UN Women Pakistan recently released a video showing prominent Pakistani female celebrities standing up against domestic and sexual abuse. The video was part of a campaign titled “BeatMe”, showing a woman inviting a man to beat her – but at things she is good at.
The video featured accomplished women like Samina Baig, Aamina Sheikh, Momina Mustehsan, and Sana Bucha. A press meet was held at Avari Hotel on Wednesday to discuss the campaign and share the inspiration behind it.
Supermodel Cybil Chaudhry moderated the discussion while women entrepreneurs spoke on the importance of speaking up against gender-based violence.
UN Women Country Representative Jamshed Kazi while introducing the campaign said it gave rise to the conversation on violence against women. He said that the campaign drives home a universal message that verbal and physical violence against women in Pakistan and beyond is unacceptable – this is not normal, and it cannot continue.
“If men treat women as badly as they choose to – beating, burning, abusing or killing them – with little or no consequence, it negates all efforts to build a safe world in which women and girls can flourish”, he said.
Jamshed further said that in every country, there are very resilient, resourceful, talented and brave women and girls and the campaign aims at celebrating their strengths and achievements as being ‘unbeatable’, and acknowledges women’s equality as a driving force for successful societies and nations.
Although the campaign received a lot of appreciation on social media, the name “Beat Me” also generated controversy. While reacting to the criticism Jamshed said the idea was to choose a name that would attract public attention. In response to a question asking why the campaign wasn’t named in Urdu, Jamshed said that it wouldn’t have made the effect. “This was an experiment that went good, but a 60-second video cannot show a lot”, he said.
Discussing the mindset that enables violence against women, Jamshed Kazi said that even after a lot of progress in recognising the rights of women, men’s role hasn’t changed much. “The guy still has a remote in his hand and it’s the woman doing all the household work”, he said.
Another panellist, Fiza Farhan, who also chairs the Chief Minister Task Force on Women and was part of the video, said that anything that attempts to question violence against women is deemed anti-men. The idea behind the campaign was to show something different that promotes equality and showcases that women are just as capable as men, she said.
Fiza further said that the video is also meant for men because the need of the hour is that men and women coexist, and join hands to end the violence women are being subjected to. She said that every accomplished woman did have a male member of the family who supported her, adding that men’s support is indeed crucial for a woman and helps her achieve her goal.
The panellists also discussed how in most cases it’s always a woman somehow responsible for bringing another woman down – by refusing to stand up against the violence and sometimes even being directly responsible for it. For this to end, the first step is to start having a proper conversation, and the campaign aims to achieve just that, they said.
Talking to Pakistan Today, Depilex owner Massarat Misbah, who was at the event to support the initiative, said that this campaign is important because women need to know their rights and that how good it is to have freedom.
The event was attended by prominent personalities who have lent their support to ending violence and discrimination against women including Naz Mansha, Maheen Kardar Ali and Hamza Tarar.
