someone reaches this point of a column, they either agree with the opinion or have prepared a counter-argument. When it comes to the social issues of this country, there are two that are commonly presented: ‘but this never happens where I live’ or ‘but this happens everywhere not just in Pakistan’.
Well it may not happen where you live or you may not be doing it but it is common enough to be a cause for concern and consternation to a vast majority of Pakistani women. And yes, it does happen in other parts of the world too, but we don’t live there do we? We live here and it is up to us to take responsibility for what goes on here and to change it.
What is the solution then? That is the most common response when it has been established that a problem really does exist as if the lack of a solution means that the problem is worth ignoring. There are no hard and fast solutions when it comes to social ills that plague us. There is no magic formula. You can go about shaming men to behave better or shaming women into covering up more and more progressing from dupattas and burqas to being behind walls.
Nothing will solve this problem so long as women continue to hold a lesser status. While they are taught to behave as if they are not only deaf and blind to harassment but also do not feel bad about it and while men are taught to behave that standing in front of them is not a person but an object, such casual harassment and misbehaviour will continue unabated and the amateur singers will get to exercise their vocal cords in front of an unwilling audience.
The writer is a businessstudies graduate from southern Punjab.
Email: asna.ali90@gmail.com
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