Violence and the virtual world

We should have no qualms about confessing that issues pertaining to women are consigned to oblivion in our society. Often these issues are subjected to bigotry disguised as patriarchy. It’s true that each productive step towards gender equality is met with stronger measures to undermine it. For example, domestic violence has never been treated as a real issue in our society (a recent bill that would have legally recognised domestic violence as a crime was passed over by the Senate). As absurd as it may sound, most public condemnations against domestic violence are silenced by victims’ family members, increasing pressure on women to stay in unhappy and violent relationships. Even the most holier-than-thou, moral people make an exemption for battering. But should women passively put up with all sorts of misery?
Domestic violence is not a private matter. Behind closed doors, it stays concealed, but escalates. It is protected by silence – everyone’s silence. As a silent witness to misery, we share the blame. And if we remain ignorant about the prevalence of domestic abuse, it amounts to condoning violence.
This is where social intervention comes in. Sometimes, a little initiative can play its role in grievous situations. India’s ‘Bell Bajao’ (Ring the bell) campaign is one such example. This multimedia campaign called for social intervention – especially on the part of men – to bring domestic violence to a halt. The campaign emphasised simple yet effective measures: ‘Whether it’s ringing a doorbell to stop a crime, or speaking out, make sure you’re doing your part to ensure that women and families in your communities are living free of violence.’ Using television, radio, press ads, mobile video vans, and the internet, the campaign has already reached 124 million people across India.
Take Back The Tech is another collaborative campaign taking place during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence (Nov. 25 to Dec. 10 this year). Its goal is to promote information and communications technology to end violence against women. In Pakistan, the initiative is being led by Bytesforall in collaboration with P@SHA – Pakistan Software Houses Association.
Such campaigns help familiarise people with everyday issues and provide them with a platform to explore, talk, and exchange views on issues of violence, gender equality, and changing attitudes using social media as a tool. Not only do viral campaigns focus on creating an awareness, substantial measures such as holding training sessions for activists are also implemented online. NGOs and ordinary women also use technology as a collaborative tool for empowerment by creating support networks.
The Pakistani blogosphere is exuberant when it comes to advocacy, therefore the Take Back The Tech campaign has received unanimous support from male and female bloggers alike. While bloggers do their bit on their personal pages, they also work together using different online platforms.
Pakistan’s largest blog aggregator, Teabreak, has also initiated a bloggers campaign in collaboration with the 16 Day initiative. The Laid Back Show, a webcast hosted by bloggers Faisal Kapadia and Dr. Awab Alvi, also dedicated an episode highlighting the campaign.
Online activism has not only helped people generate discussion around the issues, but also personalise it with their own stories. As blogger Fariha Akthar participates in the campaign, she makes sure to add some personal anecdotes and share tips on combating online harassment and being safe online. She cautions against cyber relationships, reminds people that online and real-life identities don’t always match up, and reminds women not to share personal information over the internet. In other words, Fariha makes a strong case for the prevalence of online harassment and highlights it as a matter that should be taken seriously. Many women out there are still unaware of the risks that come with participating in online social media platforms.
Our society battles with plethora of issues ranging from physical abuse to emotional abuse, both in the virtual and real world. Let’s hope that online awareness campaigns are a stepping stone to combating violence against women in all its forms.
Sana Saleem is a Features Editor at BEE magazine and blogs at Global Voices, Pro-Pakistan her personal blog Mystified Justice. She tweets at twitter.com/sanasaleem.
The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.

The burqa

Much is being made of the letter Fifi Haroon sent Conan O’Brien of The Tonight Show regarding his comment about Pakistan Fashion Week. O’Brien wondered whether us Pakistanis sent a wave of burqas down the catwalk, the audience laughed, and Haroon shot off an email to the show that sought to put its host right.
Of course no burqas were sent fluttering down the ramp. Far from it. The event was widely hailed as an in-your-face defiance of the Taliban. And it would have been exactly that if it had not been about 3.7 or so Pakistanis making a statement and the international media picking it up, while the rest of the country woke up the next day having totally missed the revolution.
Having lived in Karachi for over a decade now, I am actually wondering whether O’Brien had a point. The number of burqas one spots on the street has been possibly the only ‘fashion’ trend that’s been on the steady increase in the metropolis. In fact, the only way you could have missed the creeping sea of burqas is if you spend all your waking hours traversing Zamzama and the two malls that are ensconced between the sea and The Bridge and then step out at night to attend a wedding or a GT hosted by one of the lucky 3.7 who made it to fashion week too.
There are parts of this monster of a metropolis, on the wrong, but overwhelming side of The Bridge, where you’d be hard pressed to find a woman out and about. And there are parts where you could easily drive for several miles and see women only in abayas or burqas if you are lucky enough to see them venturing out at all. Entire localities, which would never register on the fashion set’s radar, are burqa-clad, which they weren’t a decade or so ago. But then entire localities wouldn’t believe that the 3.7 exist and are Pakistani.
Hang on, though, wearing a burqa is a choice, right? But is it always? In the case of Karachi, a lot of women from the lower-middle class have been using the garb only during commutes. There has been a steady increase in working women who use public transport to get to their workplaces in offices and homes, who upon reaching their workplaces whip off their burqas, roll up their sleeves, and work around men they are not related to. So for many, the burqa is increasingly used to convey an overt signal of respectability and a way to avoid harassment in mohallas where everyone else is doing the same. Particularly useful if you don’t own a car, or have relatives in high places, and feel vulnerable much like 90 per cent of Pakistan.
And then there is the burqa donned to pull the wool over people’s eyes. Walk into any fast-food outlet at lunchtime and spot the number of girl in burqas playing footsie and handsie with not-their-brothers.
The deceptive burqa-clads include those of a dangerous bent, as I discovered while walking around – sans burqa, the 3.7 will be glad to note – at Gulf Mall. While bargaining at a shop, I heard a small cry go up around me as a shopkeeper bounded my way and pulled a burqa-clad hand out of my handbag. A women covered till she had only slits left for her eyes to peep out had been fishing around for my wallet and cell phone! What surprised me was that this particular burqa-clad didn’t raise a hue and cry when a man touched her as he yanked her hand out of my handbag and then started to pull her by the shoulders to hand her over to the police. He later lost her as she slithered off into the crowd of women.
So in several parts of greater Karachi at least, and in large parts of the country that still discourage the presence of women in public places, the burqa is ubiquitous. No stereotype is 100 per cent true, but there is definitely a huge fire where all this smoke is coming from. And it’s not because they’re burning those black things just yet.
And fashion week? It was a smart way to garner business for our fashion industry and if the world media saw it as defiance of the Taliban or the burqa-brigade, well that’s a nice little by-product, now isn’t it?  But we are not like this only. How it made a dent in the reality of the overwhelming majority (who would be overwhelmed if you told them how much some of that skimpy stuff displayed at PFW cost) in a country in the throes of several crises, including one of identity, is beyond me.
Now that I have made myself extremely unpopular with the 3.7s and am looking for a place to hide, I wonder… should I too don a burqa?
Shahrezad Samiuddin is a freelance writer who thinks not enough attention is paid to the frivolous, even though it is all around us.
The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.

Designer Lawn

 
A “fifth” season seems to have enveloped the thoughts and senses of the women in Pakistan – the ‘Lawn Craze’ season. Come March and larger than life billboards beckon every passerby with beautiful women flashing smiles at you from advertisements put up all over town. From Bollywood actresses to Pakistani catwalks divas, these models silently promise that you will look svelte, ravishing and stylish in that particular brand of lawn. And suddenly, these lawn fabric exhibitions have become the latest status symbol of the elite of Pakistan. So what if you can’t afford to drive a seven series? You can afford to wear a designer lawn suit, the acquisition of which is more difficult than you might think. And so, the race begins.
This year has seen an unprecedented rise in the number of exhibitions of designer lawn. Also, the trend of visiting these exhibitions has trickled down the socio-economic pyramid, which means multitudes now flock to these exhibitions. Research for this blog revealed that in Karachi, in a single day, one particular lawn exhibition had around 10,000 female visitors! Each woman, if she gets her hand on them, buys anywhere between one to five suits, on an average. The cheapest possible lawn suit will cost around Rs. 1,200, while those with a bit of embroidery or of a costlier brand go over Rs. 3,000. In a country where the GST might soon clamber to 20 per cent, how are women chasing lawn as if their life depended on it?
Many seem to be “compulsive lawn exhibition hoppers” (maybe CLEH will soon be classified as a syndrome?). They must visit each and every lawn exhibition and must get their clothes stitched within the week, before a textile mill somewhere in another part of Pakistan conjures up a “copy” of the original – which often happens just within five to seven days!
If an exhibition will open its doors at 10 am, you can see prospective buyers gathering at the venue two hours prior to the event. Many lawn exhibitions have arranged for first aid, as claustrophobia and lack of oxygen due to too many women crammed in a single hall, can result in someone passing out.
Pushing, shoving and refusing to follow the queue can, and does, result in a bruise or a scratch every now and then. Eye witness accounts of respectable women abusing salesmen at exhibitions have been recorded. If the salesmen declare that the stock is finished within the first few hours of the exhibition, frustrated buyers in disbelief have actually clambered behind the tables where the lawn was being displayed! Some come back so disappointed and agitated that they vouch never to go to that exhibit again. Yet, one such lady confessed that in the afternoon when she learnt that fresh stock had arrived, she sheepishly went back there again, and returned victoriously with a bundle of joy.
Lawn is pure cotton based, absorbent and ideal to be worn in our climate. There is nothing wrong with purchasing and flaunting this beautiful fabric or indulging in a bit of retail therapy, but given the pushing, shoving and obsessing, aren’t Pakistani women going a bit overboard every passing year?

Farah Zahidi Moazzam is the Features Editor at Women’s Own Magazine and writes about social issues, particularly those relating to women.
The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.

Fashion Week 2010 Karachi

Karachi Fashion Week is a completely integrated showcase, aimed at encouraging increased collaboration between the fashion design industry manufacturers. Its main aim is to uplift the fashion industry of Pakistan, and its approach is multifaceted. In a country where apparel manufacturing maintains world class quality and reputation, the aspect of fashion design has not yet been fully developed, in spite of the tremendous potential available. KFW seeks out and encourages promising young designers, to be part of this international showcase, gaining the opportunity to interact with and learn from working designers, as well as exposing their designs to markets with high potential.
By encouraging Pakistani designers to use local textiles and crafts in their designs, we actually help to boost the related industries as well. All of this combined creates a sustainable local fashion industry, constantly offering opportunities for future young designers, career growth options for existing designers, and building upon the success of the local textile and apparel industry for the benefits of all.
The concept is successful because it benefits everyone involved: designers are provided with a single platform to unveil their coming collections to their potential customers; trade buyers attend a single event to preview, plan and order their lines for the next season. The event is also a platform for the media, which acts as the main channel through which the latest trends, designs and colour coordinates are communicated to a wider target audience. National and international fashion/lifestyle/business press are accredited during this event, comprising both print and electronic media.