Aurat March: Envisioning Justice

Pakistan

Aditi Mishra

Pakistani women are ready for the third Aurat March today to mark the international women’s day. Aurat March is a protest organized by several women organizations under the banner ‘Hum Auratein’ (We, the women). It is an intersectional event observed on international women’s day, started in 2018. The protest is well organized and represented by women from all walks of life; abuse survivors, differently-able, domestic workers, religious minorities, queer, transgenders, young and old women. Aurat March is more than a one-day rally. This women’s collective forum has a comprehensive manifesto and works to sensitize its society towards violence and harassment that women have to face every day from houses to the workplaces. 

Their Instagram page ‘Aurat March 2020’ says, ‘join us on March 8 as we envision a world of economic, reproductive and environmental justice’. They have also released their A-Z of politics, where A stands for Azaad, F for feminism and K for Khwajasira (transgender). The movement talks from the issue of affordable housing to the claiming of public space from hashtags like #JaggaDein (give space). The Aurat March 2018 worked on the theme of ‘Equality’, whereas the 2019 March was based on ‘Sisterhood and Solidarity’. Khud Mukhtari is the theme for the upcoming march which means self-determination and self-sufficiency. 

Slogans Shaking Society

A lot defines the Aurat march but the slogans seize the most attention with admiration as well as criticism. The slogans hit just on point, talking no more and no less than the everyday life of a woman. From slogan like ‘Have paratha rolls, not gender roles’, ‘Apni roti khud banao’, ‘Ghar ka kaam, sabka kaam’ clearly talk about the societal norms of confining women to the kitchen and homes. Slogans like; Consent ki tasbeeh roz parho; referring to religious ritual of recital using a rosary. The slogan urged men to recite ‘consent’ every day to imbibe it like religion. Other slogans talking of consensuality were ‘mutual consent hai must, jitna bhi ho lust’ and ‘Dekho magar consent se’.

There were posters concerning women laborers also; ‘Who made your feminist T-shirt AND HOW MUCH WAS SHE PAID? Other posters like ‘Aah waqayi MAA-BEHEN Ek ho Rahi hai’ (today actually mother and sister are becoming one) referred to the verbal gender-specific abuse ofter used in Pakistan and other South Asian countries. There were men with placards saying; ‘Read the other posters, I have already spoken over too many women’ and ‘I am a feminist and I don’t need a medal for it’. On the other hand, there were men who came out on the next day of Aurat March 2019 with posters like ‘moza chhodo, dupatta dhundho’ (leave the socks, look for your dupatta) in response to the slogan ‘Apna moza khud dhundho’ (search your sock on your own). 

These slogans come from the everyday comments or ‘advice’ any girl or woman would come across; not just in Pakistan but South Asia as a whole. This relatability is what hits hard at the patriarchy’s comfort zone. Women were criticized for slogans as subtle as ‘khana khud garam Karo’. But these reactions are seen as a sign of success by the organizers. The fact that the slogans are making people uncomfortable justifies the need for such provocative slogans resulting in conversations.

Opposition and condemnation 

Last year a slogan ‘Mera jism, meri marzi’ was met with backlash unlike others. While the slogan says, ‘my body, my choice’ targeted autonomy and independence to choose who to marry, whether and when to have children and to not have women’s sexualities controlled. It was called ‘fahaashi’ (vulgar or obscene), un-Islamic and against the culture. The women were attacked by saying they have vested interests and it is their ‘maal kamane ke dhang’ (means to earn monetary benefits). In fact, Aurat March 2020 was welcomed by a petition filed against them by advocate Mohammad Azhar Siddique, deeming it to be anti-state and un-Islamic. The petition was rejected by the Lahore High Court which said that freedom of expression cannot be banned. 

The Aurat March has become the center of debate in the political scenario of Pakistan. While most of the parties are playing rational and acting neutral, Jamat-e-Ulema-e-Islami chief, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, has threatened to stop the Aurat March at all costs. He has urged his supporters to report ‘these types of elements’ to the security forces. And he also said that if the law enforcement agencies will provide security to the women rallying, then ‘his supporters should take it upon themselves to stop those rallying by force’. Shireen Mazari, the minister of human rights has condemned such threats and tweeted, ‘women like other segments of society have a right to peacefully protest [and] [to] demand their rights already enshrined in our Constitution’. The ruling party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, has decided to participate in Aurat March to observe the international women’s day. 

Celebrating and Demanding

The movement this year has raised issues like transgender rape law and their representation, Forced conversions and minority rights, reproductive rights among others. These were stated in a press conference to answer ‘why women march?’. The issues clearly show the comprehensive nature of the movement. The movement has localized the struggle for women’s rights. The mere use of the term ‘Aurat March’ has given it a sense of originality and the women of Pakistan, both elite and non-elite, are able to relate to it and celebrate it. And this celebration, the act of celebrating ‘the demanding of rights’ is the energy which is required and which Aurat March gives. 

More power to the ‘bad women’, who demand Khudmukhtari.

Aditi Mishra is scholar at the UMISARC, Pondicherry University, India.