Untying the hard knot of her subjugation : women activists negotiating change in Pakistan

Abstract

This dissertation examines the development of women's activism in Pakistan since the early 1980's. It is a case study, which demonstrates the significance for the development of women's activism of the contingencies of the political and social context, and which explores the analytical value and political potential of different theoretical approaches to activism. A new framework for understanding women's activism is developed by answering four questions: How have political shifts and social contexts shaped women's activism? How have the personal backgrounds and experiences of activists shaped the trajectory of their activism? Why has much of women's activism focussed on high-profile incidents of gender violence and how have these incidents informed negotiations for change in gender relations? What does the future for women's activism look like in the light of the answers to these questions? Critics of women's activism in Pakistan assert that activists, who belong mainly to the elite, have acted to protect their own interests and failed to pursue an agenda that embraces the challenges that affect women from other social classes. Examining these critiques, the thesis reconceptualises women's activism as a recognition struggle that contests status and identity issues through its focus on the injustices suffered by all women because of discriminatory laws. This recognition struggle is enacted through patron-client relationships: activists as clients of the patron-state, relying on their connections with the state to promote an agenda for change, while simultaneously acting as patrons for other, less privileged women, enabling them to access the legal, political and social systems. The recognition struggle/patron-client paradigm exposes new relations of social and political subordination that activists have created, but it also demonstrates how activists have succeeded in diagnosing and responding to some of the structural roots of women's subordination. The efforts of these elite women activists show that another reality is possible -that all women can hope for a different future. Show more