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12 May, 2019

On last night's Jeeto Pakistan with Fahad Mustafa, celebrity guest contestant Hira Mani was having a particularly bad streak of luck during the game show.

She made a series of bad guesses, which she could have totally chalked up to the vagaries of a game of chance. But no, Hira Mani blamed her gender for her poor performance instead.

Nearing the end of her play, she referred to her fellow contestant and said, "I think we should listen to the men. They are smarter than us. I think we should go with his decision."

"A woman can sometimes make bad decisions," she added.

Host Fahad immediately corrected her: "That is not the case. My wife has always made the best decisions. Our country's women are smarter than men."

While intelligence isn't exactly a gendered quality and is developed through a person's interaction with the outside world, it's a relief to see that Fahad didn't let Hira's grossly sexist views go unchallenged.

Later on, Hira's female co-contestant makes a risky but successful move and also chimed in: "See, women are smart."

For a popular actor to display such casual sexism on live TV is highly irresponsible and dangerous. The suggestion that men are smarter than women by default can not be shrugged off as an innocuous statement because it reinforces ideas such as 'women only belong in the kitchen' and 'men should be paid more than women' that are falsely touted as facts in Pakistani society. In turn, these ideas legitimise disempowering practices such as unequal pay and the discouragement of women from pursuing careers.

We hope that Hira has learned that she should reconsider her thoughts about her gender and not repeat such ideas on live TV.

Comments

Mangoman May 12, 2019 05:24pm
Kudos Fahad for a nice save of what is clearly a attempted satire by the actress which turned out to be major goof up. She needs to understand that what she can say to friends she cannot say on a public fora lke a TV show.
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SaeedS May 12, 2019 05:58pm
Hira must be speaking about herself
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HashBrown® May 12, 2019 06:28pm
I hope examples like this can help to re-shape the struggle for gender equality, by showing that it is more complex than simply men vs women. Women in Pakistan suffer immensely from this kind of casual discrimination, whether it comes from a man or from another woman. Backwardness doesn't have a specific gender, it's a common threat to us all!
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Fastrack May 12, 2019 06:30pm
So what? What if he had not corrected her? Believe me none of the truly needy women would have cared. The true fight of female rights can be fought not by correcting affluent actresses but by helping the less fortunate women, publicly and privately. And there are countless of them around us.
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Jew Muslim May 12, 2019 06:42pm
None is smarter than other, humans individually are smarter than other humans.
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Sam May 12, 2019 06:44pm
This is laughable.. Men are smarter.. No no.. women are smarter.. Noone is smarter than anyone in general. Every individual is smarter than someone else in something. Stop this ridiculous comparison.
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Texas Ranger May 12, 2019 08:19pm
take it on a lighter note. Not everything or word had to be made a big deal
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Bhaijan May 12, 2019 09:10pm
Men are stronger than women that’s statistically true.
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Realist May 12, 2019 10:37pm
What's wrong in stating the fact?
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david May 12, 2019 10:38pm
well I only know of Hira Mandi in Lahore. And performance there is not good either.
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Laila May 13, 2019 12:30am
She may good at acting but I don't look to her for social commentary. Her opinion is just elitist and insulting.
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Rajat May 13, 2019 01:19am
Host fahad said women are smarter than men.... So nobody is going to challenge that? Hypocrisy and double standards its best
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Atta Rehman May 13, 2019 02:26am
Leave her alone, this is just a person specific opinion that can not be applied as rule to the whole gender
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sana May 13, 2019 03:06am
she is proving her point by her stupid statements
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Naxalite May 13, 2019 03:24am
See the ego of feminists, they can't take anything against
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AK4PK May 13, 2019 03:28am
The poor girl might have been disheartened with not scoring and under pressure of the moment said something she did not mean to say. Such things happen to a lot of people. Cheer up Sweetie, we love you.
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Ahmed Ishtiaq May 13, 2019 03:38am
How dare she...
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Reality Check May 13, 2019 04:35am
"Our country's women are smarter than men." Fahad Mustafa He just countered sexism with more sexism.. and Dawn just endorsed it. Typical snow flakes
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Saad May 13, 2019 05:03am
Its not live TV on jeeto Pakistan. Hira Mani definitely needs to reflect on a lot of things here, including her life
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Imran Khan May 13, 2019 05:15am
Iam sure Soon Hira wil come on her Instagram accoutn and clear this issue but she made a genuine mistake many women say randomly in our society and country
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Noor noor May 13, 2019 05:37am
Would you have the same reaction if she said women are smarter than men?
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Akil Akhtar May 13, 2019 05:50am
Get over it...just a smart remark by one person...lets not get over worked like they do in the west.....
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Yogi May 13, 2019 05:58am
"Fahad didn't let Hira's grossly sexist views go unchallenged" and presented his own version of grossly sexist views against men?
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N abidai May 13, 2019 06:07am
WOW,,anyone can watch , this ,and seriously , chalk it up to slow news day !
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Anon May 13, 2019 07:05am
You fasaadi feminists should stop making trouble when there is no need to.
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Fakhir May 13, 2019 08:55am
This is her own views. You may differ but don't call it sexism. If someone is having a view you may only differ. Fahad had a different view so is he also gender biased. This is sort of insecurity in the mind of author.
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Tim May 13, 2019 09:45am
Ugh. Now you get to dictate what can and can't be said on TV? Does every opinion now has to be cleared?
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Anonymouseee May 13, 2019 10:17am
Women are simply more cunning than men.
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aK May 13, 2019 10:25am
Dangerous.!!!!! O Cmon now.
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sheema zain May 13, 2019 10:35am
Just because she has different views than yours you dont condemn her.Be tolerant and get off your moral horse she has the right to voice her opinion that men are smarter. Isnt saying women are smarter equally sexist, your reaction are typically female emotional.
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huma yousaf May 13, 2019 10:39am
she anyways says a lot of stupid stuff in her interviews. Prime example of no beauty and no brains
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Ashar May 14, 2019 02:46am
She is absolutely right!
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