News Desk |
Momina Mustehsan is bracing up to run cricket camps in the all-girls school of Islamabad and Lahore along with the team of Islamabad United of Pakistan Super League in the month of November. The objective of this campaign is to beef up the participation of girls in all formats of sports.
Chattting to @IsbUnited empowerment Amb. @MominaMustehsan on why #Pakistani girls need more sports ops @BBC100women https://t.co/2TbcETEcbG
— Fifi Haroon (@fifiharoon) October 27, 2017
Momina Mustehsan is an inspiration for all women in Pakistan says, Amna Naqvi, the owner of Islamabad United Team. The singer has been the brand ambassador for the team. But the subject of women empowerment in sports stands next in her list besides her undying passion for singing.
In her powerful statement, Mustehsan figured out why Pakistan still could not produce a female sports celebrity as sturdy like Serena Williams. According to her, gender discrimination has discredited the idea to provide women the coaching facilities similar to men.
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“Women face discrimination in sport the world over. The reason we don’t have more Serena Williams is that we don’t really have the same facilities and coaching for women that we do for men,”
She says the idea of women participation in sports needs more currency. Efforts should be made to make sportswomen more visible in Pakistan.
“Sportswomen must have visibility so that younger girls have role models to follow. If you see more women in sports it normalizes it.”
Mustehsan has always stood up for what she has believed in. She accepted the offer of being the spokesperson for internationally friendly football matches in Pakistan on the condition that she will do the gig if the captain of Pakistan’s women football team Hajra Khan was brought on board.
“If I can do something about it and won’t because I want to hog the limelight then I really have no right to talk about women’s empowerment,” she said. “If we keep thinking of each other as our competition then none of us are going to succeed. We need to build each other up not tear each other down.”
She realized the fact after objections were raised on her soft drink ad by Squash player Noreena Shams. The singer in the ad showed some freestyle football skills, to which the player responded that women athletes were ignored by the advertisement industry.
She further commented that pop stars and celebrities are given the platform to show off skills that they actually don’t possess.
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Her idea of women empowerment resonates with the Bollywood Diva Priyanka Chopra who shared the idea that strong women should support strong women to fight back sexism and the culture of women indignation. She expressed these views in her international interview on a question pertaining to Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assault controversy.
Momina Mustehsan, however, is featured in this year’s BBC’s 100 Women Challenge.
It is a BBC effort to praise the efforts of women who in their life spheres have steered all the obstacles falling in their way. Also, they would be challenged to bring on table, real solutions to the common problems faced by women worldwide.
It would be of immense interest to see how Momin Mustehsan will inspire other women under this challenge.