This month, the UN General Assembly was back in session in New York City, with the massive traffic gridlock we had happily forgotten during the pandemic. Many feminist friends and activists were in town. I was especially pleased to sit down with the brilliant Sheena Hadi, the Executive Director of Aahung, an organization based in Karachi, Pakistan that works to advance the sexual and reproductive health and rights of men, women and adolescents in the country.
Speaking frankly about bodily autonomy and gender equality—to children no less! Pakistan registers at the low end of the UN Human Development Index and the UN Gender Inequality Index , with low female workforce participation, low use of modern contraceptives, and low female representation in electedoffice. It is at once beautiful, vibrant, chaotic and energizing.
I was charmed by its people, and challenged by its contradictions and injustices when I visited in November Despite this context or maybe because of it , Aahung founded in and Sheena Executive Director since persist in their work. They have achieved remarkable outcomes over the years, based on their strategic sense of what is possible and their deep knowledge of local conditions. Aahung has become the reference organization in Pakistan on teaching children life skills in and out of schools, and training medical students on sexual and reproductive health and rights.
In , Aahung reached agreements with the education authorities in two provinces of Pakistan, Sindh and Balochistan a combined population of 60 million people , to begin the integration of their life skills curriculum in public schools.
I spoke with Sheena on September 22, , in New York. I edited the conversation for the purpose of brevity, and added a few clarifying comments in brackets. Before we start, are your family and staff safe from the floods? SH: Yes, yes, they are. But we have a lot of partners we are very concerned about, because the majority of our work is in interior Sindh. FG: We will get back to this terrible subject, but I want to speak about the longstanding work of Aahung first.
