Pakistan's Imran Khan says 'feminism degrades role of mother'

NEW DELHI: Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan is in the eye of a storm after his comment that the "Western notion of

feminism

degrades the role of a mother."


He said he doesn't agree with the feminist movement which he called a Western import.

"A mother has biggest influence on a person ...A real mother, that is. I completely disagree with this Western concept, this feminist movement... it has degraded the role of a mother...when I was growing up my mother had the most impact on me," said Khan in a TV interview.

Twitter backlash was quick.


Many on social media said Khan - who's aspiring to be Pakistan's Prime Minister -shows his "utter lack of understanding" of feminism.


Others said feminism actually celebrates motherhood.


Feminism, they said, is also the reason why so many countries now have paid maternity leave for mothers as per law.


Khan needs to educate himself, many said.



Meanwhile, two days ago, Khan's second ex-wife Reham Khan gave some gender equality lessons to another Pakistani, former military dictator Pervez Musharraf.

Reham has been in the news lately for her reportedly tell-all memoir - which is said to include salacious details - about her months married to Khan.

Last week, Musharraf retweeted a post from his political party which said, among other things, that Reham, being a woman - or "lady" as the tweet said - should be "ashamed of herself" for writing whatever she has reportedly written about. The tweet also said Reham was being used by another political party, the PML(N), to further its agenda.

Reham was having none of it. Who is anyone else to decide, when and what a woman should speak she asked, according to ANI news agency.

"General Pervez Musharraf has tweeted that a lady should not speak such things. It means, men can do anything, but lady should keep quiet after seeing a lot. The question that arises is why? Why shouldn't I or any other woman speak? Who will decide as what women should speak and write and what should she should get exposed to. This is wrong," said Reham to ANI.

Reham, a British-Pakistani journalist, was married to cricketer-turned-politician and Prime Minister aspirant Khan from January 2015 until October 30, 2015, when they divorced.