Gender Studies 1

Section 1: Introduction to Gender Studies

Introduction to Gender Studies
➔ Academic study of gender (late 1960s); triggered by the second wave of feminism
➔ Focused on how the academic disciplines and ​sets of knowledge excluded the interests,
experiences and identities of women
➔ Women not represented in the political arena; usually financially disadvantaged
As a discipline:
➔ Sociology: male bias left certain gaps in the knowledge about women; focused upon by
women sociologists; experiences and issues women faced e.g. domestic violence
➔ Women more concentrated in the humanities (effect of the gendered logic of the
workplace); women's studies has strong roots in English, History and sociology
➔ First course at Cornell University 1969; first Program at San Diego State University
1970; First MA at the University of Kent in 1980
➔ Many women’s studies courses contained a consciousness-raising (CR) component; the
experiences and identities of the students determined the dynamics of the classroom
➔ CR: a group of people attempting to focus the attention of a wider group on some cause
or condition
➔ closely associated with women activism
➔ Men’s studies programs part of gender studies programs or as a subject associated with
women's studies; not taught on its own
Difference between Gender and Women Studies

Gender studies Women studies

Begins from the critical position established by Women’s studies arose from a feminist,
women's studies in order to look more broadly at critical and women-centred view of
gender as a phenomenon. (as mentioned before society, politics, power, etc; built from
the 1970’s there was no in-depth study of women's voices (women of the past and of
different genders and their phenomenon. Male the future)
bias was inherent)
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Seen as more inclusive than women’s studies, Focuses merely on women and their issues
taking in men, women, and LGBTQ+

It is more universal and broader in scope. Focus is only on women's feminist theory,
​Focuses on psychosocial as well as women’s history, social history, women’s
psychoanalytical theories, poststructuralist, writings etc.
postcolonial studies, critical studies of
masculinity; queer studies and LGBTQ; critical
of racism (black feminism), critiques of
whiteness; ecological feminism; materialist
feminism; and technoscience studies.

very multidisciplinary nature; study of gendered interdisciplinary in nature; centred around

nature of economics, biology, etc the social sciences, arts and humanities
rather than the physical sciences and
related disciplines such as engineering and
medicine

Men’s studies, women's studies and the study of Studying women is the only concern
sexuality are the basic strands of gender studies

Consciousness-raising is not an aspect Strong focus on Consciousness-raising

No female activism Female activism

Multi-disciplinary nature of Gender Studies

➔ a multidisciplinary approach to understanding problems faced by different genders
➔ a critical study of how assumptions affect the ideas about men, women, LGBTQ
➔ In the cultural, social and political hemisphere
➔ Sociology: to understand the structure of society; how it affects gender discrimination
➔ Anthropology: to explain ideas about gender and how they evolved over time
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➔ Psychology: to understand human nature and the nature of human sexuality

➔ Biology: to study and understand the biological differences between different genders
Autonomy vs. Integration Debate in Gender Studies
➔ "Autonomy vs. Integration Debate" was born out of worry of Women's Studies scholars
about the increase of curriculum integration projects (connect women’s studies to other
subjects) for their subject
➔ 1982: discussion at the annual National Women’s Suffrage Association (NWSA),
Women’s Studies Quarterly about strategies for women’s studies in higher education
➔ Offered and studied as a separate field or not?
➔ Whether the limited time and funding available to feminist academics be devoted to the
revision of the mainstream curriculum or the development of autonomous women's
studies programmes
➔ For autonomy:
◆ feminists should work in isolation
◆ focus on problems of women instead of on their issues as part of a bigger picture
◆ integration within the academic fields (and the society) would lead to feminists
being steered away from their main goals
➔ For integration:
◆ would help reach the people who can influence society; change things for women
◆ change is a slow process; requires actors working within the system
◆ They would not be just theorizing about change but attempting to actually do so
◆ afraid of ‘ghettoizing’ (isolating) women studies
Status of Gender Studies in Pakistan
➔ first introduced as a five-year project in 1989 by the Women’s Development Division,
Government of Pakistan
➔ developed into a well-established discipline across the national universities of Pakistan
➔ Purpose: make women visible; develop or create alternative concepts, approaches, and
strategies for national development with the active participation of women
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➔ Curriculum Revision Committee of Women’s studies: made recommendations on how to

encourage interest in this subject
◆ should be introduced as one of the qualifying subjects in the competitive
examinations (CSS, PCS); done by FPSC
◆ Active collaboration between the various departments, centres and institutes
teaching Women’s Studies in Pakistan with the purpose of sharing expertise
◆ Translations in Urdu (or any other language of Pakistan) of key feminist texts
◆ Texts written about women or by women in different languages in Pakistan
should be translated into Urdu and English; Special funds to made available by
the HEC
◆ Develop the research and teaching capacities of the faculty of Women’s Studies
◆ Special grants for library development in Women’s Studies
◆ Concentrated efforts for introducing Women’s Studies at UG level
◆ Incorporate Women’s Studies perspective in preparation of textbooks at school
and college level
◆ Establish academic linkage programmes with centres/ programmes of Women’s
Studies in the developed countries
➔ Centre of Excellence for Women's Studies (CEWS) — University of Karachi: leading
centre in the field of teaching and research in Women's Studies in Pakistan; established as
a project in 1989 by the Ministry of Women Development, Government of Pakistan
➔ 2002: CEWS initiated M.Phil /PhD programme
➔ 2004: CEWS introduced Women's Studies as a subsidiary course at UG level.
➔ Pakistan Journal of Women’s Studies; ​Alam-e-Niswan​:​ published twice a year by
Pakistan Association for Women's Studies; first issue published in 1994
➔ Some Programs of Women’s Studies and Gender Studies in Pakistan
◆ Institute of Women Development Studies—University of Sindh, Jamshoro 1994
◆ Women’s Studies Department—AIOU 1997
◆ Women’s Research and Resource Center—FJWU, RWP
◆ Women’s studies centre—University of Balochistan, Quetta
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◆ Department of women’s studies—Punjab University, Lahore

◆ Department of women’s studies—Peshawar University

Section 2: Social Construction of Gender

Historicizing Constructionism
means that over the course of history certain ideas have been constructed about gender
● Historicizing: when one presents something as a product of historical development
● Constructionism: we view the world through certain self-made constructs
● ideas have been enforced and reinforced throughout time
● No longer presented as constructs but as essential truths
Problematizing the category of “Sex”: Queer Theory
● Gay Liberation Front was born in 1970 in Britain
● Public policies selectively blind to the plight of gay men who had contracted AIDS;
20000 deaths by 1987
● the idea of fluidity of gender; heterosexual people were acting according to a construct
Queer theory:
● identities are not fixed and do not determine who we are
● meaningless to talk in general about 'women' or any other group, as identities consist of
many different elements
● people cannot be seen collectively on the basis of one shared characteristic such as men,
gay, lesbian
● proposes that we should deliberately challenge all notions of fixed identity, in
unconventional ways
● Denies heterosexuality as normal or ‘natural’. Embodied in popular culture by Madonna
Criticisms:
● For most people, sexual identity isn't fluid, it's constant
● focuses on cultural texts (rather than real life) where it is easier to find sexual or gender
ambiguities
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● Discrimination at home and at work, for everyday gay people, ignored as it reduces
everyone to the same fluid identity
● By celebrating difference, queer politics makes the 'gay' or 'lesbian' identity all too
important; ignoring identities such as heterosexuality or asexuality
● celebrates pleasure; too much emphasis on sex
Judith Butler’s Gender performativity theory:
Judith Butler’s book Gender Trouble (1990) made a profound contribution to the field
● gender is socially constructed; reinforced by media and culture
● sexuality is not assigned to one orientation or preference
● Sexual identity is fluid, a person can be heterosexual at one time and bisexual at another.
Key Aspects of Butler’s theory:
● Our identity is not fixed (male, female, heterosexual)
● There is not really an ‘inner self’
● Gender is a performance; People can change if they perform the characteristics of another
gender (If a heterosexual female starts performing activities and adopts characteristics of
a heterosexual male then her identity changes)
● The binary divide between masculinity and femininity is a social construct built on the
binary divide between men and women – also a social construction
● challenge the traditional views of masculinity, femininity and sexuality by causing gender
trouble
Criticism: Judith Butler's followers ignore real-life oppression and instead support their
optimistic worldview by gazing at gender-blending movies and photography.
Is “Sex” socially determined, too?

Sex Gender

It is a universal term variable; it changes under the influence of

time, geographical and socio-cultural settings

Refers to male or female Refers to Masculinity and femininity

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Anatomical characteristics: 6 components: masculine and feminine qualities, behaviour

chromosome make-up, external genitalia, patterns, related roles and responsibility, etc
internal genitalia, gonads hormonal states and are considered.
secondary sex characteristics
addition of all of these qualities forms the
basis of which sex category most people fall
under; female or male

Defined as biological differences between Fashion in which society highlights sexual

men and women differences

To an extent, sex is also socially constructed. It is true that the distinctions between the sexes
depend on 6 anatomical features:
1. Chromosome make-up: XY (M) OR XX (F) (XXY Chromosomal variations = Klinefelter
Syndrome, XO Chromosomal variations = Turner Syndrome)
2. External genitals: Penis(M) OR Vagina (F) (Some people are born with ambiguous genitalia
and they are classified as intersex)
3. Internal genitalia: testes(M) OR Ovaries (F) (Internal genitalia of certain individuals may not
match their internal genitalia)
4. Gonads
5. Hormonal states [estrogen (F) and Testosterone (M)]
6. Secondary sex characteristics
Masculinities and Feminism
“One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman” - Simone de Beauvoir
● Masculinity: qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of men and v.v.
● traditional conceptions of masculinity and what it means to be a “Real Man” have been
critiqued; efforts to rewrite or redefine “Woman” to alleviate the oppression
● dualisms have traditionally valued the masculine side of the Man-Woman dichotomy
more than the feminine
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● masculinity and femininity are socially constructed

● vary across different cultures and societies as well as the history
● based upon the social roles that women and men are expected to perform in their lives
● toxic masculinity​: traditional cultural masculine norms that can be harmful to men,
women, and society overall; normalizes violence, sexual harassment, misogyny and
homophobia
● Forced conformity to dominance, self-reliance, and competition result in depression and
stress in men
● Toxic femininity​: some women use their gender to obtain certain privileges

Masculine traits Feminine traits

competent empathetic

rational emotional

assertive sensitive

independent dependent

aggressive passive

Strong-minded caring

dominant submissive

active passive

tough gentle

kind cruel

verbal analytical

tactful blunt
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Nature versus nurture: A Debate in Gender Development

● Two studies conducted by William Reiner: confirmed that the amount of exposure to
male hormones and androgens in utero almost exclusively decides whether the child
identifies as masculine or feminine
● Reiner followed 14 children whose testicles and male hormone levels were completely
normal at birth, but who were born without a penis — 12 of the children were surgically
reconstructed to appear female. Today, all 12 of the children raised as females are
masculine in their behavior; gender may not totally be culturally constructed and certain
aspects are a result of nature.
● Research at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center has shown that gender identity is almost
entirely based on nature and is almost exclusively predetermined
● traits of masculinity or femininity may rest on cultural factors
● De Beauvoir: “Man learns his power”; a woman is not born passive, mediocre, or
immanent; she is conditioned to believe that this is the only way to achieve happiness and
gain acceptance
Other natural differences between binary genders;
● Females attain puberty earlier than males
● There is a difference in bone development and structure
● There is research to suggest that males are better at math and females are better at
multitasking and speaking

Section 3: Feminist movements and practices:

What is Feminism​:
● Originated from French word ​féminisme​ in the 19th century
● A medical term to describe the feminisation of the female body; describe women with
masculine traits
● The belief in social, economic, and political equality of the sexes
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● incorporates the position that societies prioritize the male point of view and that women
are treated unfairly
● campaign for women's rights, including:
○ the right to vote
○ to hold public office
○ to work; to earn fair wages or equal pay
○ to own property
○ to receive education
○ to enter contracts
○ to have equal rights within marriage
○ legal abortions
○ social integration
○ protect women and girls from rape, sexual harassment, and domestic violence
● Feminist theory:
○ aims to understand the nature of gender inequality by examining women's social
roles and lived experience
○ developed theories in a variety of disciplines in order to respond to issues
concerning gender e.g. discrimination, stereotyping, objectification, oppression
and patriarchy
○ Negate the representation of women as weak; discourage biological destiny
○ promote equality b/w men & women; politically, economically and socially
Liberal Feminism​:
● Society’s false belief that women are, by nature, less intellectually and physically capable
● women's needs and interests are insufficiently reflected in the basic conditions under
which they live; that those conditions lack legitimacy because women are inadequately
represented in the processes of democratic self-determination
● Liberal feminism conceives of freedom as personal autonomy (living a life of one's own
choosing); political autonomy (being co-author of the conditions under which one lives)
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Mary Wollstonecraft: if men and women were educated equally, they will get equal access to
society
● Does not advocate revolution or liberation, as radical or socialist feminists
● Personal autonomy: women should live lives of their own choosing
○ the women's movement should work to identify, promote autonomy-enabling
conditions:
■ Being free of violence or threat of violence
■ Being free of the limits set by patriarchal paternalistic and moralistic laws
■ Access to opportunities: “feminization of poverty”
■ the ability to assess one's own preferences and imagine life otherwise:
internal, psychological enabling
○ Fairness in Personal Relationships

Jean Hampton: a personal relationship is fair only if both parties to it could “reasonably accept
the distribution of costs and benefits if it were the subject of an informed, unforced agreement in
which we think of ourselves as motivated solely by self-interest”

○ Personal Autonomy and Human Flourishing: procedural autonomy

Martha Nussbaum: an account of the good life has “at its heart, a profoundly liberal idea … the
idea of the citizen as a free and dignified human being, a maker of choices”

○ Personal Autonomy and state

■ advocate the legal regulation of the sex trade prioritizing women's safety
and women's control
■ Girls' participation in families develops self-worth
● Political autonomy:
○ Public Deliberation and Electoral Politics
■ participation in the processes of democratic self-determination
■ Linda McClain: all children must receive civic education, to equip them
for democratic citizenship, including instruction in women's equality
○ Distributive justice
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■ John Rawls: contractual liberal theory of justice argues that the state
should ensure that the basic structure of society distributes the benefits and
burdens of social cooperation fairly
● Comprehensive liberal feminisms​ are grounded in moral doctrines e.g. family; while
● Political liberal feminisms​ are accounts of how state power should be used to feminist
ends that are grounded in public political values
● Rooted in the larger tradition of liberal political philosophy; much liberal feminist work
inspired by Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, and John Rawls
● Mary Wollenstonecraft wrote “A vindication of the rights of women” which commented
on the society’s views of women and encouraged women to make separate decisions
other than those made for them by society. This was the first treatise on feminism
● John Stuart Mill also believed in equal rights for both sexes. I​n his book ​The Subjection
of Women​, Mill argues that three major parts of women's lives are hindering them:
society and gender construction, education, and marriage
● Criticism:
○ Classical liberals​: don’t support that the right of some against coercive
interference be violated to promote the autonomy capacities of others e.g. in
affirmative action programs, taxation to fund the social liberal feminist programs
○ Conservative​: radical implications of liberal feminism; put women's autonomy
ahead of institutions and norms on which many people rely for their well-being
○ Other feminists​: a feminist political theory must rely on a much more robust
feminist ideal of the good life than liberal feminism provides
○ liberal feminism's commitment to moral individualism and ideal theory renders it
incapable of identifying and criticizing the oppression of women
○ Multicultural​: the liberal idea of “good life” does not apply to all cultures
Radical Feminism​:
● calls for a radical reordering of society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all
social and economic contexts
● society is fundamentally a patriarchy in which men dominate and oppress women
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● New generation: sceptic about any fixed gender identity or gender binaries and a more
fluid and performative approach to sexuality and politics; as well as the ways that power
and privilege continue to hold women back
“The problem is not that differences are not valued; the problem is that they are defined by
power” (Catherine MacKinnon)
● radical feminists tend to understand the power in terms of dyadic relations of
dominance/subordination; like the relationship between master and slave
● the ideology of radical feminism in the United States developed as a component of the
women's liberation movement; grew largely due to the influence of the civil rights
movement that had gained momentum in the 1960s
● Radical feminists also take direct action. In 1968, they protested against the Miss
America pageant in order to bring "sexist beauty ideals and social expectations" to the
forefront of women's social issues
● Views on sex industry:
○ Argue that most women who become prostitutes are forced into it by a pimp,
human trafficking, poverty, drug addiction, or trauma such as child sexual abuse
○ the production of pornography entails physical, psychological, and/or economic
coercion of the women who perform in it
○ actresses are reduced to mere receptacles—objects—for sexual use
Robin Morgan summarizes this idea: "Pornography is the theory, and rape is the practice."
● Some radical feminists, such as Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon support
recognition of trans women as women (trans-inclusive feminism)
○ a biology-based or sex-essentialist ideology itself upholds patriarchal
constructions of womanhood
○ Catherine MacKinnon said that "male dominant society has defined women as a
discrete biological group forever...to me, women is a political group
● Others such as Janice Raymond and Robin Morgan argue that the transgender movement
perpetuates patriarchal gender norms; incompatible with radical feminist ideology
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○ the fact that they have a choice in gender sets them apart from people assigned
female
○ Sheila Jeffreys argues: by transitioning they are "constructing a conservative
fantasy of what women should be ... an essence of womanhood which is deeply
insulting and restrictive”
● Mary Daly in ‘Gyn/Ecology:​The Metaethics of Radical Feminism​ (1978): men have tried
to oppress women throughout history; focuses on the actual practices of this oppression
● Criticism:
○ Liberal feminist: deduce power as a resource instead of domination
○ intersectional and black feminism: the fight against male domination took priority
because "the liberation of women would mean the liberation of all".This view is
contested
○ often resorts to violence and proclaims hate speech e.g., SCUM Manifesto
○ methods for resolving tensions are impractical; Gender segregation would not
only be farcical in practicality but would contradict most if not all human rights
legislation; impossible to change the structures without involving men
○ Ellen Willis: although radical feminism played a necessary role in placing
feminism on the political agenda, it was unable “to integrate a feminist
perspective with an overall radical politics”
Marxist/Socialist Feminism:
● investigating and explaining how women are oppressed through systems of capitalism
and private property
● women's liberation can only be achieved through a radical restructuring of the current
capitalist economy
● Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (1848): ​The Communist Manifesto
● Revolution of workers can cause an overthrow of the capitalist system
● gender oppression is closely related to class oppression
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● Engels (T​he Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State): the shift from
feudalism to private land ownership has led to women being denied access to waged
labour as they are in enslavement to men who own the land
● widespread social phenomena associated with female sexual morality, such as fixation on
virginity and sexual purity, incrimination and violent punishment of women who commit
adultery, and demands that women be submissive to their husbands
● traditionally been assigned to the domestic sphere; childcare
● exclusion of women from productive labor leads to male control in both private and
public domains
● socialist feminism is inherently ​intersectional​ because it takes into account both gender
and class
● Criticism:
○ Despite the supposed presence of intersectionality, women of colour critique the
movement for perceived deficiencies in regards to racial equity
○ many lesbian women criticized the movement for its domination by heterosexual
feminists
● women perform all or most reproductive labour, i.e. birthing and raising children,
cleaning, cooking, and other tasks necessary to support human life; deny women the
capacity to participate fully in economic activity outside the home
● Charlotte Perkins Gilman suggested professionalization of housework as key by hiring
professional nannies and housekeepers to take the load of domestic work away
Psychoanalytic Feminism
● our sense of self and our political loyalties and attachments are influenced by
unconscious drives and ordered by symbolic structures that are beyond the purview of
individual agency
● theory of oppression: men have an inherent psychological need to subjugate women
● gender is not biological but is centred on the psycho-sexual development of the
individual
● Freud's breakthrough insight: sexual bonds initiate us into subjectivity and civilization
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● Later: (​Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality​ -1905) Freud: sexuality is primordial and
innate, arising from the bodily sensations that accompany the life processes; contrary to
an earlier supposition that sexuality intervenes from the outside
● the psychoanalytic account of the unconscious provides feminist theory with resources
for both political and ontological inquiry
● Ontologically, it offers a distinctively psychical understanding of sexual difference, how
we come to inhabit our bodies and our identities
● Politically, it offers a depiction of the forces that impel us to organize the bonds that hold
us together
● enables feminist theorists to articulate possible correctives
Criticism:
● Simone de Beauvoir: Freud's idea that there is but one, masculine, libido and no feminine
libido with “its own original nature”
○ By assigning to women an identity, the psychoanalytic reliance on sexual
categories renders woman as the other to a subject
Men’s Feminism
● Debated whether men can be feminist
● For male feminists, feminism involves a mix of altruism, community, intellectual interest,
political beliefs, and personal investment
● seeking to establish equal opportunities for women in a range of social relations
● 1970: men's liberation movement: attaching men's identities to a single sense of
masculinity reinforces patriarchy; make it acceptable for men to be open about their
emotions
History:
● Frederick Douglass worked for suffrage in America
● 1866, John Stuart Mill became the first British member of Parliament to introduce a bill
calling for women to receive the vote
Contemporary:
● John Stoltenberg: found the group “Men can stop rape”; advocated against pornography
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"Pornography tells lies about women. But pornography tells the truth about men"
● Adam Jones (political scientist): used feminist theory in documenting and analyzing
gendercide (violence perpetrated for gender-related reasons)
● Justin Trudeau: established the first gender-balanced cabinet in Canada

● Equal pay support in Hollywood: big bang theory example; Bradley Cooper vowed to
share his salary information with his female co-stars
Criticism:
● 1980 men's rights movement: response to the feminist movement;
● cite men's economic burden of the traditionally male breadwinner role, men's shorter
average life expectancy, and inequalities favouring women in divorce issues, custody
laws, and abortion rights
● Simone de Beauvoir (​The Second Sex)​ : men cannot be feminists because of the intrinsic
differences between the sexes
Postmodern Feminism
● Reject essentialism (every entity has a set of attributes that are necessary to its identity
and function), philosophy, and universal truths; all women are different
● Departure from liberal and post-structural feminism
● if a universal truth is applied to all women, it minimizes the individual experience
● Judith Butler: gender is constructed through language (​1990 book Gender trouble)​
○ Drawing on Simone de Beauvoir: what we conventionally regard as 'feminine' is
only a reflection of what is constructed as masculine
○ Distinction between (biological) sex and (socially constructed) gender in invalid
○ Why is body not a social construct
○ women's subordination has no single cause or single solution
○ rejects the term "postmodernism" as too vague
● Mary Joe Frug: human experience is located "inescapably within language"
○ Power is exercised not only through direct coercion but through language shapes
and restricts our reality; language is always open to re-interpretation
○ sex is not something natural
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Frug argues that "cultural mechanisms ... encode the female body with meanings"
● French feminism:
○ there is no identity for a woman but that "the feminine can be identified where
difference and otherness are found."
● Criticism:
○ No clear path of action
○ Modernist: through abandoning the values of Enlightenment thought postmodern
feminism "precludes the possibility of liberating political action."
○ Gloria Steinem: it is overly academic and full of jargon to understand

Section 4: Feminist Movements:

Feminist Movements in the West
1. First Wave
● 19th and early 20th century
● Mainly concerned with women’s right to vote
● promoted equal contract and property rights for women, opposing the ownership of
married women by their husbands
● National American Woman Suffrage Association was established by Susan B. Anthony
and Elizabeth Cady Stanton; did not include black women
● did not chronicle the contributions of Black women to the same degree as White women
● ended with the passage of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution in 1919, granting
women voting rights
2. Second Wave​: “the personal is political”
● The 1960s-1980s focused on issues of equality and discrimination
● identified women’s cultural and political inequalities as inextricably linked
● encouraged women to understand how their personal lives reflected sexist power
structures
● Betty Friedan’s 1963 book ​The Feminine Mystique:​ criticized the idea that women could
find fulfilment only through childrearing and homemaking
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● This idea causes women to lose their own identities in that of their family
● drew attention to the issues of domestic violence and marital rape engendered rape-crisis
centres and women's shelters and brought about changes in custody laws and divorce law
● Liberal and radical feminist movements
● Criticism:
○ Afro-American women were suffering from compulsory sterilization programs
that were not widely included in dialogue about reproductive justice
○ ignores the contributions of many women of colour, working-class women, and
LGBT women
3. Third Wave
● the early 1990s, responding to perceived failures of the second wave
● second-wave over-emphasized experiences of upper-middle-class white women
● race, ethnicity, class, religion, gender, and nationality are all significant factors when
discussing feminism
● access to contraception and abortion are women's reproductive rights
● expanded the second-wave feminists' definition of sexual liberation to "means a process
of first becoming conscious of the ways one's gender identity and sexuality have been
shaped by society and then intentionally constructing one's authentic gender identity"
● regarded race, social class, and transgender rights, issues of women in the workplace
● Criticism:
○ lack of cohesion because of the absence of a single cause
○ still exclusion of women of colour
○ Viewed pornography and sex work as autonomous choices about self-expression
United Nation Conferences on Women
Mexico City in 1975:
● 133 governments participated
● defined a World Plan of Action for the Implementation of the Objectives of the
International Women’s Year
● offered a comprehensive set of guidelines for the advancement of women
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Copenhagen in 1980:
● 145 Member States
● focusing on employment, health and education
● Programme of Action called for stronger national measures to ensure women’s ownership
and control of the property, and improvements in protecting women’s rights to
inheritance, child custody and nationality
Nairobi in 1985:
● 157 Member States
● Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women: measures for
achieving gender equality at the national level;
● promoting women’s participation in peace and development efforts
Beijing in 1995:
● marked a significant turning point for the global agenda for gender equality
● Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action: agenda for women’s empowerment and
considered the key global policy document on gender equality
● adopted unanimously by 189 countries
● 12 areas of concern:
○ Women and poverty
○ Education and training of women
○ Women and health
○ Violence against women
○ Women and armed conflict
○ Women and the economy
○ Women in power and decision-making
○ Institutional mechanism for the advancement of women
○ Human rights of women
○ Women and the media
○ Women and the environment
○ The girl-child
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● 5-year reviews have been taking place

Feminist Movements in Pakistan:
historically been shaped in response to the national and global reconfiguration of power
including colonialism, nationalism, dictatorship, democracy and the Global War on Terror
Modern Islamic Feminists in Pakistan:
seek to further women’s rights by redefining Islamic values and focusing on female-centric laws;
appeals to the upper and lower-middle classes which consider religion as the key to their
answers; re-interpret Islamic injunctions as they believe they are taken out of context.
a) Riffat Hussain b) Amina Badood c) Asma Barlas
Secular Feminists: Feminism is an extension of basic Human Rights so they are not concerned
with religious connotations. a) Fauzia Saeed b) Shehnaz Roz c) Asma Jahangir
First phase 1947–1952:
● 75,000 women were abducted and raped during the partition
● Fatima Jinnah formed the Women's Relief Committee during the transfer of power,
which evolved into the All Pakistan Women’s Association
● Begum Liaqat Ali Khan: formed All Pakistan Women's Association in 1949; urged army
to train nurses; became the first Muslim woman delegate to the United Nations in 1952
Second phase 1980:
● Zulfikar Ali Bhutto:
The 1973 Constitution gave more rights to women:
➔ Article 25: of rights declared that every citizen was equal before law
➔ Article 25 (2): there would be no discrimination based on sex alone
➔ Article 27: there would be no discrimination on the basis of race, religion, caste or sex for
appointment in the service of Pakistan
➔ Article 32 of the Basic Principles of State Policy guaranteed reservation of seats for
women
➔ Article 35: the state shall protect marriage, family and mother and child
● reaction to the patriarchal rigid form of Zia's Islamization
Gender Studies 22

● women from diverse fields like writers, academics, performers became active to oppose
women denigrating policies of General Zia
● 1982: the Fehmida and Allah Bux case, filed under the Zina Ordinance: Allah Bux was
sentenced to death by stoning, and Fehmida, a minor, was awarded 100 stripes in public;
Women’s groups protested and finally, after a retrial, the couple was acquitted
● Zina Ordinance of 1979 conflated adultery with rape; virtually impossible to prove rape;
upon failure, the woman was transformed into the culprit while the rapist went scot-free
● 1983: Pakistan Women Lawyer marched to High Court with WAF members to protest
the Law of Evidence
● Women's Action Forum used "progressive interpretations of Islam" to counter the state's
patriarchal version of religion and morality
1988–1999:
● first woman prime minister Benazir Bhutto
● Established all-women police station; appointed women judges for the first time; she
could not succeed in repealing anti-women laws of General Zia
● activists produced research that focused on increasing women's political voice and
strengthening inclusive democratic governance
● awareness-raising material on sexual and reproductive rights; environmental issues
Zardari Era​​:
● Taliban publicly flogged a 17-year-old girl accused of illicit relations with a neighbour
● 2012: Malala Yousafzai was shot in Swat for claiming her right to education.
● Anti-Acid Attacks law and Protection of women from sexual harassment at the workplace
Bill
● Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy’s documentaries on Acid attack victims; and honour killings
● Pakistan ranked 143/144 countries
The World Economic Forum’s report on Global Gender Gap highlighted four key issues;
Violence, Access to Education, Participation in Politics, Availability of health facilities

Section 5: Gender and Development

Gender Studies 23

Colonial and Capitalistic Perspectives of Gender

Colonial perspective:
➔ British in India saw themselves as a force for enlightenment, especially for women
➔ introduced nine major reforms: forbidding female infanticide, sati and child marriage,
and those raising the age of consent, allowing widow remarriage, and improving
women’s inheritance rights
➔ Official British policy of non-interference in personal and religious matters inhibited the
evolution of social change in written law
➔ British policies in certain other areas present a different outlook. Liddle and Joshi have
delineated three such examples:
1. The restitution of conjugal rights: This ideology was derived from Christian ecclesiastical
law and was brought to India from England. Under this law, a spouse can sue one’s
partner if she refuses to fulfil the sexual obligations of marriage
2. Regarding prostitution, the soldiers in the army were provided with Indian prostitutes by
the official military authorities. These prostitutes had to get themselves registered and
carried a licensed card with them. They also had to undergo a compulsory medical
examination
3. Women's suffrage granted to Indian women in a very limited sense in 1921 in the Madras
presidency. This franchise was given to those women and men who were educated and
wealthy. This was due to the efforts of the Women's Indian Association (WIA)
Capitalist:
➔ Feminists charge capitalism with the fact that it inevitably leads to inequality, from which
women suffer more than men; women own less private property
In defence of Capitalism:
➔ brings technological and social innovations that are good for women
➔ disrupts traditions that subordinate women in materially beneficial and socially
progressive ways
➔ promotes technical innovation that tends to improve quality and length of life for
everyone, but particularly for women
Gender Studies 24

➔ promotes social innovation, in particular, the destruction of harmful, patriarchal traditions

➔ upholds the ideology of individual rights and the ideal of mutual advantage
Gender Analysis of Development Theories;
Modernization Theory:
➔ originated from the ideas of German sociologist Max Weber

Cultural criteria “Traditional” society “Modern” society

Value of tradition Tradition is predominant; People not slaves to tradition; challenge

people are oriented to the past anything seen as unnecessary

Kinship A decisive reference point for Weakening kinship ties; hard-work,

all social practices achievement motivations

World view Emotional, superstitious, and People forward-looking and innovative;

fatalistic approaches strong entrepreneurial spirit, rationality

➔ Stems from Social Darwinism (laws of evolution of human society); ideas of Max Weber
regarding the role of rationality in the transition from traditional to modern society
➔ Globalization related to the spreading of modernization; Global trade and advancement in
communication
➔ Effects of modernization:
◆ Democracy
◆ new economic system
◆ Technological change: more innovated society; evolved socially, industrially, and
economically; e.g., Mobile phone
◆ Development: modern is seen as developed
➔ Criticism:
◆ interventions to target rural communities and focus on prevention strategies rather
than curative solutions
◆ replacement of traditional poverty by a more modern form
◆ destruction of the indigenous culture; replacement by a more westernized one
Gender Studies 25

◆ sees unmodernized societies as inferior even if they have the same standard of
living as western societies
◆ accused of being Eurocentric
◆ ignores external sources of change in societies
Gender:
➔ The way the West sees the Third Worldcolonial and presumptive superiority is the same
way it looks at the women in general and Third World women in particular
➔ modern and tradition analogous to how masculine traits are valued and feminine ones
devalued (gender dichotomy)
➔ Fault ontology: economic development in the public sphere would naturally trickle-down
to women in the private sphere; not proven to be correct
➔ controls the image of the “other” (women) from the “positional superiority” of the West
➔ Views third world women as a typical housewife, sexual objects, and victimised
Dependency Theory
➔ resources flow from a "periphery" of underdeveloped states to a "core" of wealthy states,
enriching the latter at the expense of the former
➔ a reaction to modernization theory
➔ Prebisch–Singer thesis: the underdeveloped countries able to purchase fewer
manufactured goods from the developed countries in exchange for a given quantity of
their raw materials exports; Terms of trade deteriorate
➔ shares many points with earlier Marxist theories of imperialism by Rosa Luxemburg and
Vladimir Lenin
➔ Latin American Structuralist school: there is more latitude in the system than the
Marxists believe; economic and political dependency of developing countries
➔ importance of multinational corporations and state promotion of technology
➔ Some believe: the dependency relationship is not the difference in technological
sophistication but the difference in financial strength between core and peripheral
countries
➔ the inability of peripheral countries to borrow in their own currency
Gender Studies 26

➔ The US controls the international reserve currency

criticism:
➔ criticized by free-market economists (Peter Bauer and Martin Wolf)
➔ Lack of competition: by subsidizing in-country industries and preventing outside imports,
these companies may have less incentive to improve their products, innovate
➔ Sustainability: industries reliant on government support may not be sustainable
➔ Domestic opportunity costs: subsidies on domestic industries instead of development of
domestic infrastructure, seed capital or need-based social welfare programs
➔ higher prices caused by tariffs and restrictions on imports
➔ import-substitution development among the worst performers e.g. Zimbabwe, N. Korea
➔ trade-based development successful e.g. India, South Korea, South Africa
Gender:
➔ 65% to 90% women labour in global supply chains; exploited, over-worked
➔ hazards for women in the workplace; lack of enforcement of the labour codes
➔ Resource drain; poverty for women
World System Theory (Immanuel Wallerstein)

➔ The world-systems theory is established on a three-level hierarchy consisting of core,

periphery, and semi-periphery areas.

➔ The core countries dominate and exploit the peripheral countries for labour and raw
materials; mostly capitalist e.g. the US, England, France

◆ strong central governments, bureaucracies, military

◆ state institutions that help manage economic affairs internally and externally

◆ sufficient tax base to fund infrastructure

◆ Economically diversified

◆ Highly industrialised; produce manufactured goods rather than raw materials

◆ specialise in information, finance, service industries; the forefront of new

technologies
Gender Studies 27

➔ How one core nation dominates others:

◆ Productivity dominance: greater quality at a cheaper price

◆ trade dominance: favourable balance of trade

◆ financial dominance: Bankers of a dominant country tend to receive more control

of the world's financial resources (more money in than out)

➔ The peripheral countries are dependent on core countries for capital; underdeveloped
industry; weak central government (reverse characteristics of core countries)

➔ The semi-peripheral countries share characteristics of both core and peripheral countries.

➔ emphasizes the social structure of global inequality

➔ four temporal stages of the world system:

◆ Cyclical rhythms: These represent the short-term fluctuation of the economy

◆ Secular trends: This means deeper long-run tendencies, such as general economic
growth or decline

◆ Contradiction: This means a general controversy in the system, usually

concerning some short term vs. long term trade-offs

◆ Crisis: a crisis occurs, if a constellation of circumstances brings about the end of

the system

➔ benefits coming to core nations from their domination of periphery nations:

1. Access to a large quantity of raw material

2. Cheap labour
3. Enormous profits from direct capital investments
4. A market for exports
5. Skilled professional labour through the migration of these people to the core

Gender:
➔ Overlooking gender; limits the scope and explanatory power of the theory
Gender Studies 28

➔ analysts miss the world as experienced by women

➔ problems that appear in their everyday worlds e.g. housework distribution between
women and men
➔ capitalist development is a gendered and racialized phenomenon; practices around wages
and labour markets: gender and racial inequalities institutionalized
➔ women’s work in the world economy undervalued; Wage gap; unpaid household labour
Structural Functionalism:
➔ Culture is a relatively stable system built on core values; all cultural patterns play part in
ongoing operations of the society
➔ Cultural universals: traits part of every known culture e.g., family, funeral rites, jokes
➔ Thinking functionally helps understand an unfamiliar way of life
➔ structural-functionalism: division of labour views predefined gender roles as
complementary: women take care of the home while men provide for the family
➔ gender inequalities exist as an efficient way to create a division of labour
➔ serves to maintain social order by providing and ensuring the stability of functional
prerequisites (food, shelter, clothing, and money)
Gender:
➔ functionalism neglects the suppression of women within the family structure
➔ structural forces affect the household: trends in the world economy, state machinery, and
ethnicity/culture/subculture.
Gender Approaches to Development:
Women in Development (WID):
➔ introduced primarily by “American liberal feminists” in the 1960s
➔ focuses on egalitarianism, in terms of economic participation and access
➔ disparity in employment opportunities between men and women
➔ “non-confrontational approach” as it does not confront these issues
➔ aims to increase the productivity and earnings of women
➔ Criticism: ignores the larger social processes that affect women's lives and their
reproductive roles
Gender Studies 29

Women and Development (WAD):

➔ important bridge between WID and GAD
➔ “neo-Marxist feminist approach” and it grew out of the “limitations of modernization
theory”
➔ equality will be essential to improving women’s positions, but still frames change in
terms of providing women access to the productive sector
➔ also fails to dig deeper into the systemic problems between men and women
Gender and Development (GAD):
➔ founded in socialist-feminist ideology in 1980s
➔ oppression of women stems from a neoliberal focus on improving women’s reproductive
and productive capacities
➔ seeks to confront the root causes of gender inequality, rather than finding short-term
solutions
➔ change in language from dealing with ‘women’ in the context of development, to
‘gender’
➔ Nighat Saeed Khan (founder of the Women’s Action Forum): this shift became
“counter-productive” because the discussion shifted from “women, to women and men
and, finally, back to men”
➔ criticized for emphasizing the social differences between men and women while
neglecting the bonds between them
➔ does not dig deeply enough into social relations and so may not explain how these
relations can undermine programs directed at women
Gender Critique of Structural Adjustment Policies (SAPs):
➔ consist of loans provided by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank
(WB) to countries that experienced economic crises
➔ created with the goal of reducing the borrowing by the country in the short and
medium-term or in order to adjust the economy to long-term growth
➔ to allow the economies of the developing countries to become more market-oriented;
forces them to concentrate more on trade and production so it can boost their economy
Gender Studies 30

➔ implement "free market" programmes and policy; internal changes (notably privatization
and deregulation) as well as external ones
There are many detrimental effects on the poor, particularly on women, due to structural
adjustment programs.
➔ women have less access to resources and power than men do; exacerbate women's
already unequal access, which further harms women
➔ More harmful is the aspect of the IMF's conditionality requirement for fiscal austerity
➔ IMF does not necessarily specify where the budget cuts must come from; countries begin
the budget cuts with social programs and subsidies; typically programs such as health
care, welfare programs, social security, education, and agricultural subsidies
➔ Ramifications of the loss of social programs are huge; felt especially by women
➔ patriarchy of society and the invisibility of women at the IMF
Globalization and Gender:
➔ Has provided some economic power to women
➔ power structures of the state gave men monopoly over power, authority and wealth
➔ the subordination of women in the family; excluded through the public-private dichotomy
➔ Power is fragmented through the emergence of new social formations
➔ dispersal of power through forces of "globalization from above" -- corporate enterprises,
markets and movements of capital; state no longer holds all power
➔ Governments unwilling to assert the rights of their workers; to not discourage investment
Preliminary Report by the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Its Causes and
Consequences: economic systems which value profits often do so at the expense of female labour
➔ low economic value accorded to work performed primarily by women (services industry,
tourism, textile)
➔ conditions of exploitation, no job security and violations of human rights, sexual
harassment
➔ linkages between countries in economic transition and the increase in trafficking and
forced prostitution of women
➔ Pursuit of global profits rather than gender equality e.g. in china
Gender Studies 31

➔ reproductive technology: mixed picture- allowed women greater freedom and choice with
respect to reproduction; also, not given adequate attention by State agencies due to
cultural taboos
➔ democracy and market economies: Continued stereotypes of men as the primary
breadwinners; democracy not extended to women
➔ Armed conflicts: internal or international unduly harm women e.g. rape as a war strategy
➔ religious or other extremists: introduce a form of sexual terrorism; leads to substantial
reversals of women's advancement

Section 6: Status of Women in Pakistan

Status of Women’s health in Pakistan

➔ female infant mortality rate higher than that of male children

➔ the maternal mortality rate also high, as only 20 per cent of women were assisted by a
trained provider during delivery
➔ as of 2012/13, the contraceptive prevalence rate was 35.4%
➔ the total fertility rate is 2.75 children born/woman (2015)

Problems:

➔ Bias in food distribution leads to nutritional deficiencies among female children

➔ Early marriages of girls, excessive childbearing, lack of control over their own bodies
➔ high level of illiteracy
➔ Social and familial control over women’s sexuality
➔ economic dependence on men
➔ restrictions on their mobility reduce the access of females to health services
➔ lack of female service providers; discomfort communicating with male physicians
➔ neglect of women’s basic and reproductive health needs
➔ While seeking health for herself, a woman has no control over decision-making

Statistics:

● Total expenditure on health as a % of GDP (2014): 2.6%

Gender Studies 32

● Total expenditure on health per capita (Intl $, 2014): 129

● Life expectancy at birth m/f (years, 2016): 66/67
➔ In the Constitution, Articles 38(a), 38(d) and 25(1) refer to women's health
➔ SAP launched in 1992–1993 to accelerate improvement in the social indicators
➔ Closing the gender gap is the foremost objective
➔ Prime Minister's program of lady health workers (LHWs)
➔ 26,584 LHWs in rural areas and 11,967 LHWs in urban areas recruited to provide basic
health care including family planning to women
➔ village-based family planning workers and extended immunisation programs, nutritional
and child survival, cancer treatment
➔ increased involvement of media in health education
➔ Family Planning Policy (FP)-2020 Objectives:

1. Raising Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) from 35 per cent to 55 per cent by 2020

2. The federal government will provide the amount for the contraceptive requirement as the US
$186 million over the period 2013 to 2020

3. Family planning will be a priority for LHWs, who cover 70 per cent of rural areas.

Status of Women in Education​:

Quaid: Education does not merely mean academic education and even that of a very poor type.
What we have to do is to mobilize our people and build up a character of our future generation.
UNDP report: Pakistan ranked 144/144 countries in terms of Gender-related Development Index
(GDI). Women literacy at 45%
Problems:
1. Lack of proper planning to achieve MDGs: goal 2 is to achieve Universal Primary Education;
goal 3 is Promoting Gender Equality and Women Empowerment.
2. Gender gap
3. Social constraints: women’ role in the labour force; mobility; honour
4. High cost of education: prefer to spend on boys
Gender Studies 33

5. War on Terror: Pakistan’s engagement in war against terrorism also affected the promotion of
literacy campaign; Taliban banning girls from school
6. Technical Education: no or very little technical and vocational training institutes for women
7. The existing infrastructure is not being properly utilized in several parts of the country
8. There are various challenges that include expertise, institutional and capacity issues, forging
national cohesion, uniform standards for textbook development, and quality assurance.
9. politicized faculty hiring process; quality of teaching suffers; teacher absenteeism
10. High dropout rates especially female
Solutions:
1. Technical education availability
2. Parental awareness
3. Funding and administration of public schools by local government
4. Legislation for promotion of education
5. Employment as an incentive
6. Updated curriculum
7. Elimination of corruption
Statistics:
Literacy rate as of January 2019: female: 51.8%, and male: 72.5%
Mean years of schooling as of 2017: Female: 3.8, and Male: 6.5
the education budget was short of $565 million USD (to provide 12 years of education for all
children 2015); Public expenditures on education only 2.7% of the GDP of the country
Women and Employment:
➔ women rarely formally employed; work on farm of the household, practice subsistence
agriculture, or within the household economic unit
➔ Problems: social restrictions on women's movement and gender mixing; low education
➔ Often paid less than minimum wage; seen as lesser beings in comparison to men;
working conditions hazardous; long working hours; no medical benefits; no job security;
subjected to job discrimination; verbal abuse and sexual harassment; no support from
male-oriented labour unions
Gender Studies 34

➔ pushed into unorganized services sector: has low pay, low job security, low productivity
➔ Conservative interpretations of Islam: values women as keepers of the honour, support
gender segregation & institutionalization of gender disparities
➔ Female Workforce participation maximum of 23.92 per cent in 2015; 70 per cent of that
work in the agricultural sector
➔ Global ranking of female workforce participation: 167th out of 181 countries
So far:
➔ Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP): provides a monthly cash transfer
➔ Youth Business Loan Scheme: 50 per cent of loans reserved for women
➔ 10 per cent quota for women’s employment in civil service
Solutions:
1. Enforce Article 25A by ensuring that infrastructure (schools, teachers, and books) is available
2. implement the 10% quota for women in government service without further delay; increase in
the number of women in the police force (only 1%), allied law enforcement, and judiciary
3. identify the factors of low recruitment of women in public service; by UN women
4. Legislation to recognize informal market; bring in the ambit of labour laws, social security
5. Reward businesses which employ a certain percentage of women; have women in senior
decision-making management positions; are owned by women
6. Support the First Women’s Bank, a public sector institution created for helping women’s
economic activities, to fulfil its mandate
Women and Law
Constitutional Rights of Women
Article 25 (1) and (2)
25 (1) declares all citizens to be equal before the law and entitled to equal protection of law and
25 (2) states that there shall be no discrimination on the basis of sex alone.
Article 25 (3)
Allows the State to create special laws and rules for specific issues facing women and children,
which are being ignored.
Article 34
Gender Studies 35

Ensures full participation of women in all spheres of national life.

18th Amendment
Devolves most social issues to provinces and gives them responsibility for legislation and
initiatives regarding those women’s rights issues that fall within the purview of provinces. 18th
Amendment has increased resources to provinces to work on women's empowerment.

Laws marginalising women:

1. Hudood ordinance 1979

2. inheritance rights: no clear legal guidance on equal rights for women
a. Women usually forced to relinquish their legal rights of inheritance
3. informal arrangements: local jirga (informal local arbitration council)
4. Lack of protection against child marriages, Watta satta, dowry, marriage to Quran

Pro-women laws and amendments:

1. The Acid Control and Acid Crime Prevention Act, 2011: Punishment of offenders under
this Act can extend up to life imprisonment; Punishment for unauthorized sellers: On first
conviction, an imprisonment of one year or a fine of a hundred thousand rupees or both;
On second and subsequent conviction, an imprisonment of two years or a fine of two
hundred thousand or both
2. Prevention of Anti-Women Practices Act, 2011: Prohibition of forced marriage, marriage
with the Holy Quran; punished with imprisonment of 3-7 and liable to a fine of Rs.
500000; Punishment for giving a female in marriage as Badla-e-sulh, wanni, or swara or
any other custom or practice under any name; prohibition of depriving women of their
property
3. Criminal Law (Amendment) (Offense of Rape) Act 2016: submission of DNA as
evidence; printing or publishing the...identity of an alleged victim of rape, gang
rape…(to) be punished with a maximum of 3 years imprisonment and fine
4. Criminal Law (Amendment) (Offences in the name or pretext of Honour) Act, 2016
5. Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016: to deter cyber-stalking and cyber bullying;
illegal access to personal information
Gender Studies 36

6. Hindu Marriage Act, 2017: to provide for solemnization of marriages by Hindu families;
first personal law for Pakistani Hindus

Section 7: Gender and Governance

Defining Governance:
● Comes from the Greek word “​kubernaein”: to steer
● all of the processes of governing – whether undertaken by the government of a state, by a
market or by a network – over a social system
● through the laws, norms, power or language of an organized society
● actions are structured, sustained, regulated and held accountable
● particular 'level' of governance associated with a type of organization (public governance,
global governance, non-profit governance, corporate governance, project governance)
● 8 characteristics of good governance: Participatory; Rule of Law; Effective and Efficient;
Transparent; Responsive; Equitable and Inclusive; Consensus Oriented; Accountability
Suffragist Movement
the struggle for the right of women to vote and run for office
● began in 1848
● Under the leadership of Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and others
● National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), under the leadership of
Carrie Chapman Catt, was moderate
● The National Woman’s Party (NWP), under the leadership of Alice Paul, was a more
militant organization
● WW1: the NWP criticized the government for supporting democracy abroad while
denying women the right to vote
● NAWSA set up a publicity bureau in Washington, D.C., in 1916 to exert immediate,
face-to-face pressure on Congressmen
● In 1920, the 19th Amendment, enfranchising women, was finally ratified
● single largest extension of democratic voting rights
Gender Studies 37

● In the UK,1918–1928, women could vote at 30 with property qualifications or as

graduates of UK universities, while men could vote at 21 with no qualification. From
1928 women had equal suffrage with men
● The British suffrage movement was more radicalized and militant; confrontation, jail
time, hunger strikes
● Pakistan was part of British Raj until 1947; Women received full suffrage with
independence
● Muslim women leaders from all classes actively supported the Pakistan movement; led
by wives and other relatives of leading politicians
● Women were sometimes organized into large-scale public demonstrations
● In November 1988, Benazir Bhutto became the first Muslim woman to be elected as
Prime Minister of a Muslim country
Gender Issues in Women as Voters
Total female voter turnout: 47%
Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan all had a voter turnout gap of about eight per cent between men
and women while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had a turnout gap of almost 19 per cent
In Pakistan, women comprise less than half of the country’s registered voters
60 of 342 seats in the NA; 128 of 728 seats in provincial assemblies reserved for women
Female political participation continues to lag behind men
“It’s a systemic thing where the environment doesn’t enable women to participate politically.”-
Madiha Latif (leader of an NGO)
● challenges they face obtaining ID cards; prohibited to visit government offices to acquire
identity documents; parents not willing to pay the cost of registration
“We conducted surveys and found the basic hurdle to voting was national ID cards. Females did
not have that card” -Huda Gohar, a spokesperson for the election commission in Punjab
● distance to polling stations
● cultural norms that restrict women to the home
● male guardians set limits on a women's movements
● system of purdah—a practice of gender segregation
Gender Studies 38

● Ill-equipped, overcrowded, disorderly polling stations; no accommodation for children

● political parties seldom go to women voters directly
“Most political parties believe they can convince the women voters through male voters,” said
Qamar Naseem, coordinator at Blue Veins (evidence suggests that women do not mimic their
husbands when voting)
● lack of direct engagement of women voters disincentives them to vote
● lack of knowledge of political candidates
Gender Issues in Women as Candidates
women’s representation in parliament stands at only 21 per cent in 2018
3.5% of women candidates were nominated by the political parties, 96.5% were male
Participation is a development approach; recognizes the need to involve disadvantaged
segments of the population in the design and implementation of policies concerning their
wellbeing
● Not easy for women running for office
● women’s faces on election posters supplanted by the faces of their male guardians or
simply expunged
a faceless image of a cartoon woman clad in a hijab appears on campaign posters for Mamoona
Hamid, a candidate by ultraconservative Islamic political party
● tokenism in including women's wings and women workers; no real and actual changes
made to state that political parties actively support women
● Cultural norms and restrictions on women (considered inappropriate for women partake
public political campaigns)
● Lack of political education and education in general
● Not enough funding as women are poorer
● Women thought of as homemakers
● discrimination and patriarchy
● religious extremism
● Problems of female voters also apply here
Gender Issues in Women as Representatives
Gender Studies 39

Socio-cultural:
● image of women in traditional, apolitical roles e.g. mother, homemaker
● Resistance to female authority e.g. generals refusing to salute Benazir
● Political violence against women e.g. Benazir’s assassination, attack on Malala in 2012,
Women’s rights activist Ms Zille Huma Usman assassination in 2007
● no base from which to develop contacts with people; build knowledge and experience
about the issues
● Men’s higher social status in the family
● women are portrayed as weak and incapable of making smart decisions
● Child rearing and childcare leave little time for politics
Religious:
● major religions of the world are differentially conservative or patriarchal
● exclusion of women from religious institutions and religious leadership
● Restrictions on movement (without a male) and obtaining registration (ID)
Economic:
● the historical experience of discrimination results in economic disadvantage
● Lack of funding for campaigns
● material independence causes certain professional skills and greater self-confidence
Impact of Political Quota in Pakistan
In theory, reserved seats for women insert women in a process in which, if society was fair and
equal, they would have had half the share of seats
● Pakistan is not a gender-equal society, hence the need for quotas
● most women filling the reserved seats were relations of important men, granted the seats
on the basis of political favour
● These women do not actively participate in parliamentary affairs
● women face discriminatory treatment
Nafisa Shah, a parliamentarian: women were regularly treated as “extras” and “relegated to the
backbenches” of parliament
Gender Studies 40

● Shaista Pervez: women parliamentarians prioritised party identity over gender identity;
prevented them from coming together in a non-partisan way to draft and pass legislation
benefiting women
● Dynastic politics/nepotism and the perpetuation of a male-dominated political system
prevents talented and qualified women from rising through the party ranks
● Political stage continues to be dominated by men with few women leaders being given
the opportunity to speak to the crowd
● Women motivated by NGOs: focus on provision of goods and services via the non-profit
sector; not changing political structure to help women
● Criticism of women who fill the reserved seats stands the risk of being incorporated in
the general misogynistic tone
● Pointing their lack of qualification may result in elimination of quotas
● Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW) and the Beijing Platform for Action amongst others
● continued demand of the women's movement is 33 % reserved seats for women in all
legislative assemblies instead of 17 %;
● women remain in minority; cannot make a voting bloc for women’s issues
● Solutions:
● other sectors including the NGOs should recognise and promote the necessity of political
participation
● Political parties need to elevate women to powerful positions within the party
● women who fill the reserved seat quotas must have some experience of politics

Section 8: Gender-Based Violence

Defining Gender-Based Violence
● Violence directed against a person because of their gender
● Both women and men experience it but the majority of victims are women and girls
● 35 % women worldwide; 70 % in Pakistan have been subjected to violence
● 200 million women and girls alive today have undergone female genital mutilation
Gender Studies 41

● The Istanbul Convention frames gender-based violence and violence against women as a
gendered act which is ‘a violation of human rights and a form of discrimination against
women’
● Forms of violence:
○ Physical: unlawful physical force; assault, deprivation of liberty and manslaughter
○ Sexual: rape and sexual assault
○ Economic: property damage, restricting access to financial resources, education or
the labour market, or not complying with economic responsibilities e.g. alimony
○ Trafficking: Women and girls account for about 70 per cent of all trafficking
○ Psychological: coercion, defamation, verbal insult or harassment
○ By the state: war rape, sexual violence, sexual slavery during conflict; forced
sterilization; forced abortion; violence by the police and authoritative personnel;
stoning and flogging
Theories of Violence against Women
Theoretical explanations of violence: the micro perspective:
● social learning theory: individuals learn how to behave through both the experience of
and exposure to violence
● Psychopathological: individuals who are violent toward women have some type of
personality disorder or mental illness that might get in the way of otherwise normal
inhibitions about violent behaviour
● Psychological and physiological: related to the process of natural selection; men, who
are biologically driven to reproduce as much as possible, will resort to rape when they
have difficulty finding consensual female partners
○ Alcohol has also been cited by researchers as a frequent factor in violent acts
against women
● Exchange theory: individuals are viewed as engaging in certain behaviours either to earn
a reward or to escape punishment; men's violence interpreted as a means to maintain their
position in the social structure
● Resource theory: situated within the framework of exchange theory; men are using
Gender Studies 42

violence within the family to establish power over women within family dynamics when
other resources of persuasion are lacking
● Battered woman syndrome: a feeling of being both responsible for and helpless to stop
the violence leads in turn to depression and passivity
Macro-oriented theories:
● cultural acceptance of violence: prevailing attitudes and beliefs that justify and legitimize
the structural violence, making it seem natural
● patriarchy or feminist perspective
● a subculture of violence
● Strain theory: (developed by Robert K. Merton) society puts pressure on individuals to
achieve socially accepted goals (such as the American dream), though they lack the
means. This leads to strain which may lead the individuals to commit crimes
○ structural stress: refers to the processes at the societal level which filters down
and affects how the individual perceives his or her needs
Sociocultural theories:
● the influence of social location (social class, education, and income) on violence against
women; integrate both social structural and family processes
● development of multidimensional theories of violence that take into account both social
structural factors and individual characteristics.
Structural and Direct Forms of Violence
Structural violence is injustice and exploitation built into a social system that generates wealth
for the few and poverty for the many, stunting everyone’s ability to develop their full humanity
● privileging some classes, ethnicities, genders, and nationalities over others, it
institutionalizes unequal opportunities for education, resources, and respect
● forms the very basis of capitalism, patriarchy, and any dominator system
● Institutionalized adultism, ageism, classism, elitism, ​et​hnocentrism, nationalism,
speciesism, racism, and sexism
● Although invisible, influenced by identifiable institutions, relationships, force fields, and
ideologies (discriminatory laws, gender inequality, racism)
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● Structural violence and direct violence are highly interdependent: family violence, gender
violence, hate crimes, racial violence, police violence, state violence, terrorism, and war
● produces opportunities and advances that humans could not create for themselves,
including the development of agriculture, technology, philosophy, science, and art
● both productive and detrimental: hunter-gatherer groups used organizational power to
acquire more resources; also used to dominate, kill, and enslave other groups
● the division into rich and poor, powerful and weak
● 10 to 20 million deaths per year;
● kills much more than direct violence by deprivation of basic needs
Direct violence is the kind we physically perceive, but it manifests out of conditions created by
two invisible forms and can’t be eliminated without eliminating them
● has its roots in cultural and structural violence
● Cultural and structural violence cause direct violence. Direct violence reinforces
structural and cultural violence; a vicious cycle
● war, murder, rape, assault, verbal attacks etc
● the most popular and obvious; commonly thought of as the worst kind of violence
Strategies to Eliminate Violence against Women
1 in 3 girls have experienced violence in their lifetime and an estimated 1 in 10 have been
victims of sexual violence
● addressing its root and structural causes
● Prevention should start early in life; educating and working with young boys and girls
● promoting respectful relationships; gender sensitization
● making the home and public spaces safer for women
● ensuring women’s economic autonomy and security
● Law enforcement against sexual harassment and domestic violence
● increasing women’s participation and decision-making powers—in the home and
relationships, as well as in public life and politics
● Working with men and boys helps accelerate progress
● Awareness-raising and community mobilization, through media and social media
● Take a stand against regressive forces
Gender Studies 44

Section 9: Case Studies of​:

Mukhtaran Mai
The facts (in order):
June 22, 2002: a tribal council in the Pakistani village of Mirwali was in session to resolve an
issue between two tribes.
● Members of the Mastoi tribe had accused 12-year-old Abdul Shakoor (A.S.), Mai’s
brother, of the Gujjar tribe of having an affair with Salma Naseen, sister of Abdul Khaliq
(A.K) from the Mastoi tribe.
● A.S denies the accusation and explained that three Mastoi men had kidnapped and
sodomized him earlier in the day; concocted the story about the affair when he had
threatened to report them.
● The council decided that A.S should marry Salma Naseen and that, in exchange, Mai
would marry someone from the Mastoi tribe; villagers from the Mastoi tribe rejected it.
● Mai was called by the council to apologize for her brother; when she arrived she was
dragged to a nearby hut and gang-raped allegedly by four men
● After the men raped her, they stripped Mukhtar Mai of her clothing and threw her out of
the hut. As she walked naked through the village to her home, her father draped her with
a shawl.
● On 28 June 2002: the village imam (prayer leader) declares that a great sin has been
committed and asks the villagers to report the matter to the police. The imam then tells a
reporter from a nearby town who publishes the story in the local press
● immediately picked up by the international media and the Punjab government asks the
police to take immediate action
● 30 June 2002: A case is registered with the Dera Ghazi Khan (southern Punjab) police
against 14 men. All are arrested and charged under various provisions of the Pakistan
Penal Code (provisions 109/149) of 1868, the Anti-Terrorism Act (7c & 21-1) of 1997
and the Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hadd) Ordinance (10-4 and 11) of 1979.
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● The medical examination of Ms Mai and chemical analysis of her clothes reveals at least
two semen stains
● 31 August 2002: The trial court announces the verdict in a special midnight session,
sentencing six men to death. Four of these are sentenced for raping her while two are
convicted for being a part of the panchayat that decreed the rape.
● Mai sets up two schools in her village with the compensation money awarded to her
● 3 March 2005: The Multan bench of the Lahore High Court reverses the trial court's
judgment on the basis of "insufficient evidence" and "faulty investigations". [On the basis
of the appeal of convicted men] The court acquits five of the six while the death sentence
of the sixth is commuted to life imprisonment
● Caused an international outcry and human rights groups call upon the Pakistan
government to intervene; Rights group hold rallies in various Pakistani cities
● 11 March 2005: Federal Shariat Court suspends the Lahore High Court's acquittal;
● rules that the Lahore High Court does not have the jurisdiction to hear appeals in cases
tried under Islamic laws
● 14 March 2005: The Supreme Court decides to hear the final appeal in the case
● 15 March 2005: Four of the five acquitted in Ms Mai's case are released on the orders of
the Supreme Court. The fifth is released two days later
● 17 March 2005: Ms Mai appeals to President Musharraf to order the re-arrest of the four
men released saying she fears for her life
● 18 March 2005: all 14 men released earlier are re-arrested
● 26 March 2005: Mukhtar Mai files an appeal in the Supreme court against the acquittal
● 10 June 2005: Ms Mai says she is being prevented from travelling abroad by the
government; travel ban on Ms Mai is widely condemned, locally and internationally;
Critics say the move is to stop Ms Mai's case generating bad publicity for Pakistan
● 18 June 2005: The Supreme Court says it will start hearing Ms Mai's appeal against
acquittals on 27 June
● 28 June 2005: The Supreme Court suspends the acquittals of the five men convicted
Gender Studies 46

● 21 April 2011: The Supreme Court set aside the Lahore High Court verdict of acquitting
A. Ditta, Ghulam Farid, Faiz Mastoi and Ramzan Parchar
Accolades and honours:
● Pakistani government awarded Mukhtaran the Fatima Jinnah gold medal for bravery and
courage
● the US magazine Glamour named Mukhtaran as their Woman Of The Year
● Mukhtaran Mai published her memoir with the collaboration of Marie-Thérèse Cuny
under the title Déshonorée
● 2 May 2006: spoke at the United Nations headquarters in New York. Mai said:
“wanted to get the message across to the world that one should fight for their rights and for the
rights of the next generation"
UN Under-Secretary-General Shashi Tharoor: anyone who has the moral courage and internal
strength to turn such a brutal attack into a weapon to defend others in a similar position, is a hero
indeed, and is worthy of our deepest respect and admiration
Effects:
1. Mukhtaran Mai became a symbol of courage and boldness for girls.
2. Highlights the role of feudalism in Pakistan
3. shows how the executive manoeuvres the system in its own favour.
4. presented clerics in a good light.
5. Highlighted the effectiveness of media in providing a voice to the disenfranchised
6. Highlights the weakness of the courts and how it carries out miscarriages of justice.
7. Shows that “justice delayed is justice denied”
8. The prevalence of ignorance and illiteracy regarding legal rights and laws
9. Shows it is important to understand how to preserve proof for criminal cases.
10. Highlighted weak prosecution of the state and shows the misogynistic attitude of state leaders
11. 15 November 2006: Pakistan Parliament voted to alter its rape laws to move them from
religious law to penal code, effectively separating rape from adultery
● also modifies the law to no longer require that the victim produce four witnesses of the
assault, and it allows circumstantial and forensic evidence to be used for investigation
Gender Studies 47

● Reduced the penalty for adultery from execution to a maximum of five years'
incarceration and a 10,000 rupee fine
● Protection of Women Bill was signed by Musharraf in late 2006
● Critics of the final version of the law complained that "[a] judge can still decide whether
rape cases will be heard in a civil or an Islamic court. Rape victims will have to report
their complaints to district courts, not at local police stations, compelling many to travel
long distances. As a result, many will be discouraged."
Mallala Yousaf Zai
● In 2007, the Tehrik-i-Taliban (TTP) began to occupy and control parts of Swat Valley
and to impose their version of Sharia law; included a prohibition on women’s education
● Profile Before the Shooting: speak at the Peshawar press club about girls’ right to basic
education; covered by newspapers and television channels through the region
● anonymously blogged for BBC Urdu about what it was like to live under harsh TTP rule
● featured in a New York Times documentary called “Class Dismissed: The Death of
Female Education.”
● 2011: she was nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize
● Pakistan’s Prime Minister awarded her Pakistan’s first National Youth Peace Prize
October 9, 2012
● Yousafzai, now 14 years old, was returning home from school when hooded TTP
militants stopped and boarded the school bus and shot her in the head
The Government’s Response:
● took responsibility for her care, treating her at a military hospital in Peshawar under
heavy security; decided to transfer her out of the country to an English hospital
● Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari: an attack on all girls in Pakistan, an attack on
education, and on all civilized people
● Authorities offered a US$100,000 reward for her attackers’ capture
● Pakistan’s Prime Minister and top military officials also condemned the attack, calling
the shooting “inhuman” and a “heinous act of terrorism.”
Pakistani Taliban Response:
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A TTP spokesman confirmed that Yousafzai was the specific target of the shooting and added
that she was a symbol of “infidels and obscenity.”He went on to say, “She has become a symbol
of Western culture in the area; she was openly propagating it,” adding that if she survived, the
militants would try to kill her again.
● Rallies and prayer sessions were held across Pakistan; social media forums bustled;
international outcry and admiration for Yousafzai
● Fifty Islamic clerics in Pakistan issued a fatwa against the gunmen; the Sunni Ittehad
Council publicly denounced the TTP’s religious arguments for justifying the shooting
● US President Obama condemned the shooting: “reprehensible, disgusting and tragic.”
● UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also voiced his outrage and strong condemnation
● Gordon Brown (former British PM) launched a petition in Yousafzai’s name to call on
Pakistan “to ensure that every girl like Malala has the chance to go to school” using the
slogan “I am Malala,” a chant that was heard at demonstrations across Pakistan
● called on the international community to ensure that all children have access to education
● July 12 2013​: dubbed “Malala Day,” over 500 youth from 75 nations gathered at the UN
headquarters calling for every child worldwide to have the right and access to education
● Yousafzai published her memoir, “I Am Malala.”
● In an interview with the popular American TV personality Jon Stewart, she explained
what she would do if she encountered a Taliban member, “If you hit a Talib, then there
would be no difference between you and the Talib…You must not treat others with
cruelty […] you must fight others through peace and through dialogue and through
education. I would tell him how important education is and that I would even want
education for your children as well," the Pakistani girl added. "That's what I want to tell
you, now do what you want.”
● in 2014:​ She was announced as a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace PRize with Kailash
Satyarthi, a children Rights Activist from India.
Accolades and Honors:
● National Youth Peace Prize
● Anne Frank Award for Moral Courage
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● Sitara-e-Shujaat, Pakistan's third-highest civilian bravery award

● Time magazine Person of the Year shortlist
● Mother Teresa Awards for Social Justice
● Simone de Beauvoir Prize, January 2013
● One of ​Time ​'s "100 Most Influential People in the World"
● Annual Award for Development of the OPEC Fund for International Development
● Honorary Master of Arts degree awarded by the University of Edinburgh
● Honorary Doctor of Civil Law, University of King's College, Nova Scotia, Canada
● One of ​Time Magazine ​ "The 25 Most Influential Teens of 2014"
● Honorary Canadian citizenship
● Asteroid 316201 Malala named in her honour.
● Youngest ever United Nations Messenger of Peace
● Received honorary doctorate from the University of Ottawa
Effects:s
● Promotion of education
● Women empowerment
● A positive image of Pakistan
● Support of Rohingya Muslims and Kashmiris under Indian lockdown
Shermeen Ubaid Chinoy
Obaid-Chinoy attended Karachi Grammar School; Convent of Jesus and Mary; the United States
for higher education (Stanford University)
As a filmmaker:
● Her first film was Terror's Children
● made two award-winning films while a graduate student at Stanford University
● "Dispatches" from Pakistan
● notable films: The Lost Generation, Children of the Taliban, Afghanistan Unveiled, 3
Bahadur, Song of Lahore, Saving Face, A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness
● has won six Emmy Awards.
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● Two of these were in the International Emmy Award for Current Affairs Documentary
category for the films Pakistan's Taliban Generation and Saving Face.
● First Academy Award win: Saving Face; the first Pakistani to win an Academy Award
● one of only 11 female directors who have ever won an Oscar for a non-fiction film
● Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject in 2016 for A Girl In The River:
The Price of Forgiveness.
● 23 March 2012, Pakistan's president conferred the highest civilian award, the
Hilal-e-Imtiaz, on Obaid-Chinoy for bringing honour to Pakistan as a filmmaker
Effects:
● Time magazine named Sharmeen in its annual list of the 100 most influential people in
the world for 2012
● She was highly influential in the movement to amend the law on murder in Pakistan. In
2016, Pakistan repealed the loophole which allowed the perpetrators of honour killings to
avoid punishment by seeking forgiveness for the crime from another family member and
thus be legally pardoned.
● "This week the Pakistani prime minister has said that he will change the law on honour
killing after watching this film. That is the power of film."—Obaid-Chinoy while
accepting her Oscar for A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness
● Acid violence in Pakistan also came to the global limelight after filmmaker Sharmeen
Obaid-Chinoy’s documentary ‘Saving Face’ received an Oscar award in 2012.