MAHWISH works at Dawn News in Islamabad. She stands out in a large room full of people, not because she is a woman surrounded by men but because she doesn’t really try to shrink into herself.

It is hard to explain what this means but most women can recognise the condition. A lone woman or a handful in a large room dominated by men instinctively shrink into themselves. Whether it is embedded in the DNA, or is socialisation or temperament, it happens. We crouch quietly over our desk, even if it has been allocated to us, as if we fear taking up too much space. If we look around, we do so timorously, if we speak our voice is barely more than a whisper — every movement and gesture is calculated to not draw attention.

This changes with time in some cases as the new entrants settle down and make friends. But rarely do new male recruits behave in a similar fashion in their early days; it not expected of them and neither have they been brought up to think that they can be a burden on earth or that if they draw attention to themselves, bad things will happen.

But I didn’t see Mahwish shrink, even during her early days. And I noticed it and admired it; I still do every day as I walk into the room. She doesn’t try to shrink into herself any more than she draws attention to herself. As she chats to her colleagues and roams around, she appears comfortable with herself and with those around her. Perhaps it is due to........

© Dawn