Equality is not just reversal of roles, it is about sharing responsibilities and things in life. Individual respect irrespective of the gender in a relationship establishes equality and strengthens it. With mothers, fathers too must be respected in the same way.
These thoughts were expressed by the celebrity couple of poet Javed Akhtar and actress Shabana Azmi at a talk show, Empowered Women; What Next?, held in Doha earlier this week. Hosted by Saima Bukhari, a young entrepreneur and Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of Crunch Doha and moderated by Sophia Bukhari, wife of prominent Indian businessman M S Bukhari, the show had both Akhtar and Azmi on the panel along with Elisabete Reis, an image consultant and style adviser.
“Don’t buy it if somebody tells you that women should be respected only because she is a mother, do not buy it. It is a fraud. A woman should not be respected for just because she is a mother. She should be respect because she is woman,” Javed Akhtar told the audience comprising mostly of women while responding to a question.
Challenging the preset notions, Akhtar said roles associated with gender does not bring equality and should not be considered as parameters. The lyricist agreed with his wife Azmi that there were certain inconsistencies existing in the society when it comes to women empowerment.
Shabana Azmi took the discussion forward by making a point that the idea of dominance has to be replaced with the idea of sharing and partnership in order to create equality. Azmi, who is also a Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations Population Fund, added that it was important to increase the number of women empowered in the world in different fields.
“Whether it is politics or business sector, there needs to be more empowered women included. However, once empowered, the women must realise that they need to develop partnership and sharing and discourage concentration of power in groups,” said Azmi.
She stressed the importance of education for women and noted that often the academic education that children receive push them the idea of gender disparity. “It should have been the other way round. It is better to have no education than to having the one that enforces patriarchal structures,” said Azmi.
Financial independence, she added, empowers women to have a variety of choices when they are making their decisions. However, she again pointed out that in Asian societies even the financially independent women do not yield power. “Empowerment is having the ability to make your own life decisions. And that is true both for men and women,” added Azmi. Reis highlighted the importance of education which she said was the key in making women respected in the society.
Speaking to Community after the event, Saima Bukhari said the idea of the event was to raise awareness around not just how to empower women but also to discuss where are the empowered women headed.
“I would like to think that I am empowered and I am independent,” she said. There were certain things in the discussion that did help her challenge certain notions. “It is important to understand that it has to be a give and take. Society should understand that it is not the woman who should always be the one making sacrifices,” said the host. She said she has been practising most of these things but things like respect as discussed by the panel was interesting for her.
“How without realising we are so tuned to giving respect, oh she is a mother. It does not matter whose mother she is, she deserves respect. Well, why not also the father. He should also deserve the same equal respect and it is something that I did not think about before,” she acknowledged.  
Saima Bukhari says if she can she would like to organise a series on such issues and related topics inviting more panellists like Akhtar and Azmi to make the discussion interesting and relevant so that more women could benefit.
Earlier, M S Bukhari hosted a luncheon at Radisson Blu Hotel to felicitate Javed Akhtar, Amjad Islam Amjad (noted Pakistani poet), Shabana Azmi, Gopichand Narang (poet) and other international Urdu poets.
Akhtar recited his famous Urdu poems, which were very much liked and applauded by everyone. Azmi narrated a poem of her father Kaifi Azmi. Dr Narang appreciated the level of Urdu promotion which is happening in Qatar, that has gone to International level.
Pirzada Qasim, eminent poet from Pakistan, recited one of his famous poetry Eik Diya Bujha Hua, which was enjoyed by all the guests attended.