Adil Najam
Unbelievable!
I don’t even know who to be angry at. The idiot who placed the add or the copy-readers at Dawn who did not catch the sexually suggestive language that seems to come from the fantasies of some sex-starved mind. Read the whole ad. on the left, but here are the key points.
Someone wants an executive secretary for (a) the MD of a large educational network, who is (b) ‘female with cute personality’, (c) willing to work on ‘anything & everything’, (d) for ‘long hours’, and (e) ‘be able to keep MD pleased and relaxed.’
I hope that no one gets the impression that this is being posted because it is funny. It is not. This is not just an example of someone who is willing to exploit women. The fact that the country’s largest newspaper will print this is also an indication that society is willing to wink and smile at such exploitation.
Since there is a Dawn ‘Box’number asociated with this advertisement, Dawn should be able to trace this person. And he should at least be ‘outed’ and exposed for this ‘indecent proposal’.
My thanks to Mansoor (of The Word of mAn[S]o0r) for posting this originally on the Karachi Metrobog.
What if the MD was a woman and she was looking for a secretary, i wonder if the person placing the ad would have used the same language.
Jokes aside, this is very serious, i know of a lot of young women who have been sexually harrassed at work and are too scared to say anything to anyone about it.
Also, why is the MD searching for a female secretary?? After all there are a lot of men capable of holding the same job…Discrimination of another kind here!! Just knowing hes seeking a female secretary and not just “a” secretary makes me shudder…
Thank you for hilighting this; I don’t understand that logic of “highlight only what’s good” as it is utterly non-reflective of reality. I reposted this on my blog as well.
…please focus positive and authentic material which highlight progressive aspects of Pakistan…we are in routine in this era to point out as many things as against to Pakistan’s image..
Again, why highlight this here. It is not as if such ads are run everyday and all the time. A non-Pakistani reader will look at this and think THIS is what Pakistan is. That this is normal. Why do you highlight the abnormal behavior. Again, focus only on the good!
I agree with MSK ,it is not “Pinglish”.It is intentional and suggestive of what Adil finds. Dawn’s Advertising incharge is responsible for the grave oversight in checking the contents.In good Ethics Dawn must check and take corrective measures , expected of a “Standard Paper”.
Bilal, I am not sure this is a ‘blooper’ [or what Prof. Najam calls 'Pinglish']. There are too many things here that are too suggestive. The intent here is exactly what it seems to be. Just someone who does not even realize this is inappropriate, and that is itself sad.
Adil, You may be taking this too seriously. While I fully agree that we have a long way to go in creating a fair and safe working environment for women in Pakistan (and I say this knowing the problems my sister faced when she worked in Pakistan in industry as an engineer), these ‘bloopers’ can sometimes happen quite by mistake - and newspaper proof readers are also people. If I could only show you some of the cover letters I have received in recent years from candidates to my company from different parts of the world whose english hasn’t always been at par, it would make quite a section in a magazine.
Personally, I would find it stifling and sufficating if we could not giggle at such mistakes - even thouh I highly doubt I do it because I think working women are ‘fair game’.
This doesn’t seem funny by a long long way. Dawn should bloody well reprimand their copy-readers as well for missing out on something of this sort.