From Malala to Burka Avenger: A Few Remarks on Changing Female Role Models in Contemporary Pakistan
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.13.2016.40.18Keywords:
women issues, women in Pakistan, activism, role‑models, women rights struggle, bottom‑up initiativesAbstract
This paper discusses some of the breakthrough initiatives by women in Pakistan, which may have a positive influence on other women and thus lead the way to further changes in the overall situation of women. It comprises of two main parts. The first part begins with a brief study of the image of women in the Qur’an and analyses the question of how sources and religious teachings were interpreted in regard to women’s social status. This follows with an examination of the position of women in Pakistan and with the characteristics of the women’s movement and various initiatives of the women’s rights struggle. The second part discusses the work and achievements of various women’s organisations and individual women activist, in reference to the main women’s issues in the society. The study focuses on bottom‑up initiatives that arise in response to the socio‑political situation, and aims at showing how females active in the women’s rights struggle serve as a positive model for other women in Pakistan.
Downloads
PlumX Metrics of this article
References
Alavi H., ‘Pakistani Women in a Changing Society,’ at <http://www.sacw.net/Wmov/alavi.html>.
Google Scholar
Alavi H., ‘The Rise of Religious Fundamentalism in Pakistan,’ 7 February 2010, at <http://hamzaalavi.wordpress.com/2010/02/07/the‑rise‑of‑religious‑fundamentalism‑in‑pakistan/>.
Google Scholar
ASER Report 2013 National Cards, at <http://www.aserpakistan.org/document/report_cards/2013/summary_report_cards/National.pdf>.
Google Scholar
Azhar T., Patriarchy, Militarization, and the Gender Gap in Education: The Case of Pakistan, doctoral thesis submitted in 2009, at <http://etda.libraries.psu.edu/paper/9422/4784>.
Google Scholar
Barlas A., “Believing Women” in Islam. Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Qur’an, Austin 2009.
Google Scholar
Basu A., ‘Introduction’ in eadem (ed.), The Challenge for Local Feminisms. Women’s Movements in Global Perspective, New Delhi 2001.
Google Scholar
Corrieri L., The Law, Patriarchy and Religious Fundamentalism: Women’s Rights in Pakistan, Hong Kong 2013.
Google Scholar
Ellick A.B., Ashraf I., Class Dismissed: The Death of Female Education, The New York Times Documentary, at <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F5yeW6XFZk>.
Google Scholar
Engineer A.A., The Rights of Women in Islam, Lahore 1996.
Google Scholar
Farman N., ‘The Role of NGO’s in Women’s Rights in Pakistan,’ at <http://eprints.hec.gov.pk/1401/1/1104.html.htm>.
Google Scholar
Fleschenberg A., ‘Military Rule, Religious Fundamentalism, Women’s Empowerment and Feminism in Pakistan’ in, M. Roces, L. Edwards (eds.), Women’s Movements in Asia. Feminisms and Transnational Activism, New York 2010.
Google Scholar
Forbes G., Women in Modern India, Delhi 2000 (The New Cambridge History of India, IV, 2).
Google Scholar
Freyer Stowasser B., Women in the Qur’an, Traditions, and Interpretation, New York 1994.
Google Scholar
Gajda J., ‘Pasztunowie – zaciekli wrogowie, a może trudni partnerzy Zachodu?’ in I. Kończak, M. Woźniak (ed.), Zachód a świat islamu – Zrozumieć Innego, Łódź 2012.
Google Scholar
Gardezi F., ‘Islam, Feminism, and the Women’s Movement in Pakistan: 1981‑1991’ in Other Voices from Pakistan, New Delhi 1995.
Google Scholar
Hasan M., ‘A Women’s Jirga in Swat,’ Pakistan Horizon, 22 July 2013, at <http://pakistanhorizon.wordpress.com/2013/07/22/dr‑masuma‑hasan‑a‑womens‑jirga‑in‑swat/>.
Google Scholar
Hidayatullah A.A., Feminist Edges of the Qur’an, New York 2014.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199359561.001.0001
Google Scholar
The Human Rights Watch Global Report on Women’s Human Rights, New Delhi 2000.
Google Scholar
Isran S., Isran M.A., ‘Patriarchy and Women in Pakistan: A Critical Analysis,’ Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, Vol. 4, No. 6 (2012), at .
Google Scholar
Jilani H., ‘Neither Peace nor Justice,’ Newsline, 2 March 2009, at <http://www.newslinemagazine.com/2009/03/neither‑peace‑nor‑justice/>.
Google Scholar
Jilani H., ‘The Pakistan Women’s Action Forum: Struggling against Islamic Fundamentalism,’ Canadian Women Studies/Les Cahiers de la Femme, Vol. 7, No. 1‑2 (1986).
Google Scholar
Julien H., ‘Asma Dżahangir – adwokatka z Pakistanu’ [Asma Jahangir – a lawyer from Pakistan] in Ch. Ockrent (ed.), Czarna księga kobiet [The Black Book of Women’s Condition], trans. by K. Bartkiewicz et al, Warszawa 2007.
Google Scholar
Junik K., ‘Between Tradition and Modernity: Fatima Jinnah,’ Cracow Indological Studies, Vol. 11 (2010).
Google Scholar
Junik K., ‘Odrodzenie muzułmańskie w XIX‑wiecznych Indiach. Sajid Ahmad Chan (1817‑1898) i reforma edukacji,’ Indologia, No. 1 (2009).
Google Scholar
Khan Jalalzai M., Women Trafficking and Prostitution in Pakistan & Afghanistan, Lahore 2002.
Google Scholar
Kumar H., ‘Islam and Human Rights for Women’ in eadem (ed.), Status of Muslim Women in India, New Delhi 2002.
Google Scholar
Kumar R., The History of Doing. An Illustrated Account of Movements for Women’s Rights and Feminism in India, 1800‑1990, New Delhi 2002.
Google Scholar
Lateef Sh., Muslim Women in India. Political & Private Realities 1890s‑1980s, New Delhi 1990.
Google Scholar
Marsden M., ‘Women, Politics and Islamism in Northern Pakistan,’ Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 42, No. 2‑3 (2008), at <http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X07003174>.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X07003174
Google Scholar
Mehdi R., Gender and Property Law in Pakistan, Lahore 2002.
Google Scholar
Mernissi F., The Veil and the Male Elite, Reading 1991.
Google Scholar
Meyer K.E., The Dust of Empire. The Race for Mastery in the Asian Heartland, New York 2003.
Google Scholar
Ockrent Ch. (ed.), Czarna księga kobiet [The Black Book of Women’s Condition], trans. by K. Bartkiewicz et al, Warszawa 2007.
Google Scholar
Pakistan: Country Gender Profile, Islamabad 2008, at <http://www.jica.go.jp/pakistan/english/office/others/pdf/CGP_01.pdf>; <http://www.jica.go.jp/pakistan/english/office/others/pdf/CGP_02.pdf>.
Google Scholar
Pakistan Millennium Development Goals Report 2010, at <http://www.pk.undp.org/content/pakistan/en/home/library/mdg/pakistan‑millennium‑development‑goals‑report‑2010.html>.
Google Scholar
Patel R., Woman versus Man. Socio‑Legal Gender Inequality in Pakistan, Karachi 2003.
Google Scholar
Rappaport H., Encyclopedia of Women Social Reformers, Vol. 1, Santa Barbara 2001.
Google Scholar
Rouse Sh., ‘The Outsider(s) Within. Sovereignty and Citizenship in Pakistan’ in P. Jeffery, A. Basu (eds.), Appropriating Gender. Women’s Activism and Politicized Religion in South Asia, New York 1998.
Google Scholar
Sangari K., Vaid S. (eds.), Recasting Women. Essays in Indian Colonial History, New Delhi 1999.
Google Scholar
Shaheed F., Gender, Religion and the Quest for Justice in Pakistan, UNRISID, Draft Working Document, December 2008, at http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BCCF9/%28httpAuxPages%29/0B1B12A22917ACCEC125755A006AE4FF/$file/WEBPakistandrft.pdf.
Google Scholar
Shaheed F., ‘The Women’s Movement in Pakistan: Challenges and Achievements’ in A. Basu (ed.), Women’s Movements in the Global Era, Boulder 2010.
Google Scholar
Shaheed F., Mumtaz Kh., ‘Islamisation and Women. The Experience of Pakistan’ in Other Voices from Pakistan, New Delhi 1995.
Google Scholar
Shehrbano Zia A., ‘The Reinvention of Feminism in Pakistan,’ Feminist Review, Vol. 91 (2009), at <http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/fr.2008.48>.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/fr.2008.48
Google Scholar
Sultana S., Role of Women in Social & Political Development of Pakistan – 1896 to 1995, PhD Thesis, at <http://eprints.hec.gov.pk/2724/1/2562.htm>.
Google Scholar
Talbot I., Pakistan. A Modern History, New Delhi 1998.
Google Scholar
Talwar V.Bh., ‘Feminist Consciousness in Women’s Journals in Hindi: 1910‑1920’ in K. Sangari, S. Vaid (eds.), Recasting Women. Essays in Indian Colonial History, New Delhi 1999.
Google Scholar
Udin Babur Z., Violence against Women in Pakistan: Current Realities and Strategies for Change, at <http://epu.ac.at/fileadmin/downloads/research/Babur.pdf>.
Google Scholar
Wahab Sh., Youngerman B., A Brief History of Afghanistan, New York 2007.
Google Scholar
Yusuf H., ‘Rethinking Jirgas,’ Dawn, 11 April 2010.
Google Scholar
Yusuf Z., ‘My Years with WAF’ (Article written for a souvenir on WAF’s 25th anniversary, October 2006), at <http://beenasarwar.com/2013/02/13/my‑years‑with‑waf‑zohra‑yusuf‑on‑the‑pakistani‑womens‑movement/>.
Google Scholar
Zia Lari M., “Honour Killings” in Pakistan and Compliance of Law, Karachi 2011.
Google Scholar
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.