Surviving in a freelancing world

It does not matter how good you are at something or what skills you have but what matters is if you know how good you are, can you use your skills and abilities in a way that truly benefits you? In short, having a certain set of skills doesn’t matter but using them in the right directions is all that matters, especially in a freelancing world; a huge and concentrated market, where our skills and hard work is abused by the people having a better understanding of how the system works, such people do have a skill but this skill is not usually what they sell but how and whom they sell: the skilled people i.e., writers, designers, and creators. And an interesting fact is that these intermediate agents who link clients to the skilled people usually enjoy more benefits as compared to the real worker who is putting in their hard work in constructing the actual work, working their brains off, and at the end scarcely meeting their ends meet, while on the other side these linking agents enjoy the monopoly over what the skilled worker gets. Moreover, a skilled worker performs a single project at a certain time whereas these agents can enjoy benefits from multiple projects by hiring multiple workers simultaneously.  

If we want to utilize maximum benefits for our skills we need to know how, when, and where to use them. In a freelancing world, you can get clients from different platforms such as:

Freelance apps (fiver, Upwork, freelancer.com):

These apps provide you a direct platform connecting clients with workers or sellers with the buyer while taking a minimal percentage of your benefits, however, to get clients you shall know how to impress your clients to hire you.

Facebook and other social media apps:

The most dangerous platform for a freelancer is social media apps that provide an unsupervised environment to freelancers which are concentrated with scammers and intermediatory agents who acquire work from freelancing apps and hire skilled workers acquiring maximum benefits. However, if you are lucky you may get a client that gives you better benefits and a long working relationship but that’s once in blue moon.

Local platform:

Other than the above-mentioned platforms some local platforms work on local or country level, these platforms usually hire people on monthly basis and have the bulk of clients and projects, also they enjoy a monopoly over the rates they give to their workers.  

The best platform form for freelancers is freelancing apps that not only give access to international buyers and clients but provide you more independence and decisiveness over the benefits linking you directly to the client eliminating the monopoly of intermediatory agents. However, these apps require you to have proven working experience and skills, and to get projects from the clients you had to have good communication skills and the ability to pitch your skills.

The freelancing world is a vast market having both good and bad side and you are bound to experience both sides especially if you are a newbie but you can have a better experience in the freelancing world by keeping in mind following these points:

• Always accept the rate after reviewing the project; its difficulty level, the time required for the task, and the deadline provided.
• Do not accept a second project from a client unless you are paid for the first one.
• Prefer using a freelancing app or supervised freelancing platforms.
• Discuss all the requirements of the task before accepting the task.
• Discuss your quires with experienced professionals.
• If you are scammed don’t lose hope there is nothing such as a good experience or bad experience it is just an experience learns from it.
• For a beginner, you might face difficulty in finding clients but do not worry consistency is the key, keep on pitching your skill meanwhile sharpening your skills, you will eventually find a way through.  

Women empowerment

    The term Women empowerment refers to a process of social reforms for providing women the right to freely take part in decisions that may affect their lives. The importance of these reforms is highlighted throughout our history but these reformations were limited to worldly debate, secret societies, or activists who tried to raise voice against the repression of women's rights. These institutions achieved some great milestones in propagated and acquiring some rights for women, especially in the last century such as women's right to vote, represent, and preside. However, these struggles haven’t achieved an ideal stature for women's rights, but the progress seems promising. In the present times, it is a common understanding among people all over the world regardless of their nation, sect, or religion that women's rights shall be reserved, while gender equality shall be propagated. However, each region or religion has limitations to freedom that can be given to their community or believers of a certain religion and these limitations are for both men and women. Likewise, the culture and religion of Pakistan are quite contrary to that of the west and so are its limitations. These limitations are guidelines to differentiate the social reforms that are essential for the development of a country from those which pose danger to our national integrity.

    Pakistan has also played a crucial role in empowering its women through massive women's rights campaigns, with help of local activists, and by bringing legal reformations. The revision of the hudood ordinance 1979 in 2006 by the Women’s Protection Bill. According to the Hudood ordinance, a woman alleging rape was required to provide four adult male eyewitnesses. The revision of the ordinance by the women protection bill allowed rape to be prosecutable under civil law.  The Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act (2010) was yet another milestone in empowering women. Unquestionably these legal reform shows Pakistan’s willingness to empower women so they can contribute to the growth of the country. Besides these legal reformations, a fixed quota for women is reserved in every government institute, while seats are reserved for women representatives in provincial assemblies, national assembly, and senate. Furthermore, Pakistan’s state religion Islam also entrusts women with great freedom and sheds light on the importance of women in society as said by Muhammad (SAW); It is the female who imbues principles and faith into the souls of the nation. The Islamic perspective on the status of women can be further determined in the following declaration of Allah almighty in the Quran;

“Indeed, the noblest of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you…” (49:13)

At another place in the Quran, God clearly states that all humans are equal:

“To whoever, male or female does good deeds and has faith, We shall give a good life and reward them according to the best of their actions.” (16:97)

    Even though Pakistan's state system and religion promote women's rights and empower them, the situation of women in Pakistan is quite controversial. The women in Pakistan is susceptible to domestic violence, harassment, rape, and other violence. according to a statistical report, 32% of women have been subject to physical violence, whereas only 22% of women contribute to the national economy. These statistics clearly show the failure of the law imposing agencies such as the police to minimize this violence. However, the women's situation in Pakistan can not only be improved by imposing the law. A massive movement of social reforms that educate people on women's rights and women's empowerment is necessary to bring any considerable change in our society. Moreover, the greatest responsibility lies on the shoulder of women themselves. No reform or movement can bring about any change until and unless women themselves take a stand against the wrongs of society. They shall unify and strengthen them in such a way that if the right of single women is violated, every woman of the society shall raise her voice against the violence and shall not stop until justice is provided and violators are punished only then women of our society will be truly empowered.

 Also, check the related article on “Aurat March”.

Talibanization

 Taliban is a Pashto word that means a group of students. while this term is normally referred to different groups of Muslim religious fighters. Whereas, the process involved in the formation of such groups is called Talibanization. The origin of these groups dates back to the soviet-afghan war. The Soviets invaded Afghanistan in December 1979 by the troops from the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union intervened in support of the Afghan communist government with its conflict with anti-communist Muslims. However, the real reason for the Soviet invasion was to gain geopolitical dominance in the cold war. The cold war is considered to be fought from 1947 to 1991 till the dissolution of the Soviet Union, between the Soviet Union and the United States. The term cold war was used because this war didn’t include any direct fight between them, rather they supported major regional conflicts. A thread of these conflicts was the soviet invasion of Afghanistan to which the United States retaliated by formatting and aiding Muslim mujahidin groups and establish Taliban regimes. The Afghan war lasted 14 years from 1978 to 1992 while fleeing from devastating conditions of the war about 2.8 million Afghans sought asylum in Pakistan While 1.5 fled to Iran. These waging wars didn’t only destruct Afghanistan but also led to the formation of different Taliban regimes which were later left rampant, the mistake which the United States and Pakistan realized many years later. Pakistan who once supported these regimes along with the US now faces its worst adversities after Afghanistan.

The tribal areas of Pakistan such as FATA and neighboring undeveloped areas of Pakistan which formed borders with Afghanistan were the haven for the Talibanization. These areas didn’t have a definite form of government, lacked government institutes and educational facilities were limited to madrasas. Deprived of basic education they lacked in a basic school of thoughts, determining right and wrong and the true essence of Islam. These conditions favored the Taliban regime in embedding their school of thought in locals of these tribal areas. Soon these regimes took over madras and deviated these locals from the true essence of Islam by promoting Jihad against their own fellow Muslims, giving fatwas to promote their ideology, and banning everything they considered against Islamic values. The teachings of Islam were molded to support their naive ideologies and then taught to students in madrasas. Soon these regimes strengthened and developed a sizeable military force. However, Taliban regimes in Pakistan were not solely self-established but had considerable support from Afghani Taliban regimes and funded by India. The motive of the Afghani Taliban after the soviet-afghan war can be termed as a deviation from their purpose and greed for power but latter regimes who are supported by adversaries of Pakistan have more dreadful motives such as propaganda against Islam, destabilizing Pakistan, and propagating the image of Pakistan as a terrorist-supporting country.

World opinion largely disapproved of Taliban social policies in Afghanistan. However, the threats imposed by these Taliban regimes to the rest of the world were not completely intercepted until the 9/11 incident. This incident has turmoil effect on the whole world, while deeply affecting the Islamic world by devaluing Islamic image all over the world. The then leader of al-Qaida Usama Bin Laden was accused of different terrorist attacks against American interests. The Taliban’s refusal to extradite bin Laden to the United States following the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and on the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2001, prompted a military confrontation with the United States and allied powers. The US started military operations in Afghanistan against Taliban regimes, considering their terrorist activities and threat posed to world peace. However, the terrorist activities didn’t remain constrained in Afghanistan but posed a greater danger to Pakistan. General Pervaiz Musharraf then president of Pakistan realized the nature of the threat imposed by these terrorist regimes to the public and launched military missions in FATA and adjacent areas to relinquish terrorist hold in these areas. These missions were effective in eliminating almost all Taliban regimes, restoring peace in most of the areas. However, Pakistan had to pay an unprecedented price for this peace, costing thousands of lives, economical losses, and most sadly it has cost Pakistan a tremendous number of developmental opportunities