Girls at Dhabas is a multi-city feminist initiative in Pakistan that raises a conversation on women’s access to public space. Dhabas is a local term for roadside tea-shops that are traditionally male-dominated domains in South Asia. The efforts went viral in 2015 and gained significant traction from women across South Asia who were encouraged to photograph themselves at dhabas and upload the pictures on social media using the hashtag #girlsatdhabas, sharing their personal narratives, reflections and stories re-examining their relationship with public space. The viral campaign led to organized gatherings and offline events, from cricket playing in the streets, bike rallies in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad, and various community-building dialogues.
Background
The collective began in 2015. Sadia Khatri photographed herself at a dhaba and then uploaded the image on the Internet. Sensing that this could become a larger, urgent conversation challenging the traditional role of womenin public spaces, she teamed up with her friends Natasha Ansari, Sabahat Zakariya, Najia Sabahat Khan, Amna Chaudhry, Mehrbano Raja, Sanayah Malik, Yusra Amjad and Sara Nisar and launched Tumblr and Facebook online pages for the growing community.
Other Initiatives
#GirlsPlayingStreetCricket and #GirlsOnBikes Campaigns
In 2015, based on Natasha Ansari’s suggestion to expand efforts to cricket and cycling, Girls at Dhabas launched the #GirlsPlayingStreetCricket initiative through which women were encouraged to play cricket outside in the streets. Street cricket is a popular form of physical activity amongst the Pakistani youth. In 2016, a woman named Aneeqa Ali was harassed and injured while riding her bicycle out in Lahore, Pakistan. In response to this incident and as an act of condemnation and solidarity, Girls at Dhabas organized a bike rally Girls on Bikes aimed at encouraging women to embrace cycling and two-wheeler transportation, which continues to be taboo for women. In Lahore, Noor Rahman joined the Girls at Dhabas chapters and organized weekly bike rides following the rally.
Behenchara
The word commonly used to express 'solidarity' in Urdu is 'bhaichara'. Girls at Dhabas coined the term ‘behenchara’ as a spin on the original. By reframing the word 'bhaichara,' Girls at Dhabas aims to claim language and the vernacular to articulate a vision of a broader feminist solidarity, radically re-imagining traditional gender relationsthrough the lens of sisterhood and collectivism.
Behanchara Diaries
In 2017, Safieh Shah and Zehra Naqvi, members of Girls at Dhabas, founded a podcast series called "Behanchara Diaries". The podcast features five episodes and explores feminism, intersectionality, the politics of public spaces and more. The podcast currently streams on Patari, Pakistan’s biggest music streaming service.
In 2018, members of Girls at Dhabas helped co-organize the "Aurat March", a feminist rally to honor International Women's Day, celebrated on 8 March annually. In Lahore, Girls at Dhabas was one of the organizing groups of the Aurat March, along with The Feminist Collective, The Women’s Collective, and others. In Karachi, members were part of the Aurat March in their individual capacities since the organizing committee was unaffiliated with any groups
Criticism
Girls at Dhabas attracted criticism after the #GirlsOnBikes movement from social media users who were against the idea of women claiming public spaces.
