’s my profile; my choice. I’ve even had my child. It’s my choice whatever I post. If you don’t like it, you shouldn’t follow me. I don’t understand, since when is being pregnant some sort of badtameezi or behayai. You too were born just like this, so what?”

    The actress also pointed out how hypocrtical Pakistani society was:

     “You’ll watch Katrina Kaif dance, you’ll ‘like’ Nora’s pictures. But if a Pakistani actress who is fully dressed reveals her pregnancy, then, ‘oh my god, Astaghfirullah.’ I mean, if you were really all that great and you saw someone was pregnant, you’d congratulate them; you’d send prayers their way.”

    Sending our prayers and congratulations to Mariam and her husband for their bundle of joy, and honestly we hope Pakistani society could learn some manners and stop poking their hypocritical noses into anyone’s business.

  • Activist Malala Yousafzai sends support to Afghanistan women’s football team

    Women’s rights activist and Noble Prize winner Malala Yousafzai has expressed her support for the women’s football team from Afghanistan, who were banned by the current Taliban government from playing the sport after the takeover in 2021. Currently, the team resides in Melbourne, Australia, where they escaped to in 2021, but right now the football team is not recognised by the government or the FIFA organisation.

    “I’m very sad. I was expecting a lot more for football’s governing body,” said Khalida Popal, who was the former captain of the women’s football team.

    “[Fifa needs] to stand with these women. We want leadership – we need a strong voice to stand with us. Don’t keep silent.”

    Currently, the Afghanistan Women’s Football team is being sponsored by the Australian professional football club Melbourne Victory, and now activist and Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai has joined the ranks in calling for the team to be recognised by FIFA.

    The producer behind ‘Joyland’ was in Melbourne to watch the Women’s World Cup and shared a post of her meeting the team members of the Afghanistan women’s football team, writing that she was inspired by their bravery and determination.

    “I came to Melbourne because of a story. The New York Times published an incredible account of the keeper for the Afghanistan Women’s Team and how its founder @khalida_popal_girlpower helped the players escape near-certain death after the Taliban gained control and banned women’s sports. I was inspired by their bravery and determination. They were so proud to play for their national team and now they were burying their jerseys to avoid being caught and killed.

    Today, I finally met the AWT in person— including Fatima and Khalida — to continue to support their campaign to be recognised by FIFA. This is the power of stories and why we must continue to share them. You never know who could be listening.”

    The Pakistan-born activist urged her followers to read more about the football team and to donate funds to help support them as they live in exile and away from their families

  • TW: Policeman sets his 14-year-old wife on fire over dowry

    TW: Policeman sets his 14-year-old wife on fire over dowry

    TRIGGER WARNING: abuse, domestic violence

    A 14-year-old girl married to a policeman in Sialkot has been set on fire after her husband became unhappy with the dowry provided to him.

    According to the complaint filed with the Sialkot police by labourer Tariq Mahmood, his daughter Muneeb Fatima, was married to Constable Waqas Nazir, who was posted at the Satrah Police Station, of Pasrur Tehsil. The marriage took place five months ago, however , when he went to visit their home, he was told by his daughter’s in-laws that she was happy and did not want to meet him.

    Speaking to DAWN, Mahmood elaborated that when Fatima came back to visit him after five months, she revealed details of torture, including being burnt by a clothing iron and being kept in chains.

    Mahmood further reported that his daughter was set on fire by her husband after he sprinkled petrol on her. When the labourer confronted Waqas, he was shot at and given death threats.

    Mahmood said his daughter was tortured by both her husband and his sister, Sadaf.

    Muneeb Fatima is receiving treatment at Tehsil Headquaters Hospital, Pasrur.

    The abuser, according to Dawn, made calls to a journalist and threatened to have him killed. The police, under the orders of the DPO, made several threatening calls to the journalist.

    According to the a spokesperson for the Sialkot district police, Waqas Nazir has been suspended by the DPO, while an inquiry has been launched against him.

  • Social media shocked at sudden take down of popular Facebook group Soul Bitches

    Social media shocked at sudden take down of popular Facebook group Soul Bitches

    Social media users were left shocked on Wednesday when they discovered that popular community group Soul Bitches has been taken down from Facebook without any warning.

    Soul Bitches was a popular community group on Facebook where women from all over Pakistan could share their stories and seek refuge in situations of abuse or domestic violence.

    In a statement to The Current, the co-founder Rabeeya revealed that the platform gave no warnings before abruptly shutting down the group:

    “Facebook didn’t get any prior warning! They just took it down. I am working with meta to get it back up.”

    On Soul Bitches’ Instagram page, a statement was posted explaining what had happened.

    “We deeply regret to inform you that Facebook has unexpectedly deleted or disabled our beloved Soul Bitches page. We want you to know that we’re tirelessly working to understand the reasons behind this action to get our cherished platform back up and running,” the post read. “We want you to know that we are tirelessly working to understand the reasons behind this action and to get our cherished platform back up and running.”

    The co-founder of the group, Rabeeya, shared a post on her Instagram stories, where she thanked social media users for their support.

    “Throughout its existence, this group had not only ralied for women’s causes but extended its compassion to animals as well. It was built for women navigating different circumstances, a space where friendships had forged, unwavering support, regardless of the highs and lows we encountered…The countless instances of being targeted, bullied, and made a spectacle of are not unfamiliar to us. We, as a community, fought those lows together to preserve the openness and freedom of Soul Bitches.”

    Social media users expressed their dismay at the shutdown of the website, lamenting how online spaces for women were shrinking rapidly.

    “People hated Soul Bitches,” one user wrote. “Because women exchanged stories & became smarter about what they should or shouldn’t tolerate. Women told each other about their legal rights. Women gave advice to those in need. The page empowered women. This is sad. Not shocking.”

    “Facebook is a toxic place for women,” tweeted Digital Rights Activist Hija Kamran. “But SB was a way to seek care, support & a sense of community for them. I’m not sure why the group must have been deleted, but it sure seems like an attack on women’s access to safe spaces on a deeply misogynistic platform.”

    The Current has reached out to the co-founders of Soul Bitches, as well as to Facebook for a comment and will update the story as soon as they respond.

  • Groping a girl okay, if it’s less than ten seconds, rules Italian court

    Groping a girl okay, if it’s less than ten seconds, rules Italian court

    Trigger warning: discussion of harassment, victim blaming

    Protests and demonstrations are erupting in Italy after a judge cleared a man of charges of sexual harassment of a teenager because the groping had lasted “a handful of seconds”.

    The survivor, a 17 year old student, took 66 year old Antonio Avola to court when he groped her in school while she was walking up the staircase with a friend in April 2022.

    She recalled her trousers fell from her waist and as she was pulling them up, she felt a hand touching her buttocks and then grabbing her underwear to lift her up by an inch.

    When she turned around, the caretaker brushed off the harassment by saying “Love, you know I was joking.”

    Avola confessed to the groping in court but said it was a joke. Prosecutors were seeking a three year jail term if convicted.

    However, the judge ruled that the grope could not be counted as harassment since it lasted “between five to 10 seconds” and was too short to be considered a crime. The judgement also ruled:

    “Furthermore, it seems likely that the brushing of the buttocks was caused by an awkward manoeuvre of the defendant which, due to the dynamics of the action, was carried out while the subject was in motion.”

    This ruling has outraged Italians who protested by posting 10 second videos of themselves touching private body parts along with the hashtag “palpata breve” (brief grope) and “10 secondi” (10 seconds).

    Speaking to The New York Times, ‘The White Lotus’ actor Paolo Camilli, who had participated in the trend, spoke about how outrageous the ruling was.

    “My first thought was, how can a person measure 10 seconds while they were being molested”, he said, further pointing out that 10 seconds can be an infinity for someone in a painful situation.

    Popular Italian influencer Francesco Cicconetti slammed the ruling in a video shared to his 200,000 followers on Instagram, writing that no man is allowed to turn a woman into their property.

    “Women’s bodies are not men’s property. Owned by no one but women themselves. It’s not the father who wants to hand it over to the husband, it’s not the boyfriend who wants to hide it, it’s neither the mate who wants to govern him, it’s nor the son who wants to protect him, he’s not the brother who wants to defend his honor.”

  • Saying goodbye to ‘Kuch Ankahi’ with the five times it completely blew us away

    Saying goodbye to ‘Kuch Ankahi’ with the five times it completely blew us away

    From the moment it graced our screens, ‘Kuch Ankahi’- with its story of three sisters dealing with marriage pressure, workplace harassment, taking on a challenging careers- seared itself on the Pakistani entertainment industry as a cultural milestone that told a gorgeous story about the bond of sisterhood.

    Only 26 episodes long, ‘Kuch Ankahi’ won our hearts with its flawless story telling and brave portrayal of issues that today’s political climate would have prevented them from doing so.

    With the final episode coming up on Saturday, our hearts are heavy as we will no longer have to look forward to Shamoo Begum and Agha Jaan kay jhagray, Alia and Salman’s cat and mouse chase and the wholesome love between the three sisters. Let’s look back at the five moments where ‘Kuch Ankahi’ truly proved that it was a masterclass in good story telling.

    1 The men in the drama won our hearts.

    At a time when dramas today think a hit series needs a man slapping a woman or a girl being forcibly married without her consent, ‘Kuch Ankahi’ set the bar higher by proving that what audiences want is not violence, but well-written characters that are supportive of the women around them. The bond that the father Agha Jaan had with his daughters, and how he kept taking their side regardless of what society told him, moved us to tears. His defence of youngest daughter Tanya and her passion to become a filmmaker, or backing Samiya if she wanted to back out of her marriage at the last minute.

    2. When the show made a breakthrough by supporting Joyland

    In a scene in episode four that takes place in Tanya’s room, Aliya stands behind her wall of posters, among which is Saim Sadiq’s film ‘Joyland’, a love story between a transgender woman and a man. It was a small, but powerful display of support towards Pakistani filmmakers.

    3 The nikkah scene that defended the right to divorce clause and urged for women to be aware of their rights in the marriage contract

    The nikkah scene from episode 11 received praise on Twitter when Sofia phupoo (played by actress Vaneeza Ahmed) passionately urged the molvi sahab to not cut out the clauses from the nikkah where the woman writes down her demands, highlighting that these are essential for a woman’s safety in marriage, as Islam has rightfully granted them.

    4 Child sexual abuse

    With the story of Deepak, the son of the family’s Hindu house helper, the drama dwelled into the growing issue of child abuse, as he is raped by the tailor he works with. Later, when Sofia phupho and the family learn about the crime, they take in Deepak as a family member and enroll him in a good school so that he regains his confidence in a safe environment.

    5 Neha and her dream to become a tiktok star

    Any woman on screen who isn’t a gharelo good girl married off at the age of 20, is either an awaragard or too bold for society or someone who meets a tragic end. Especially so for women who are obsessed with using social media apps like TikTok . But ‘Kuch Ankahi’ debunks this mindset with the wholesome story of Neha, the daughter of a Hindu working class family, who loves using TikTok. However , she fears her father will beat her if her videos are found. But as the story progresses, Neha finds new-found courage with the support of Taniya to keep making videos, and soon she gets a job as an actress, with her father completely supporting her choice.

  • Pink taxis for women in Sindh

    The Sindh government is all set to launch a “Pink Taxi Service” featuring electric cars for facilitating female citizens of the province.

    The development was announced by Minister for Information Sharjeel Inam Memon.

    The minister said that initially, 200 electricity-powered taxis will start operating in Karachi, of which fifty will be women-only taxis driven by female drivers. He said that the hiring of female drivers and setting up of charging and parking depots is yet to be done.

    He said that the project will also provide job opportunities to unemployed youth, while eco-friendly taxis will save oil worth billions of rupees.

    Prior to this, the government also launched a pink bus service for women which is being frequented by a large number of female commuters.

  • Ten things Anoushey Ashraf wants Pakistani women to remember

    Actress and VJ Anoushey Ashraf has shared a list of ten things she wishes all Pakistani women should remember in order to live a more fulfilled and enjoyable life.

    Taking to Instagram, she wrote that everyday she remembers to pray and thank God for all the things in her life, good or bad. Ranging from learning to be comfortable in your own skin, to standing for a cause you believe in, here are some valuable tips that Ashraf sent out to her followers.

    1 Be financially independent

    “We’ve heard this again and again but I can’t emphasize enough on being financially independent. Not only does it give you freedom of movement, it gives you self confidence in a world that isn’t to kind to our gender in general.”

    2 Stand up for yourself

    “We’ve been sold the whole ‘be patient, let it go’ narrative for way too long but if someone has said or done something to hurt you or your reputation stand up for yourself. You don’t need to take emotional abuse from anyone.”

    3 Travel solo (or with friends)

    “You do not necessarily need a partner to travel around with. Get your girlfriends and travel to exotic places. Meet new people, have unique experiences and grow. Travel is the best education.”

    4 Learn how to drive

    “Just a skill I think everyone needs to know. In case of emergency or just not being dependent on someone else driving you around all the time. Driving also gives you a sense of control (in an odd sense) it’s cool.”

    5 Confess your love to someone

    “So, you have been liking someone but waiting for him to make the first move. Wake up, girl, it’s 2023! You can ask a guy too. And it’s absolutely okay! Good luck.”

    6 Indulge in a hobby

    “This keeps me creative and motivated. Making time for reading, art, music, puzzles, spending time with my pets or just playing sports are essential to recharge my batteries and keep me sane in an otherwise chaotic life.”

    7 Be comfortable in your own skin

    “So, what if you’re skinny or thin? What if you (think) you’re short or too tall? Accepting your authentic self is the biggest step towards knowing and honoring yourself.”

    8 Be 100% okay with being single.

    “Single is no longer a lack of options- but a choice. A choice to refuse to let your life be defined by your relationship status but to live every day Happily and let your Ever After work itself out. And it will. – Mary Hale (said it best).”

    9 Give time to a cause you believe in

    “Politics? Religion? The environment? Education? Animal rights? Whatever it is that gets you worked up, don’t just sit around and complain. Get involved! Start taking positive, forward-thinking action and see what you can do to help the situation. Raise money, do research, volunteer your time, spread the word – it’ll give you an incredible sense of purpose, and plus, people need your help.”

    10. Work out atleast three times a day

    “Not only will staying active and adapting your physical activity improve mental and physical health but it will also cut down on your risk of developing life-threatening illnesses or having a fall that results in injury. It’s no secret that our bodies start to decline naturally as we age. That’s life, unfortunately – but it needn’t be a cue to stop moving. Staying active is beneficial to us all, whatever our age!”

  • ‘Domestic violence is not a personal issue’: Social media slams Ushna Shah for justifying support for Feroze Khan

    Actor Ushna Shah has been in hot waters in the past few days after she shared a picture of herself with controversial actor Feroze Khan at a gym on Instagram. She quoted a hadith that called for Ramzan to be a month of mercy and forgiveness. In her next post, she recalled the death of controversial televangelist Amir Liaqat, and asked her followers not to pass quick judgement that could lead to people committing irreversible acts.

    Feroze Khan has been accused of domestic violence and neglect by his former wife Aliza Sultan. The two divorced in 2022, after multiple celebrities including Oscar winning filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, and actor Sarwat Gilani rallied behind her.

    In November, Feroze Khan was criticized for leaking the personal phone numbers and home addresses of ten celebrities -including Mira Sethi, Osman Khalid Butt and Yasir Hussain- who had declared that they would take action by suing Khan for emotional and mental trauma.

    On Saturday, Shah once more defended her stance by sharing a detailed statement on Twitter, where she called herself a “human sympathizer” rather than an “abuser sympathizer”.

    Shah went on to reveal that as someone who became the target of unfair bullying, like the backlash to her Indian lehnga that Shah wore on her Mehndi, she didn’t think that social media users should abuse a person and their families for something they “allegedly did”.

    “The backlash at my choice to wear the supposed ‘Indian style lehnga’ and dance at my own wedding, was prime example. So when hundreds and thousands of people abuse a person for whatever they allegedly did and abuse their families relentlessly, day and night, non-stop, I know what that can do and it isn’t fair punishment.”

    https://twitter.com/ushnashah/status/1644702178458710017?s=20

    Shah’s statement has received extensive backlash on social media for refusing to recognize how problematic her stance to support Khan is, and for being an abuse apologist.

    One Twitter user wrote:

    “Sympathizing with a human who is an alleged abuser/involved in domestic violence is basically being an abuser apologist. “even if the alleged criminal was found guilty” so u r telling me that a guilty criminal shouldnt have to face the consequences. also what even’s w the lehnaga.”

    “Pakistani celebrities are hypocrites,” another user wrote.

    https://twitter.com/peesho444/status/1644992794442993665?s=20

    “Why is it always ”let’s forgive abuser Muslim m3n because it’s Ramzan”, that man has literally brutalized his wife, you are not only a domestic violence apologist but a traitor to your own women class, using your privilege to disregard the voices of numerous DV women victims,” another user wrote.

    https://twitter.com/auratsoch/status/1644970742549819393?s=20

  • TRIGGER WARNING: Lodhran court sentences man to 25 years in prison for raping daughter

    A court in the Lodhran has sentenced a man to 25 years in prison and subjected to Rs 1,00,000 fine for torturing and raping his 15 year old daughter, as reported by Express Tribune.

    The rape case was filed by the survivor’s paternal aunt, Yasan, who revealed that she was suspicious when the father, Irshad, brought the girl to her house unconscious.

    The complainant told the police that after the girl woke up, she confessed to her aunt that her father had drugged and tortured her. When she and other witnesses approached Irshad, he confessed to the crime.

    The aunt urged the police to take strict action against the rapist.