As if degrading mothers wasn’t enough, Abrar-ul-Haq released a sexist song “Begum Shark Kehti Hai”

“This song proves how far we have to go in order to achieve equality. Abrar ul haq stooped to a new low” one twitter user wrote.

Picture of Mahnoor Jalal

Mahnoor Jalal

Sub-Editor

When are men going to leave women alone and stop criticizing them over every single choice they make? We hate women for not being perfect mothers because they play the song “Baby Shark” to their babies to keep them calm and now, Abrar ul Haq thinks that women who question too much or ask their husbands where they are going are deranged and can be subjected to shaming.

The title of the song “Begum Shark Kehti Hai” refers to those women as predators who are questioning their husbands all the time about where they keep going and who they’re with. In the music video, we can see that the wife (played by actress Saba Qamar) suspects that her husband is cheating on her, so she stalks and sends people after him. In a nation where domestic violence cases are emerging everyday, and we just witnessed the horrific Minar-e-Pakistan incident where a woman was groped and harrased by 400 men, why are we still sending such toxic messages to men that their masculinity is challenged if their wives aren’t afraid to question them? Several cases emerge daily where women are beaten, killed and they’re dismissed by being told they’re the ones at fault because they weren’t perfect wives or daughters, but the real concern men still have is being questioned about their whereabout and not wanting to be seen as a “run mureed”.

Twitter users also had to criticize the singer’s deeply sexist song and pointing out how such demeaning jokes further malign women and play into the stereotype that good wives and daughters are submissive and quiet and do not challenge the patriarchs of their houses.

 

All that we can say is that men need to learn to do better. Stop shaming other men for lacking mardangi because they’re not violent and actually respect their wives, and learn to treat other women as human beings who have the right to question the ways of the men in their lives. Men in powerful positions like Abrar ul Haq need to realize this better because when they endorse such sexist and biased thinking like the song “Begum Shark”, they’re teaching other common people that its acceptable to do the same. This proves that we have a long way to go to creating a society where women can feel safe.