Women Are Calling Bullshit After Being Stopped From Entering Punjab Civil Secretariat Without Dupatta On Their Heads

By Rameeza Ahmad | 19 Oct, 2018

Beware! Only covered heads for women who wish to enter the Punjab Civil Secretariat!

In the latest development for Naya Pakistan, apparently, women are now allowed to enter the Minister’s Block at the Punjab Civil Secretariat without covering their head.

Yep, you read that right.

 

Attention to the issue came after Noor Imran tweeted about her horrendous experience when she and a few of her colleagues went to the Minister’s Block at the Punjab Civil Secretariat in Lahore for a meeting

Noor had another female colleague with her who had a dupatta on and a headscarf as well.

But Noor was not wearing either. She had been to the Minister’s block before and had never faced an issue regarding the way she dressed. But on her latest visit, two days ago she was stopped in the checking room by the security and staff of the Minister’s block.

She was told that she would not be allowed to enter without a dupatta. 

She asked them where the rule had come from suddenly since this had never been an issue previously. The security staff told her that this was a new rule at the behest of certain Ministers. Noor was wearing shalwar kameez but had no dupatta with her but her colleague with the headscarf gave her her dupatta so she would be allowed to enter.

 

According to Noor, she placed the dupatta on her shoulder but apparently, this still was not enough.

The female staff member told her that she would need to cover her head with the dupatta, but since Noor pointed out she had a dupatta on as requested and had had enough with the interaction, she walked off to mild protests by the female staff member.

When she came out of her meeting, she was quite annoyed and tweeted about the entire incident.

 

 

The next day, two of Noor’s female colleagues had to visit the Minister’s block at the Punjab Civil Secretariat again and the same thing happened to them

Both of them had dupattas on but since one of them did not have her head covered, she was barred from entering.

They told her that no woman with an uncovered head would be allowed to enter the premises on the strict orders of several Ministers.

The women asked to see an official notice with this new rule since this was not their first time on the premises and they were not aware of any such rule. The officials present told them there was no written notice, just verbal orders.

 

In the video shared, the guards who stopped the women from entering have named Dr. Yasmin Rashid as one of the Ministers who had asked for this rule to be implemented

 

 

So the reason for this offensive policy is apparently because previously a woman in a ‘questionable outfit’ came to the Minister’s block and distracted the men there.

Source: Dharma Productions

And after this, a male Minister stated that no woman should be even allowed to enter by the staff if she did not have her head covered. The woman pointed out that her dress was completely acceptable since she was in shalwar kameez and a dupatta but the officials said their hands were tied in the matter since they had orders which had to be followed.

But considering there was no written and signed notice, it is not yet clear who exactly ordered for this rule to be implemented and whether it is only for the Minister’s block or the entire Punjab Civil Secretariat.

 

If this rule is officially being implemented, there should be a written notice issued. And why is this sexist rule being implemented, anyway?

Policing women over what they wear to a Minister’s office is just a new level of sexism by the government. Shouldn’t the men know when to control themselves if a woman wearing clothes they are not usually accustomed to seeing enters their office?

People on Twitter have certainly taken offense to this ‘policy’, and rightly so.

 

PTI and Dr. Yasmin Rashid have tweeted refuting the guard’s version of the story. She said she didn’t issue any orders stopping women without dupatta from entering the Punjab Civil Secretariat

 

What do you think about this new rule? Let us know in the comments.

 

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Cover Image Source: @ButtSidra via Twitter.com

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