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Dependent Women of Pakistan - by Syed Haris Ali

Muzna Amina 24090015

I feel immensely ashamed to be a part of society where being a female is same as someone with 100 owners. Since the birth the females are taught and raised as someone who is answerable to almost all the family members may it be uncles, cousins, brother and least the father. A society where the females are not allowed to play outside the home, not allowed to play sports that are associated with men, not allowed to wear clothes that they feel comfortable in, not allowed to study the field they love because they have to get married, not allowed to cough, sneeze, and burp properly because they are females.




I wonder what they are allowed to do. Most families in Pakistan are hesitant to invest in their education because most of them are busy in saving for their dowry. The same female child then is forced to be dependent on her husband for the rest of their life. I have saying some females that which house do we call our home? Our parents disown us after marriage and in our husband’s house, we are always threated to be kicked out. The dependent, uneducated, unskillful females are then abused at every step of their life because they were not allowed to be someone they wanted. Deprived of having the quality education and equal opportunities are then thrown away into the fire of marriage. The same culture is promoted in our drama serials.



Out of all the issues the issue of Mother-in-law and Daughter in law is deemed most important and is discussed in almost all the stories of dramas in Pakistan. The power to represent and highlight the actual issues are not given to all these females. Dramas such as “Humsafar”, “Daam”, “Roag”, “Bharas”, “Mera Maan Rakhna”.


Even the titles of these drams resonate the lesson and the typical story they entail.


We as a society need solution and move towards tapping on all these issues. The world is changing at an exponential rate and we are still living the 1800s era. Until and unless the issues are not highlighted by the media and power to represent is not given, we will face these issues more than ever.





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Taneer Jannat
Jul 08, 2021

You're absolutely right with saying that Pakistan is still stuck in one place and not moving forward. I feel like the idea that this country needs to progress isn't even in the question because people think that this is already heaven on earth

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Syed Haris Ali
Syed Haris Ali
Jul 08, 2021
Replying to

Yes exactly, and the worst thing is that the incoming generation crave for huge marriages and that scares me. It has become so difficult for even middle class people to afford marriage. Now coming to the investing in the education we are pushed a long long way back especially in the corona period due to unsuccessful policies by government the barely connived people have stopped investing in their children.

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Being a woman in our culture and society means we never get to be a person, an individual in her own right. Until a woman is married she belongs to her father, after marriage she becomes the property of her husband. Woman in this society are made to have roles. Mother. Sister. Wife. Daughter. But never a person.

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Syed Haris Ali
Syed Haris Ali
Jul 08, 2021
Replying to

Yes completely agree with you. This is exactly what I thought when I was writing the blog.

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safa.imran11
safa.imran11
Jul 07, 2021

This is really true, and it's sad to know that so many women that I interact with who have the privilege (privilege bhi kiya, this should be a basic living standard for everyone) to study, work, engage in social life and be independent only represent a tiny subsection of women in this country

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Syed Haris Ali
Syed Haris Ali
Jul 08, 2021
Replying to

Yes, even those women who work and study they have to prove that they are out of the box to get their place otherwise are deprived of the given opportunity that they rightly fully deserve.

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I am so glad that my fellows are publicly raising their voices against such issues. This gives me a hope that we are able to change the ugly realities of our society and we will through our voices and words!

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Syed Haris Ali
Syed Haris Ali
Jul 08, 2021
Replying to

Thanks Aqsa for your kind comment.

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Completely agree! While dramas are selling the saas bahu story because they feel like they don’t have any responsibility to not reinforce such problematic themes, the sadder part is that our audiences actually demand such stuff. This demand can not be changed in a day but stems from a deeper more embedded issue of how women’s problematic representation starts at the household level and then at the societal level. If change is made at the very fundamental level of household, it will start changing the society too. This can be done only if drivers of societal change (media) join hands and play their own part too.

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Syed Haris Ali
Syed Haris Ali
Jul 08, 2021
Replying to

yes, but the social media apps such as Tik Tok, Insta, and Facebook are also taken up by these very kind of people. You are right what we need right now is individual change that must start at HH level. Let us hope for a better world.

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