Needing a Penis to Rent an Apartment in Karachi, Pakistan

I’ve lived in 9 countries and have rented apartments in all of them, including in Pakistan. But nothing prepared me for what I would experience when I moved from my apartment at One Constitution Avenue in Islamabad to Emaar in Karachi.

It was ROUGH!

The patriarchy didn’t touch my life in Islamabad and renting an apartment there was a breeze. My Pakistani friends are global citizens, most having lived in at least one or two other countries. My business partner is a gem who is well-travelled, an expert in what he does, and one of the most standup guys on the planet. And since I work remotely online, I didn’t engage face-to-face with anyone but friends or folks in shops.

So learning that as a WOMAN I was irrelevant to my own relocation process came as a shock as I apartment-hunted in Karachi. The process had been so easy in Islamabad, with reasonable move-in requirements, and agents on both sides (owner & tenant) that were easy to work with.

But things are different in Karachi!

A “male body part” seemed required to rent an apartment there, which I will never understand. I thought they had 1 use … so how a penis was helpful in the art of negotiating my tenancy agreement is a mystery. One agent wouldn’t work with me ‘til he met my brother in Karachi. Another wouldn’t speak to me at all, only to ANY OTHER MAN (didn’t even have to be my agent, just a man).

THE WORST PART
It was so bad that I had to engage a lawyer to speak on my behalf to simply stand up for my rights, otherwise I would have been ignored and taken advantage of.

I uploaded the FULL DRAMA ON YOUTUBE, see below. No names / I’m not outing anyone … but I detail the full saga and explain how others can also use the legal system in Pakistan to protect their rights.

THIS IS FUN! Pakistani women started DMing kind words & their own experiences when I was sharing updates on Instagram Story: I understand now that having never been negatively impacted by the patriarchy in Pakistan is a privilege. IN SOLIDARITY WITH YOU, please know I am glad to have experienced this very tiny, small thing to understand for even a moment what many of you deal with on a daily basis 🤗

FINAL THOUGHT

Everyone I talk to about this says undoubtedly that Karachi is “that way” … making me less than excited to ever move back there 🙁

The apartment I fell in love at first sight (seen here: Emaar Karachi on the seafront) eventually felt like home. But that was the most stressful rental experience of my life.