Women in Pakistan just want to have fun -- like the men

LAHORE, Pakistan — It’s largely taboo for women to walk alone on the street here. Those who dare often suffer disapproving glances, scolding or catcalls.

Now a group of young women are fighting that discrimination, one teacup at a time.

Led by Pakistani blogger Saadia Khatri, 24, the women photograph themselves at dhabas — roadside stands selling food and tea that traditionally cater to men throughout South Asia — and post their pictures on social media with the hashtag #girlsatdhabas.

Khatri started posting the images in May on a lark, after she graduated from Mount Holyoke College and found life at home stultifying when compared to her New England liberal arts school.

“What inspired me was simply the daily frustrations of facing resistance in doing the most ordinary things in our cities,” said Khatri, who lives in Karachi. “It started with just venturing out in the city, among ourselves."

The women's campaign went viral.

“It has become a collective effort to reclaim spaces traditionally dominated by men,” Khatri said. “We want to encourage and facilitate women to find their own voice.”

Khatri and another Mount Holyoke alum, Natasha Ansari, 25, started a Tumblr blog and invited women to post photos of themselves at dhabas. The blog now features thousands of pictures of women sipping tea, chatting, eating, reading and smoking in public — routine activities in the United States but rebellious behavior in Pakistan. Women in India, Bangladesh and Nepal have also submitted photos.

“Women have to reclaim their space in every field in Pakistan, be it entertainment, sports or any other field,” said civil rights activist Fouzia Saeed, who is also executive director of the Lok Virsa museum in Islamabad. “Initiatives like these are a must for society.”

She noted that Pakistan has grown more conservative and hostile to women’s rights in recent years.

“Historically, the space for women has been reduced in Pakistan,” Saeed said. “In 1960s or before that — even in our mothers’ era — there was more space and openness. I recall biking wasn’t considered a taboo then. The space for women has shrunk over decades.”

Khatri and Ansari also launched #girlsplayingstreetcricket, referring to the popular bat-and-ball game.

“Most of us could narrate childhood instances where we were either told by the boys playing street cricket that we can’t play with them, or discouraged or not allowed by parents to play cricket on the streets because it was something girls aren’t supposed to do,” Ansari said. “So the idea came very naturally to us, and we organized a cricket match in Karachi, where 15 young girls came out to play.”

Men haven't openly resisted letting women enter their traditional turf, Khatri said. But other women and some relatives have expressed doubts.

“This is a novel idea, and many find it hard to accept it openly,” Khatri said. “This has led to some discouragement and safety concerns, especially from families about putting ourselves out there.”

Lubna Khan, 23, of Lahore, is typical of the campaign's critics.

“If you ask me, I don’t feel comfortable sitting in a men’s only dhaba,” Khan said. “It’s my choice to not be in a place where men are smoking, cracking vulgar jokes among themselves."

"I don’t have to prove my ‘existence’ through such an initiative," she added. "I go out and work for my well-being. That’s enough for me to ‘reclaim my space.’”

Women like Khan have every right to dislike dhabas, Ansari said, but she should have the right to patronize them if she wants. “We’ve faced negative criticism,” she said. “Many times it is from people who don’t fully understand our stance behind initiating this project.”

The women are now raising money to open a dhaba explicitly for women in Karachi in the next year. They envision the dhaba as a place for activists to meet, share experiences and plan for the future, as well as have fun and relax over a cheap cup of hot tea.

“We want to facilitate women to come together and address issues of public space access and harassment," Ansari said. "And to plot more ways to create resistance around the issue of women’s mobility and visibility in public space.”