BY SHERRY REHMAN

Sherry Rehman is former Federal Minister of Information of Pakistan (2008-2009), Member of National Assembly PPP and close friend of  Benazir Bhuto

Hijabskirt might sound like a misnomer, however, this project entails the efforts to put together different ends of a cultural spectrum. This spectrum comes from a common source, a shared vision of a common humanity facing common problems and issues.

How a woman should appear and how not to appear in her own life?

Shouldn’t this be left at her own free discretion?

I use the word “free discretion” since this formulation about ones own life should be done without any undercurrents of imposed perceptions. (The unholy trinity).

Whether a woman dons the hijab or miniskirt, that personal choice should be an absolutely free choice. It would be an injustice of monumental proportions if half of humanity is deprived of this right by subjecting them to fears, of being judged upon their appearances.

Unfortunately, both east and west are guilty of this.

How the western media howls when Angela Merkel appeared at the Oslo Opera in a Victorian designer dress or when Michelle Obama decides to dress a bit more casually. How the online Pakistani forums shot a fuse when Benazir was revealed to wear skirts and western clothing of her choice privately. What is common in all of those hyperventilating media reactions, is the self arrogated custodians of culture, religion and morals, who think they have the right to pass judgment on women, who have done nothing but exercised their personal choices. 

Benazire Bhutto was my close friend. My beloved Bibi. She used to say that the best hijab is in the eyes of the beholder. Fully considerate about the conservative background of her country, culture and religion she had chosen to eschew the lifestyle of the west and return back to serve the nation as an emblem of her people and truly proved that she was indeed the daughter of the east.

Hijab with Benazir was a way for displaying her respect and admiration for the cultural heritage of our land.

When it came to dress and fashion sense she was unparalleled and was proclaimed as one of the top 50 best looking person in the world. Privately she was partial to a modern and comfortable dress style that well suited her down to earth personality.

Benazir believed that one’s choice of dress in their own lives, was purely a private matter. Having said that her choice of fashion and clothing left a lot of admirers even in the snobbish cliché high society of Dubai.

While in exile Benazir used to wear comfortable jeans during her residence at UK. I still remember when it was reported with ghastly details in the local press how she would go shopping in Jeans, as if she had committed a high crime. A similar but toned out burst of fury was displayed when it came to public view that bibi preferred equally comfortable skirts or dresses in the privacy of her home. Self righteousness and moral delusion was seen at it’s worst at this time.

Sasha asked me how a beautiful and youthful Benazir within the span of a few years had aged so much. I would say the burden of her upcoming duty and the thought they she would have to endure it alone was enough to bring any human to that threshold. Needless to say she faced all challenges with admirable grace and fortitude.

In the end perhaps she was naïve to believe in the good nature of man.

We always hear that it’s a man’s world. A world given birth to and brought up by its women and yet it stays a “mans world”. Mankind or humankind? Changing the vernacular wouldn’t make a difference until the perceptual barriers that contain any kind of prejudice are brought down. Prejudices lead to acts of injustice and injustice leads to disharmony.

These perceptions have the potential of developing into grave consequences if they exist between civilizations and could have severe cross cultural implications.

At the risk of sounding like a feminist (which I am not), I mince no words in saying that the crux of the problem as highlighted by distinguished guests on this forum has been the control of women. Not physically but mentally controlling a woman, relegating her to a role more suited to male aspirations. The research and debate would continue among anthropologists and ethnologists as to why, when and how along the evolutionary path did the balance of power tip in favor of patriarchal systems. The bottom line is that since then women were, and still are, told to see themselves through mirrors and lenses jaundiced and jaded by male prejudices. The tools most commonly used to accomplish this are religion, culture and morals.

I call them the unholy trinity. This nature would have to change and the “unholy trinity” must face the collective judgment of humanity itself.