A feminism discussion organized by the Arts Council of Pakistan has been changed to include women, after social media users blasted the panel for being all-male.
The Karachi event, billed as “Feminism: The Other Perspective,” originally featured a panel of five prominent men involved in media, entertainment, and activism in Pakistan.The only woman included in the line-up was the event’s female moderator, whose name was put at the bottom of the promotional flyer. Social media users expressed near unanimous disgust with the panel, arguing that it reflected Pakistan’s extremely conservative, male-dominated society.
One upset netizen accused the event organizers of "exploiting feminism" to benefit men.
Some criticism was more light-hearted. Comedian Shehzad Ghias Shaikh joked that he would be hosting a “workshop on how to menstruate,” followed by a talk on breastfeeding.
“Please join me in teaching the world about women’s lives,” he wrote on Twitter.
Responding to the backlash, the panel’s female moderator said that the discussion was meant to focus around what men “think and perceive about feminism,” the “other perspective.”
She announced that two women would be added to the panel and that the event’s name would be changed to “Understanding Feminism.”
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