he March began in 2018. This year marks the eighth year of our fight against the dominant narrative—one which attempts to silence those who do not conform to social expectations. The banner raised by Karachi was hailed by fellow feminists in Lahore, Islamabad and Multan, who responded to the call for equality.

2025 is special for two reasons.

First, we welcome our Mirpur Khas chapter into the fold; and second, various chapters have localised the struggle true to their own ground realities. Lahore commemorates February 12 in recognition of the National Women’s Day; Multan will mark February 23, and Islamabad stays true to March 8 as a mark against state oppression and right-wing atrocities the city has experienced. We in Karachi and Mirpur Khas will be marching on May 11.

On May 11, Mother’s Day, we will pay tribute to the labour of our mothers, but also challenge the notion that motherhood is mandatory. We believe that motherhood is a choice and the way we raise our children is rooted in that choice. For many of us that choice is made by others. For a conservative society like Pakistan, where sexual rights and healthcare are considered taboo, family members and strangers feel comfortable in asking the most intrusive of questions: “Baby naheen ho raha? Kya koi problem hai?” Yes, problem hai; and you are part of the problem.

This year we also march to challenge the labour that we are expected to do in our domestic lives, the burden placed on our bodies. We will march for the recognition and reward of this burden, as we demand for a living wage, for social security, and for our right for leisure and sukoon. We believe that our labour is at the rooh and heart of creating and sustaining society as a whole. We believe that in our families, our work is mental, physical, emotional, whether it is in the production and provision of food, taking care of the elderly, raising and socialising children, or taking care of the environment and nurturing our families and communities. We sustain life as it is—with our hearts, our minds and our bodies.

To raise our voice, to resist this social onslaught has never been easy. This battle is fought publicly—on the streets, in the workplace, in the courts—but also in the most private of spaces, in our homes, our bedrooms and in our silence. This challenge requires dismantling and dispelling of the consciousness that holds us captive. Aurat March Karachi works throughout the year to articulate and re-awaken feminist thought and practice in our different communities which include, Lyari, Baldia town, Orangi, Sultanabad and Ibrahim Hyderi among others. Our political labour spans legislative reform as well. We unionise home based workers, who have been kept in the legal shadows, hoping to use the law to protect and empower.

Aurat March is a civil rights movement, with collective leadership of women, non-binary and trans persons across class, religion. On May 11, we will march again, with the demand for our complete azaadi from patriarchal norms and from feudalist and capitalist systems.