Universität Wien
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142003 UE Women's Activism in Pakistan (2022W)

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 14 - Orientalistik, Afrikanistik, Indologie und Tibetologie
Continuous assessment of course work
ON-SITE
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 24 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes

Mi, 15:30-17:00, SR 6 Institut für Südasien-, Tibet- und Buddhismuskunde (Universitätscampus, Spitalgasse 2, Hof 2.1, 1090 Wien), ab 5.10.

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The course will study the issue(s) of women’s rights and the struggle made for these rights by various and successive women’s organizations and movements vis-a-vis the triply-entrenched authority of the state, society and Islam. The military rule of General Zia-ul-Haq (1977-1988) with its repressive islamization that aimed mainly at more controlling and suppressing the women not only by its rhetoric of Chaddor and Chaardeewaari (Veil and confinement to the four walls of home), but also for its Hudood ordinances and other misogynist laws, will be one of the main thrust of the discussion. Starting from the very first organization of women All Pakistan Women’s Association (APWA) (established: 1949) to uplift the moral, social and economic welfare of women in the country to the present-day vibrant and more vocal feminism, we will study different phases of women’s struggle for equality and empowerment in various areas in the Pakistani society. For some years, many different women’s organizations started arranging a country-wise annual demonstration on the International Women’s day with their slogan, Mera Jism, Meri Marzi (My body, my choice) that has created an wild uproar on national social forums and in the media. Taking this slogan as point of departure, the course will trace the trajectory of women activism/women-led movements over the years since the creation of Pakistan with their agenda and strategies and see how these women-related programs that once started in reformist-like activities have over the years developed into full-fledged feminist movements and what responses and challenges they faced and still facing from the state, society, religious leadership and even from the conformist womenfolk?
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Assessment and permitted materials

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Examination topics

Reading list

Select Bibliography
1. Baig, Fatima, et al. (2020) Role of Media in Representation of Sociocultural Ideologies in
Aurat March (2019–2020): A Multimodal Discourse Analysis. International Journal of English
Linguistics 10(2): 414–427.
2. Bano, Masooda (2017) Female Islamic Education Movements: The Re-democratisation of
Islamic Knowledge. Cambridge: University of Oxford
3. Bhasin, Kamala, Ritu Menon, and Nighat Said Khan, eds. 1994. Against all odds: Essays on
women, religion and development from India and Pakistan. New Delhi: Kali for Women.
4. Ebrahim, Ammar. 2019. The ‘Womanspreading’ Placard that Caused Fury in Pakistan. BBC
News, 6 April. https:// www. bbc. co. uk/ news/ stories- 47832 236. Accessed 15 April 2022.
5. Hussain, Mazna. (2006) “Take My Riches, Give Me Justice”: A Contextual Analysis of
Pakistan’s Honour Crimes Legislation. Harvard Journal of Law and Gender 29(1): 223–226.
6. Jahangir, Asma, and Hina Jilani. (1990) The Hudood Ordinances: A Divine Sanction? Lahore:
Rhotas Books.
7. Jeffrey, Patricia, and Amrita Basu (1998) Appropriating gender: Women’s activism and
politicized religion in south Asia. (eds.) New York: Routledge.
8. Khushbakht, Syeda, and Munazza Sultana. (2020) The Women Activism in Pakistan: An
Analysis of ‘Aurat March.’ Al-Milal: Journal of Religion and Thought 2(2): 50–69.
9. Mirza, Sarfraz Hussain (1969) Muslim Women’s Role in the Pakistan Movement. Lahore:
Research Society of Pakistan
10. Saigol, Rubina. (2016) Feminism and the Women’s Movement in Pakistan: Actors, Debates
and Strategies. Islamabad: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.
11. Shaheed, Farida. (2017) Pakistan’s Women’s Movement: Protests, Programming and
Revitalization. In Women’s Movements in the Global Era: The Power of Local Feminisms, ed.
Amrita Basu, 110–166. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
12. Sharlach, Lisa. 2008. Veil and Four Walls: A State of Terror in Pakistan. Critical Studies on
Terrorism 1(1): 95–110.
13. Zahid, Luavut. 2021. Why do Women March? A Look at the Aurat March 2021 Manifestos.
Dawn Images, 15 March. https:// images. dawn. com/ news/ 11866 95. Accessed 13 April
2022.
14. Zia, Afiya S (2018) Faith and Feminism in Pakistan: Religious Agency or Secular Autonomy?
Eastbourne: Sussex Academic Press.

Association in the course directory

BA15b (UE b)

Last modified: Tu 11.10.2022 11:29