It’s 2016 and violence against women still stands as an unshakable pillar of patriarchy. Not only it is documented in every strata of society, economic or educational background notwithstanding, it’s also not a problem only pertaining to Pakistan. The United Nations Women’s Wing has launched several international campaigns to draw attention to the issue and recently launched its local, Pakistan based campaign that addresses the distressing rates of violence against women in the country.
Dynamic model Cybil Chowdhry hosted the event which featured a panel consisting of Fiza Farhan, the Global Strategic Development Advisor, Faria Salman, Head of Communications and Jamshed Kazi, Country Representative from the UN.
Socialactivism
UN Women Pakistan launches a star studded campaign to raise awareness about violence against women.
It’s 2016 and violence against women still stands as an unshakable pillar of patriarchy. Not only it is documented in every strata of society, economic or educational background notwithstanding, it’s also not a problem only pertaining to Pakistan. The United Nations Women’s Wing has launched several international campaigns to draw attention to the issue and recently launched its local, Pakistan based campaign that addresses the distressing rates of violence against women in the country.
Several days ago the UN Women’s Wing Pakistan kicked off the campaign, titled Beat Me, with a video on social media that featured empowered women from different walks of life sending out a powerful message about the resilience of women and their ability to persevere in a regressive society.
The campaign coincides with 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence, a global initiative led by UN Women on behalf of the UN Secretary-General’s global campaign UNiTE to End Violence against Women, from 25 November (International Day to End Violence against Women) until 10 December (International Human Rights Day).
At the conference, supporting women empowerment: Maheen Kardar, Haider Maqsood, Reysham and Naz Mansha.
With the video already viral on social media platforms, a launch event for the campaign was hosted in Lahore at the Avari Hotel. Model Cybil Chowdhry hosted the event which featured a panel consisting of Fiza Farhan, the Global Strategic Development Advisor, Faria Salman, Head
of Communications and Jahmshed Kazi, Country Representative from the UN. An intimate gathering with a guest list of no more than 50 people, the platform was used to communicate the vision behind the video before the floor was opened to questions from the audience.
The panel used the opportunity to explain that the campaign title is meant to be paradoxical in nature; women are asking men to beat them, but competitively and not physically. The video aims to eradicate the common misconception that women are the weaker sex and must be tamed or controlled or can be subjected to violence at whim. The video features strong, independent women to prove that there is nothing in the world that women can’t accomplish and that gender isn’t a debilitating factor when it comes to proving their mettle to the world.
One of the journalists present at the launch raised the pertinent question of language – with the video mostly scripted in English, its accessibility to large swathes of Pakistani society is limited. The panel responded by explaining that the video is only the first step of the initiative and even within the script the team tried incorporating Urdu in order to be able to appeal to a wider audience.
The initiative will be continued with more videos, starting with one that is entirely in Urdu before translating the anti-violence message into regional languages.
Another question that was raised was directed towards practical implementation; while the video is commendable it doesn’t quite provide a solution for women who are already suffering from domestic abuse. To this, the panel responded by referencing the recently passed, historic (at least for Pakistan) Women’s Protection Bill and spoke about creating a system that apprehends and punishes the perpetrator. They also pointed out that the only way to combat violence is by using a two-pronged approach: by creating awareness and making society realise that abuse of any kind against women is unacceptable and supporting the stance with the rule of law.
While we thoroughly commend the venture and throw our full support behind a much needed, nation-wide endeavour we would like to register a singular critique. The title, Beat Me, seems to portray a negative reinforcement that perhaps the campaign could’ve done without and it might have also made more sense to have the women address society in general as opposed to just men, as seems to be the case, because men are not the only offenders in violence against women. However, you can’t win them all and while the lexicon might be problematic for more progressive feminists, who are well-versed in the complex jargon of the movement, the message itself is strong enough to hold its own against any critique. Kudos!
