This Ei-ul-Azha, a 21- year old woman named Ayesha Ghani has challenged gender roles by selling sacrificial animals in Karachi’s cattle market. If you want to witness Ayesha Ghani in action, you can visit the Super Highway cattle market and will find Ayesha there with her 24 cows. She entered the market with 36 cows and has sold 12 uptil now, reports Express Tribune.
Proudly breaking stereotypes, standing amidst a highly dominated male industry and selling livestock, Ayesha has proudly broken gender stereotypes and gained massive media and public attention.
Every year in Pakistan, the livestock business, consisting of buffaloes, goats, sheep, cows and camels boom at the time of Eid ul Azha when the ‘mandis’ are filled with sellers and their animals; these sellers come from all parts of Pakistan and eagerly await this time of the year. Abuzz with buyers and sellers, these markets comprise of 95% males.
Ghani’s animals are also up for sale online on social media sites by the name of ‘Desi Cows’.
Ayesha, while talking to Samaa TV revealed how the prices have hiked this season but the business is slow due to the pandemic:
“Most buyers are looking for animals available at economical prices, while prices have sky-rocketed this year due to inflation,” she said.
She further went on to say:
“I have been an animal lover all my life. However, this is the first time that I am personally selling animals in the market.”
Ayesha hopes that she will be an inspiration for other girls who will also muster up the courage to step into this field. just like any other male dominated industry.
She did face challenges being the only woman, selling animals in a male infiltrated society but these are “bound to surface at first” she said.
“After all, girls do face a lot of difficulties in our society, but I have taken the first step and hope to see more women and girls stepping forward,” Ayesha said.
“Today, women are second to none and they should not consider themselves inferior to anyone. We can progress in every field,” Ghani added.
From checking their teeth to washing them and cleaning them, Ayesha does everything herself. The prices range from 130,000 to 600,000 PKR. The most expensive cow at her stall is yet to be sold.
Watch her interview with Hum News below:
She is also fond of riding bikes and even gives bike riding classes along with being a gym instructor. The animals she is selling at the cattle market were raised by workers at a village.
“I’ve been an animal lover since childhood and this year, I thought I’ll change things around for the women and children who usually feel uncomfortable and scared while visiting the cattle market,” said Ghani while talking on SAMAA TV’s morning show Naya Din.
Ayesha revealed that she is glad to be treated well by the sellers and customers in the market. However, she is not very happy with how the market managers treat her.
“They ask me weird questions such as ‘you’re a woman and you come to the mandi [cattle market] on a bike’ and ‘why do you travel on a bike?’ They just make me feel bad from time to time,” she said.
She amusingly revealed how the managers were baffled when she first went to them, telling them about selling cows. She wants to change the social narratives and we wish her all the best for it!
Way to go, girl!
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