Protests and women.

Byline: Huma Yusuf

WHEN JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman waved to the crowds in Islamabad on Friday, he loomed over a large banner featuring a picture of Maryam Nawaz. That image may have been the only meaningful female presence at the Azadi March. Those who support the protest - and particularly the JUI-F's democratic right to public protest - may counter that a focus on the Azadi March's gender politics unfairly distracts from its legitimate demand for transparent, interference-free elections. But you cannot defend democracy while excluding more than half the population.

Asad Umar in a tweet rightly pointed out that the lack of women betrayed the JUI-F's vision of a 'Pakistan ... where women have no place in the public space'. The party apparently disinvited its female members, and asked other opposition parties to do the same. Two female journalists covering the march reported they were harassed by JUI-F workers and forced to leave.

This is shameful. The act of restricting acAAcess to the march has undermined its organisers' stated commitment to democratic and constitutional norms. But it also reveals a major political blind spot. One of the few charms of the PTI dharna and pre-poll rallies was the large presence of women, many of them young, arriving with faces painted in the colours of the PTI flag. Before reality set in, these women heralded a 'naya' PakisAtan. This contrast has been an easy attack by the government against the Azadi March, but one that points to significant issues of democratic access.

Though we have romanticised it, the PTI dharna's high number of female participants was driven by socioeconomic reasons rather than a gender inclusive attitude per se. These were predominantly middle-class women who could swarm to the protest in the evenings, then return home in chauffeur-driven cars. This is not the typical profile of a female political party worker.

The JUI-F apparently disinvited its female members.

Moreover, that female presence has not translated into feminist discourse, proportionate cabinet representation or policy. Have we already forgotten Imran Khan's statement about how feminism undermines motherhood? Or that this government delayed the implementation of the domestic violence bill in KP? Or that the PTI's education adviser in that province recently notified female students at government schools to wear chadars or abayas to protect themselves against 'unethical' incidents?

And before Umar gets too smug, he...