Women in Humsafar

In the drama, Humsafar, a very interesting contrasting picture of lifestyle in Hyderabad and Karachi has been portrayed, especially in terms of society and economics. Hyderabad is home to the lower middle class whereas Karachi is the city of elites. This picture comes to life when the women of the drama come to the forefront and their public and private affairs are shown. The humungous level of contrast between the public and private life of the women of the two cities could be compared upon various levels. One of the most prominent is the fact that there is no such distinction of public and private for the Hyderabdi women or the lower middle class. Since there is an absence of a male figure in their lives, the women have to earn a living for themselves and they operate from home e.g. Khirad and her mother give tuitions in their house to the students in order to earn money. Similarly, during their leisure time or casual time their private is not separate from public as in a scene Khirad was checking notebooks while chatting with Batool Khala. The main reason for this is the burden of labor and domestic work in both public and private.

On the contrary, the women of Karachi have a different private. Their leisure time includes talks related to international travel, social and charitable work (a new phenomenon to showcase wealth) and casual talks. They do not have to worry about the public because they have the male body in their family who earns for them and no labor or domestic work is involved. What is interesting to note is the concept of ‘izat’ (prestige) in the lower middle class and a sense of belonging with each other. whereas, if we notice the elite women, they turn against each other if their means are not being satisfied like in the case of Fareeda and her sister when Fareeda fails to marry her son to her sister’s daughter, Sara. Sara and Khirad both are shown of being in the same age group but their priorities and actions are completely different due to their social and economic differences. Khirad is a virtuous girl who helps her mother is the household chores and also to earn a living by giving tuitions along with her mother, on the other hand, Sara is carefree from such matters and hangs out with friends and obsesses about Ashar. Hence, the life of these two social and economic classes is completely in contradiction with one another.