Dry fruit seller women decorating their hands with Hina
© DW/Unbreen Fatima

Women of today’s world face different challenges in life, whether it is public or private sphere. The nature and extent of suffering for women largely vary, depending on the geographical location they happen to live in. But there is one common problem which most of the women face: Obsession for thinness. This obsession is severely damaging women’s physical and psychological health and affecting their entire lives.

A Pakistani woman carries water pots make way for her home at a slum area © Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images

We keep on discussing issues like domestic violence, sexual harassment, unemployment etc. and thinking that these issues are severely affecting women. But there are many other grave issues which are damaging women’s lives all around the globe. Some of these issues are lack of food, lack of health facilities and poverty. And women living in slum areas are at the worst hit by these factors.

© Roheena Sajid

A few months ago some women from Islamabad (Pakistan) organized a conference to raise awareness about rape and sexual assault. This conference was organized in one of the universities in Islamabad by the collaboration of “Gender And Woman Studies” department professionals. People from different walks of life attended the conference including politicians, teachers, students and social workers. The basic purpose of this conference was to raise awareness about the rape and harassment.

Are the media making big mistakes in the way they represent women? What about how they ‘show’ violence against women?

© Roheena Sajid

An exhibition was organized in the Pakistan-china Friendship Centre in Islamabad a few months ago. I visited the centre to attend the exhibition, and met many women who came there from different areas of Pakistan to present their work. When I saw their art work, I was pleasantly surprised. Each and every piece was so dedicatedly made that I fell in love with the work.

We always discuss women’s issues, such as domestic violence, anxiety and depression and most of the times men are blamed for all these problems. I have seen many women end their marriages because they think that they are being oppressed by their partner even when it is not so. Have we ever thought, how we as women can have better love or marriage relationships, and eventually can live happier lives, even when we have problems?

The Persian writing on her hands: women should have the same rights as men (picture-alliance/dpa)

When we hear the phrase “women’s issues,” numerous issues and problems come to our minds and most of the problems have been prevalent for centuries. In spite of the plans and policies at national and international levels, no substantial work has been done for the elimination of these issues from women’s lives. Only superficial efforts have been made, which hardly influence the living standards of women at grass root level.