Young girl breaks into men dominated arena

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

 A young girl has entered into men's dominated business by selling her domestically grown livestock in Karachi's largest makeshift cattle market attracting thousands of buyers as Eid-ul-Azha, due to be celebrated on August 1, comes nearer.

The 21-year-old Ayesha Ghani can be seen attending to the customers and selling the sacrificial animals at the cattle market on Super Highway.  

She has already shattered the myth that only men could do such kind of business. She has also brought along a new trend of online buying as her animals are also up for sale online on social media sites titled Desi Cows. 

The resident of Karachi could be spotted, standing in the market every day, putting at least around three dozen sacrificial animals including 36 cows, oxen and calves on sale, with different prices. 

"I have raised these animals at home by my own. That's why I have a special affection towards them,” Ayesha disclosed. 

"Most buyers are looking for animals available at economical prices, contrary to the facts that the prices have sky-rocketed this year due to inflation. The business has slowed down this year amid coronavirus outbreak,” she remarked.

"I have been an animal lover all my life. However, this is the first time that I am personally selling animals in the market," she added. Ayesha hoped that more women would get encouraged to see her and get involved in this business. 

However, the challenges that she faced being a woman, standing in a male-dominated market were bound to surface at first. 

"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. Today, women are second to none and they should not consider themselves inferior to anyone. We can progress in every field," she felt. 

In Pakistan, the business of livestock having cows, buffaloes, sheep, goats and camels reaches its boom when the whole country is filled with cattle markets with sellers piling up sacrificial animals for sale before the Eid-ul-Azha. Every year, these markets are abuzz with buyers and sellers, over 95 percent of whom are estimated to be men.