Celebrate Women’s Day Everyday
8th March is observed as International Women’s Day to pay tribute to the movement for women’s rights. It is celebrated in Pakistan as well because, of course, we want to take part in every ritual of the Western world. The difference is that the latter might hold significant activities to honour women’s rights, whereas it is only ‘artificially’ commemorated in Pakistan. Everyone raises their voices for the movement only from their social media accounts. This year, for instance, #InternationalWomensDay and #BeBoldForChange were top Twitter trends for 2 days in a row. But, sadly, this is where the tribute to women ends.
The question in focus is that should their rights be recognized only a single day? How is appreciating them internationally one day but belittling them for the rest of the year justified?
There are many cases where a woman has been maltreated and then disgraced either because she has rejected a man or because she tried to live her life fitting to her own wishes and desires. According to a recent report by Dunya News, there were reports of 5862 women being tortured and 87 acid attack cases this year in Southern Punjab, in which 152 were labeled as honour killings. In most of these occurrences, a father, brother or another dominant male relative had taken it upon himself to punish or kill the female in question. It may be so that the victim is not entirely blameless, but the decision to end someone’s life should not be in anyone’s hands.
This is just another report on a woman being killed unjustly.
Think about the numerous times a family sold their daughters in exchange for large amounts of money as if they were material possessions instead of human beings. Do you think celebrating 8th March will ever compensate for their tears and sufferings?
(Source: Dawn News)
I, personally, was shocked to see that Pakistan had been rated as second worst on a list of countries where gender discrimination is rampant. It was especially surprising because Islam was the first religion to raise the status of women 1400 years ago – none of which is being reflected in our society’s conduct today.
This article is not intended to bash males in support of women; in fact, I want to address females too. There have been many occasions where a woman has been degraded by another woman as well. What may seem like a harmless comment on her appearance is also a violation of a female’s rights. If you can’t understand that, how can you expect respect from men?
This only proves to show that we are severely lacking in education and basic etiquettes. Parents have to instill these manners early in their children during their formative years. It’s time to take these steps towards making an actual difference instead of just chanting feminist slogans on social media.
