Misogyny alert

Pakistan was hardly a welcoming space for any woman who wishes to enter the political — and hence public — sphere. Women politicians — whether the late Benazir Bhutto or a less-known, less privileged political party worker or someone as new as Maryam Nawaz Sharif — have had to bear some of the most filthy attacks on their person over the years. And now we have a new element: filth and abuse over social media. The use of vulgar language, vulgar tweets and abusive words have become the norm, both over social media and sometimes even at public rallies. Women politicians — and at times female relations of male politicians — have been the main victims of this new crusade. We have seen such behaviour before, but not in the same manner. A prime example would be that of Maryam Nawaz, the woman who has emerged as one of the main leaders of the PDM movement, who has had to face some very vile hashtag harassment over Twitter. It is obviously pointless for her as for others to reply to such language, since this would only draw more attention to it. Those using such words and such language deserve to be ignored. However, we have observed that at times counter-attacks to such openly vile social media campaigns end up being equally sexist, misogynist. How that helps anyone is beyond reason. And it all mainly points to the fact that women on both sides of the aisle face an inherently anti-women attitude — at times embedded within women themselves.

We have seen over the past few months how women journalists have spoken up about the sort of abuse they face online. This use of social media to let loose a volley of abuse against a particular person or a group of journalists of politicians is particularly unsavoury. And it has led to more and more people adopting such language as the norm. The trend needs to be discouraged by the leaders of all political parties. If it continues, it could become even more alarming. Multiple people, including politicians and women among them in particular, must not be subjected to this.

The growth in such abuse has been marked since the PTI government came to power. There is a need then for the PTI leadership to step in, and prevent its supporters as well as its members from using vulgarity as a weapon. This has to stop. It has already demeaned women politicians and women belonging to many professions all over the country. This kind of toxic atmosphere against women who dare to enter politics can only weaken faith in our democracy. This is something all politicians, no matter which political party they belong to, should want to avoid.