Rebbia's Post: The Love-Hate Relationship of Public Life and Freedom

Why doesn’t Fareeda work at an NGO and why is she running one? Similarly, why can’t Khirad’s mother ask her brother to let Khirad work at his firm and why do they necessarily have to teach and give tuitions?

Humsafar is a serial filled with various clichés and stereotypes one of which are the kinds of jobs that the women in in the serial perform. If you look at the public sphere of the women in Humsafar in terms of their employment or occupations, you will see that it is closely tied with their economic/financial status. What you will realize from this is no matter what the economic status of a woman, it limits her public sphere in terms of the employment opportunities available to her as it determines the job that she is most likely to take up. Humsafar illustrates this well and here is how:

To start with, we see that Khirad’s mother teaches at a school (that too a primary school from what it looks like) as well as gives tuitions to schoolchildren in the evenings. This is perfectly linked with the fact that Khirad clearly belongs to a lower middle class and if we exclude the schools and universities that cater to the 10% privileged class of the Pakistani society, most female teachers who work at schools which cater to the rest of the 70% are usually from a lower middle class as well. In this sense, the occupation of Khirad’s mother fits with their economic status very well.

Second, while we are not sure of how exactly Sara’s mother manages the household in the absence of her husband and we do not know if her mother contributes to the income in any way, from what the serial suggests Sara belongs to the upper middle class. Moreover, Sara is shown as the ‘modern’ girl, the one who does not sit at home and here is the catch: she does not just work (which fits her ‘modern girl’ role) but she works at her uncle’s office. Again, while the ‘modern girl’ of Pakistan is encouraged to step out of home and be ‘independent’ where is ideally the safest and most convenient place for her to both step out and be independent? At her abu’s, bhai’s, mamoo’s, chacha’s firm and if the family lacks entrepreneurial drive, then at a firm of someone whom her abu, bhai, mamoo, chachoo knows well so that she works at a “jaannay walay’s” place where her parents would know she is both independent and under their control.

Last but not the least because this is definitely the most interesting of the three, Fareeda Baseerat, the wife of an elite and successful businessman, runs an NGO for the flood victims. This does not come as any surprise as most upper class women of our society do seem to have a penchant for setting up NGOs and doing ‘social work’ which can be explained by the fact that not only do they have free time on their hands but they can also afford such ventures through the copious supply of money that their husbands provide them with.

And so Fareeda will not work at an NGO but only open one and Khirad will not work at Ashar’s firm but only teach. Why? Because in a way they are forced to.