I Stand for Equality

Like every person on this earth who want equality and peace I always keep thinking of new ideas to empower women in our society.

Women in Pakistan have so many challenges to face and there are many people who are trying to change their condition too. But it gets very difficult to support them when they do not want to be changed.

Women tells very proudly that they never go out of home, some tell me that they do not go to the grocery to buy something to cook but keep waiting for the men and when they reach home they bring and we cook and eat otherwise we do not, because if a woman will go out it will reduce men’s respect in society.

Husbands in my country are being called (Sartaaj ) which means crown of a woman’s head, so women have to obey them at any cost no matter men are right or not.

When I was a child I was used to see a young women whose husband was used to beat her every day, in their yard in my neighborhood , it was her routine to keep sitting on the mud floor and keep weeping but she never tried to run in order to be safe, she never shouted at him, she never tried to defend herself, and I still remember that all people in the surrounding never helped her everybody every time said it was their personal matter and it was not right to interfere.

When a son-in-law comes to the home of his in-laws they treat him like a prince, they give him best food, best bed and best atmosphere, but when a Woman comes to her husband’s home she has to change herself according to his family’s needs and requirements.

I always wanted to change all that, I always wanted to get her equality as a human being. So at Zephaniah Free Education I decided to teach self defense techniques to women along with education and skills, but I was told it is against our culture women cannot fight with men, they are not that much strong, they cannot move their body like that, they should stay at home if they are scared of street harassment they should tell to their father or brother.

But what if a woman does not have a brother or father? Who will protect her?

We women are not allowed to ask a question we have to follow everything, no matter how painful it is.

Then I thought if women cannot ask a question then why God gave us brain to think?

If we cannot walk to go out of home why God gave us legs?

If we cannot speak against odds why God gave us tongue?

If we cannot choose our future ourselves, why God gave us a sense to like or to dislike, to be happy and not to be happy?

If we cannot fight why God gave us power to fight?

Men can think, women can think. Men can speak, Women can Speak, Men can run, Women can run, Men can question, Women can question, Men can answer , Women can answer, Men can ride, Women can ride, Men can drive , Women can drive, Men can fight, Women can fight, Men can protect themselves , Women can protect themselves, Men can smile, Women can smile, Men can climb , Women can climb, Men can read, Women can read, Men can write , Women can write, Men can shout , Women can shout, Men can dream, women can dream, Men can do struggle, Women can do struggle, Men can take decisions Women can take decisions, Men can discover , Women can discover, Men can invent Women can invent, Men can walk Women can walk, Men can hear Women can hear.

Then why women are not equal to men? women are equal to men, but issue is that, women from the time of birth are being told that they are of less value, they are weaker, and they are dependent on men.

So I decided that I will tell to the men that women are equal to them and to women that they are equal to men, and if this mail dominated society will not give us our equal rights we will just take them.

I asked all these questions from myself and found no reason which does not give a right to women to defend themselves and started our class of learning of self defense techniques for women because we are not weak and we can fight against all those who will try to underestimate us.