[You've lived in the U.K. now for several
years. How have you come to view Western
feminism and and the goals of that
movement, compared to, you know, where your activism began.]
To be honest, you know, when you talk about women's rights, and women
being neglected their basic human rights,
we often talk about the developing
countries, so you know, growing up in
Pakistan I thought that in the West
everything is perfect for women. And when I came to the U.K. and I started hearing
about the issues that women are facing
it actually shocked me. You know, hearing
that women are not paid equally as men, and there is the gender gap in that, and women
are not equally participating and given
opportunities in politics even.
So, that was surprising and shocking and I am so happy to see that women are
standing up, raising their voices and I
think the issues may vary, that women are
facing in the West compared to the
eastern countries, or compared to the
developing countries, but it is a positive sign that women are at
least raising their voices, joining hands
and,  I think it's a great time for
all of the all of women to connect and
to learn from each other, share their
experiences and thoughts.
[You speak a lot about your father, and and the sort of
hero status that he has in your life, but
there are not a lot of other Pakistani
fathers I guess who have played similar
roles in in their daughter's lives or
over hold the same politics or sense of
activism that he does. What is the role
of men in this movement?]
I think that is a good question, and I have been asked this many
times, you know what can men do what can boys do. And I think it is important for
for men to to understand that what what
is it, what is it that is good for their
daughters for their for their wives for
their sisters, and I think that brings
that you know, that that connection that
you know, I want my daughter to be
happy. I want my daughter to have a bright future. So, and then thinking that that is
how they should treat other women as
well, so I think it's important for men
to allow women to have equal
opportunities, and to allow them to have
their rights. And you know, what my father
says that; don't ask me what I did for my
daughter but ask me what I did not do.
And I did not clip her wings.
So we ask men not to clip the wings of women.
