By Ameena Mohyuddin Zia
The contemporary
Pakistani woman has arrived in the political space. She has dared to
step outside of Benazir Bhutto’s somber shalwar kameez and white chiffon
duppata.
Who is she? Where did she come from? How did she get here?
She
is the Hina Pervaiz Butt; the Maryam Nawaz; the Sharmeela Farooqi, and
the Hina Rabbani Khar. She has navigated her entrance into the
patriarchal universe with creative gowns, eyeliners, bold colors, and
yes, purses and shoes. Such accouterments have entered bureaucracy! What
is she thinking? Or clearly, she is not thinking. I have to admit, she
looks beautiful with poise; elegant with confidence; and graceful with
femininity.
Yes, I did say femininity. A part of me smiled inside.
Now that she has arrived, how should
we nicely compartmentalize this contemporary Pakistani woman politician
as she navigates through the masculine space of bureaucracy? Do we
place her with US Presidential Candidate Hillary R. Clinton’s
much-talked-about pant suits and her dominating personality with other
women politicians of the upper echelons of society (like Margaret
Thatcher, Benazir Bhutto, and Angela Merkel)? What about the fashion
savvy first ladies of the world who werevere for their effortless
fashion forward attires (Lady Diana, Queen Noor, and Michelle Obama)?
Oh, we just adore them for promoting the values of their husband’s power
and platform.
What
would Cynthia Enloe say? She would argue that it is, in fact, these
diplomatic wives who are the true promoters of diplomatic dialogue and
friendship as they host impeccable tea-gatherings and host fabulous
dinner-parties in order to further the nationalist efforts in the
international community.
Again, what about the contemporary Pakistani politician? She doesn’t fit into these two categories!
Oh no!
But, oh yes. She is a combination of both.
The au fait of
third wave feminism has ingrained in her the idea that everything is,
in fact possible. She can simultaneously enjoy being traditional and
outgoing; self conscious and independent; romantic and ambitious;
hardworking and vulnerable; and creative and smart. Perhaps it is
alright to agree to disagree and there is a certain beauty in the
miss-matched sequence that binds her consciousness.
As
a young girl,her mother(having sacrificed little pleasures of life
because of perils of joint family systems, radical Islamicalization of
women’s laws, constant dependency on a male, and living in the shadows
in society) taught her that she can be anyone she wishes and do anything
she sets her mind to. Her socially constrained mother pushed her to own her
thoughts, her emotions, and her ideas…while simultaneously sharing the
romance of Elizabeth Bennet, Anarkali, and Heer. She imagined a world of
justice and equality as she was encouraged to find herself; her truths; her wants; and to explore the possibilities of creating her own space…and that anything and everything is within her grasps.
On
her way to chase the glass ceiling, she is taught that it is necessary
to foster her own individual talents and if perhaps she don’t like
something, than simply change it.
She quickly understands to own her own journey; to live her own story; and to learn to
fend for herself without emotional reliance on a fiancé or a husband.
And therefore, she now has certain ideals and expectations from the men
in her society; however fabricated in her own subconscious.
She, now, finds refuge in books and thick rimmed glasses.
She, now, is the product of her mother’s feminist generation.
She,
now, realizes she wants it all – the education, the career (of making
policy), organic home-cooked meals on the dinner table, and the
representation of sheer elegance.
She, now, understand that it is, indeed, possible at the expense of absolutely nothing.
She
takes her direction from the grandmothers, mothers, daughters, and
sisters; from the Fatima Jinnahs of her time; from the Mukhtar Mais of
her time; from the Malala Yousefzais of her time; and from the Asma
Jahangirs of her time.
She
is starting to pave a path for herself and for other women. She is
comfortable in her femininity and in her roles outside traditional
gender constructs. She is the new feminist of her time as she proudly
succeeds in a man’s world of politics by deconstructing social paranoia.
The
contemporary Pakistani woman politician has evolved in her own capacity
as she curates her own reality (one that does not include fitting her
into a traditional box). She has arrived (avec accouterments). The question is, is the contemporary Pakistani male politician willing to catch up to her?
Ameena Mohyuddin Zia is a PhD Candidate in Political Economy &
Gender Studies at the University of Missouri St. Louis and an Adjunct Lecturer
at CUNY’s York College. Her work examines social constructs through both
research and visual documentations. She also works as a strategic consultant
for public-private partnerships in NYC.
