Posts in category: Media Women

شمع صدیقی

ایک ٹرانس جینڈر ھونے میں میرا کیا قصور؟

کیا میرا ٹرانس جینڈر ھونا میرے والدین کی کوئی غلطی ھے؟

معاشرہ ہمیں قبول کیوں نہیں کرتا؟

یہ چبھتے ھوئے اور دل کو بےچین کرنے والے وہ سوال ہیں جو ہمیں روز مرہ زندگی میں نظر آتے ہیں اور ان سوالوں کا جواب شائد ہم بھی درست انداز میں نہیں دے پاتے۔

آج ہم نے ان سوالوں کا جواب تلاش کرنے اور انہیں مطمئن کرنے کے لئے ایک ادنیٰ کوشش کی ہے اور مسجد امام سے گفتگو کی ہے۔

مسجد سلمان فارسی کے امام عبدالرؤف سے پوچھا کہ “میرے خواجہ سرا ہونے میں میرا کیا قصور ہے؟ تو امام صاحب کا کہنا تھا کہ

“الحمداللہ والصلوتہ والسلام علی رسول اللہ”

اگر کسی میں خواجہ سرا والی صفات موجود ہیں تو اس میں انکے والدین کا کوئی قصور نہیں ہے یہ اللہ تعالیٰ کی طرف سے ایک آ زمائش ہے۔

اللہ تعالیٰ چاہتے تو ان میں کوئی اور عیب بھی بنا سکتے تھے یعنی وہ کسی اور طرح سے بھی معذور ہو سکتے تھے۔ جیسے کہ لنگڑا، بھینگا یا کان کٹا وغیرہ۔

امام صاحب کا کہنا ہے ایسا ہونا ایک خواجہ سرائوں کیلئے ایک آ زمائش ہے انکو چاہیے کہ وہ اس معاملے میں صبر سے کام لیں اور اپنے لیے دعا کریں۔

جب مفتی صاحب سے استفسار کیا گیا کہ خواجہ سرا کہتے ہیں کہ وہ اپنے والدین کی غلطی کی سزا ہیں؟

اس پر مفتی صاحب کا کہنا ہے کہ آ پ والدین کی غلطی نہیں بلکہ آپ ان کے لیے ایک آزمائش ہو اور یہاں والدین کو بھی صبر سے کام لینا ہے۔

مفتی صاحب کا کہنا ہے کہ نبی کریم صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم کے دور میں بھی خوجہ سرا موجود تھے مگر انکی حرکات و سکنات درست ہوتی تھیں وہ صحابہ کرام کے ساتھ نمازیں ادا کرتے تھے اور ان کے ساتھ جہاد پر بھی جاتے تھے۔

امام مسجد کا کہنا ہے کہ اگر کسی کی حرکات درست نہیں ہوتیں تو اسے علاقہ بدر کر دیا جاتا تھا۔ خواجہ سرا والدین کی آزمائش ہیں۔

جب سوال کیا کہ معاشرہ ہمیں کیوں نہیں قبول کرتا تو امام مسجد کہتے ہیں کہ اس دور میں خواجہ سراؤں کی تعلیم و تربیت پر کام نہیں ہوا جس کی وجہ سے انہوں نے اپنی پہچان بنانے کے لیے ایک الگ طریقہ اختیار کیا اختیار کیا ہے۔

اسی لیے معاشرہ ان کو الگ نظر سے دیکھتا ہے حالانکہ یہ بھی ہم عام انسانوں کی طرح ہیں اور انکو بھی اللہ تعالیٰ نے اپنی عبادت کے لیے پیدا کیا ہے۔

ان کو ناچنے گانے اور دوسرے کام کرنے کے بجائے تعلیم حاصل کرنی چاہئیے اور علم و ہنر سیکھنا چاہیے تاکہ وہ معاشرے میں اپنا نام پیدا کر سکیں، تب معاشرہ انہیں ضرور قبول کرے گا۔

مفتی صاحب بتاتے ہیں، حدیث کا مفہوم ہے کہ “نبی کریم صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم کے پاس ایک خواجہ سرا آیا جس نے عورتوں کی طرح اپنے ہاتھوں کو مہندی لگا رکھی تھی۔ آپؐ نے فرمایا یہ خود سے عورتوں جیسی چال ڈھال پسند کرتا ہے اور اسے علاقہ بدر کر کے نقیع بھیج دیا، جہاں سرکاری اونٹوں کی چراگاہ تھی۔ استفسار ہوا کہ کیا اسے قتل کر دیا جائے؟ تو آپؐ نے فرمایا کہ مجھے نمازیوں کو قتل کر نے سے منع کیا گیا ہے۔

خواجہ سرا کے طبی حوالے سے جب جاننے کی کوشش کی تو ڈاکٹر فاروقی کا کہنا تھا کہخواجہ سرا کی جسامت میں فرق پیدائشی تولیدی مادے میں جینٹک پرابلم کی وجہ ایمبراے میں سیل ڈویژن کے نامکمل ہونے کی وجہ سے ہوتا ہے۔

اس کی بڑی وجہ ہارمونک ڈسٹربنس ہوتی ہے۔ جس میں سیل ڈویژن 48=48 فیمیل کے لیے ہوتے ہیں اور میل کے لیے عموما 48=1 ہوتے ہیں مگر بعض اوقات قدرتی طور پر اس سیل ڈویژن میں پوانٹس کی کمی ہونے کی وجہ سے جینز کی ساخت میں تبدیلی واقع ہوتی ہے جو کہ عموما 9 اور 11 سال کی عمر میں محسوس ہوتی ہے کیونکہ اس وقت انسان کی حرکات و سکنات کی بنا پر محسوس کیا جا سکتا ہے۔

اس وقت سیل ڈویژن بنائے گے تناسب کے مطابق درست طریقے سے مردانہ بنانے کے قابل نہیں رہتا اور اس تبدیلی کی وجہ سے وہ اپنے خواہشات بھی زنانہ محسوس کرتا ہے

کیونکہ جو مردانہ صلاحیت قدرت نے رکھی ہے وہ اس میں پیدا ہو جاتی ہے اور اس کے اندر جو خواہش پیدا ہوتی ھے تو وہ عورت والی ہوتی ہے اور وہ عورتوں والی حرکات کرنا شروع کرتا ہے۔

یوں اسے بننا سنورنا اور عورتوں کی طرح رنگین کپڑے پہنا اچھا لگتا ہے۔ڈاکٹر فاروقی کا کہنا ہے کہ ایک وجہ یہ بھی ہوتی ھے۔

اس صورت حال میں کوئی دوا اثر نہیں کرتی اور اسے تمام صلاحیتیں دم توڑتی ہوئی محسوس ہوتی ہیں اور وہ شادی کے قابل نہیں رہتا۔

اس لیے معاشرہ ان کو قبول نہیں کرتا یہاں تک کے انکے والدین اور بہن، بھائی بھی انکو قبول نہیں کرتے اور سب انکا ساتھ چھوڑ دیتے ہیں۔

یہی سوال جب مسیحی مذہبی راہنما تنویر چوھدری سے کیا تو انکا کہنا تھا کہ تمام ابراہیمی مذاہب یہودیت کی جڑ سے نکلے ہیں اور الہامی کتابوں اور صحیفوں پر مبنی ہیں۔

جو خدا کی تخلیق کو مرد اور عورت کے طور پر بیان کرتے ہیں۔ جسکا اکثر اس موضوع پر بحث کے دوران حوالہ دیا جاتا ہے۔

تاہم کچھ مسیحی فرقوں بشمول چرچ آف انگلینڈ، ایسکول چرچ، امریکہ میں ایو نینجکل لوتھرن چرچ اور پریسٹیرینچتچ نے مقررہ خواجہ سرا پادریوں کو اجتماعات میں خدمات فراہم کرنے کی اجازت دی ہے اور خواجہ سراؤں کو خوش آمدید کہا ہے۔

Fozia Azam

Being a working woman and managing a home at the same time may not sound easy, but being a working journalist and a mom is much harder than one can imagine.

Most jobs have a proper work schedule like 9 to 5, weekends off, and other public holidays too.

But a female journalist is not lucky enough to have a proper work schedule due to the nature of her job. Because news can happen anywhere and anytime, the news does not wait for 9 to 5 or for weekdays to happen.

It has been more than a decade since the media boom happened in Pakistan and after the media boom a number of media organizations were established and a considerable number of females started to join media as a career.

Currently, a considerable number of women are working in media as anchors, reporters editors, or some other positions, and now even after marriage, girls prefer to continue working in journalism.

But unfortunately, when they become mummies the problems in their life doubles as now they have to choose between their child and their career. And this is all because of the dearth of daycare centers in media organizations.

The big media groups particularly are not providing daycare center facilities to female journalists. And despite their will to work in journalism and to follow their passion so many female journalists are left with no option but to quit working.

Asma Kundi also fell prey to the same situation, while sharing her ordeal she told this scriber that “I have three kids and every single time I gave birth to my child I was forced to stop working as there were no daycare centers in the media organization I was working for”.

 “At that time I was living separately and my husband was also a journalist back at home there was no one to take care of my son, so with a heavy heart, I decided to take a break from my work” she continued. Later my second daughter was born and the same situation happened again I quit working until my daughter started going to school.

I also hired a maid for some time but keeping a maid is not an easy task as you have to keep a check on the maid or supervise them, and for this no one was available. The second thing is that they are not affordable and if by chance you hire a maid a big chunk of your salary goes into it.

Shumaila Ahmad a former electronic journalist also shared her experience, our time working as a female electronic journalist was very hectic and all the time you had to be ready to reach some press conference or to cover some bomb blast situation.

Shazia is a mother of two daughters and she also had problems while working in the field as there were no daycare centers in the media organization she was working for.

I put my daughter in some private daycare centers but the fee they charged was very high. Later I hired a maid and at a point, it really became problematic for me to continue working as a journalist.

This is the story of just two female journalists and there might be so many unheard stories related to this issue.

When contacted by the founder of the Women Journalists Association of Pakistan (WJAP), Ms. Fauzia Kalsoom Rana she said the issue is of great importance and unfortunately it has been ignored always. As a founder of WJAP, I am trying my best to bring this issue to the notice of concerned authorities and do something for female journalists.

“I believe that by providing daycare centers facilities to fellow female journalists we can at least help them in lessening their woes” she added.

She was of the view that the media organizations should facilitate working mothers by providing daycare center facilities as these women contribute to their family income also which subsequently impacts on growing our country’s economy.

Currently, only APP and Radio Pakistan have day care centers facility but in Radio Pakistan the center facility is the name of just one room as the employee has to arrange maid on their own.

Rabia Syed

Being born and brought up as a woman in Pakistan has never been an easy thing. It has been a roller coaster ride in every walk of life. Our system failed to protect women of all ages. Laws were made at the national level to protect us but have never been implemented.

Although change came over the years it wasn’t possible without women’s resistance and survival in daily life. This change and progression in our society are mainly brought out by women working in media or on screen. Women who wrote and shared their stories bravely.

However, women in journalism are not living a different life than the other women in Pakistan. They have to face harassment, bullying, emotional and physical abuse, and so on in their daily working life. Women are being used as commodities in the media but nobody is ready to question this unfair culture. Women in media are told to be focused on getup than content. The pressure to look perfect on women is far greater than to perform better. The only reason is the gender stereotype in Pakistan that a woman must look beautiful and fair on screen.

Women journalists who work and their husbands support them are not also welcomed in this field. Because this is perceived by society that women should be at home, especially a woman shouldn’t be in media. And if a man is supporting her he is not manly enough.

Such a story is shared by Mava who tried to work on screen with different media houses. She had to travel for news and reporting from one place to another. Which means she needed to be paid more in order to meet daily traveling expenses. But she wasn’t paid much for work. Anyhow she is married so she decided that her husband would take her everywhere for reporting and news packages. The moment her husband accompanied her everybody started to troll her. They said ‘What type of woman takes her husband everywhere’, ‘her husband babysits her’,’ her husband should earn and she should sit at home. Her husband supported her but the system didn’t. No matter how hard she tried to stand up against society: she failed. At last, she quit.

This is just one story of a female journalist who suffered from this stereotypical system but hundreds of stories out there are awaiting to be addressed. As for women’s safety, misogyny, and trolling is a great challenge for women journalists to overcome in order to be productive.

Moreover, the number of female journalists on the elite level is much less in our country. Mostly we see men in top positions in the journalism industry. As a woman journalist, I urge that our system must direct our efforts toward relieving the plight of women living in a patriarchy.

Aneela Riazuddin

Sexual harassment at the workplace in Pakistan is no longer a myth but has become a starch reality, which often goes unaddressed.

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) defines sexual harassment as: “including such unwelcome sexually determined behavior as physical contact and advances, sexually colored remarks, showing pornography and sexual demand, whether by words or actions. Such conduct can be humiliating and may constitute a health and safety problem; it is discriminatory when the woman has reasonable grounds to believe that her objection would disadvantage her in connection with her employment, including recruitment or promotion, or when it creates a hostile working environment”.

It is ironic that even an organization, that itself reports harassment cases, not only harbors harassers but even protects them.

Naila, holding a key position in a media organization, had become a victim of harassment by her former colleague, Hamid.

Upon rejecting his marriage proposal, Hamid used several tactics to harass Naila which included sending her obnoxious texts, threatening calls, and blackmailing.

When Naila bought the matter up with her higher-ups they tried to sweep the matter under the carpet and advised her not to mention this matter to anyone and that they would handle the matter internally.

Despite the passage of several weeks, no action was taken against Hamid, who was still continuing with his tactics. He now even published a fabricated news story in the newspaper, he worked for, against Naila’s deceased father who had held a key position in one of the government organizations.

Now, this was the last nail in the coffin for Naila, infuriated and hurt over the story published against her late father she called up the newspaper editor and told him the situation, and asked him to retract the story and publish an apology. He said he would talk to Hamid and would publish an apology. Unfortunately, no action was taken again.

Seeing that her cries are falling over deaf ears she decided to approach the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat for Protection Against Harassment (FOSPAH) and registered a case against Hamid.

As soon as the case was registered and show cause notices were served to Hamid, Press unions as well as her Editor in Chief jumped in and tried in their own ways to convince Naila to take back her case.

“ Either you can resign or take back your harassment case”, these were the words uttered by Naila’s boss of several years.

As far as the media watchdog was concerned they also tried to convince Naila to retract the case as if word got out that there were harassment cases in the media organizations it would not bode well for them. They would punish Hamid by canceling his membership.

In a dilemma of whether to save her job or her integrity and principles, not with standing pressure she decided to pursue the case and gave her statement before the Judge of the Federal Ombudsman and presented the evidence of harassment.

After seeing that the Ombudsman Judge thought I had a solid case and credible action can be taken Hamid the Press Union decided to jump in again and told Naila that Hamid will give an undertaking, which would be signed and witnessed by Union leadership, that he would never approach her or her family under any circumstances and will also publish a retraction in his paper and an apology as well and he should not be made to appear before the court. Naila after consultation with several senior members of the press agreed to the offer and told the Ombudsman Judge that the matter has been handled internally. Upon which the Judge asked Naila if she was satisfied with the Press Union’s decision she will dismiss the case in her favor and can also order the reinstatement of her job. But Naila refused on the ground that she would rather be jobless than work for people who have no respect for women. The Judge fully endorsed Naila’s decision.

Even though things did work out for Naila thanks to FOSPAH and press club leadership there are still many women out there, who are not so lucky and often have to bear with the harassment for keeping their jobs.

Statistics from the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat for Protection Against Harassment (FOSPAH) show that the complaint rate for sexual harassment in the workplace has increased from 432 in 2019, to 535 in 2020. Moreover, the FOSPAH Annual report 2022 outlined the following figures; the total number of complaints between 2018 to 2022 was 2169, in the government sector there were 582 lodged by women and 148 by men. In the private sector, there were 994 complaints from women and 445 by men.

Naila is just one example of women facing harassment in their workplace. Female journalists are often made to choose between their careers and their principles. They are not only pressurized by their bosses and peers not to report harassment cases but often by their families in order to save the “Family Honor”. But a line has to be drawn somewhere and thankfully Pakistan has made harassment laws.  Now under section 509 of the Pakistan Penal Code, insulting the modesty of women or sexually harassing them, is a crime. The perpetrator of this crime may be punished with imprisonment, which may extend to 3 years, or a fine up to PKR 500,000 (5 lakh), or both.

Making laws for the protection of women is undoubtedly a milestone in a country like Pakistan which is still dominated by male supremacy, But more needs to be done at the social and home level we as mothers need to teach our sons that women are not inferior or just show pieces they are their equal counterparts who deserve respect like any other human being.