Night daddy grew up I grew up in a conservative family in Jhang, in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The threat of an early marriage hung over her childhood like a cloud. But despite their traditional values, Dad’s parents were determined that all their children receive an education and moved the family to Karachi so she could complete her bachelor’s degree. “I never thought I would work because I was never taught that we could work and be independent,” she says. “We always needed permission to do anything.”
Dad thought a master’s degree in law might delay the inevitable commitment, but shortly after completing the course, he discovered that his parents had arranged a marriage for him. She didn’t care about her new life of housework in a home she describes as “lower middle class”—that is, until the abuse began. “That’s when my legal education reminded me that this was wrong,” he says. “Our laws, our constitution, everything protects me, so why was I facing this? Why did he tolerate it?
With the support of her family, Dad left her husband and filed for divorce. But after years of domestic violence and abuse and no work experience, she struggled with a lack of confidence. “I had no idea that divorced women with a child faced such difficulties in a society like ours,” she says. When her ex-husband filed a custody case for their two-month-old baby, Dad wasn’t sure how he would pay for a lawyer. That’s when her father reminded her that she was also a lawyer.
Dad used his title to gain custody of his only son. In the process, she realized how many women in Pakistan faced years of violence and systemic injustice. But what bothered him most was the digital divide.
Before they were married, Dad’s family never allowed him access to his own cell phone, and when he finally got one, his husband used it as a surveillance tool, keeping track of who he called and who he texted. He had an escape tool in his hand, but he couldn’t use it. “Going through it alone made me realize how quickly technology is evolving and how it is creating virtual spaces for marginalized communities that may not have access to physical spaces,” she says. “Facing those restrictions made me realize how crucial it is to challenge the social norms and structures around women’s access to technology and the Internet, so that they can use them as freely as men.”
In 2012, Dad established the Digital Rights Foundationan NGO that aims to address the digital divide and fight online abuse against women and other gender minorities in Pakistan. She began helping women who approached the organization, providing them with advice on digital security and emotional and mental support. In 2016, the same year Pakistan finally approved legislation against online crimes—Dad and his team launched a cyberbullying helpline. Since 2016, it has addressed more than 16,000 complaints from all over the country. “Sometimes the police gave our phone numbers to victims who were looking for reliable help,” he says.