Pakistani human rights activist Tahira Abdullah just schooled writer Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar on what it means to be a woman and it was the best thing ever.
On Samaa TV’s News Beat, host barrister Ehtesham Amir-ud-din was joined by Qamar, Abdullah and journalist Owais Touheed. During the first few minutes of the show, Abdullah addressed Qamar to define the term ‘Feminism’ as a ‘Tanzeem’/ organisation.
https://twitter.com/Tooba_Sd/status/1219013023886606337
Talking about what the movement really stands for, she shared, “Feminism is not the name of an organisation but a revolutionary view; it’s understanding and believing that women, too, are human beings. You want to talk about equality, rights, who’s a good woman or a bad woman, who’s a loyal woman, who’s worthy of respect but my respect and my dignity is not in the hands of any man to give or take.”
“I am born from the same woman a man is born from and when I come into this world, I bring my rights with me, just like I’m born with a body, soul, brain and heart, they are a part of my existence.”
She added, “And those rights are protected by the Constitution of Pakistan. No one is going to give me my rights nor do I have to ask. Why should we ask men for them? We were born with them!”
When the host reiterated that she was saying that women are not asking men for their rights, she replied, “Why should we have to ask? We were born bearing these rights. We don’t need to beg for them whether we’re a daughter, a mother, a wife or nothing at all. Just by virtue of being a woman, we deserve to be treated like a human being. We don’t need men to define standards of conduct for us or categorise who’s a good woman or a bad woman. This is what we call mansplaining these days.”
“We’re in the 21st century and we’re tired of being judged…Men will tell us who we are or what we should be like? We are against this commodification and objectification and we are tired.”
We couldn’t agree more with Abdullah and loved the way she spoke with such dignity and grace.
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