“Women in burqas also get assaulted and raped,” Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy schools state for regulating women’s dress code with abayas

Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, the Academy Award-winning filmmaker from Pakistan has always stressed upon the fact that women need to be educated and taught well about their rights. Chinoy’s social campaigns, her films raising social awareness in females and her contribution to cinema in Pakistan is huge. Sharmeen might not do the typical entertainment cinema but what she focuses on is much more important.

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However, this time, the filmmaker and activist and chose to speak about a very important topic; it’s not how women dress that gets them raped. It’s about how men react and think and behave.

Taking the same point on social media, Sharmeen expressed her disapproval at the Peshawar Education Officer who has now officially ordered girls/female students in the region to wear gowns (abayas) and cover themselves with veils to prevent any mishap from happening.

Please educate Ms Ghani that women in burqas also get assaulted and raped- you need to change the way men react and behave around women before policing what women should wear- If you are in charge of education then perhaps you should educate yourself first about all the studies that clearly state that covering up woman is not the answer,” wrote Sharmeen on her Instagram and rightfully so.

Siding with Sharmeen is another development activist, Roshaneh Zafar, who also stated that the state had no regulate or intervene regarding women’s dress code. Calling it a violation of fundamental rights Roshaneh stated that how women dressed had nothing to do with the violence against them.