Aurat March 2020 is a monumental movement in Pakistan aimed at changing the toxic masculinity that plagues society today.

It is not a “bunch of women” protesting on the streets about their lives being unfair but about women uniting and asking for something as basic as having a separate washroom at their work facility which only 26.6% today have. Not having fundamental rights to any facility, service or opinion is how oppressed the female and non-binary communities are in the nation today.

‘I brought the issue up again and again that a separate bathroom is needed for the women working at (said facility) to function. It was after months of bringing it up that, finally, a bathroom for women was established because without it how can we work? I had a bathroom but what about my girls? This is why I stand for our women.’ —director Misbah Khalid on how crucial and understated it is that women should have access to their own private restroom facilities. 

Pakistan is a country where the literacy rate for men is 69% whereas it is 40% for women.

Not only is this detrimental to a developing country where its female population isn’t sufficiently educated but lacking education as to what their basic rights are, even rights over their own bodies. Nationally, the gender gap for wages remains the highest in Pakistan; all the work women do, be it over time, they will never parallel the income of a man. The culture seems to be against women, leaving them out in the open to be feasted upon by those who are for all purposes supposed to protect them.

Thus begins the movement of women standing up for themselves. The Aurat team has created a platform for not just women but non-binary and transgender groups to feel safe and heard, their rights attested to. Intersectional feminist and journalism student from Szabist, Abeer, says Aurat March is ‘the only day of the year I feel like I won’t be harassed, it’s the only day I feel safe and empowered’, a place where the oppressed community can be assured they are with friends, even on the road, unharmed.

‘Being a feminist in a third world country is hard and there’s a lot you need to overcome and battle in terms of the patriarchy’. 

The Aurat team marches for women to be acknowledged in this society, for them to be able to have a voice, a say in their homes, their schools, workplaces, their own lives and decisions. Having a voice and coming together has ushered staunch opposition towards the march, condemning it because it’s “uncomfortable” or simply because women have a platform to stand up for themselves.

Speaking with the Aurat Team, Ilma Zuberi shares her stance, “We see opposition as a motivation that we are doing something right. If we went unopposed all our lives, we mustn’t be doing something revolutionary.”

The backlash against the movement has been used as an opportunity, created into an A to Z feminism campaign online. Ilma also gave an enlightening statement on how “Aurat March has always stood to highlight and break through toxic masculinity and the barriers it creates for society. We will continue to question, engage, and change toxic masculinity narratives with every step we take.”

Aurat March is a day where women from all socio-economic classes, background and/or experiences can come together and safe-guard their right to exist and thrive. The poisonous patriarchal tumor which has planted in the roots is being weeded out with each question and independent thought.

Why do we march? ‘Because women rock that’s why’ –Faiza Butt, advocate and feminist.