The last few months have been life-changing for me, marked by relentless work on my PhD and the emotional weight of being away from home. This distance has intensified my homesickness, made heavier by the long, dark, and unforgiving European winter. In moments when outdoor recreation feels impossible, I have often turned to social media and Pakistani drama serials for comfort and escape.

Recently, alongside the reels celebrating the success of Pakistani dramas across borders, a viral video of a celebrity couple’s wedding caught my attention. The video is circulating “for all the right reasons,” according to popular opinion. However, what compelled me to write is not what most people have been gossiping about.

In the video, the female celebrity, apparently holding her marriage certificate, asks her husband to commit to providing her with five lakh rupees every month, a foreign tour every six months with a business-class ticket, and additional coverage of branded shopping expenses. While the exchange is framed playfully and received as aspirational entertainment, it made me pause and reflect: Are we truly serious about women’s empowerment?

I believe this question deserves scrutiny.

Marriage is commonly understood as a partnership, an alliance in which two individuals stand by each other through ease and adversity, contributing jointly to the emotional, financial, and moral fabric of family life. In many contexts, a husband’s financial responsibility toward his wife is not only justified but necessary, particularly where women are uneducated, unemployed, or constrained by structural barriers from working.

However, when such demands are articulated by a woman who is already empowered, educated, financially capable, and socially influential, the narrative becomes troubling. In this instance, I found myself feeling an unexpected sympathy for the man involved. The exchange reinforces a familiar but problematic trope: even an empowered woman ultimately placing her financial burden on a man, reiterating her entitlement to be maintained.

What, then, happens to the idea of financial independence?

The assertion that “my money will remain mine” while the husband is positioned as the sole provider undermines the very concept of marriage as a partnership. What appears on the surface as empowerment begins to resemble entitlement, and what is framed as partnership risks sliding into exploitation. True partnership is reciprocal; it thrives on shared responsibility, not unilateral benefit.

What unsettles me most is the dual standard many women continue to negotiate and normalise. We demand empowerment, autonomy, and equality, yet often expect men to continue “affording” us. And yes, afford is the right word here. A monthly allowance of five lakh rupees, business-class travel, biannual international vacations, and luxury shopping are privileges accessible only if one’s partner is a millionaire.

Celebrities and social media influencers must reflect on the messages they transmit to millions who admire and emulate them. Not every woman will or should marry a millionaire. More importantly, women should not be encouraged to aspire to wealth through marriage rather than through self-building.

I do not want my women to chase millionaires. I want my women to build themselves in ways that make millionaires unnecessary for living their dreams.

True empowerment is inseparable from financial independence. And when a woman is financially independent, her marriage has the potential to become a genuine partnership, one where assets are built together, responsibilities are shared, and neither ambition nor home is neglected. Empowerment should strengthen relationships, not distort them.