The Aurat March is coming back to Karachi, and this time it is bigger and bolder than ever. This year’s march will be held on May 10 at Seaview, marking the first time in the march’s eight-year history that the venue has shifted away from Frere Hall or Bagh-e-Jinnah.
The organisers announced the march on International Women’s Day with a powerful poster carrying the message: “Be glad we’re asking for justice, not revenge.”
The march is being held on Mother’s Day, for the second year in a row, to highlight the unpaid and unacknowledged work that women do every day inside their homes. The organisers say that society celebrates women as mothers and wives but refuses to see them as workers, citizens, and decision-makers who deserve equal rights.
The march’s call to action includes demands for freedom from gender-based violence, from state repression through laws like PECA, and for women’s hard-earned labour rights.
This year, the atmosphere is even more charged because of what happened in Islamabad. The Aurat March in Islamabad was met with police action, and 19 activists were arrested ahead of the rally, including prominent human rights defender Dr Farzana Bari, two of her daughters, and Tahira Abdullah.
Despite the crackdowns, the women behind this movement are not stopping. The Karachi march on May 10 is expected to draw a large crowd at Seaview, as more and more people stand up to demand basic rights, dignity, and justice for women across Pakistan.
