Getting in the way

It is not easy being a feminist in Pakistan. One is accused of everything – from spreading obscenity to being a foreign agent and everything in between. Although, in recent years, many men in our country have come to acknowledge that we are a highly patriarchal society that prevents women from being able to choose how to lead their own lives, most Pakistani men prefer the status quo.

The latter feels that it is men who should get to decide what is and is not appropriate for a woman to do. They claim to be the defenders of our honour. These men believe themselves to be knights in shining armour and do not realize that, rather than protecting women, they are only putting them in a box. If men truly want to help, they can start by doing less and listening more.

Faislan Shafa Isfahani

Lahore