Gender Discrimination Galore

There is a rise in eateries and other social places of gathering that are proudly promoting gender discrimination in Pakistan. After reading about Port Grand's discrimination against men, I was compelled to think about the long term effects of such policies.

We are a country that is evolving ever so slowly when it comes to gender equality. Majority of the women are still living under oppressive pressures of an intolerant society that revels in contradictions. The inconveniences, annoyances and harassments faced by women on a regular basis give rise to policies that are discriminative in nature towards men, and thus widely accepted. While not allowing stags into a cafe after certain hours may seem ideal to some, it is myopic and in no way addresses the problem, rather it fertilizes the soil for more gender discrimination to stem.

All restaurants and places providing services have the the right to refuse service to guest(s). When such a law protects restaurants & food bazaar's, is there really a need then to implement a policy that categorizes all men vertically into a single compartment and denies service to all of them? If more places started promoting a similar policy, our society is headed towards a social meltdown. While many people perceive the West as a devil with horns, there is much our society can learn in terms gender equality. A high-end place promoting a similar policy in the West wouldn't stay in business for long. Not quite true for Pakistan, one would expect the owner(s) of a flashy place like Espresso to have the common sense to promote a better policy than one that reeks with blatant gender discrimination.

Another form of primitive gender bias that is blatantly ignored in Pakistan is the lack of access women have to mosques. Even most Arab countries including our over rated friends in Saudi Arabia welcome women to pray in their mosques. In Pakistan there is hardly one mosque in an entire town for women to worship in. Unacceptable sir! All mosques in Pakistan should be forced, by law, to have an equal sized worship areas for both genders and should welcome women. This is just one example of a long list of gender inequalities faced by women in Pakistan.

By allowing one form of discriminatory policy to exist, we only create a platform from where other discriminatory policies emerge. I for one, am against all forms of gender based discrimination. I strongly believe that it has to be rooted out in its entirety. This can not be achieved by accepting some policies and allowing other's to slip by as a need of the hour. The fight against gender discrimination must be absolute and pragmatic.

An important goal of the educated civil society must be to eliminate gender inequalities completely. In order to do that, such policies that discriminate against any gender must be revoked by city governments immediately. What is most surprising is seeing how many educated people support such policies. How can anyone raise their voice against discrimination against women and at the same time sit on the fence on discriminatory policies against men, or vice versa? It makes no sense, you are either for gender discrimination or you are against it. There are no in-between's or justifications!

Keeping a group of guys out of cafe's or food bazaar's is not a solution, it is a problem. Rushing to pray in mosques that don't have space for women is not going to help anyone fast track to heaven either. There are countless other examples of gender discrimination that can be discussed but by continuing to condone any such policies, we are only anticipating more forms of gender inequalities to flourish in our society. The long term ramifications do not lead us towards an enlightened society, rather one that is entangled in its own pharisaic sense of confusion.