Lahore: Pakistani women are slowly coming out of their homes
for daily chores.However, barring a few who can drive, most are dependent on a
male family member to go about.Women usually go out with their father or
brother as families are not comfortable when they go out alone.
Lok Sujag a nonprofit organization has started a project at
the Faisalabad Agriculture University to facilitate female studentsto move
about on campus using bicycles. Tahir Mehdi a representative of Lok Sujag said,
“Ladies ‘On Wheels’” is our new project initiated in Faisalabad Agriculture
University. It aims to make the female student body that represents the
Pakistani women, independent to go about. Men ride bikes in the country, but
ladies often have to walk long distances to reach their destination in the
rural and urban areas.”
Mehdi added: “Ladies can be seen riding donkey carts and
cars but not on motorbikes or bicycles. It is all about taboos which need to be
broken. Pakistan today is at a stage where women need to be made independent
too. Ladies should not be dependent on men for commuting or be forced to use
congested and unsafe public transport, where they face harassment too. Now is
the time to break the fear barriers.”
Tahir continued: “Women in many parts of the world are using
bikes and it has nothing to do with religion or culture, it’s just about making
life easy for everyone. People in Pakistan need to realize that two wheels are
not their enemy. One of the basic reasons a girl has to drop out of school
after class five or eight is transport, since schools in villages are limited
only to classes below Metric. If girls want to study further they would have to
travel to another place, which becomes next to impossible in the families’
limited resources. So it’s time we educate the people to let their girls use
bicycles or motorbikes.”
Rizwan who is heading Lok Sujag in Faislabad said, “We are
basically trying to break the trends. Lok Sujag had initially started from
Faisalabad Agricultural University. We had arranged for trainers from Honda
Motorcycle Company to come help girls learn to ride bikes but they did not have
to do much of an effort. Soon the university gave girls bicycles too so that
they could move from one department to another within the campus. The response
was tremendous. Girls were coming forwards to use a bike without any hesitation
and many even said that they will start using it in their daily lives. We want
to expand this campaign in other areas of Pakistan especially on University
campuses too so that girls can become more independent and fulfill their
dreams.”
This article has been published in The Nation on 05/07/2015
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