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The desi manic pixie: The totka for our men’s failures
While watching an episode of a popular drama ‘Gumrah’ with my mom, I realised our playwriters have created their own desi manic pixie dream girl. And even though I am not a regular drama viewer, I have...
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From Fatima Jinnah to Nasira Iqbal: Can Pakistan make the choice 53 years later?
The first woman to run for Pakistan’s presidential elections did so in 1965, and it was Fatima Jinnah versus Ayub Khan. The latter swept the elections and was sworn in as president. That was 53 years...
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What independence are we celebrating?
Some 71 years ago, people from all over subcontinent left their homes and took roads laced with perils to reach the ‘land of pure’. What made them leave their lives behind to move to an unknown land...
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Rawalakot, Kashmir is known for its beauty but it should be recognised for...
The sound of the phrase, “women are not allowed to work” was so unfamiliar to me, until I reached university. I grew up seeing progressive, working women, like my mother and other relatives, in the...
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The fault in our minds: Bushra Maneka’s attire is her business and choice,...
While Pakistan’s political fate is changing, the people of this nation believe there is something more important that needs to be focused on. Yes, unfortunately, that topic is Bushra Maneka’s choice of...
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Promiscuous hypocrisy: “Yaar, she has already slept with me. How can I marry...
I casually asked my friend when we met at a coffee shop last week, “So, when are you going to marry her?” “What do you mean?” My friend was probably not ready for this question. “I mean, when will...
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From a man’s perspective: Why Pakistani men murder women for saying ‘no’
As cases keep coming to the forefront on a regular basis, the question of why Pakistani women are killed for rejecting male advances will sooner or later have to be answered. The killing of a young...
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When Sadaf Kanwal threw her privilege all over the place
I remember the first time I saw an ad featuring Sadaf Kanwal. I was walking past a clothing shop, and I stared into her big bold eyes, encompassing the entirety of a wall. I was thinking about how...
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The scars of her henna
Zarah Hussain, a 17-year-old girl from Lahore Grammar School International, won an essay competition organised by the British Royal Commonwealth Society. This is a proud moment for Pakistan and...
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Sindh may lack basic amenities but its women surely know how to break glass...
From the very moment they are born, our girls are taught they are dependent upon the men in the family. As the girls become women, they grow up believing they need their fathers, brothers, husbands or...
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The year that #Metoo was reborn, and with it the sisterhood of victims
It is the defining moment of the year gone by, not because it finally became part of a global movement but more so because it took a second wind to unsettle the dominant voices of patriarchal corridors...
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The road not taken: Going to Cambridge or getting married
In Pakistan, and in my native language Urdu, woman translates into aurat, which comes from the Persian awrah, meaning “parts to be protected”. Literally, too, in my present Muslim, closed-knit,...
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#AqalOverShakal: Why is society suffocating me?
I was told to walk straight, shoulders back and, in short, not like a man. I often talk with a natural deep voice and receive raised eyebrows in return. I have 80% male friends with whom I can just be...
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Dishonoured
For every person, there is one emotion they can never handle with ease. For me, that emotion is anxiety. As I stand amidst the neon lights and blaring music, my hands are sweating profusely and my eyes...
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The irony and hypocrisy of Shaan Shahid mansplaining ‘culture and respect’
For as long as Pakistanis can remember, Shaan Shahid has been a staple of Pakistani cinema. In the past, he was that guy in every Punjabi movie, and post-revival of Pakistani cinema, he became that guy...
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Will she ever learn?
Her heels clicked as she briskly walked on the cemented sidewalk. It grew darker and darker as the sun drowned behind the mountains. The shadows grew taller and the evening got chillier. Her hair...
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Criminalising abortions and miscarriages: Is America going back to the Dark...
America is an exceptionally confusing place. Doctors in Alabama can now face up to 99 years in prison for performing an abortion, whereas people like poster boy Stanford swimmer Brock Turner face six...
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The unforgettable iconic queens of 70s cinema
The 70s was a golden era for the silver screen in Pakistan – the wave of retro glamour queens. These women redefined the cinematic footprint marking the future of Pakistani cinema in decades to come....
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Dishonesty: an enduring tool that women carry to survive
Whether it is the fashion industry with their unrealistic beauty standards, politics with their manifestos and sham alliances, biased education systems with fixed agendas or desperate-for-profit...
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Pakistan must ensure that women are included in the family planning process
Her backache is better, and she is feeling relieved for more than one reason. An hour ago, Azra got an Intrauterine Contraceptive Device (IUCD) which she calls a challa (ring) inserted, with her own...
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