We marched today through the streets of Islamabad, we marched amidst the chaos as the extremists showered stones at all those who raised their voices, we marched on the damp ground in the cold, we marched to the parliament and we marched home at the end of the day, empowered. We marched peacefully, waving the flag of our feminism because it is our constitutional right.

Our feminism is intersectional, all inclusive and calls to bridge the gender gap that unfortunately managed to make its way into the third decade of the 21^st century and still persists. Though one too many misconceptions regarding feminism exist, the way I describe it is that in a hypothetical universe where the tables are turned, matriarchy is established and females are deemed to be the superior gender by the society in that case feminism will work to safeguard the rights of men. Thus the feminists are not men hating extremists instead they stand for one objective, the right to equality for women in all strides of life. One should be judged on the basis of their merit rather than discriminated on the basis of the society’s pre-established gender based stereotypes. That is exactly what Aurat March advocated along with addressing many pressing issues that women face in Pakistan.

On the 8^th of March, 2020 the social activist in me took precedence over the nerd and so I made my way to Aurat March, a decision I made neglecting my mock exams, a decision I most certainly do not regret. In this dystopian world, approaching an evitable apocalypse, being surrounded by such sound minded, aware and driven people is a source of solace and comfort. It is a reassurance that though much negative has blanketed this reality, there are still people willing to contest for the better. There is indeed hope. This year the posters were more than just slogans for the crowd to chant, they held forth the struggles Pakistani women encounter on a daily basis and have been for generations including but not limited to child marriages, sexual harassment and rape, domestic abuse, lack of accountability, educational rights, financial and social independence, autonomy over their bodies and reproduction rights. The word ‘Azaadi’ was the primary slogan that all the marchers cheered at the top of their lungs in sync.

Tahira Abdullah’s speech prior to the march will stick with me for the rest of the days to come. With her words, unwavering tone and one too many sarcastic remarks, she made women realize their self-worth, and affirmed that they must be unapologetic, firm and independent and must always raise their voices to demand their rights. Tahira Abdullah’s voice and the loud chants of the Aurat Azaadi marchers made the sickening remarks being made by the extremists, gathered parallel to us, inaudible and blatantly enough, irrelevant. After a few more words by the organizers, we proceeded on to the major segment, the march itself to D-chowk.

In the initial stage of the march as we started to wend our way to our destination we were met with stones, bricks and glass bottles that were thrown at us by the extremists in a failed attempt to deter our ambitious and purposeful selves. I would describe this act of aggression towards our movement as a mere momentary disruption after which Azaadi marchers emerged with high spirits and an even higher amplitude of chants. This inconvenience in our path did not dissuade us instead reaffirmed the reason why we stood there in solidarity. We could not march along the route that was promised to us but we did march on to our port of call. We made it in front of the parliament practicing our constitutional right of freedom of speech. I then witnessed democracy in its purest form. The streets of Islamabad were our forum to be heard, seen and empowered.

Feminism and gender equality are synonymous phrases that advocate the same idea and I fail to understand how they have become such controversial ideologies. All they represent is a radical notion that women are humans and thus deserve to be given their fundamental rights. This march was deemed by many as a futile attempt that would be counterproductive but I stand firmly by my stance that in fact this march was an endeavor we embarked on in order to create social awareness and pay tribute to women on women’s day. The only thing that is misdirecting attention from the unerring agenda of the Aurat March is the phrasing of the slogan ‘Mera jism, meri marzi’ which stands for all the right principles but has been misinterpreted by the masses becoming a great controversy. Merely changing the phrasing of this slogan to ‘Meri zaat, mera haq’ could simmer down the aggression towards this wave of feminism and prove fruitful to the movement on a whole. We must tread carefully from this point on making sure that whatever ideologies we stand with are not misconceived so that feminism could bloom in its purest glory. ‘The world cannot progress if half of its population is oppressed’ is the firm ground we stand on, united.