Aurat March 2022: There is no turning back

Women are a powerful gender.

If after reading that you are thinking that we, women, consider ourselves super humans or some stupendously talented creatures with extraordinary skills, then that is not the argument I plan to make.

It is simple. Women make up half of the world’s population. It's high time they are given their equal rights.

Unfortunately, in the history of the subcontinent, women were kept invisible. Unseen and unheard, away in the corner of their homes. In some instances, newborn girl children were buried alive. Some of these practices persist today.

Here it is important to remember that Islam has given women their due rights and cherished their presence as daughters, mothers, sisters, wives and also as individuals.

Many might disagree with me, but for me Aurat March brings a ray of hope. Hope that one day the world will be equal for men and women.

But whenever anyone raises their voice for rights, there is backlash.

As a woman living in this society, it is not easy to raise your voice or be heard especially when you have been suppressed for generations. These women who come out and march every year in Pakistan are not just doing it for fun. The issue is deeper than it appears.

If not heard and taken notice of, the screams would just get louder and the crowds bigger.

Agree or not, like it or loathe it, you can't ignore the fact that Aurat March had a revolutionary impact on the women of this country. It has gotten a conversation started.

Today, women are conscious of their rights and are prepared to put up a fight for them.

The world is changing and so are the women. A powerful nation needs powerful women just as much as men.

So, I have no apprehensions in saying that:

Jub tak Aurat zaat rahay gi, ye dunia abaad rahay gi

(The world will thrive and survive till women exist)

The writer is a television anchor at Geo News. She tweets @neelumusaf24