Aurat March Karachi has announced that the reason behind the march being held on 11th March is to honour the unacknowledged domestic labour women perform in their households.
This year, Aurat March was held on different dates across cities in Pakistan. In Lahore, the march was held on 12th February in honour of the Law of Evidence protests where brave activists from organisations like Womens Action Forum (WAF) had protested against the Zia regime.
In Multan, the march was held on 23rd February while in Islamabad it is to take place on 8th March.
In a statement released on their Instagram account, the Aurat March Karachi organisers explained the reason behind why they had picked 11th March, by sharing that it was to highlight how the endless labour women perform is often overlooked and unacknowledged.
“Mother’s Day is not a gift—it’s a reminder of the weight we carry. Women work endlessly, yet our labor is ignored. Whether at home or in the workplace, we are expected to do it all—working jobs, raising children, running households—while being denied recognition, rights, and rest. If we work outside, we come home to more work. If we stay home, our labor isn’t even considered work. And if we refuse, we are made to feel guilty—if not subjected to worse outcomes like abuse and/or d*(@)th.
This Mother’s Day, we march—not for flowers, not for empty praise, but for justice.”
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Aurat March Islamabad had published an open letter to the Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif calling to attention that they had still not received a Non-Objection Certificate (NOC), despite operating for the last six years.
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