Sometimes the ill-conceived communication strategies and the miserable execution mythologies destroyed the basic objectives of an entire movement. History is replete of such examples and instances and a similar thing happened in Pakistan most recently when some feminists have destroyed the entire spirit of women’s rights movement in the country.
The implementation of the feminist agenda by a few selective icons of feminists did a major setback to the millions of dollars funds of the international donors and philanthropists who were actually working for making awareness on women’s rights and protection.
Following the ‘Women-March’ in Pakistan, a new debate in the country has been triggered that actually overshadowed the real women issues and bottom-line problems which were eyed in connection with ‘Women Emancipation’ and rights of women in a male dominating society.
A few feminists have almost hijacked the objectives of the entire women movement in Pakistan and turned the movement into controversies contrary to milestones achieved in the past. It has also undermined the efforts and the sacrifices of those women who have been fighting for the women’s rights and to contain challenges that a Pakistani woman is facing.
Pakistan is a country where propaganda and disinformation rule people’s minds. A general perception about the feminists who got a very strong hold on the women movements recently in Pakistan is that they are a few handful-divorced women who are coming out in a revengeful mood to sabotage the well-settled happy families’ setup. I do not agree with this perception but it has been widely circulated in society and highly damaging to women’s rights. It all happened due to the wrong communication strategies and executions.
There have been huge flaws and blunders in the proper utilization of the donor’s funds in Pakistan that have been commissioned in the name of the rights of the women protections. These funds are not being used for those objectives against which they have been approved.
A country where such kinds of taboo issues are so strong that even hard to talk and communicate, the communications strategies for such projects should be designed very professionally ahead of execution and relating implications.
In recent weeks, a few debates have totally changed the whole narrative of women’s rights in Pakistan. The international women’s day theme was blurred by some inadequate slogans and placards of feminists, which draw attention from scores of sections of society being indecent.
There has been a huge donation in Pakistan for the redress of the actual women’s problems and empowerment. Nevertheless this time the more focus of the so-called women procession was focused on sexual liberty and freedom by raising the slogan of ‘Mera Jism-Meri Marzi’ (My Body-My Choice). To bring a sexual revolution in society and to fight for women’s rights are two different subjects that were neither defined nor explained in objectives by the organizers of ‘Aurat March’.
Not all-international funding for women emancipation in Pakistan has been used for setting up the wrong agendas. There are dozens of projects in which the international donations have achieved remarkable goals and proved highly beneficial for the women and their empowerment.
The international donors should think about whether they are implementing a feminist agenda in Pakistan or they are looking for the true women empowerment and to fight for the actual women issues.
Feminist’s aggressive approach is leading towards a clash of genders in Pakistan. Pakistan is a country where the divorce ratio is less as compared to many other countries in Asia. There are strong family bonds and even in some parts of the country, the whole families are very much interconnected and strongly affiliated with each other. So the culture of the joint family system still exists in rural areas of the various provinces of Pakistan.
The recent debates have rung alarm bells in the minds of common people and they feel insecure about their families bonding seeing the persecution of ‘Aurat March’ (Women March) specifically seeing the objectives as inked on placards of the participants of the ‘Aurat March’ (Women March).
The international donors must open their eyes before funding a few notorious feminists who are actually itself a major threat to women’s rights. There are actual women activists but they have been pushed behind the scene by the influential feminists who are experts in harboring the agenda of anyone.