Pakistan Organizes Event to Discuss Feminism With All Male Panel

Pakistan is one of the most Islamic countries in the world (95% Muslim) and is typical of a country that has a strong Muslim majority. Most people want Sharia as the law of the land, and most people identify as Muslim before Pakistani. Islam is hopelessly misogynistic.

‘We’ll teach them how to menstruate!’ Uproar after Pakistani feminism event featured
NO WOMEN

A woman hold sign as she takes part in an Aurat March, or Women's March in Karachi, Pakistan March 8, 2018. © REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro

A feminism discussion organized by the Arts Council of Pakistan has been changed to include women, after social media users blasted the panel for being all-male.

The Karachi event, billed as “Feminism: The Other Perspective,” originally featured a panel of five prominent men involved in media, entertainment, and activism in Pakistan. The only woman included in the line-up was the event’s female moderator, whose name was put at the bottom of the promotional flyer. Social media users expressed near unanimous disgust with the panel, arguing that it reflected Pakistan’s extremely conservative, male-dominated society.

This is not out of step with a society that prefers to keep its women invisible.

Atiya Abbas
@AtiyaAbbas_
should ve just called it men's day 
and why are all these men agreeing to participating? @manelwatchpk

One upset netizen accused the event organizers of "exploiting feminism" to benefit men.

Some criticism was more light-hearted. Comedian Shehzad Ghias Shaikh joked that he would be hosting a “workshop on how to menstruate,” followed by a talk on breastfeeding.

“Please join me in teaching the world about women’s lives,” he wrote on Twitter.

Responding to the backlash, the panel’s female moderator said that the discussion was meant to focus around what men “think and perceive about feminism,” the “other perspective.”

uzma alkarim
@uzmaalkarim
Hello all, We are now re-framing the event and including a more diverse group of speakers. Requesting all of you to attend as your participation will add value to the conversation around understanding "feminism” together.

She announced that two women would be added to the panel and that the event’s name would be changed to “Understanding Feminism.”

With 5 men and 2 women. That's a far as the organizers were willing to go. Good grief!