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We have had enough!

By Iqra Sarfaraz
Tue, 12, 18

This week You! takes a look at a recently launched campaign - ‘Inkaar Karo’, which highlights the issue of sexual harassment & women’s rights...

This week You! takes a look at a recently launched campaign - ‘Inkaar Karo’, which highlights the issue of sexual harassment & women’s rights...

Our culture and society has set high standards and unrealistic expectations for girls. They are judged on the way they look rather than their ability to do something. In a woman’s magazine, there are 10.5 times more advertisements and articles on how to be thin and lose weight, than there are in a man’s. This gives woman the impression that their body or shape isn’t good enough.

People see the ‘stereotypical’ girl as someone who is weak, over sensitive, emotional, and that they are not able to do things on their own. As a result, girls start to see themselves this way, and think they have to depend on someone else to do something. Social media makes young girls think that they should spend their time trying to look good instead of working hard to later make a change in the world. Eventually at this point, women are taken for granted when it comes to ‘their choices’ and ‘their opinions’ in life. This is the point, where their ‘no’ is considered to be a ‘yes’ in any case...

Samina Ahmad, one of the faces of ‘Inkaar Karo’ campaign.

Sexual harassment has been an issue of great importance right from the beginning, but it was not taken care of until the #MeToo campaign gained momentum in 2017. The ‘Me Too’ hashtag, driven to demonstrate widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment (particularly at the workplace), turned into a movement when women from different walks of life came out and shared their experiences of sexual misconduct. Starting from Hollywood, it did recently pick up momentum in India, followed by some action against the alleged sexual offenders; however, it never really made its way to Pakistan as nothing concrete has come to the fore.

A local version of the global movement, called ‘Mein Bhi’, was created by Frieha Altaf closer to the Lux Style Awards earlier this year but it died down without making much impact. Another effort in this direction, ‘Inkaar Karo’ has been put forth by actor-director Angeline Malik, who emphasises that women should say ‘no’ to anything that makes them uncomfortable and shouldn’t encourage inappropriate behaviour by staying quiet.

‘Inkaar Karo’ recently came into being in October 2018 and since then, it has garnered support of numerous women - from the entertainment industry - who took to social media and announced that they stand in solidarity with the initiative. ‘Inkaar Karo’ was officially launched in Karachi last month with a music video which is a part of this campaign and features all the names who have taken up the cause to support Pakistani women and women all over the world. Samina Ahmed, Arjumand Rahim, Zhalay Sarhadi, Sonya Hussyn, Amna Ilyas, Ayesha Omar, Tooba Siddiqui and Faiza Saleem were in attendance, amongst others. Some of them took centre stage and gave their opinion on the subject.

“It’s time we, the women, should come forward and say that we have had enough and we are not going to let this go on” — Sheema Kermani

“In our society, girls are advised against to say no or put their choice forward when it comes to abusive relations, marriage or even harassment. With ‘Inkaar Karo’, I am trying to create a voice for all women to give them courage to speak up and learn to say no to anything which makes them feel uncomfortable or pressured,” shares Angeline Malik while talking to the scribe.

When asked what if people confuse the campaign with victim shaming as not everyone will have a choice to say no in every situation, Angeline explains, “Obviously at times saying no is not an option for someone going through this ordeal. This is due to the fact that people are so helpless in such situations. As a matter of fact, boys (or even girls) do not know how to treat women. Also, they should be educated about right and wrong. They should be taught to say no and guided over the concept that ‘no means no’. This way, they won’t become too helpless to act in the time of need, and they will not be in a place where they don’t have a choice to say no. Parents should take responsibility and communicate with their children right from their childhood to inculcate these concepts as these problems occur when children don’t have anyone to talk to. This is what ‘Inkaar Karo’ aims at. It is important that people shouldn’t confuse it with ‘Me Too’ as it has a different purpose. So ‘Inkaar Karo comes before ‘Me Too’, if you learn to say no, you won’t be saying ‘Me Too’,” explains Angeline.

In order to spread the movement, Angeline Malik has gotten the support of many known faces that have a huge following. She wants to reach out to more people through these prominent personalities and is also in talks with small and large-scale NGOs ranging from ‘Aurat Foundation’ to Facebook community groups like ‘Soul Bitches’.

On question regarding how she is going to expand ‘Inkaar Karo’, Angeline informs, “Since I am getting severe backlash that it is an anti-man movement, it is giving wrong message to women, women shouldn’t have the right to say no in some situations etcetera etcetera, my next step is to release the second video based on men. Secondly, social media has a huge reach and I am going to spread the campaign at every corner through these videos. I am also planning to launch a website where I will pin all these NGOs on a common platform so that if people want any legal help, they can approach me through the website.”

Pakistani social activist, theatre director and founder of Tehreek-e-Niswan (another women’s movement), Sheema Kermani, being one of the faces of ‘Inkaar Karo’ campaign adds, “I believe as many women as possible should get together for issues like sexual harassment and since ‘Inkaar Karo’ is also about that, I felt the need of joining hands with all the women behind it and working for it. It’s time we, the women, should come forward and say that we have had enough and we are not going to let this go on.”

“There are a lot of things on which we surrender being a woman, but it’s time that we should stop doing that” — Kami Sid

When asked how the movement is going to change people’s mindsets, Sheema says, “Well, Angeline has brought so many well-known faces at one point which sort of makes a huge difference as people feel more inclined when they see those who they know. So it is important for renowned people to take up these issues and give their acknowledgement to it as it gives more strength to the cause.”

Transgender activist Kami Sid adds that it is essential for the Trans community to be a part of women-oriented movements. “I was quite confused about joining the movement when Angeline first contacted me. But when I joined it, I got to know that women have the same issues as the Trans community does. I believe that globally, such issues gain widespread attention and we should also highlight them. There are a lot of things on which we surrender being a woman, but it’s time that we should stop doing that. Say no because at times it is very important to refuse,” shares Kami.

At the end of the day, what’s important is that women have a choice about who they want to be, how they behave and spend their time. Women through history have not always had that choice - often society has placed strict rules on them. It is time that things change and their ‘no’ is taken seriously for a change.