Misogyny found everywhere – A friend and mentor, who has been an active part of mainstream politics for several years, once asked me if I knew what the problem with Leftist men was. Not quite sure what she was pointing to, I asked her to explain. “Their idea of female ‘emancipation’ is for women to behave exactly the way men behave in this country; with the same level of independence,” she said. “This is extremely unfair to women because here, they aren’t even considered human in the public space!”
She was right. The Left in Pakistan has never really cared about women. While the participation of women has always been encouraged, a lack of understanding of the gender question and the on-ground socio-cultural issues of women in this country has meant that this encouragement has been little more than verbal.
The concentration, as such, has primarily been to display a token participation of women in Left activities and politics; mainly to show that unlike right-wing and middle-of-the-road mainstream parties, the Left is the only political channel for women. While this is theoretically true – patriarchy and the ownership of property go hand in hand, after all – much affirmative action needs to be taken in order to bring things to an even scale for women in this country. And this is something that very few of our comrades in the Left have bothered to try and understand. I say ‘very few’ because in my time as a left-wing political worker, I’ve known some notable exceptions. But these men have been exceptions, rather than the norm; which is ironic, given as how leftist and progressive ideologies lay a lot of stress on the gender question.
Most women here have to wage immense battles with their own families, first, to break the shackles that bind them to restrictive, cultural norms. More fights break out when she decides to be an active part of politics or political movements; the participation of women in street politics is, after all, a huge middle and upper-middleclass taboo. During all of this, she continues to fight against the misogyny that she faces all around her everyday in the streets, at workplaces, even perhaps with friends. After this, the last thing she expects is to experience the same madness within parties that are said to be the sole women-friendly spaces in society. Unfortunately, her expectations are dashed; at least as far as the Left in Pakistan is concerned.
When I’d first started working with the Left here, I’d foolishly thought that maybe the misogyny that I was experiencing from most of my comrades was my fault – that maybe I was expecting too much or that I wasn’t behaving properly; I’d thought of a thousand other maybes, perhaps in an attempt to deny the fact that misogyny existed even in the Left here. But then I started speaking to fellow female political workers and realised that almost all of them had exactly the same kind of experiences as me. All of them had received derogatory comments from male comrades about what they wore, how they spoke, what they spoke about. When they protested, they were generally told to ‘take it easy’, to ‘stop getting so worked up over minor issues’ and to ‘concentrate on the larger picture’. I have myself been rewarded with all sorts of labels, starting with ‘serial ranter’ to ‘anarcha-feminist’.
The problem, however, is that our male comrades have, for the most part, failed to understand the fact that the expectation of being treated as a human being with self-respect is a basic human right; that the women protested because this right was being snatched away from them. They failed to understand that there could be no ‘larger picture’, no ‘revolution’ without the participation of women; and that, women would walk out of these movements, as they have done in the past, if they continued to be treated like appendages with no opinions or thoughts of their own. They failed to understand that a lot of work needs to be done to understand the particular issues that women face before they could be expected to be as ‘independent’ as men.
To make matters worse, in most cases, unable (or unwilling) to understand these issues and assuming that women were just ‘being difficult’, male comrades ended up ‘ghettoising’ their female comrades. The choices given to women were stark: either deal with hardships (that men would never have to face) without uttering a peep, or be sidelined from mainstream activities.
There is no doubt about the fact that the only political parties and groups that can do anything at all about the true emancipation of women are those that follow left-wing ideologies. As such, it is high time our male comrades started listening seriously to what female political workers within their ranks have to say, or the nascent Left in Pakistan which is being rebuilt with gusto and with much hope will soon be back at the point where it was in the 90s: in the living rooms and memories of disheartened former activists.
The writer is a freelance journalist and researcher based in Karachi. She can be reached through twitter (@UroojZia) or email (contact AT uroojzia.com).
Baat to sach hai, magar baat hai ruswayee ki. Great article!
I got the content where you ranted but I am just curious.
Your point is?
Tarjumey ka intezaar kijeay. Aur dhonay k leay ulta haath istemaal kijeay. Shukriya.
Theek hai bibi aysa he karain ge
urooj chutya
Fatima Bhutto is boring
a good kick in the nuts to these misogynists is always a best solution, this will shut them up as most of misogynists brains lies in their balls, if they ever behave that way, bind and gag them, wrap them up in black shuttlecock burqa and leave them for hours in scorching afternoon sun in Karachi summers i guarantee that will teach them a good lessen, same treatment can be use in curing the maulvis and pseudomaulvis who were very vocal in their support of "aurat ka parda", jiss tarah shelter kar key larkion ko pala jata hai na jin ko life mein sirf aik maqsad dia jata hai breeding machine ka, ussi tarah in larkon ko sheltered life jeene pare phir mein deekhon ga key yeah kitney bold aur successful bantey hein. I always believe that this ideological activism will not change the basic mindset of any one as most these so called activists are kids who wants to have a meaningful adventure in their young lives before they settle down earn shit load of money and then told their children stories they face hardships done something for the society while the children have it all on silver platter, and forbid them for joining this "useless politics"!!. Only ideology I believe in "aint ka jawab pathar sey", women should learn wrestling and basic self defense techniques, and how to throw a good punch and how to beat the shit out of a ahole. then any body would think twice before harassing them as most of the eve teasers and misogynists have the same mentality as school bullies they only pick targets that are easy so its time to show to teach them a lessen, I remember reading a long time age on some willage of india some women hire an ex soldier and learn to fire guns and fighting techniques, to resist against "moon kala aur nanga kar key poore gaon mein ghunana" punishments and they were successful in stopping this in their village and neighboring villages, I remember reading in history books about mongol women they are as tough as the men (and mongols were fierce and tough warriors) they can own land fight in wars and whatnot, ironically, the race responsible for one of the largest massacre in history are also the only one who achieve true gender equality.I believe no matter what fancy ideology, social system people claim to follow only rule that actually followed in this world is "jiss ko lathi uss ki bhains" or what they say eye for an eye.
a good kick in the * to these misogynists is always a best solution, this will shut them up as most of misogynists brains lies in their *, if they ever behave that way, bind and gag them wrap them up in black shuttlecock burqa and leave them for hours in scorching afternoon sun in Karachi summers i guarantee that will teach them a good lessen, same treatment can be use in curing the maulvis and pseudomaulvis who were very vocal in their support of “aurat ka parda”, jiss tarah shelter kar key larkion ko pala jata hai na jin ko life mein sirf aik maqsad dia jata hai breeding machine ka, ussi tarah in larkon ko sheltered life jeene pare phir mein deekhon ga key yeah kitney bold aur successful bantey hein. I always believe that this ideological activism will not change the basic mindset of any one as most these so called activists are kids who wants to have a meaningful adventure in their young lives before they settle down earn * load of money and then told their children stories they face hardships done something for the society while the children have it all on silver platter. Only ideology I believe in “aint ka jawab pathar sey”, women should learn wrestling and basic self defense techniques, and how to throw a good punch and how to beat the *. then any body would think twice before harassing them as most of the eve teasers and misogynists have the same mentality as school bullies they only pick targets that are easy so its time to show to teach them a lessen, I remember reading a long time age on some village of india some women hire an ex soldier and learn to fire guns and fighting techniques, to resist against “moon kala aur nanga kar key poore gaon mein ghunana” punishments and they were successful in stopping this in their village and neighbouring villages, I remember reading in history books about mongol women they are as tough as the men (and mongols were fierce and tough warriors) they can own land. fight in wars and whatnot, ironically, the race responsible for one of the largest massacre in history are also the only one who achieve true gender equality.I believe no matter what fancy ideology, social system people claim to follow only rule that actually followed in this world is “jiss ko lathi uss ki bhains” or what they say eye for an eye.
What a fine article! Still better than what I’d have expected anyway from this even extremely talented writer with her distinctive spontaneous style–one completely free of affectation or rhetorical padding. I’d feel privileged if it turned out Urooj counted *this* male as an “exception.” Sharing! 🙂
Sorry, Urooj, for my using “even” and “anyway” by mistake at the same time. 🙂
Well done for speaking out loud and clear.
“How many of us cook or help their wives in kitchen?” This was a question posed in a meeting of the Karachi Committee of the Communist Party of Pakistan in 1986 (the year is not exact.). Only two out of 11 did ‘help’.
The rest hushed up the question; ”Comrade, there are more pressing matters on agenda. We are a political party, after all. Not a social club.”
Hahahah exactly! We had asked the exact same question in 2007 or 2008 during a monthly meeting of the Karachi committee of the Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party. We got the same response as you. In fact, the president of the committee actually went ahead and said, “If my wife weren't subservient to me, I wouldn't be able to take active part in politics.” Shocked me into silence for an entire minute. Kuch bhi nahi badla hai humarey yahaaN. 🙂
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