‘Workplace harassment isn’t romantic’: Kanwal Ahmed, twitter users call out sexist commercial
Soul Sisters founder Kanwal Ahmed took to her X (formerly Twitter) account to call out a sexist commercial starring Fawad Khan and Mahira Khan.
In the short two minute clip, Fawad plays a business man who is awestruck by Mahira, a woman who comes to his office to give a presentation. During the meeting, he keeps staring at her while she speaks passionately. When Mahira’s character concludes the presentation and asks for questions, Fawad responds that he has none, but is sure that he is going to marry her. To which Mahira giggles, and then the clip shifts to showing us the couple’s married life and happily ever after.
Kanwal Ahmed addressed the commercial’s sexist message by writing:
“A client, colleague or boss staring at you during a presentation & telling you, in front of the board, that you WILL marry him – isn’t romantic. It’s workplace harassment. Expected better from Mahira & Fawad Khan. Especially in a society that already objectifies working women.”
Workplace harassment is a serious issue in Pakistan.
You might be thinking, what is such a big deal about this? It’s a small commercial, nothing less. But just imagine this, you’re a woman coming to your office for a presentation and throughout it you can notice your boss ogling at you rather than take any interest in what you’ve worked on all night. And when it is done, rather than giving you any constructive feedback, your boss declares in front of your colleagues that he will marry you.
This is a textbook example of workplace harassment. It’s not a fairy tale love story.
In Pakistan, women have been forced to bear with consistent remarks or bullying from their male colleagues and bosses. We’ve heard stories from friends, family members or even witnessed ourselves how women have had to take on extra work, or tolerate sexist comments from their bosses for the sake of keeping their jobs. This commercial has struck a bad taste in our mouths because it romanticises the same unprofessional behaviour that forces women to quit their jobs, and pushes desi parents to prevent their daughters from seeking an independent life because of this fear.
It’s also not okay that Fawad and Mahira both did not have a problem with this scene, even though the had enough power and influence to change it as they are considered as as South Asia’s biggest stars. Mahira, especially, has been outspoken about sexual harassment and has called herself a champion for working women in the past. Why did she think it was okay to send the message that it’s romantic when a boss demands you to marry him in the middle of a work meeting?
Read more: Mahira Khan on victim-blaming and educating the public against it
We’re glad that women on Twitter have not wasted a second to call out the commercial for sending such a deeply problematic message towards working women across Pakistan. But we’re also bewildered because why are such topics still being debated upon? The rest of the world has moved forward to making progressive, engaging stories that don’t involve creepy marriage proposals at the workplace, why is the Pakistani entertainment industry still lagging behind?
