Pak woman launches ‘antiogling campaign’ on radio show
ISLAMABAD: For many women in Pakistan, the simple act of leaving the house can be uncomfortable, even intimidating – the probing gaze of the opposite sex is never far away.
Fed-up with the constant unwanted attention, broadcaster Anila Ansari decided to bring the touchy subject of harassment to the airwaves, by launching an “anti-ogling campaign” on her national radio show.
The idea – unprecedented in this conservative Muslim country where misogyny is often legitimised by hardline clerics came to her at the start of the year when she returned to her country after living for two decades in Great Britain.
Everywhere she went in public spaces, she felt endlessly intimidated by the male gaze – and found she was far from alone. “I went to different offices, restaurants: everywhere I went I could see these eyes following me,” Ansari told AFP from the Radio99 office located in Islamabad.
“So I came to my office and started asking my female colleagues and said ‘Is it just me or do you experience that as well?’ and every woman I spoke with said ‘Oh don’t even talk about it, it’s so endemic.’”
When it came to the men, though, many didn’t even realise there was a problem.
“They either laugh it off or they get really upset or even annoyed,” Ansari explained, adding that some even blamed women for encouraging such attention by their choice of outfit or make-up.
Ansari says she launched the campaign to highlight “how it impacts on a woman’s mental health and well being and even her opportunities, academic or employment opportunities ”