Aurat | Woman
Collaboration with Adeen Taji and Fatima Magsi
Poetry: Adeen Taji (Rubina Magsi)
As we celebrate International Womenās Day I cannot help but think about an incident that recently took place in my birthplace Karachi, Pakistan. A few weeks ago my mother rescued an 11 year old girl child who was being exploited by a privileged family. The childās parents had negotiated 30,000 Rupees in exchange for a full year of her services as a maidservant.
Amongst other domestic duties, the child was expected to clean, make rotis, play with the children, look after the pets and give company to the older women of the house.
She was not given a bedroom and was allowed no privacy.
She was given two pairs of clothes.
She was made to sleep on the kitchen floor with a thin pillow and blanket and could only rest after everyone retired to their bedrooms.
She was expected to be awake before anyone else awoke.
For breakfast she was given one cup of tea and one piece of toast, every single morning.
She was not fed any lunch.
Once night fell and the family had consumed their meals, she ate whatever food was left over.
She was not allowed to play with the toys she was surrounded by.
She was not allowed to watch television or access any phones or computers.
The child had no access to the outside world and was told time and again that her family had abandoned her and would never be returning for her.
The childās family tried their best to contact her, but in vain. Every time they called or showed up at the gates of the house, their pleas to visit with their child fell on dead ears. Her father was even removed off the property by security guards once when he broke down at the gates and began to cry, begging for just a glimpse of his child.
The girlās mother had worked for my mother in the past and after 6 months of no communication with her child, she asked my mother for help. Although my family was enraged at the inhumane act of selling oneās own child in bonded domestic labour, that too, a young, 11 year old minor, my mother knew she had to act swiftly. Her biggest concern and fear was sexual exploitation and physical abuse of the child, as this is common.
While trying to retrieve the child from what can only be defined as slavery, threats were made to my mother both over the phone and in person by the family in question. They did their best to intimidate and scare my mother, so that she would abandon the case, but she persisted and exhausted all her resources to ensure that the child was removed from harm and brought into a safe environment. Once the family was cornered and confronted by law enforcement officials and journalists, they had no choice but to let the child go. Before the child exited the house, she was made to go on record and state that no one in the house had ever harmed her physically. While there had been no sexual abuse, the child showed clear signs of physical abuse. There were burn marks on her arms and back as well as some bruises spread out over her tired body. The women of the household periodically slapped, pinched and pulled the childās hair. She was burnt with hot kitchen tools and utensils. At times, the children of the house joined in and beat her. This is the harsh and exploitative reality of millions of female children enslaved in domestic and bonded labour around the world. Despite the advancements we have made in quality of life for girls and women in our world, we still have a long way to go.
The reason I am sharing this story today is because my mother is the first feminist I have ever known and a survivor of many challenging circumstances. The fierce qualities I have always admired in her are resilience, resistance and rebellion when all societal, patriarchal, religious and cultural odds are stacked up against her. There are women like her all over the world, fighting the good fight for one reason only, to leave our planet in a better shape for future generations. In her words āMariam, every woman is an NGO. We are all walking, talking non-profit organizations. If you want to, you can help impact society positively in all kinds of small and big ways. Every single contribution and action counts. If we are empowered and liberated, then it is our duty to help empower and liberate others.ā
Happy International Womenās Day.
