Cover
What You Choose
Makes a Difference!
Women’s Empowerment vs. Feminism
Cover Credits: Tausif Saeed
Author: Iqra Haroon
Acknowledgment
Dedicated firstly for Allah (SWT).
And, last, but not the least at all, for my father, who expressed extreme joy and support when I told him that I
was going to write my first book. For my mother, who is a constant support for me. For my family, who also supported me in achieving this as much as they could.
Thank you!
Foreword
“Choose wisely!”
My eyes landed on these words written under a poster of some sorts, basically urging women to choose one of the two options. What the poster was really about is something to be pondered upon though. It displayed the portrait of a woman; half of her face was adorned in all red with silver chains hanging down her neck in place of a jewelry, clearly depicting that the woman was enslaved. The other half, however, was a more cheery one. It displayed the girl wearing a tee, her hair tied into a side braid while displaying a medal which was hanging down her neck like an ornament. What the poster tried to emphasize was that marriage is a sentence to imprisonment, and slavery. While, real freedom is to free oneself from every burden be it in the form of clothes, or home, or the bond of love i.e. marriage. The poster was posted as a result of many women empowering rallies which were carried out regarding International Women’s Day in 2020. The poster itself wasn’t surprising at all for me, though…
What actually put me to a shock was the fact that people, particularly women, want to basically shift from one extreme to another. They do not want to consider a middle way, a way which might justify the two extremes in a dignified manner. A way which might bring peace and harmony in the society. Or, maybe they are being pessimists, seeing only that which might bring a boil to their own negativities. Or, a third case might be that they do not see a middle path at all. As in they do not know any middle path. Whatever might be the case, I, being a young girl myself, was forced to ask this question, “Am I the only one with positive mind? Or, am I the only one ‘non- liberal’, ‘narrow- minded’, satisfied with her family and social life - sort - of - girl out there?”
A girl who is going to get married in a couple of months or so, in a fairly young age, and who does not see marriage as a death sentence, who is happy about it, is what describes me. For I do not see marriage as a form of slavery, and imprisonment. This brought this thought to my mind, “Maybe I am the odd one, or maybe we need to reeducate our women regarding the true meaning of slavery and empowerment”. And I decided to prefer the latter one over the former one and thus, contribute my part in doing so…
Women Empowerment
Women empowerment is a revolutionary process which works to grant women their legal rights and freedom, and uplift them from their pitiful situation, so that they might be respected in a society.
The definition mentioned above can be understood and comprehended by anyone. However, the real task is to analyze when, where and why do women of a particular area require empowerment. And what comes within the context of ‘empowerment’, anyway. Let’s analyze, and try to answer these and many other questions by considering a story, centuries ago, worth mentioning here:
When Women Needed Empowerment
Long ago, let’s set the time frame to fifteen- sixteen centuries ago, in a certain part of the world there lived a society. A society which was known for its courageous and brave men. They were the ones who had dominance in the battlefields, as well as in their own social setups. However, one particular thing which described this society was the condition and status of women and its attitude towards this creation of Lord. While women there were supposed to obey men in every situation, men used to disrespect them in an equal manner. Their condition was miserable and their situation was pitiful. It was a society in which the birth of daughter to a household was considered a source of shame and embarrassment. Cold hearted fathers would bury their new born daughters alive with their own hands, and wouldn’t feel any remorse in their hearts. The daughters would cry and cry, asking for pity from their fathers through tears, but no one would listen to their pleading cries, no one would see their twinkling tears. Just meant to be buried under deep, dark blankets of mud, never to be seen again, never to shame their parents. Those who couldn’t be buried in their childhood, who would make it to their adulthoods were no less miserable than the former ones. The former ones were veiled from the world in the beginning of their lives, at least they were better than the latter ones who yet had to live their whole lives in complete shame and disrespect. These were the women, who when grew up were treated as a tissue paper, or may be worse than that. For a tissue paper is discarded after use, whereas, they would transfer from one hand to another, even after use. This was a time when a woman did not even have dignity in the eyes of her own husband. A creature who is meant to veil her, shield her, protect her from hungry eyes of the society. Someone who is meant to keep her, love her, and respect her even when no one else does. Yet, this poor creature would be used by some ‘noble person’ on orders of her own husband. The only reason for doing so?
To produce an offspring with a ‘noble lineage’. What a foolish act it was… expecting a noble offspring on cost of the nobility of its own mother!
Moving further, a woman’s dignity was declined to such a level in her spouse’s eyes that he would divorce her once, twice, thrice, or maybe a hundred times just to vent out his anger, and to satisfy his tongue. Yet he would never really free her from his slavery.
This was the real story of slavery and imprisonment!
What a hit on the respect of a woman… who was not even able to get freedom from an abusive relationship. No one would be on her side. She and her happiness were worth nothing to anyone. For everyone would consider her nothing more than a mere animal.
Yet moving further, a woman who would walk down a street would continuously be hit upon by stray men. They would tease her, annoy her, or maybe even rape her under the darknesses of night. Yet, no one would be there to help her. However, one aspect should be taken notice of. When a woman walked down the streets while wearing some head garment, she would be left alone by stray men and none would dare come near her. The reason is very simple, though. Head covering was considered a sign of nobility of a woman. A sign that she is a free woman, and not an enslaved one. Therefore, those stray men knew that she had her tribe or clan on her back, and they would be answerable to them. One of the only privileges which were granted to women!
This was a time when women had to morn over their deceased husbands for one full year with zero contact with anything for that matters. Yes, it is a right of the deceased to be mourned over for a couple of months, however, the one who morns also deserves to be taken care of by her surrounding people. She needs basic necessities to pass this morning period, yet no one would be there to provide her. This was a time when a woman once widowed would be treated in worst ways possible. This was a time, when a mother would not be considered a mother to her sons, and a daughter- in- law would not be considered the same by her father- in- law, anymore. All would fall under one narrow and same category i.e. a source of pleasure for men. They would be deprived from their legal rights of inheritance from the property of their deceased spouses. For no one would consider them worthy of gaining any share in property.
The train does not stop here. There is much more to mention, but, much less to be written upon. Such was the condition of woman creature of this society. Miserable, pitiful, full of shame and embarrassment. Such was the position of her respect and dignity. This was the time when women truly needed to be uplifted. Their position needed to be redefined.
This was the time when they needed empowerment.
For they are precious diamonds who lost their worth to the status of a coal. Their preciousness needed to be redefined and restored once again. They direly needed a rescuer to rescue them from such misery. They were the
Impressum
Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG
Texte: Iqra Haroon
Cover: M. Tausif Saeed
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 24.12.2020
ISBN: 978-3-7487-6950-7
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