15

The State of the Discipline of Women’s

Studies in Pakistan

Rubina Saigol
Introduction
Women’s Studies, as a social discipline, arose within women’s
movements and feminist struggles that raged across the globe
over the last two centuries. Although the discipline, as a field of
study, has only been established in the last three or four decades,
it has a history that goes back much further. Women have been
expressing their wants, needs, desires, sorrows, joys, love and
hate for centuries,1 through the oral traditions of storytelling,
singing and lullabies, however systematic studies of women in
relation to the world go back to the 18th century Enlightenment
era. The publication of Mary Wollstonecraft’s book2 is often
taken as a starting point of women’s formal entry into public
political and intellectual discourse. In the 19th and 20th centuries,
feminism as an intellectual discourse as well as political activism
developed rapidly, and various schools of thought emerged,
which contributed immensely to an understanding of women and
their relationship to social, cultural, economic, political and
ideological structures.

As Women’s Studies developed within an interaction of theory

and practice, there is a unique and special emphasis in the
discipline on the relation between action and reflection. It is
generally held that action gives rise to theory, which guides and
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limits further action, and in turn the action refines, challenges or

changes the theory. Women’s Studies, therefore, is not simply
about academic discourse or struggles for rights and justice. It is
about both, each contributing to an understanding of the other. It
is a dynamic discipline, which has relied fairly heavily on
women’s experiences and their everyday lived realities. Ever
since the realisation that women experience the world in ways
that are sometimes radically different from men’s ways of
seeing, knowing, understanding and acting, women’s oral
histories, oral testimonies and personal stories have played a
central role in the development of the methods that are employed
in Women’s Studies.

Intellectually, the origin of Women’s Studies can be traced to the

Humanities, that is, to History, Literature and Philosophy. While
the liberal social sciences, such as Psychology, Sociology,
Anthropology, Economics and Political Science, have played
important roles in furthering the discipline, the main
methodological and theoretical contributions are traceable to the
humanistic disciplines. Feminist historians pointed out the
essential absence of women from historical accounts. History has
been written traditionally as his-story leaving her out. Historical
accounts written from male perspectives, and primarily
concerned with celebrating heroic pursuits in war, conquest and
the display of brute force, have overlooked the important
contributions of women in all fields, particularly agriculture and
crafts. Feminist historians have sought to reinsert women into
history by highlighting their many contributions to human
industry and creativity. Literary Studies have primarily
contributed the methods of deconstruction, and taught feminist
researchers how to read the social sub-text and the silences that
speak beneath the layers of repression in language.

The fields of Philosophy and sociology of knowledge have

enormously influenced feminist research methodology, which
rejects the strict separation of subject and object in the process of
critical inquiry. Feminist researchers and Women’s Studies
academics reject the idea of an impersonal and abstract science

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that is ethically or morally irresponsible. Women’s Studies

academics adhere to the idea that all knowledge is ideological as
it depends upon human labour for its production and
representation. Knowledge is, therefore, not neutral but always
political as it invariably represents a specific vantage point and is
dependent upon the methods used in its construction. Knowledge
is thus partial and cannot be entirely objective or detached from
the object of inquiry. It is the ethical and moral responsibility of
the researcher to take the knowledge back to those who were
engaged in producing it. Feminists debunk the notions of
complete objectivity, impartiality, detachment, and
methodological binaries such as subject/object and pure/applied.
There is a great deal of emphasis in Women’s Studies on
subjectivity and inter-subjectivity as two or more people interact
in complex ways. Women’s Studies is about knowledge, about
how we view the world, understand it and act upon it in order to
change it.

One of the basic guiding principles in Women’s Studies is that

all knowledge is deeply inter-related and cannot be
compartmentalised into separate subject areas. The
fragmentation of knowledge first into science and arts, and
further into physical and social sciences is an artificial division.
Since the physical, social and moral universe are deeply
intertwined, such a separation limits understanding. The
emphasis in the discipline is upon a holistic understanding of the
world, which would draw upon various disciplines and areas of
study. Women’s Studies is by definition a multi-disciplinary
subject in which human beings are not compartmentalised. The
economic, political, social, cultural and personal activities of
human beings are seen as deeply inter-linked and the person is
seen as a whole. The work of feminist historians, economists,
educationists, scientists, doctors, activists, teachers, thinkers,
sociologists, all falls within Women’s Studies, even if the
researcher worked within another department such as Political
Science or History. Women’s Studies permeates all disciplines
and all disciplines permeate Women’s Studies.

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Since Women’s Studies is so deeply related to all other social

disciplines, there has been a debate about whether it is better to
have separate Women’s Studies departments in universities, or to
integrate Women’s Studies and feminist understandings into the
various areas of knowledge within existing departments. The
advantage of separate Women’s Studies departments is that
feminist perspectives would not be lost or de-prioritised in
relation to other concerns. Rather, such perspectives would
inform research and teaching in all the disciplines. On the other
hand, the danger of separate Women’s Studies departments is
that of ghettoisation. Feminists have feared that by creating
separate departments, universities simply appease women and
the subsequent treatment of such departments is that of a
stepchild. Such departments are often considered superfluous
and unnecessary and expenditure on them is regarded as
wasteful. Very often, there is miniscule funding for Women’s
Studies departments, with the result that they are often cash-
strapped and cannot offer lucrative scholarships or funding to
eager or deserving students. This in turn reinforces the idea that
such departments merely duplicate the work that can best be
done within existing departments. Some feminists also believe
that since feminism is about holistic and inter-disciplinary
perspectives, making separate islands contradicts the very
purpose of Women’s Studies. Feminist perspectives should be
integrated within existing fields of knowledge instead of creating
ghettos that serve no purpose.

Since Women’s Studies as a discipline is so centrally concerned

with re-conceptualising and reinterpreting the world from
alternative perspectives, it is not only about women as is
commonly believed. The work of feminists has ranged all the
way from studies of individual women and the family, to
analyses of the gendered nature of states, religions, militaries,
wars, and political and economic structures. It is a vast area and
any issue, structure, idea, movement or event can become the
subject matter of Women’s Studies.

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The main difference from general social science, which also

covers any area of social concern, is that Women’s Studies
would look at the gendered nature of the subject being examined.
This is because of the fundamental premise on which feminists
work, namely that social ‘reality’ and language, and knowledge
itself are gendered phenomena. As ‘reality’ is apprehended in
language, which is gendered, the very way in which human
beings have come to view the universe (knowledge) is gendered
to the core. According to a feminist understanding of knowledge,
the world is divided by language and knowledge into mutually
exclusive categories such as inner/outer, subjective/objective,
passive/active, feminine/masculine, irrational/rational or
inferior/superior. In each binary division of the world, there is a
hierarchisation, in that one category is perceived as higher than,
better than or superior to the other. Women, and all that is
considered feminine, are relegated to the categories of inner,
lesser, passive, inferior, lower, subjective, emotional, irrational,
categories, which are considered negative. By contrast, men and
all this is deemed to be masculine, are associated with positive
categories such as outer, rational, active, objective, better or
higher. One category as a whole is privileged over the other and
this inequality permeates all thinking, understanding and
imagining. Feminists believe that since one of the first divisions
that human beings experience is that of gender (we learn that we
are male or female), all subsequent divisions and inequalities are
experienced within this first sense of ‘otherness’ and alienation.
Our minds, our work, our activities and the social structures we
construct, whether it is the state, nation or religion, come to be
informed at some level by the first distinction and inequality that
characterises our lives and being. This, in a nutshell, constitutes
a feminist understanding of the world.

Based on a feminist understanding of the world, Sabeeha Hafeez

offers the following comprehensive definition of Women’s
Studies:
Women’s Studies is concerned both with the examination
and restructuring of knowledge itself, the social and
historical conditions in which knowledge is generated,

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produced, legitimised as valid or true, transmitted through

formal and informal education and consumed by both
women and men of various social class backgrounds,
ethnicity and age levels. In this way, its aims are similar to
those of sociology of knowledge. But Women’s Studies is
further concerned with the radical restructuring of the
processes for production, transmission and consumption of
knowledge for transforming patriarchal, authoritarian and
hierarchical society. In other words, the aim of Women’s
Studies is to create and imbibe anti-authority, anti-hierarchy
and anti-patriarchy norms in people through innovative
changes in the content and process of instruction in the
classroom.3

Hafeez contends that the discipline of Women’s Studies

contributes to a reinterpretation of the world as an educational
mechanism of the women’s movement, however the discipline
itself ‘originated from a certain level of awareness of the society
about women’s subordination and patriarchy’.4 She thus points
to the important interplay of action and reflection, which is
central to an understanding of feminism and Women’s Studies.
As a result of the dialectical relationship between action and
reflection, several schools of thought developed including
liberal, Marxist, Radical, Socialist and post-modern, and the
lively debates between them continue to enrich the discipline.

Feminist Struggles in Pakistan

Although feminist struggles in Pakistan go back a long way,5 the
major turning point for current struggles was the era of Zia-ul-
Haq’s Islamisation era when a spate of discriminatory laws were
passed that affected women directly. In particular, the Hudood
Ordinances of 1979, which include the highly controversial Zina
Ordinance, the Law of Evidence of 1984, and the Qisas and
Diyat Ordinances raised serious questions, not only regarding the
status and position of women in society, but about the direction
that the state was taking more generally. These measures were
accompanied by the Islamisation of the judiciary by creating a
parallel religious judicial system, and major changes in

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education and the media in the name of Islam. All these steps
threatened to create a state dominated by the clergy, and based
on a version of Islam highly detrimental for the rights of women
and religious minorities. This version of Islam, dictated by one
sect, alienated large sections of society and, unwilling or unable
to make meaningful changes in the economy or other sectors, the
state chose to legitimise an illegal rule by formulating restrictive
laws against women.

The state’s resort to such tactics to prove its ‘Islamic’ credentials

provided the impetus for a small but strong women’s movement
under the umbrella of the Women Action Forum (WAF), formed
in 1981. Soon after its formation in Karachi, WAF opened
chapters in Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar. Although WAF
was composed primarily of middle class women, who are often
the vanguard of most liberation movements, the issues it raised,
in particular the Zina Ordinance, strongly affected the women of
poor classes and rural areas. Despite its small numbers, WAF
had a strong impact in that it was able to place vital issues of
concern for women on the national agenda. It gained somewhat
of an international recognition for its efforts in fighting against
discrimination. WAF was strongly committed to a democratic
and secular state where people of all religions and women would
be equal citizens of the state. Over time, WAF took up all issues
including minority rights, globalisation, militarism, religious
domination, creation of peace and the struggle against poverty.
The realisation that all issues that affect society in general are
also women’s issues, made WAF a radically transformative and
vibrant, though small, feminist movement that created enormous
awareness of issues of justice and rights in Pakistan.

One of the strongest features of the WAF movement was that it

was based on the idea of a dialectical relation between theory
and practice, action and reflection. Activism was thus a major
part of WAF, along with study and understanding. However, the
important aspect of activism diminished greatly as foreign
donors entered the political arena and poured staggering amounts
of money into the development sector, with large sums going to

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former activists. Although WAF, as an organisation, had never

accepted foreign funds and had been sustained on the
contributions of its own members, individual activists began to
receive foreign funds for what came to be called Women in
Development (WID) and later Gender and Development (GAD).

The Gender and Development discourse transformed the

landscape of Pakistani feminism beyond recognition. Narrow,
superficial and technocratically conceived notions of both
Gender and Development led to a static view of what was earlier
a dynamic discourse and an impassioned movement. The World
Conference on Women in Nairobi in 1985 had laid stress on
what came to be called ‘Gender Mainstreaming’. The focus on
so-called mainstreaming, sometimes critically called ‘male-
streaming’ gender, distorted the very notions of gender and
feminism. Gender, which initially meant the hierarchical division
and dichotomising of the world into masculine and feminine,
came to be a substitute for the word ‘women’. Understanding
and political action came to be substituted by the concept of
‘training’, which implies lower order learning based on repetitive
skills and mechanical tasks. Gender was combined with training
to create a highly technocratic, mechanical and meaningless
notion called ‘gender training’, which aimed to change the way
people think and act within a period of three or five or ten days.

Based on faulty premises both in terms of learning theory and

gender struggles, ‘gender training’ came to substitute political
action by real people on a real and unjust world. Gender training
was reduced to a serious of mechanical actions and reactions,
and a set of silly, childish and meaningless ‘party games’, which
had the effect of deadening the mind and de-politicising thought
and action.6 While the Hudood Ordinances saw hundreds of
poor rural women languishing in jails, and women were being
beaten, murdered, sold, bought and raped in the name of Karo
Kari, Wulwar, Swarah and Vani, gender trainers were busy
playing fun games, which involved clapping, dancing, blowing
whistles and making awkward gestures with their bodies. This
was done in the name of ‘consciousness raising’ a term borrowed

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from the 1960s and 1970s style encounter groups and popular
psychology. A number of Pakistani men and women became
involved in the kind of ‘gender training’ that relies on party
games and exercises called ‘ice breakers’ or ‘energisers’, since a
great deal of money was poured into this form of conservative
and a-political pedagogy.

Apart from the gender training strand based on pop-psychology,

another strand, which may be called the integrationist view, was
also observed. This view was also based on a static notion of
gender and meant the integration of gender concerns, ideas
practices into all policies, programmes and practices. While one
has no quarrel with integration in theory, in practice it
reproduced the adage: ‘add women and stir’. There was a rush to
insert so-called gender concerns or gender ideas into every
policy and programme of the government and non-government
sector. Whether it was sanitation, health, education, drainage or
elections, gender issues had to be integrated or the project would
not be funded. This led to a great deal of tokenism, in that the
nominal presence of women or the ineffective inclusion of
women in local bodies, government or committees, came to be
seen as gender integration and empowerment. Oftentimes, mere
numbers became indicators of women’s empowerment, when on
the ground no change could be discerned in women’s status,
power or position.

This phenomenon also created a market for technocrats, experts

and consultants on gender who became a part of the global
political economy of gender. Often without any experience on
the ground, ideological clarity, or involvement in serious
political struggles, experts and technocratic consultants produced
superficial technical reports on the issues of gender equality. The
Harvard Analytical Framework, which in reality is hardly
analytical or even a comprehensive framework, became the
dominant form of knowledge used by these experts in their work.
A highly de-contextualised form of knowledge, and abstract in
the extreme, the Harvard Analytical Framework could be used
without regard to time and space ___ any place, anywhere,

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anytime. As a result, its categories were sterile and its concepts

a-historical and useless. It is also highly static with a number of
concepts fixed and frozen in time, and its dichotomous notions
do not reflect ‘reality’. The dichotomies between practical and
strategic needs, between sex and gender, and between the
condition and position of women are, in the final analysis, false.
Needs, conditions and positions are not static, and far too
complex to be reduced to binary notions.

What suffered most as a result of the report producing culture in

the area of gender and development, was activism and political
critique for change. International donors openly and vigorously
discouraged activism, which had been regarded by feminists as
the very basis of reflection and theory building. Consultants and
experts refused to acknowledge the heavy debt they owed to
activists who had initially raised the issues. Over a period of
time, the women’s movement as a passionate, spontaneous and
political movement died out. In its place, came the straitjacket of
gender and gender training. Saturated in alienating terminology,
suffused with ideas of game playing and manipulation, and
overlaid with the notion of change as technique and method,
gender training rapidly overtook all other concepts of
development. Development was now devoid of politics and
stripped of meaning. Development, in this view, no longer
referred to structural change, a transformation of the economic
and social structures and in systems of ideology. It became a
pastime in which individuals, rather than the social collective,
came to be associated with patriarchy. Oppression was now a
matter of individual behaviour and action, rather than a systemic
feature of the fundamental structures of society. Issues such as
land reforms, the redistribution of wealth, a change in the
productive and reproductive systems of society, which used to
form the core of feminist critique and action, fell prey to the
ubiquitous presence of gender training. The latter had nothing at
all to do with social transformation and material change. It
focussed on a change in the behaviour and attitude of individuals
in their relations with each other. According to Sabeeha Hafeez,
‘the problem with these training programmes is that rather than

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targeting the source of patriarchy, they mostly taught the

victims’.7

It must be mentioned here that not all feminists and non-

governmental organisations fell prey to the technocratic ideology
of gender training and integration. Some NGOs and individuals
remained mainly committed to the political approach,
characterised by the WAF movement and continued to be
engaged in serious research, academic work combined with a
vigorous activism. Although such approaches diminished, they
exerted their influence in the direction of political and structural
change. However, the international donors by and large remain
committed to the narrow and technicist approach, combined with
a serious discouragement of political activism. This constrains
the work of some organisations that take a more overtly political
line, yet they continue their own ideological struggles
independently of the donors.

Institutional Arrangements for Gender Integration

The Government of Pakistan generally remains committed to an
integrationist, liberal approach rather than a radical
transformation of social structure. Governments tend to be much
more cautious and conservative than movements, and therefore,
tend to remain far behind the demands of the movements.
Nevertheless, movements can compel governments to turn
attention to the issues they raise. Although governments may
often engage in lip service, tokenism or window dressing, they
are forced to accede to some of the more urgent demands by
social movements. In compliance with one of the demands of the
women’s movement, the government created the Ministry of
Women’s Development (MoWD) at the Federal level, coupled
with Women’s Development Departments at the provincial
levels as the basic institutional framework for women’s
development. At the District level, no separate EDO was created
to serve women’s needs. The main purpose of the federal and
provincial structure is to ensure that gender concerns are
integrated in all policies, programmes and projects of the other
ministries such as finance, agriculture, health or education. One

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of the key policy measures of the MoWD is thus ‘mainstreaming

gender issues through integration into all sectors of national
development’.8

The vision of the MoWD includes the achievement of gender

equity and equality, the social, political and economic
empowerment of all Pakistani women at all levels, the creation
of a just, humane and democratic society, and economic
prosperity through sustainable development. The goal has been
defined as ‘the empowerment of Pakistani women, irrespective
of caste, creed, religion, or other consideration for the realisation
of their full potential in all spheres of life, especially social,
economic, personal and political and in keeping with our Islamic
way of life’.9 There is a clear contradiction in this statement as
the empowerment of women cannot be simultaneously
‘irrespective of caste, creed or religion’ and ‘in keeping with our
Islamic way of life’. This contradiction seems to have crept in
because of the tension within the official gender and
development discourse. This tension arises from the state having
acceded to the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) with the reservation
that anything in conflict with the constitution of Pakistan would
not be accepted. The Islamic character of the constitution allows
the state to take recourse to cultural and moral relativism in
applying the principles contained within CEDAW. Since cultural
and moral relativism are often used to deny rights, this has been
a problem for many states, including Pakistan.

It is also important to note that while the state is responsible for

creating the environment for women’s development, as the state
has acceded to CEDAW and is answerable to the UN for its
actions, the women’s movement is much larger than the state. It
has to constantly exert itself to influence the state to ensure that
it keeps its commitments. However, UN-oriented official
feminism is liberal in its basic assumptions and limited by its
focus on access and numbers. The work of ‘femocrats’ has its
usefulness in changing policy up to a point, but beyond that
struggles on the ground are needed as the problem is social,

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structural and cultural, and the state’s actions are circumscribed

by a number of political considerations. Nevertheless, in 1998
the government of Nawaz Sharif endorsed the National Plan of
Action (NPA) prepared by the MoWD, thus committing the state
to the actions suggested by the NPA regarding various areas
including law, human rights, the media, the environment, the girl
child, education, violence against women and health.

A long-standing demand of the women’s movement was the

establishment of an independent commission on the status of
women. In 2000, the National Commission on the Status of
Women (NCSW) was created through an Ordinance. Its purpose
is primarily to examine, review and monitor progress in
women’s empowerment and rights, in accordance with
obligations under CEDAW and NPA, and in the light of the
recommendations of the reports on the status of women,
especially the report produced in 1997. The aim of the
commission to review and suggest changes in any law, policy,
project or procedure that does not conform to women’s
empowerment and development, or violates any of the norms
and principles enshrined in CEDAW and included in the NPA.
The NCSW reviewed the Hudood laws in 2003 and made useful
recommendations, however to date no change has been made.
Since the role of the NCSW is that of a watchdog, some tension
between the role of the MoWD and the NCSW is bound to arise.
The MoWD is the implementing agency, while the NCSW
monitors and evaluates the progress and implementation of
policy. Therefore some conflict is likely, especially because
there is some overlap of functions and roles. Nevertheless, the
two institutions are expected to work in tandem for women’s
development.

Although the reservation with which Pakistan acceded to

CEDAW, places constraints on the MoWD, there is nonetheless
a commitment to the overall development of women, including
education. Among the ministry’s aims and objectives is included
the following: ‘to expeditiously and substantially enhance
women's literacy rates, improve attainment levels of girls and

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women at all levels of education (both academic and

professional) to reduce the gender gap, and to reorient existing
curricula by making them gender sensitive’.10 Thus, there is a
policy commitment to higher and academic education under
which Women’s Studies Centres would fall. The commitment to
research and analysis is also included among the roles and
functions of the NCSW, which states: ‘to encourage and sponsor
research to generate information, analysis and studies relating to
women and gender issues to provide knowledge and awareness
for rational policy and strategic action’.11 Both institutions
created for the development of women are thus integrally related
to the state of Women’s Studies as a discipline in Pakistan,
especially since it is not a ‘purely’ academic discipline and has a
strong base in activism and implementation. The National Plan
of Action (NPA), endorsed by the government in 1998, also
recommends the promotion of the ‘inter-disciplinary field of
Women’s Studies in public and private educational/training
institutions’ and the strengthening of ‘action-based, policy
directed research on women’s issues’.

The action recommended was that the funding of Women’s

Studies Centres at five universities throughout Pakistan, should
be ensured through the Ministry of Education and the UGC (now
Higher Education Commission). It was also recommended that
there should be ‘linkages and exchange of information and
expertise between public and private Women’s Studies
initiatives, including the Women’s Studies curriculum of the
Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU).12 There is thus a
commitment at the state level to promote and encourage the
discipline through ensured funding and support.

Women’s Studies Centres13

The Women’s Studies Centres in Pakistan can be divided into
public, (those funded by the government and/or international
donors, and established at state universities), and those in the
non-government sector funded primarily or only by international
donors. In 1989, the Women’s Development Division (now
Ministry of Women’s Development) established Women’s

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Studies Centres in five universities, initially as a five-year

project. The major objectives of these centres were: (1) critical
examination of concepts, theories, models and methodologies
that have been responsible for excluding or rendering women
invisible in scientific investigation and development; (2)
redefinition of curricula at the university, colleges and high
schools with a view to incorporating knowledge on women and
contributions by women scholars; (3) creation of awareness and
generating a debate on women’s issues; (4) development of
introductory foundation courses in Women’s Studies for the
university students; (5) promotion of academic and action-
oriented research on women in development; (6) identification,
replication and translation of relevant materials from other
languages into the national language. The initial funding for the
creation of the centres came from the Women’s Development
Division (now MoWD) and, subsequently, some centres were
able to raise independent funding through tuition fees and
donations by foreign donors. The following is a brief overview
of the state of the public sector Women’s Studies Centres.

The aims and objectives of the Women’s Studies department of

the Allama Iqbal Open University, established in 1997 with
funding from the Ministry of Women’s Development, include
among others; to introduce Women’s Studies as an academic
discipline through the distance learning system, create awareness
and sensitisation to gender issues at the community level through
seminars and workshops, and to launch media programmes to
emphasise women’s role and their contributions in national and
international development.

The aims and objectives of the Women Research and Resource

Centre (WRRC) of the Fatima Jinnah Women University
(FJWU), Rawalpindi, are ‘to sensitise women on Gender issues
and to focus on Fatima Jinnah Women University students for
enhancement of education and employment opportunities in all
disciplines’. It was established in 1999 emphasises ‘research in
various gender and social issues, which reflect on the academic

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and professional development of women by focussing on

providing support services for women students of FJWU’.

The Institute of Women Development Studies (IWDS) was

established in 1994 by the University of Sindh, Jamshoro. The
aim of the Institute is ‘to replace the outmoded value system
with one that emphasises equality and mutual respect and dignity
among members of both sexes and to help to remove disparities
in the provision of educational facilities’. The report by the
IWDS indicates that the institute seems to conflate Women’s
Studies with Home Economics, which is a major problem as the
discipline of Women’s Studies challenges some of the basic
assumptions of the ideology of Home Economics as a knowledge
form that is meant to re-create and reinforce the gender division
of labour. The focus on the ‘uplift of rural women and enhancing
the literacy rate, and installing better health practices’, reflects a
social welfare approach, which conflicts with a radical approach
based on the transformation of material and ideological
structures of patriarchy.

Courses and Training Programmes

There seems to be fairly wide variation in the kinds and levels of
courses being taught at the Women’s Studies Centres and
departments in the public sector. The courses vary from highly
theoretical and historical ones to courses based on practical
community work. In some cases, there seems to be immense
confusion regarding Women’s Studies as a discipline as courses
in Home Economics, dietetics, flower making or embroidery are
defined as Women’s Studies courses. Whether a course is a
Women’s Studies course depends on how a subject matter is
treated. Courses in Home Economics, embroidery and flower
making are generally not considered Women’s Studies courses.
Occasionally, such courses contain conservative issues, and in
most cases the content of such courses is not transformative or
the kind that challenges existing structures of inequality and
oppression. The basis of such courses in some public sector
centres comes from the erroneous assumption that Women’s
Studies pertains to anything that deals with women, irrespective

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of how conservative it might be. Although the subjects of art,

crafts, literature, poetry, dance, music and drama certainly form
a part of the Women’s Studies approach, the difference lies in
the manner in which they are addressed. Arts, crafts and
literature and poetry that contain the potential for transformation
are normally considered a part of Women’s Studies, but not
when arts and crafts are designed to reinforce patriarchal and
dominant values that define what a ‘good housewife and mother’
must know. Some centres, such as the one run by Karachi
University, reflect a serious and rigorous Women’s Studies
approach in their course contents, while others, such as the
centre in Jamshoro, Sindh or the Punjab University, are not
based on a clear conceptual understanding of Women’s Studies.

The Women’s Studies Centre, Quaid-i-Azam University,

Islamabad, has offered three certificate courses attended by 64
participants. The courses were interdisciplinary in nature and
content. Currently, the Centre offers a six-week introductory
course in Women’s Studies, which is constrained due to a severe
shortage of funds. However, 24 students have enrolled for the
course. The Centre has proposed to integrate Women’s Studies
into the other social science departments of the University. It has
sought to integrate women and development into Economics,
feminism and anthropology into Anthropology, the history of the
women’s movement in Pakistan in the History department,
women and peace in the Department of Strategic Studies and
Defence, gendered international relations within the International
Relations department, the role of women in the Pakistan
Movement at the Institute of Pakistan Studies and gender issues
in management within the Department of Management and
Business. However, only the Department of Anthropology
responded with a list of course contents and interest in
integration was expressed only by the Department of Economics.
There was general indifference by the other departments, which
were not responsive to the idea of integration.

The Centre of Excellence for Women’s Studies programme at

Karachi University reflects a comprehensive and holistic

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approach in its course contents. There are introductory courses in

Women’s Studies along with courses on feminist theories,
feminist research methods, women’s history in South Asia, the
social construction of gender and gender and development.
Additionally, there are courses on the women’s movement
globally and in Pakistan, as well as courses on women in Islam,
reproductive health, women and media, women and the
environment, women and law, women in technology and
entrepreneurship, gender and development and women and
work. A brief overview of the course contents indicates that the
feminist perspectives underlies the courses, which have a global,
national, local and cross-sectoral approach.

There has so far been no teaching activity at the Women’s

Studies Centre, University of Balochistan in Quetta. A few
certificate courses were conducted earlier but the space for
teaching has been given to the Islamiyat and Persian
departments, with the result that all teaching activity has been
suspended. The approach of the Centre seems to be currently
based on gender sensitisation workshops and seminars. The short
seminar courses are focussed on issues such as the social
empowerment of women, Islamic, legal and constitutional rights
of women, women and work, women and education, and women
and decision-making.

The courses offered at the AIOU include a course on the

psychology of women, the role of women writers in Pakistani
literature, research methods in women’s studies and feminist
theories. Apart from these, the Open University requires students
to attend courses in the departments of Sociology, Social Work
and Population Studies. The latter include a course in social
statistics and the sociology of gender. There is thus an attempt to
follow an interdisciplinary orientation. The department has also
prepared two TV programmes as a part of its distance learning
initiative. Additionally, there are visiting lecturers by eminent
scholars in the government, private and non-government sectors.
In the future, the AIOU plans the following courses at the
Postgraduate levels: gender and development, perspectives on

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women’s studies, the changing role of urban women in Pakistan,

the economic contribution of rural women, women’s health
issues, the contribution of women in education, arts and science,
and technology, and women and Islam.

The WRRC of the Fatima Jinnah Women University offers

various courses in gender oriented development issues, which
include a course on women and development, women in
management, and self-esteem and mental health. Apart from
these, a Women’s Studies course called ‘Status of Women in
Pakistan’ is offered for PhD candidates of the University.
Training and sensitisation workshops on issues such as ‘women
in higher education’, ‘managerial skills’ and ‘Gender and
Governance’ are held at regular intervals. In November 2002, an
international workshop on ‘Women in Higher Education
Management’ was held in collaboration with the British Council
and the Association of Commonwealth Universities. The
University has an eminent lecture series in which internationally
renowned scholars and practitioners make presentations for
students and faculty.

The only courses mentioned by the IWDS at the University of

Sindh, Jamshoro, are those based on Home Economics and
community development, as well as short courses in income
generation activities such as fabric painting, pot painting, tie and
dye, fancy arts and crafts. The latter are designed to enhance
income generation and do not fall within a Women’s Studies
paradigm. There are courses on social research methods,
nutrition and dietetics, diet therapy, physiological chemistry,
health and diseases, economic problems of Pakistan, women’s
health and mental illness and gender. The courses reflect a
relatively vague notion of gender and how it is related to the
economy and health, but the critical edge of Women’s Studies
courses is lacking. However, the Institute has organised
workshops and seminars including one on ‘Gender and
Governance’ and one on ‘gender sensitisation’ in collaboration
with the MoWD. It has also held lectures on ‘women and the

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media’ and women’s economic development by prominent

scholars and members of the government.

Degrees Awarded
The Women’s Studies Centre at Quaid-i-Azam University,
Islamabad, has prepared the curriculum for the MA programme
in Women’s Studies after a great deal of consultation with
feminists, activists, academics and consultants working in the
field. However, due to various reasons, the MA programme has
not been started. In 1992 and 1994, the Centre of Excellence for
Women’s Studies (CEWS) at Karachi University offered two
certificate courses in preparation for the degree programme in
Women’s Studies. In 1996, the first batch of students was
admitted for the full two year MA course. In 2002, CEWS
launched the MPhil and PhD programmes in Women’s Studies.
The interdisciplinary nature of the courses is evident from an
examination of the structure of the courses. The Centre for
Women’s Studies, University of the Punjab, was made a
department at the initiative of the University in 2001, and offers
an MA in Women’s Studies. The Women’s Studies Centre at
Peshawar University, has now become a full-fledged department
of Gender and Women’s Studies, which has offered certificate
courses and is now ready to launch a diploma programme. The
AIOU currently offers courses at two levels: a one-year
Postgraduate Diploma (PGD) and certificate courses. There are
plans underway to introduce the MSc programme. In the future,
Open University plans to launch the MPhil and PhD programmes
in Women’s Studies. In the future, the WRRC of the Fatima
Jinnah Women University plans to develop an MA in Gender
Studies in coordination with the University of Glasgow. The
Institute of Women Development Studies at the University of
Sindh, Jamshoro, offers an MA in Women’s Studies, it appears
that so far there has not been enrolment in the degree
programme.
Research and Publications
The Women’s Studies Centre at the Quaid-i-Azam University
has prepared a directory of theses on gender issues produced in
various departments of the university and this will be published

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upon the availability of funds. The Centre has contributed

research articles to two books published in the USA and Canada.
Currently, the Director is involved in a research project on
‘Continuity and Discontinuity of Women’s Movement in
Pakistan’, and has co-authored a book on ‘Women’s
Contribution in the Cotton Industry’, due to be published soon.
The director and staff, in their individual capacities, have
contributed research papers in various national and international
publications and have presented a large number of papers at
international conferences.

The CEWS at Karachi University has completed about 100

major and minor studies on socio-economic, legal, health and
environment issues. These include studies by both the faculty
and students on home-based workers since Karachi is a major
industrial and commercial Centre, while others are on child
trafficking, legal and health issues. However, publication seems
to be a relatively less developed area as no books or periodicals
of any significance have yet been produced. The Department of
Women’s Studies, Punjab University has conducted a study of
women’s development NGOs in the Punjab, a study on the
gender differentials in academic achievement from primary to
higher education in Pakistan, and a review of theses related to
women’s issues at the MA level at the Punjab University. All
three studies have been published by the University.

The Peshawar University, Department of Women’s Studies has

published a study on the ‘UN Conventions on the Rights of the
Child, Islamic Law and Pakistan Legislation’ by Shaheen Sardar
Ali and Baela Jamil, a comparative study of CEDAW (UN
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women), Islamic laws and Pakistan legislation by
Shaheen Sardar Ali, a study on violence against women and
honour killing in N.W.F.P. by Amirzada Asad, and a case study
of Bahrain, District Swat on women and economic
empowerment by Basharat Hussain. The centre staff contributed
to the formation of the Gender Reform Action Plan of the
MoWD. The Women’s Studies Centre at the Balochistan

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University has conducted research studies on communities, rural

women’s access to health facilities, a survey of women in jails
and their needs assessments, the economic contribution of
women in development, a profile of women in Katchi abadis
(squatter settlements), violence against women, employment of
women in the public and private sectors (sponsored by the
NCSW) and the Asian Development Bank, and has contributed
to the development of the Gender Reform Action Plan of the
MoWD funded by the Asian Development Bank. The Centre has
also been deeply involved in the Beijing +5 and +10 processes as
a facilitator in organising consultative meetings at the provincial,
national and local levels.

The Allama Iqbal Open University has published two research

studies, ‘Voiceless Melodies’, and ‘The Case Studies of
Successful Women in Pakistan’. Currently, the AIOU is in the
process of carrying out the following studies based on the
priorities within the NPA and in collaboration with the MoWD:
needs assessment of both rural and urban women in income-
generating skills development, impact of electronic and print
media in changing the image of women in rural areas of
Pakistan, evaluation of credit schemes and linkages with First
Women Bank and entrepreneurs, analysis of gender gaps in
access to education and training, international armed conflicts
and impact of refugees on Pakistani women, the impact of the
structural adjustment package on women in Pakistan, women in
politics in the past and present, and women and decision-making
in Pakistan.

The WRRC of the Fatima Jinnah Women University has

supervised the writing of 16 theses on gender issues at the MA
levels. A monograph serious is being published, which includes
‘A Critical Analysis of Government Policies, Plans and Funding
of Education for Women from 1971-2001’, and ‘Status of
Women in the Light of Four Major Religions (Hinduism,
Buddhism, Christianity and Islam) in the Subcontinent with
Special Reference to Pakistan’. Institutional research studies in

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socio-cultural and economic areas are regular feature of the

centre’s activities.

The faculty of Institute of Women Development Studies at the

University of Sindh, Jamshoro, has published two studies both
by Professor Parveen Shah.14

Journals
The Women’s Studies Centre at the Quaid-i-Azam University
brought out the first issue of the Journal of Women’s Studies
based on the theme ‘Women and the Family’ in 1994. The
second issue has not been published due to lack of funds for
honoraria for writers, although papers for the second issue have
been collected. Similarly, the Centre has published a quarterly
newsletter, which was discontinued in 1997 due to lack of funds.
The feminist and Women’s Studies periodicals to which the
CEWS at Karachi subscribes include Women’s Studies
International Forum, Feminist Review, SIGN, Studies on
Women, Abstracts, and Women’s Studies Quarterly.

The AIOU plans to publish a Women’s Studies Journal, which

will focus on contemporary gender issues within a national and
international perspective. The work of the students of the Open
University will be recommended for publication in social
research journals of repute.

Professional Associations
The idea of setting up a Pakistan Women’s Studies Association
(PWSA) was first conceived by Sabeeha Hafeez in 1987. The
main aim of PWSA was ‘to introduce and promote the discipline
of Women’s Studies in Pakistan by providing a forum for
exchange of ideas among experts, policy makers, programmers,
NGOs, teachers, other concerned organisations and the general
public’.15 However, on account of the pressing previous
commitments of various members, the association could not be
established. Five years later, in March 1992, Pakistan Women’s
Studies Association (PAWS) was set up by Tahira Aftab,
Professor of History and Director of the Women’s Study Centre

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at Karachi University. It was intended to provide ‘a forum of

interaction and coordination for those engaged in teaching,
research or action forewoman’s development, national and
internationally’. The Association has organised national
seminars on ‘Women’s Struggle for Survival’, ‘Human Rights
Abuse in the Family’ and ‘Women’s Work Experiences’. The
journal Alam-e-Niswan (Pakistan Journal of Women’s Studies) is
brought out by the Association. It also brings out a quarterly
newsletter called Panghat. The latter is distributed free of cost to
non-government organisations, grass roots workers, and
concerned people working on women’s issues in rural and semi-
urban Sindh. PAWS has 72 members and has developed close
links with women at the grassroots level, in particular with self-
employed women. It has also published other works.16

Affiliations and Linkages

The Women’s Studies Centre at the Quaid-i-Azam University
has not reported any formal linkages with other institutes,
however a large number of eminent scholars and practitioners in
the field of Women’s Studies, such as Maria Mies, the well-
known German feminist, have lectured at the Centre. However,
the Centre has worked in collaboration with the Sustainable
Development Policy Institute (SDPI), the Human Rights
Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), and Pattan Development
Organisation (PDO). There are informal links with women’s
NGOs and institutes, which are not currently institutionalised.

The Centre of Excellence for Women’s Studies at Karachi

University runs collaborative ventures with both International
organisations and Pakistani non-government organisations. It
also works closely with government and semi-government
institutions. It had academic linkages with the University of East
London between 1975 and 1997. Additionally, CEWS has
linkages with Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada
and the University of Jakarta, Indonesia. These linkages involved
an exchange of students, faculty as well as the collaborative
holding of workshops, training programmes along with formal
and informal visits. CEWS worked with the legal organisation,

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Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid (LHRLA) on a study

on trafficking of female children and this was launched in 2002.
Other research and training linkages include a collaborative
study of female home-based workers with the International
Labour Organisation (ILO), workshops on reproductive health
issues with Shirkat Gah and documentary preparation with
Pakistan Women Lawyers’ Association (PAWLA). The
Women’s Studies Centre at the University of Balochistan
maintains regular liaison with other Women’s Studies Centres as
well as government departments in order to keep abreast of
intellectual or policy level developments.

The WRRC of the Fatima Jinnah Women University is linked

with Glasgow University, UK with help from the British Council
under the Department for International Development (DFID)
programme.

Funding Sources
The Women’s Studies Centre at the Quaid-i-Azam University
has received a total of Rs. 2,896,345 since 1989 from the
government. The full budget was never disbursed and as a result
the activities of the Centre were severely affected. Teaching,
research, publication and acquisition of materials have all been
hampered by the excessively low allocation of funds.

The CEWS at Karachi University was set up by the government

in 1989 as a research centre. While its initial funding came from
the University Grants Commission through the Women’s
Ministry (earlier Women’s Division), it subsequently received
funds from the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP), ILO, Canadian International Development Agency
(CIDA) and United Nations International Children’s Fund
(UNICEF). The source of funding for the Department of
Women’s Studies, Punjab University, is the government and the
funding is channelled through the Higher Education Commission
and the University. The University of Peshawar has taken up the
recurring budget of the Department of Gender and Women’s
Studies. The Women’s Studies Centre at Balochistan University

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is federally funded through the Ministry of Women’s

Development and the Higher Education Commission.

The WRRC of the Fatima Jinnah Women University, has been

funded for its capacity building programmes by CIDA, USIS, the
British Council and DFID. These donors have funded the higher
study of faculty abroad as well as the organising of workshops,
seminars and conferences.

The IWDS of the University of Sindh, Jamshoro, is funded

primarily by the University of Sindh, however funding for
specific programmes was supplied by the MoWD.

Faculty
The faculty of the CEWS at Karachi University consists of a
Director, a Research Associate, two Cooperative Lecturers and
part-time visiting external lecturers. The faculty is diverse in its
interests, and interdisciplinary in orientation as it belongs to
various branches of the social sciences including Social Work,
Geography, and History. One faculty member has an MA in
Women’s Studies. One faculty member, the Director, holds a
PhD in Social Work. The Department of Women’s Studies,
Punjab University has two permanent staff members, one a PhD
from the USA and the other an MA from Punjab University.
Most of the adjunct faculty hold doctorates from Pakistan and
the US. The Department of Gender and Women’s Studies at
Peshawar University has four full-time faculty members, a full-
time Director and two lecturers have been sanctioned. The usual
qualification for faculty members is MA in the social sciences,
however there is one MPhil faculty member who has qualified
from the University of Manchester, England. The Women’s
Studies Centre at the University of Balochistan currently has one
Director along with support and technical staff. The AIOU
Department of Women’s Studies has one Associate Professor,
and one Lecturer, apart from technical and support staff. The
Associate Professor has an MPhil in History from Quaid-i-Azam
University and a PhD in Women’s Studies from the University
of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. The lecturer holds an

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MSc in Anthropology from Quaid-i-Azam University and an

MSc in Women’s Studies from the University of London.
Currently, she is pursuing a PhD from Victoria University,
Wellington, New Zealand. Most of the faculty member of the
IWDS of the University of Sindh, Jamshoro, are economists,
while one member holds a degree in food and nutrition.
Currently, the Institute has a director, two lecturers and two
research associates apart from technical staff.

Students
The majority of the students of CEWS, Karachi, are now placed
in various administrative positions in NGOs, international
welfare organisations, research organisations, Planning and
Development, and government and semi-government and private
teaching institutions at the local and national levels. The MA at
the Punjab University is a two-year course in which the third
batch of students has been enrolled in 2004. The number has
doubled from 37 students in 2001 to 74 in the batch enrolled in
2003. About 35 students are enrolled each year in the short arts
and crafts courses of the IWDS of the University of Sindh,
Jamshoro. In most cases, Women’s Studies students find
employment in the non-government sector, research institutes,
government social sector departments, and welfare organisations.

Books and Teaching Materials

The Women’s Studies Centre at the Quaid-i-Azam University
regularly maintains newspaper clippings and its library has
approximately 200 books. However, most of the books lack any
relevance to Women’s Studies and the Centre is unable to
expand the library once again due to financial constraints.
However, various international donors including UNICEF,
UNIFEM and the Asia Foundation have donated books for the
Centre.

CEWS, Karachi has over 3000 books in the fields of Women and
Development, Women’s Status Law, Work, Education, History,
Cross-cultural works, Health, Technology, Media, Economics
and Feminism. Apart from these, there is a collection of

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encyclopaedias, rare books, reports of NGOs and research

institutes, bibliographies and official documents of relevance.
There is a significant collection of rare books in Urdu so that a
larger number of women can gain access to the materials. Apart
from books, reports and documents, the centre regularly keeps
newspaper clippings from major dailies. The Centre is in the
process of developing a documentation centre, which would
contain audio-visual materials for use in seminars and
workshops. The Centre also has a student advisory service,
which addresses their intellectual guidance needs as well as
conducting personal and vocational counselling. The students of
the Punjab University Department of Women’s Studies use the
library of the University for their studies. The Peshawar
University Department of Women’s Studies has a well-stocked
library for the use of the students. The Women’s Studies Centre
at the University of Balochistan, Quetta, has it own resource
centre/library equipped with the available material on gender.
The AIOU is in the process of preparing textbooks and readers
as well as support material for teaching.

The Allama Iqbal Open University is currently establishing a

resource centre within the University’s central library. The
resource centre is being equipped with books, journals and
internet facilities for which both students and faculty may
benefit.

Summary and Reflections on Women’s Studies in the Public

Sector
The overall picture that emerges from the above account of the
Women’s Studies Centres in the public sector is bleak, although
it must be kept in mind that the information provided by some of
them is sketchy and incomplete. There is an immense variation
in course design and content, which stems from the incoherence,
which plagues the subject in Pakistan. Some departments offer a
course in feminist theory and feminist research methods, while
others do not run courses at all. One or two departments focus on
history and literature, especially the history of women’s
movements, while others are concerned purely with development

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issues and women’s integration into development. Instead of full

degree courses, which are few, there is emphasis on short
training workshops based on the problematic notions of ‘gender
training’ and ‘gender sensitisation’. There are very few
publications that may be called genuine contributions to the
discipline and this may again be due to a shortage of funds and
lack of support. However, some members of the faculty in
various Centres have published papers as individuals in their
own capacity.

There is only one professional association, which is mainly

focussed on Sindh. This means that there is very little formal
interaction and exchange among academics, researchers, activists
and scholars. However, a large number of conferences and
workshops do take place, which are not generally organised by
professional Women’s Studies associations. Most often, they are
held by NGOs working on feminist or women’s issues. Outside
of Alam-e-Niswan, there does not currently appear to be a
significant journal of women’s studies in Pakistan, and once
again the severe resource crunch can be cited for this failure. The
majority of faculty members do not hold degrees in Women’s
Studies but in the social sciences such as Economics or
Psychology. The absence of a minimum number of professionals
trained in the subject is also one reason for the lack of a coherent
approach. Most of the students find employment in women’s or
social sector NGOs, while some become academics. The great
majority of students of the centres that do hold classes, are
female as the subject is not considered one that has a strong
market, and male students prefer subjects that can more easily
lead to jobs.

Some of the significant findings from the available information

must be discussed. First, there seems to be a severe dearth of
funding for Women’s Studies, as it has not been an area of high
priority. The funding has been so meagre that some Institutes
were never able to begin classes or institute worthwhile
programmes. The space and materials provided for the teaching
of Women’s Studies was either highly inadequate or taken away,

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as in the case of the University of Balochistan. While some

centres, such as the CEWS at Karachi, were able to tap other
resources from international donors, the centres, which relied
entirely on funding from the ministry, were not able to become
vibrant and active Centres. Second, not only was material
support extremely inadequate, intellectual support was also
lacking as is clear from the experience of the Quaid-i-Azam
University, where some of the social science departments did not
respond to requests for course contents or for the integration of
Women’s Studies into their courses.

Third, and this is a crucial aspect, there seems to be an absence

of any clear or coherent understanding or framework of
Women’s Studies. A considerable amount of confusion seems to
persist about what constitutes the discipline of Women’s Studies.
In the first place, there is a great deal of lack of clarity about
gender studies and women’s studies. The two are often confused
and the terms are used interchangeably, whereas gender studies
as a field of knowledge has a different focus. The concept of
gender may form a part of women’s studies, but does not by
itself constitute women’s studies. Furthermore, gender is a
theoretical construct and not a substitute word for ‘women’. This
understanding seems to be absent in most cases with the clear
exception of the CEWS, Karachi University, which has a very
clear focus on women’s studies and an underlying feminist
perspective. In some instances, as in the case of the University of
Sindh, even a conservative subject like Home Economics is
lumped together with Women’s Studies. A common error that
seems to characterise most Centres is that any study on women
or on gender is defined as a contribution to Women’s Studies. In
reality, a study on or about women or gender can be done from a
very conservative or patriarchal point of view, in which case it
would not be a contribution to Women’s Studies. The discipline
is based on feminist theory and struggles, and without a feminist
perspective underlying the study, it does not fall into the subject
of Women’s Studies.

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Women’s Studies is a political subject with a definite ideological

bent. Studies with underlying patriarchal assumptions would not
fall within the discipline, as they would contradict the basic
premises of feminism. This is not to suggest that a debate is not
possible within Women’s Studies. On the contrary, feminism and
Women’s Studies have produced some of the most vibrant and
lively debates on the issues of patriarchy, militarism, peace, war,
culture, globalisation and the state. The point here is that studies
from one feminist perspective do lead to a debate with another
___
for example, the last two decades saw extremely energising
debates between Socialist and post-modern feminists. But a
study done in order to further a patriarchal enterprise, or to
discredit feminism, or to reinforce a traditional cultural norm
would be a study on or about women, but not a part of Women’s
Studies. The latter means deconstructing existing knowledge
categories and ways of conceptualising the world, and creating
alternatives. Since the subject developed as much out of activism
as out of theoretical debate, Women’s Studies can never be
reduced to studies about women or gender. Therefore, whether
some research study is a part of Women’s Studies or not is
determined not by the subject matter, but the manner in which it
is addressed. From the overview of public sector institutions
above, it is hard to make this judgement since the details are not
available to find out how a particular subject matter was treated.
However, there is some reason to suspect that not all studies are
strictly speaking feminist or within the rigour of the discipline
known as Women’s Studies.

By and large, there seems to be a combination of liberal,

integrationist, developmental, psychological and gender training
approaches. There is generally very little critical work that seems
to have emerged from the relatively new discipline in Pakistan.
The CEWS at Karachi is a notable exception as there is a clear
notion of feminism underlying Women’s Studies, and an
alternative view of knowledge as the basis of the subject. In
general a great deal of ideological confusion exists regarding the
theory and practice of Women’s Studies.

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Women’s Studies in the Non-government Sector

The non-government sector in Pakistan has played a significant
role in introducing the concept of Women’s Studies as well as its
ideological base in feminism. Although the only teaching
institute is the Institute of Women’s Studies, Lahore run by
Nighat Said Khan, women’s NGOs have made important
contributions to feminist debates and analysis. The development
of Women’s Studies and feminism in Pakistan may be very slow
and insignificant compared with the levels attained in other
countries in the region, in particular India and Sri Lanka.
Nevertheless, in comparison with the public sector initiatives, the
non-government sector has been much more dynamic.

The most outstanding and path breaking work in the introduction

of feminism and Women’s Studies in Pakistan, has been that of
the Institute of Women’s Studies Lahore (IWSL), which
developed out of the ASR Resource Centre. Established in the
mid-1990s, the IWSL began its annual certificate course in 1998.
The course, which reflects sound feminist theory and practice
based on a socialist feminist position, is taught by an
international faculty drawn from the South Asian region as well
as Europe, North America, Africa and Canada. The students are
also drawn from several different countries in Asia and
elsewhere. The IWSL has highly qualified, respected and
acclaimed feminist academics and activists such as Uma
Chakravarti, Neloufer de Mel and Jasodhra Bagchi on its faculty.
The library has several thousand books on feminist theory,
history, literature, sociology, education, research methodology
and works in related disciplines. The Institute is equipped with
the latest teaching technology and up to date teaching space. It
can easily be described as the best Women’s Studies Institute in
Pakistan and is highly regarded throughout the South Asian
region.

The course contents reflect a deep familiarity with feminist

debates and issues. The course is designed in a holistic manner
and covers a wide range of topics that are dealt with critically.
Some of the contents include women’s movements globally and

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locally, identity and ideology, political economy, a version of

history that does not exclude women as historical actors, English
and Urdu literature, and the performing and visual arts. The
entire course content and methodology are designed to inculcate
feminist consciousness and understanding, as well as creating
activists in the field.

Apart from teaching activity, which includes the annual

certificate course and short workshops and conferences, the
IWSL carries out research and publication within a feminist
perspective. ASR/IWSL has published the largest number of
books and papers on women’s issues from feminist and critical
perspectives. Additionally, the Institute has reprinted well-
known works by Egyptian feminist Nawal-al-Saadawi, Sri
Lankan feminist Kumari Jayawardena, and Moroccan feminist,
Fatima Mernissi. Some of the publications include
Jayawardena’s Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World,17
Hidden from History: Forgotten Queens of Islam,18 The Heart
Divided19 and Sa’adawi’s famous novel Woman at Point Zero.
The Institute has also published works by Pakistani feminists,
academics and activists including Saba Gul Khattak, Neelam
Hussain, Ayesha Khan, Durre Ahmad, Najma Sadeque, Samina
Rahman and this author. Some of these include Ayesha Khan’s
Rhetoric and Reform,20 Nighat Said Khan’s Voices Within21 and
Up Against the State,22 Fareeha Zafar’s Finding Our Way23
(edited volume), Durre Ahmad’s Masculinity, Rationality and
Religion,24 Afiya Zia’s Sex Crime in the Islamic Context25 and
Watching Them, Watching Us,26 Rubina Saigol’s Knowledge and
Identity27 and, In Her Own Write, a book of translations of short
stories by famous Urdu writers, edited by Samina Rahman.28
Apart from these books, ASR/IWSL has published co-edited
books, which include Locating the Self,29 Unveiling the Issues,30
A Celebration of Women31 and Aspects of Women and
Development.32 Apart of these, a number of books of Urdu
literature by women writers, and collections of poems have been
produced by IWSL. The Institute also has to its credit the
publication of a number of reports based on issues raised at the
Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, 1995, and

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reports from other international conferences including the World

Summit on Social Development.

In the books mentioned above, IWSL has covered a wide range

of topics including the State, nationalism, militarism,
globalisation, education, the media, law, political economy and
the environment. Almost all of the work reflects feminist
consciousness and a commitment to social change. A large part
of the work is critical and geared towards the vision of an
alternative world. The IWSL as an institution keeps abreast of
the latest developments in feminist and social theory, and
incorporates these into its courses and workshops. An annual
lecture series by highly regarded feminist scholars is a well-
attended event, which allows interaction and exchange to take
place. Moreover, activism is an essential part of the thinking at
IWSL and academic activities are combined with activism
against militarism, war, discriminatory laws and all forms of
social and economic injustice. The work reflects clarity on
feminist issues and a deep understanding of Women’s Studies.
Overall, it can safely be said that the Institute of Women’s
Studies, Lahore is one of the best institutions promoting the
discipline in Pakistan, and even in the South Asian region.

The other non-government organisations that have contributed

significantly to the development of feminist thought in Pakistan
are Shirkat Gah, Simorgh Women’s Resource and Publication
Centre, and the Sustainable Development Policy Institute.
Although these organisations do not conduct courses in
Women’s Studies, they hold workshops and conferences that
allow for critical feminist exchange on the issues of
globalisation, militarisation, legal structures and systems,
customary practices, the media and education. Additionally, they
publish material nationally and internationally, which is critical
in orientation and has feminist underpinning.
Shirkat Gah has done extensive work on informal legal systems
and customary law in all the provinces of Pakistan. Their
publications on the subject have shed new light on the issues of
non-state parallel systems of ‘justice’ and their impact upon

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society. Shirkat Gah has also produced a great deal of critical

literature on globalisation and its impact upon women. The
members of this organisation, Khawar Mumtaz and Farida
Shaheed produced the seminal work on the women’s movement
in Pakistan.33 No Women’s Studies course in Pakistan would be
complete without studying this work. In addition to this, Shirkat
Gah has also completed a comprehensive study on women’s
perceptions of, and expectations from, the state. This has been
published as a major study on Citizenship in South Asia and is a
critical examination of the state in the region. A large amount of
informational material on various issues of feminist concern has
been produced for NGOs, CBOs and activists. This material is
available usually in both English and Urdu for wider
consumption.

Simorgh Women’s Resource and Publication Centre is primarily

concerned with publications but has also engaged in workshops
and training programmes from a feminist perspective. Simorgh
has done highly commendable, and difficult, work with the
higher judiciary and police in sensitising them to the issues of
women. This organisation has produced supplementary books for
children at the primary level with human rights content. This
material is lively, enjoyable and fun to use so that young readers
can enjoy as they learn. As regards the contribution to feminist
thought, Simorgh has produced a study of the media’s portrayal
of women during the Zia years.34 This study shows how the
media operates to disseminate a particular brand of conservative,
state ideology meant to control the mind, spread a particular kind
of morality, and to manipulate public behaviour. The co-
ordinator, Neelam Hussain, has translated Khadija Mastoor’s
famous novel, Aangan (Inner Courtyard) into English thus
providing a glimpse into the thinking of women writers involved
in the Progressive Writers’s Movement.35 A number of works by
Fatima Mernissi and other feminists have been re-printed by
Simorgh and some have been translated into Urdu. Simorgh’s
publication36 reflects a feminist understanding of the state,
economy, education, media, performing arts, visual arts,
literature, militarism and health. This work focusses on the

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manner is which the state is produced, re-produced and inscribed

on the minds of the population through the written word, in art
forms and public monuments. Currently, Simorgh is in the
process of publishing booklets on violence against women,
patriarchal language and a number of other issues within
feminism. Simorgh is also the first women’s organisation to
bring out a journal, Bayaan, a socio-legal journal, which bridges
feminist and social theory with legal thought in an effort to
provide critical perspectives on legal structures. The first issue of
this bi-annual journal has been published while the second is due
in the summer of 2004.

The Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) is

primarily a research institution and a policy-oriented
organisation, but it has a strong dimension of feminist thought
mainly due to the presence of Saba Gul Khattak. Khattak’s work
on the military, and the ideologies of war and militarism, has
become seminal, in that it was the first work of its kind to be
produced in Pakistan.37 Khattak has also worked on the
gendered nature of the state and nation and this work is
indispensable for any course on Women’s Studies. SDPI has
carried out research studies on conflict, displacement and
refugees from a feminist perspective and this work has been
published as a part of the Working Paper series. Conflict studies
constitute another area in which Saba Khattak has taken the lead
in Pakistan.38 Additionally, SDPI in collaboration with the
Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER)
has conducted one of the most comprehensive studies on the
impact of liberalisation and globalisation on home based workers
in Pakistan.39 The findings of this study are startling and it is
essential reading for the political economy section of a Women’s
Studies course because of being critical in its perspective.

Although Shirkat Gah, Simorgh and SDPI do not engage in

formal Women’s Studies courses, they contribute to them by
producing the kind of materials that can be used for courses in
the public and non-government sectors. Apart from written
materials, these organisations produce audio-visual materials

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such as short films or documentaries for academic purposes. The

other women’s NGOs like Aurat Foundation produce materials
that are informative, but since most of the material is in the form
of pamphlets, leaflets and brochures or reports, it has limited
utility for Women’s Studies. This kind of material is more useful
for activism and in that sense very important, but it does not
necessarily have a feminist orientation.

Issues for the Future

One of the biggest problems that Women’s Studies, as a
discipline, faces is related to sources of funding. The public and
non-government sectors are both dependent on external funding.
While the public sector institutes might ultimately be able to
raise funds from tuition fee, in the near future the chances of this
are bleak as it is not a subject that leads to lucrative jobs. With
history, philosophy and social science departments closing or
scaling down due to shortage of students and funds, Women’s
Studies is unlikely to flourish against the onslaught of
Information Technology and Management courses, which lead to
jobs in the multinational and private sectors. The discipline is
being kept alive by sheer will and a commitment to a more just
and humane world by academics, scholars and activists.

In the past, international donors have been generous with funds

for ‘gender’, which became a faddish issue rather than a serious
political one. However, a large part of this funding was
consumed either by consultants making technocratic adjustments
in the system, or by the dubious world of ‘gender training and
sensitisation’. Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of the
Harvard Analytical Framework, with its static and dichotomous
categories, was able to obtain funding and use it on workshops.
This approach was uncritical as the assumptions underlying it
were that categories like ‘gender issue’, ‘gender gap’ or
‘practical need’ are fixed, immutable and static categories
instead of dynamic discourses and subject to change and
development, and ultimately even rejection. An overwhelming
focus on this kind of work led to a steady de-politicisation of the
issues and concerns of women. The ‘integration of gender’

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approach was also static and based on false premises. Here the
assumption was that ‘gender’ is like an object that can simply,
mechanically and automatically be plugged into anything, be it
the environment, education, health, sanitation or drainage.
Project after project was launched on integrating gender into
drainage or other ‘community development’ schemes.
Everything just went down the drain, including gender, because
of the crass inanity exemplified by this approach. It was assumed
that once ‘gender’ (whatever that meant, and it meant different
things to different people) was duly integrated into the scheme,
all would be well. Underlying this approach were liberal
assumptions about the state and socio-economic structures being
all right and acceptable, but lacking only in gender. Once that
was integrated, no problems would arise.

Approaches like this did more harm than good to the cause of
feminism. They led to the faulty premise that simply providing
access to women within the existing social structures was
adequate. The structures themselves were not challenged and the
patriarchy underlying state structures and policy was not
questioned. Based on this kind of thinking, women were given
enhanced seats in parliament, the provincial assemblies and local
bodies. Since it was done without sound feminist and intellectual
thought, no attention was paid to the way in which entrenched
social power would ensure that the women who enter law-
making bodies represent the interests of particular classes, either
feudal or capitalist. The women, often given no voice in the
debates and decisions, ended up rubber stamping decisions made
elsewhere. The increased number of seats for women came to
mean the reinforcement of feudal power and of the existing
social structure. Instead of providing feminist critiques of
governance40 and devolution, a number of non-government
organisations became the partners of a military regime creating
local constituencies for itself by bypassing the provinces and
centralising power from the federal government directly to the
districts. Instead of the decentralisation of service delivery, the
military-dictated devolution became a ‘decentralisation of
repression’ and a means of extracting taxes at the local level.

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Therein lies the deep contradiction. International donors,

especially those that represent foreign governments, increasingly
fund only those organisations that are willing to work on the
agenda of global governance (which is the political face of
economic globalisation), and do not fund activities, which are
critical of the exercise. Since knowledge and understanding have
become fragmented, through intentional or unintentional donor
fixation, there is increasingly an inability to see military
governments or ‘controlled democracies’ as antithetical to
human rights and justice. A number of donors, including for
example CIDA and the UNDP (both of which lay claims to
promoting human rights ___ a UN agenda), find themselves
unable or unwilling to perceive the contradiction between their
support for a militarised regime, and their commitment to human
rights, of which women’s rights form a part. Their arguments run
along the lines that as long as the military delivers on gender
(which is also questionable) it does not matter that it has
systematically eroded the independence of the judiciary, the
supremacy of parliament or the importance of free speech and
expression.41

Since issues are perceived as divorced from one another, and

kept in separate compartments of the mind, rights are not seen as
a whole, as interconnected. It becomes difficult in this kind of
straitjacket thinking to understand how the erosion of democracy
can lead to greater injustices for women as well. Even within
liberal feminist thought, justice for women is inseparable from
democracy and human rights, and cannot be achieved by
cancelling the latter. An example of the intense ideological
confusion resulting from compartmentalisation is that some
consultants working on ‘gender’ happened to be staunch
supporters of the Taliban regime, which cancelled all rights for
women, and enamoured of Adolf Hitler’s racist militarism.
However, a political thinking promotes precisely this kind of
fragmentation, but it is ‘safe’ from the donors’ point of view as it
promises that the change will not be too great and will be firmly
controlled and directed. Donors generally fear change, especially

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one that they cannot control or direct. Thus we find democracy

and ‘good governance’ increasingly promoting private and
market interests instead of the interests of citizens.42
Nonetheless, ‘good governance’ and ‘global governance’ are
consistently promoted by the IFI’s and international donors, as
the new panacea for all ills affecting society, while no change in
socio-economic structures is envisaged.

For feminists the dilemma is that ideologies that need to be

deconstructed and subjected to critical scrutiny are the ones
being promoted by donors. Yet, feminist organisations are
dependent upon them for support and the MoWD’s support also
comes from them. If the trend persists, there is the danger that
the critical edge of feminism will be lost to the liberal practices
of ‘gender integration and training’ for good. If feminism
remains caught within the paradigms of ‘development’ as
conceived by foreign donors, it is increasingly likely to become
a-political and ‘safe’. Its potential for transformation will be
reduced to the extent to which it succumbs to the pressures of
mainstreaming. As feminism becomes co-opted and reduced to
‘gender mainstreaming’, ‘safe’ and ‘manageable’, Women’s
Studies will suffer as a discipline. Women’s Studies is threatened
with becoming ‘just a study about women’.

Finally, Women’s Studies as a discipline, is also threatened from

other sources. Since feminism is the ideological and intellectual
base of Women’s Studies, the organisations and centres that
promote the subject need to reflect the feminist principles of
non-hierarchical functioning, and fair play and justice in the
workplace. However, neither the public sector departments, nor
the organisations in the non-government sector are organised
non-hierarchically or develop well-established rules and
Standard Operating Procedures. Excessive ad hocism is the norm
with the result that decisions and actions become entirely
arbitrary and dependent upon the whims and fancies of directors
and heads. This means that rules are also often contradictory and
not applied evenly across the board. On account of excessively
hierarchical functioning, top-down power structures, absence of

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systems and standards of operating, lack of tolerance for dissent

and disagreement, and inconsistent application of rules (the latter
is more evident in the non-government sector as the public sector
has certain standard procedures), feminist principles of inclusion,
justice, equality and fair play are often violated. There is usually
no recourse to an independent authority for the redress of
grievances and employees are often at the mercy of their seniors.
This kind of managerial authoritarianism, combined with the fact
that most directors in the non-government sector are permanent,
lifelong heads with no procedure for transfer of authority, the
entire organisation is at the mercy of their whims and passing
fancies. This problem seriously plagues the non-government
sector and needs to be urgently addressed if feminist and non-
feudal, non-personalised forms of the organisation of work are to
be established.

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Notes
1
Susie Tharu and K. Lalita (eds.), Women Writings in India: 600 B.C. to the
Present (Feminist Press at the City University of New York, New York, 1991).
Distributed by Talman Co., New York.
2
Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (W. Scott,
London, 1891), with an introduction by Elizabeth Robins Pennell. First
published in 1792 and has been published several times since.
3
Sabeeha Hafeez, ‘Towards Developing a Women’s Studies Perspective in
Pakistan: Some Parameters’, in Pakistan Journal of Women’s Studies, Alam-e-
Niswan, Vol. 2, pp. 75-97, 1995, ISSN: 1024-1256, pp. 87-88.
4
Hafeez, ‘Towards Developing a Women’s Studies…’, op.cit., p. 81.
5
Khawar Mumtaz and Farida Shaheed, Women of Pakistan: Two Steps
Forward, One Step Back? (Vanguard Books, Lahore, 1987).
6
A large number of ‘Gender Training Manuals’ produced by UNIFEM and
other donors, reflect the game-playing, pop-psychology approach that is
extensively used by expert gender trainers. The very notion of a ‘manual’ is
problematic as manuals were typically designed for how-to purposes to enable
people to quickly fix something or assemble something .Applying this notion to
political issues reflects the quick fix mechanical approach that dominates the
world of gender training. Manuals are typically fixed in time present
knowledge as fixed, static and not as contained within a debate. They are
designed to freeze issues in time instead of presenting debates as ongoing and
knowledge as incomplete and open-ended. Additionally, manuals are based on
the assumption that ‘gender’ problems can be solved by applying a given set of
tricks and techniques.
7
Hafeez, ‘Towards Developing a Women’s Studies…’, op.cit., p. 86.
8
Ministry of Women’s Development, Key Policy Measures, No. 3.
9
Vision and Goal statement of the Ministry of Women’s Development, Social
Welfare and Special Education.
10
Ministry of Women’s Development, Aims and Objectives. No. 6.
11
National Commission on the Status of Women, Role and Functions, part d.
12
National Plan of Action, p. 68.
13
The information in this section is based on the reports and materials
provided by the Centres. This information may contain gaps since the author
did not have direct access to the Centres. Additionally, the information
provided here is highly uneven with some Centres given more detailed and
comprehensive reports than others.
14
Parveen Shah, ‘Socio-economic condition of women in Pakistan with special
reference to Sindh province’, in Sindhological Studies, Summer-Winter 2001,
Vol. 19, No. 1-2 and ‘Education for Rural Women in Pakistan’ in University of
Sindh, Arts Research Journal, Vol. XXXIII, 1998-2001.
15
Hafeez, ‘Towards Developing a Women’s Studies…’, op.cit., p. 80.
16
Ibid.
17
Kumari Jayawardena, Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World (ASR,
Lahore, 1994).
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 The State of the Discipline of Women’s Studies in Pakistan

18
Fatima Mernissi, Hidden from History: Forgotten Queens of Islam (ASR,
Lahore, 1994).
19
Mumtaz Shah Nawaz, The Heart Divided (ASR, Lahore, 1990), 2nd edition.
20
Ayesha Khan, Rhetoric and Reform, Feminism Among Indian Muslims:
1900-1940 (ASR Publications, Lahore, 1999).
21
Nighat Said Khan, Voices Within: Dialogues with Women on Islam (ASR,
Lahore, 1992).
22
Nighat Said Khan (ed.), Up Against the State (ASR, Lahore, 2004).
23
Fareeha Zafar (ed.), Finding Our Way: Readings on Women in Pakistan
(ASR Publications, Lahore, 1991).
24
Durre S. Ahmad, Masculinity, Rationality, and Religion: A Feminist
Perspective, (ASR Publications, Lahore, 1994).
25
Afiya Shaherbano Zia, Sex Crime in the Islamic Context: Rape, Class and
Gender in Pakistan (ASR, Lahore, 1994).
26
Shehrbano Zia, Watching Them, Watching Us (ASR, Lahore, 2004).
27
Rubina Saigol, Knowledge and Identity: Articulation of Gender in
Educational Discourse in Pakistan (ASR, Lahore, 1995).
28
Samina Rehman (edit and translation), In Her Own Write: Short Stories by
Women Writers in Pakistan (ASR Publications, Lahore, 1994).
29
Nighat Said Khan, Rubina Saigol, Afiya Shaherbano Zia (eds.), Locating the
Self: Perspectives on Women and Multiple Identities (ASR Publications,
Lahore, 1994).
30
Nighat Said Khan and Afiya Shaherbano Zia (eds.), Unveiling the Issues:
Pakistani Women's Perspectives on Social, Political and Ideological Issues
(ASR Publications, Lahore, 1995). Transcribed and translated by Naureen
Amjad and Rubina Saigol Lahore.
31
Nighat Said Khan, Rubina Saigol, Afiya Shaherbano Zia (eds.), A
Celebration of Women: Essays and Abstracts from the Women's Studies
Conference (ASR Publications, Lahore, 1994).
32
Nighat Said Khan, Rubina Saigol & Afiya S. Zia, Aspects of Women and
Development (ASR Publications, Lahore, 1994).
33
Mumtaz and Shaheed (eds.), Women of Pakistan…, op.cit.
34
Malik, Maha & Neelam Hussain (eds.), Re-inventing Women: The Portrayal
of Women in the Media in the Zia Years (Simorgh, Lahore, 1985).
35
Neelam Hussain (Translator), Inner Courtyard (Simorgh, Lahore, 2001). An
English translation of Khadija Mastoor’s, Aangan with an introduction by
Samina Choonara.
36
Hussain, Neelam, Samiya Mumtaz & Rubina Saigol (eds.), Engendering the
Nation State (Simorgh, Lahore, 1997), Vol. I & II.
37
For example see Saba Gul Khattak’s paper, ‘Gendered and Violent:
Inscribing the Military on the Nation-state’ in Hussain, et.al., Engendering the
Nation..., op.cit., Vol. 1, pp. 38-52. Also see Saba Khattak’s ‘Militarization,
Masculinity and Identity in Pakistan ___ Effects on Women’, in Khan, N. S. &
Afiya Zia (eds.), Unveiling the Issues…, pp. 52-64. Also see her paper, ‘A
Reinterpretation of the State and Statist Discourse in Pakistan (1977-1988)’, in
Khan, et.al., Locating the Self…, op.cit., pp. 22-40.
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Social Sciences in Pakistan: A Profile

38
For example see her paper ‘Violence and the Centrality of Home: Women’s
Experience of Insecurity in the Karachi Conflict’, Working Paper Series No.
73, 2002. Apart from this, Saba Khattak has worked extensively on Afghan
women refugees on which there are several published working papers available
at the SDPI.
39
Sayeed, Asad & Saba Gul Khattak, Women’s Work and Empowerment Issues
in an Era of Economic Liberalisation: A Case Study of Pakistan’s Urban
Manufacturing Sector (PILER/SDPI, 2001).
40
Viviene Taylor, Marketization of Governance: Critical Feminist
Perspectives from the South (A Dawn Publication, Cape Town, SADEP, 2000).
41
For example see Masooda Bano’s article ‘Striking power balance’ in The
News, February 27, 2004. Bano reveals how false are the pretences of
democracy of the present government. A seminar on the ‘17th Amendment and
its Implications for Federalism’ organised by the Pakistan Oppressed Nations
Movement (PONM) was forcefully stopped by the police. This is a blatant
violation of people’s constitutional right to freedom of speech, expression and
debate, but no debate on the Legal Framework Order and its insertion into the
constitution was permitted by the ‘democratic government’.
42
Taylor, Marketization of Governance…, op.cit.

386