All’s not well when ‘Working With Sharks’
Pakistan Today - Harassment – sexual or not – is a serious problem in a society regardless of gender and it is the collective responsibility of both men and women in a living sphere to address the issue.
This was agreed upon unanimously by speakers at the book launch of Dr Fouzia Saeed's autobiographical case study on harassment faced by women at workplaces titled ‘Working With Sharks’ at a hotel on Friday.
The guest speakers at the event included Sindh assembly member Sharmila Farooqi, distinguished singer Tina Sani, veteran actor and director Sahira Kazmi, and renowned director Adnan Malik.
Complimenting the author for sharing her experiences and personal sufferings about an issue that the women living in a patriarchal society like Pakistan face on regular basis, the MPA said: “Reading the book, I kept on remembering that even as a woman with legislative powers, I have also gone through some of the situations [described in the book] like the social scientist [author].”
Citing the example of a gang rape victim, Farooqi expressed annoyance about the media's obsession with viewer ship ratings rather than addressing the “real issues”.
Congratulating the author on her courageous step to pen her personal encounters with male chauvinism, Sani lamented that despite legislation preserving rights of women, implementation of laws is not be witnessed.
Stressing on following up cases of human rights violations, she said that the media touches such cases once they spring up, but does not keep track of the cases afterwards. “The perpetrators are never caught and I think the larger share of responsibility lies with the media,” she added.
