Aurat March Lahore has unveiled its charter of demands for 2021. This year’s charter of demands is based on 15 points with a special focus on women’s healthcare, which is also the theme of this year’s march.
As per the official Twitter account of Aurat March Lahore, the charter “is centred on our theme of healthcare which intersects with the issues of gender-based violence, the dehumanisation and sexualisation of our bodies, safety, environmental justice and our fraught relationship with the state.”
“Some of our demands are immediate, some of them are from the state — but we recognise that our long-term struggle and means of emancipation lie outside the patriarchal state and exploitative economic system we’re currently in,” read the official statement.
Earlier, the organisers of Aurat March Lahore released the poster and theme for this year’s march.
Speaking exclusively to The Current, Shehzil Malik who designed the poster, talked about the thought process behind designing the poster.
“To know more about women’s health crisis, I reached out to a friend who works in public health which really gave me an insight into the subject,” shared Malik.
Aurat March is scheduled to take place on March 8 on the occasion of International Women’s Day.
Meanwhile, expressing her views on the Aurat March, Sarah Khan in an exclusive interview with The Current said: “I think, instead of fight for the rights, we should educate our sons. Don’t teach your daughters to go to ‘Aurat March’, educate your sons and teach them that their mother is also a woman.
“[A] woman is the one who runs the house, does the house chores and supports the man. If your wife is not helpful, then how will you be happy? Allah has already granted status to the woman, but I think men should be given the same rights. They deserve the same, not only women,” she added.
On the other hand, actor Mahira Khan who attends the Aurat March every year revealed her reason for going to the event, saying: “I think it is necessary for me [to go to Aurat March] because I think when I do something, no matter how small it is, it leaves an impact.”
“So when I go to Aurat March, what I’m actually trying to say is ‘Look, if you like me and if you think what I say means something if you think I that I’m on the right side of history, or whatever you think of me, this is also what I believe in, this is why I’m here,” she added.
