KARACHI: Every evening from around 8pm till 4am, visitors to the sacrificial animal market run by women do their shopping for Eidul Azha in an atmosphere of elegance and grace.

This unique market, set up in the IT Ground in Shadman Town No 2, is the brainchild of Ruqya Fareed, who owns her own cattle farm. “My family is in the business of rearing cattle and goats,” she told Dawn.

“If I can do it, why not my sisters as well?” she asked.

Speaking about her idea of setting up the cattle market for women, Ms Fareed said that those women whose mehram or male family members are not with them for any reason miss out on their religious obligation of sacrifice on the Eid. “This market offers them a platform along with opening up an avenue for those women who take care of and rear sacrificial animals the year round but receive no gains or profit in return. I have seen women who bring up sacrificial animals at home, in their lawns or backyards or on their balconies or terraces. Well, they can come here to sell their animals,” she said.

“There are also those women here who would like to help the men in their family, who are also in the business of rearing and selling sacrificial animals. They all have stalls here,” she said.

Families bring home-reared animals to the market for sale

“I am also one of them,” she said while taking you to meet her animals. “This is ‘Babloo’ and this here is ‘Laali’,” she introduced white bull with a brown patch on its head and a red cow, both with two teeth, which in technical terms comes around two-and-a-half years in age.

“Pakistani women today have progressed to flying airplanes even though none of them thought of coming out to sell sacrificial animals. Well, it too has happened now,” she smiled, adding that she has only just started doing this but intends to expand on it by also training women in running cattle farms.

“I set it all up in some 20 days, which included planning, getting permission to set up the market with Cyclone Biparjoy on our heads. But we are getting great feedback,” she laughed.

Women and no-bargaining?

Women and no-bargaining is unheard of. But since the buyers and sellers are both women at the cattle market for women, the sellers are trying to facilitate the buyers by bringing down the prices for their sisters. “Just yesterday I sold a very tall and healthy goat, for which I was asking Rs70,000, to a girl for Rs48,000. She had her heart set on that particular goat but her budget was small. I also sold a bull, for which I was asking Rs130,000, for Rs95,000 to a lady who wanted me to bring the price down so I asked her to meet me halfway, which couldn’t really happen and the bull was sold at Rs95,000,” Ms Fareed said.

“I also understand that serious buyers also have their own issues of arranging feed for the animals, and also arranging transport for them which is also not very cheap since fuel prices have also gone up. But I also give these discounts to women buyers. I won’t do it for men,” she said.

Just then two young buyers, cousins Shiza Siddiqui and Hooria Haroon, approached Ms Fareed to ask the price of one of the animals. Shiza said that her elder sister rode a motorcycle. “If we like a goat here today and the deal is done, we’ll call Baji to carry the animal home on her bike,” she said.

Allied businesses for women

Since the entrepreneur wants to help women, all women at the market are not selling cattle or goats. There is also a mini food street there with homemakers coming out to sell homemade snacks and delicacies. “It adds more life to the market atmosphere. When I have families coming to me to ask the price of this or that animal, I also point out the food stalls to them because I want these women also to benefit from this market,” she said.

The market also has a drive through system in case anyone would like to shop from the comforts of her car. A lady came in her car, didn’t even get down and made the purchase through her car window.

The animals at the market seemed extra gentle and docile especially when petted by children. “Of course they will be gentle. We reared them up with so much love. At home they used to lay on charpoys and were offered treats such as roti, ghee choori [sweet crumbled and pounded roti dessert] and cooked rice,” she said.

Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2023