Contested womanhood: women's education and (re)production of gendered norms in rural Pakistani Muslim communities

In a world marred by the fears of religious extremism, Muslim women have become subjects of various global projects that aim to modernize 'traditional' Muslim societies through women's education and empowerment. Embedded in these discourses is an assumption that all educated Muslim wo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Discourse (Abingdon, England) England), 2018-07, Vol.39 (4), p.550-563
Main Authors: Khurshid, Ayesha, Saba, Alexis
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Education
Empowerment
Ethnography
Females
Foreign Countries
Gender Bias
gender empowerment
Gender Issues
international development
Muslim societies
Muslim women
Muslims
Pakistan
Role of Education
Rural Areas
Semi Structured Interviews
Sex Role
Social Attitudes
Social Bias
Women
women's education
Womens Education
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Summary:In a world marred by the fears of religious extremism, Muslim women have become subjects of various global projects that aim to modernize 'traditional' Muslim societies through women's education and empowerment. Embedded in these discourses is an assumption that all educated Muslim women will empower themselves through challenging the 'oppressive' structures of their families and communities. This paper challenges these homogeneous narratives of education and empowerment through highlighting the complexities of educated women's daily lives in rural Pakistan. We situate the lived experiences of rural educated Pakistani women in global mainstream as well as in local historical narratives regarding the role and purpose of education for women. Our analysis reveals how the educated women participants' lives were shaped by a complex gendered hierarchy that facilitated educated women to take on new roles while simultaneously requiring them to maintain harmonious relationships with family and community members.
ISSN:0159-6306
1469-3739
DOI:10.1080/01596306.2017.1282425