Tuesday March 19th, 2024
Download SceneNow app

The Burka Avenger

A new burka-clad comic book heroine aims to shed awareness on the lack of girls' education in Pakistan.

Staff Writer

Move over Catwoman there's a new heroine in town and she goes by the name of thhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeee BURKAAAAAA AVEEENNNGGEERRRR (Burka Avenger). Created by Pop star Haroon Rashid, she's a mild mannered teacher who won’t take shit from nobody. Her  main aim in life is to stop the bad guys trying to shut down the school where she works. The issue of girls’ education in the conservative, militant-plagued northwest Pakistan has been rife in the public consciousness since last October when Taliban gunmen shot teenage activist Malala Yousafzai. She survived the attack and continues to fight for the right for girls to go to school.

Nearly half of all children in Pakistan and almost three quarters of young girls are not enrolled in primary school, according to U.N. and government statistics published late last year so programming like this which is now set to screen in over 60 countries worldwide, is a phenomenal point of awareness and inspiration for girls everywhere but to a degree it does also submissively manipulate a shining light on the wearing of burkas which should be a personal choice.