Gender St.

The gendered roles in society were assumed to be the ‘natural’ result of one’s sex, but
cross-cultural studies demonstrate that while sex is a universal condition of humans,
gender roles vary across culture.

Gender refers to the attitudes, feelings, and behaviors that a given culture associates
with a person’s biological sex. Behavior that is compatible with cultural expectations is
referred to as gender-normative; behaviors that are viewed as incompatible with these
expectations constitute gender non-conformity.

Sex refers to a person’s biological status and is typically categorized as male, female, or
intersex (i.e. typical combinations. There are a number of indicators of biological sex,
including sex chromosomes, gonads, internal reproductive organs, and external
genitalia.

“Sex” refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define men and
women. “Gender” refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and
attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women. Gender
emphasizes that masculinity and femininity are products of social, cultural and
psychological factors and are acquired by an individual in the process of becoming a
man or woman.

Gender studies looks at the manner in which the norms and patterns of behavior
associated with masculinity and femininity come into being. It studies the features of
these norms and patterns – which traits are considered masculine, which feminine, and
why? How do stereotypical models of men and women develop? How do they change
over time, and what factors contribute to changes? Also, and very importantly, what
impact do such stereotypes have upon actually existing men and women?

Women/Gender studies as a discipline

  the first Women's Studies program in the United States: San Diego State
University's program, formally approved in 1970. The first accredited women
studies course was taught at Cornell university in 1969
 The first courses were developed in the late 1960s in the USA, and although
some courses were present in adult and higher education in the UK, it wasn’t
until 1980 that the first MA in women’s studies was offered at the University of
Kent.
 Women’s Studies grew from several courses in individual universities across the
country in the late 1960s to more than 600 degree-granting majors and programs
today.
 The first scholarly journal in interdisciplinary women's studies, Feminist Studies,
began publishing in 1972. The National Women's Studies Association (of the
United States) was established in 1977. The first Ph.D. program in Women's
Studies was established at Emory University in 1990.
 “Women’s Study truly is and always will be a field in motion.” (Bonnie
Zimmerman, president of National Women's Studies Association)
 1978: Congress includes educational services in the Civil Rights Act designed to
eliminate sex bias in school and society.
 1980s: Women’s studies underwent an intensely self-reflective period as it
grapples with the issues of how to identify the concept of “women,” which had
largely been defined as white, middle-class, heterosexual, Christian, education
women of privilege. (Betty Friedan)
 The publication of Mary Wollstonecraft’s book is often taken as a starting point of
women’s formal entry into public political and intellectual discourse.

Feminist Movements/Struggles in Pakistan

 Although feminist struggles in Pakistan go back a long way, 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
Ordinance, 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.
 Although WAF, as an organization, 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).
 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
behavior 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 focused on a change in the behavior and attitude of individuals in their
relations with each other.
 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 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.
 This tension between the objectives of MoWD 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.
 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.
 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 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’.
 The National Plan of Action (NPA), endorsed by the government in 1998, also
recommends the promotion of the ‘inter-disciplinary field of Gender/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 Gender/Women’s Studies
Centers 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 Gender/Women’s Studies initiatives,
 The aims and objectives of the Gender/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
Gender/Women’s Studies as an academic discipline through the distance
learning system, create awareness and sensitization to gender issues at the
community level through seminars and workshops, and to launch media
programs to emphasize women’s role and their contributions in national and
international development.
 Other universities with a women’s study program in place include ‘Fatima Jinnah
Women University’ and ‘Institute of Women Development Studies’ at University
of Sindh, Jamshoro. However, the IDWS at Univ of Sindh link these courses with
home economics and offers courses on activities such as embroidery which isn’t
really what women studies is about.
 Some centers, such as the one run by Karachi University, reflect a serious and
rigorous Gender/Women’s Studies approach in their course contents, while
others, such as the center in Jamshoro, Sindh or the Punjab University, are
not based on a clear conceptual understanding of Gender/Women’s Studies.

Gender differences debate

 genes and chromosomes sometimes contain differences that can lead to

different physical features that can appear abnormal. One of these syndromes is
called Turner’s syndrome and this syndrome causes individuals to only inherit
one chromosome. When this occurs, ovaries or testicles will not be developed.
 The advancements of neuro scans have shown plausibility that there is a
difference in homosexual brain scans as compared to heterosexual brain scans.
The part of the brain that is associated with behavior and reproductive physiology
known as the interstitial nuclei of the anterior hypothalamus is shown to be larger
in heterosexual males compared to homosexual males. This shows there is a
structural difference between heterosexual males and homosexual males, which
allows for plausibility that this significant difference is associated with
homosexuals being biological and not part of different learning theories.
 there is significant evidence to support that children raised by homosexuals do
not necessarily become homosexuals. The conclusions of these studies have
showed there is no direct correlation with children being raised by homosexuals
as learning the behavior or gender roles of the rearing couple’s sexual
preference, or gender roles. In fact, studies showed the majority of children that
grew up with lesbian or gay parents, grew up establishing their own identities as
a heterosexual.
Judith Butler
 Judith Butler is one of the most prominent social theorists currently working on
issues pertaining to the social construction of gender with her work focused on
feminism and queer theory.
 According to Butler an individual is always "doing" gender, performing or
deviating from the socially accepted performance of gender stereotypes. Doing
gender is not just about acting in a particular way. It is about embodying and
believing certain gender norms and engaging in practices that map on to those
norms.
 The internalized belief that men and women are essentially different is what
makes men and women behave in ways that appear essentially different. Gender
is maintained as a category through socially constructed displays of gender.
 Doing gender is fundamentally a social relationship. One does gender in order to
be perceived by others in a particular way, either as male, female, or as troubling
those categories. Certainly, gender is internalized and acquires significance for
the individual; some individuals want to feel feminine or masculine.
 Gender is so pervasive that in our society we assume it is bred into our genes.
Most people find it hard to believe that gender is constantly created and re-
created out of human interaction, out of social life, and is the texture and order of
that social life. Yet gender, like culture, is a human production that depends on
everyone constantly "doing gender".
 Gender is such a familiar part of daily life that it usually takes a deliberate
disruption of our expectations of how women and men are supposed to act to
pay attention to how it is produced. Gender signs and signals are so ubiquitous
that we usually fail to note them unless they are missing or ambiguous. Then we
are uncomfortable until we have successfully placed the other person in a gender
status; otherwise, we feel socially dislocated.
 For the individual, gender construction starts with assignment to a sex category
on the basis of what the genitalia look like at birth. Then, babies are dressed and
adorned in a way that displays category because parents don't want to be
constantly asked; whether their baby is a girl or a boy. A sex category becomes a
gender status through naming, dressing, and the use of other gender markers.
Once a child's gender is evident, others treat those in one gender differently from
those in the other, and the children respond to the different treatment by feeling
different and behaving differently.
 As soon as they can talk, they start to refer to themselves as members of their
gender. Sex doesn't come into play again until puberty, but by that time, sexual
feelings and desires and practices have been shaped by gendered norms and
expectations. Adolescent boys and girls approach and avoid each other in an
elaborately scripted and gendered mating dance. Parenting is gendered with
different expectations for mothers and for fathers and people of different genders
work at different kinds of jobs. The work adults do as mothers and fathers and as
low-level workers and high-level bosses, shapes women's and men's life
experiences and these experiences produce different feelings, consciousness,
relationships, skills-ways of being that we call feminine or masculine. All of these
processes constitute the social construction of gender.
  To explain why gendering is done from birth, constantly and by everyone, we
have to look not only at the way individuals experience gender but at gender as a
social institution. As a social institution, gender is one of the major ways that
human beings organize their lives. Human society depends on a predictable
division of labour, a designated allocation of scarce goods, assigned
responsibility for children and others who cannot care for themselves, common
values and their systematic transmission to new members, legitimate leadership,
music, art, stories, games, and other symbolic productions. One way of choosing
people for the different tasks of society is on the basis of their talents,
motivations, competence and their demonstrated achievements. The other way is
on the basis of gender, race, and ethnicity-ascribed membership in a category of
people.
 Every society classifies people as "girl and boy children," "girls and boys ready to
be married," and "fully adult women and men," constructs similarities among
them and differences between them, and assigns them to different roles and
responsibilities. Personality characteristics, feelings, motivations, and ambitions
flow from these different life experiences so that the members of these different
groups become different kinds of people. The process of gendering and its
outcome are legitimated by religion, law, science, and the society's entire set of
values.
 Similarly, gender cannot be equated with biological and physiological differences
between human females and males. The building blocks of gender are socially
constructed statuses. Western societies have only two genders, "man" and
"woman." Some societies have three genders-men, women, and berdaches or
hijras or xaniths. Berdaches, hijras, and xaniths are biological males who
behave, dress, work, and are treated in most respects as social women; they are
therefore not men, nor are they female women; they are, in our language, "male
women." There are American and American Indian societies that have a gender
status called manly hearted Women-biological females who work, marry, and
parent as men; their social status is "female men" (Amadiume 1987; Blackwood
1984). They do not have to behave or dress as men to have the social
responsibilities and prerogatives of husbands and fathers; what makes them men
is enough wealth to buy a wife.
 Modern Western societies' transsexuals and transvestites are the nearest
equivalent of these crossover genders, but they are not institutionalized as third
genders (Bolin 1987). Transsexuals are biological males and females who have
sex-change operations to alter their genitalia. They do so in order to bring their
physical anatomy in congruence with the way they want to live and with their own
sense of gender identity. They do not become a third gender; they change
genders. Transvestites are males who live as women and females who live as
men but do not intend to have sex-change surgery. Their dress, appearance, and
mannerisms fall within the range of what is expected from members of the
opposite gender, so that they "pass."

For individuals, Gender means sameness

  Individuals are born sexed but not gendered and they have to be taught to be
masculine or feminine. As Simone de Beauvoir said: "One is not born, but rather
becomes, it is civilization as a whole that produces this creature which is
described as feminine."
 In early childhood, humans develop gendered personality structures and sexual
orientations through their interactions with parents of the same and opposite
gender. As adolescents, they conduct their sexual behavior according to
gendered scripts. Schools, parents, peers, and the mass media guide young
people into gendered work and family roles. As adults, they take on a gendered
social status in their society's stratification system. Gender is thus both ascribed
and achieved.
 Gender norms are inscribed in the way people move, gesture, and even eat. In
one African society, men were supposed to eat with their "whole mouth,
wholeheartedly, and not, like women, just with the lips, that is halfheartedly, with
reservation and restraint". Men and women in this society learned to walk in ways
that proclaimed their different positions in the society:
 The manly man stands up straight into the face of the person he approaches, or
wishes to welcome, ever on the alert, because ever threatened, he misses
nothing of what happens around him Conversely, a well brought-up woman is
expected to walk with a slight stoop, avoiding every misplaced movement of her
body, her head or her arms, looking down, keeping her eyes on the spot where
she will next put her foot, especially if she happens to have to walk past the
men's assembly.
 The gendered practices of everyday life reproduce a society's view of how
women and men should act .Gendered social arrangements are justified by
religion and cultural productions and backed by law, but the most powerful
means of sustaining the moral hegemony of the dominant gender ideology is that
the process is made invisible; any possible alternatives are Virtually unthinkable.

For society gender means difference

 At a rock and roll dance at West Point in 1976, the year women were admitted to
the prestigious military academy for the first time, the school's administrators
"were reportedly perturbed by the sight of mirror-image couples dancing in short
hair and dress gray trousers," and a rule was established that women cadets
could dance at these events only if they wore skirts (Barkalow and Raab 1990,
53).Women recruits in the U,S. Marine Corps are required to wear makeup-at a
minimum, lipstick and eye shadow and they have to take classes in makeup, hair
care, poise, and etiquette. This feminization is part of a deliberate policy of
making them clearly distinguishable from men Marines.
 For one transsexual man-to-woman, the experience of living as a woman
changed his/her whole personality. As James, Morris had been a soldier, foreign
correspondent, and mountain climber; as Jan, Morris is a successful travel writer.
But socially, James was superior to Jan, and so Jan developed the "learned
helplessness" that is supposed to characterize women in Western society. We
are told that the social gap between the sexes is narrowing, but I can only report
 that having in the second half of the twentieth century, experienced life in both
roles, there seems to me no aspect of existence, no moment of the day, no
contact, no arrangement, no response, which is not different for men and for
women, The very tone of voice in which I was now addressed, the very posture
of the person next in the queue, the very feel in the air when I entered a room or
sat at a restaurant table, constantly emphasized my change of status.
And if other's responses shifted, so did my own. The more I was treated as
woman, the more woman I became. I adapted willy-nilly. If I was assumed to be
incompetent at reversing cars, or opening bottles, oddly incompetent I found
myself becoming. If a case was thought too heavy for me, inexplicably I fouled it
so myself. Women treated me with a frankness which, while it was one of the
happiest discoveries of my metamorphosis, did imply membership of a camp, a
faction, or at least a school of thought; so, I found myself gravitating always
towards the female, whether in sharing a railway compartment or supporting a
political cause, Men treated me more and more as junior, and so, addressed
every day of my life as an inferior, involuntarily, month by month I accepted the
condition. I discovered that even now men prefer women to be less informed,
less able, less talkative, and certainly Jess self-centered than they are
themselves; so, I generally obliged them.

Queer Theory

 “An approach to literary and cultural study that rejects traditional categories of
gender and sexuality”
Queer theory is a set of ideas based around the idea that identities are not fixed and do
not determine who we are. It suggests that it is meaningless to talk in general about
'women' or any other group, as identities consist of so many elements that to assume
that people can be seen collectively on the basis of one shared characteristic is wrong.
Indeed, it proposes that we deliberately challenge all notions of fixed identity, in varied
and non-predictable ways.
 This theory was introduced by Judith Butler in her book ‘gender trouble’
 Until the 1980s the word ‘queer’ was perceived as a derogatory remark which
meant ‘out of the ordinary’
 Butler sees sex as no more a natural category than gender. She conceptualizes
gender norms as structuring biology and not the reverse, which informs the more
conventional view.
 Thus, for instance, Butler points out that discrimination against gays is a function
not of their sexuality, but rather of their failure to perform heterosexual gender
norms. Because heterosexuality is based on a binary difference between male
and female (a person is either one or the other), there is a socially constructed
gender in which heterosexuality is central, which informs our understanding of
biology.

Feminism
  The term feminism is a relatively modern one – there are debates over when and
where it was first used, but the term ‘feminist’ seems to have first been used in
1871 in a French medical text to describe a cessation in development of the
sexual organs and characteristics in male patients, who were perceived as thus
suffering from ‘feminization’ of their bodies.
The term was then picked up by Alexandre Dumas fils, a French writer,
republican and antifeminist, who used it in a pamphlet published in 1872 entitled
l’homme-femme, on the subject of adultery, to describe women behaving in a
supposedly masculine way.
Thus, as Fraisse points out, although in medical terminology feminism was used
to signify a feminization of men, in political terms it was first used to describe a
civilization of women. This type of gender confusion was something that was
clearly feared in the nineteenth century, and it can be argued that it is still present
in a modified form in today’s societies where feminists are sometimes perceived
as challenging natural differences between men and women.
 In the 1840s the women’s rights movement had started to emerge in the United
States with the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 and the resulting Declaration of
Sentiments, which claimed for women the principles of liberty and equality
expounded in the American Declaration of Independence.
 This was followed by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony’s
founding of the National Woman Suffrage Association. In Britain, too, the
1840s onwards saw the emergence of women’s suffrage movements. But even
before the emergence of organized suffrage movements, women had been
writing about the inequalities and injustices in women’s social condition and
campaigning to change it.
 In 1792 Mary Wollstonecraft had published A Vindication of the Rights of
Women
 Feminism is a range of movements and ideologies that share a common goal: to
define, establish, and achieve equal political, economic, cultural, personal, and
social rights for women. This includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for
women in education and employment. Feminist advocates or supports the rights and equality
of women.

Waves of Feminism

First wave of feminism: The first wave of feminism stemmed primarily from writings published in Canada, the United
Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States. This wave focused on the struggle for women’s political rights; in
particular, it emphasized the right to vote.
Two important dates emerged during the time of First Wave feminism: 1848, when the first Women’s Rights Convention was
held in Seneca, New York and 1920, when passage of the 19th Amendment ended women’s suffrage in the United States.
Throughout the era of First Wave feminism, women fought for and won the right to execute wills, the right to choose their
professions and own property in their name, the legalization of divorce, the right to be granted custody of their children in a
divorce, educational access, and the right to vote in an education setting

Second wave of feminism: Second Wave feminism began in the 1960s in the United State States and is referred to as the
Women’s Liberation Movement. In 1963, Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique identified the issues, expectations, and
roles that women play in society as “the problem that has no name,” and Second Wave feminism turned its focus to
sexuality and identity, family roles, workplace inequity, abortion rights, and the ability to control reproduction. The
Redstockings, the New York Radical Feminists, and other significant feminist groups joined the 1969 protest to show how
women in pageant competitions were paraded like cattle, highlighting the underlying assumption that the way women look is
more important than what they do, what they think, or even whether they think at all. Marching down the Atlantic City
boardwalk and close to the event itself, feminists staged several types of theatrical activism: crowning a sheep Miss America
and throwing “oppressive” gender artifacts, such as bras, girdles, false eyelashes, high heels, and makeup, into a trash can
in front of reporters.
This wave of feminism encapsulated the Equal Pay Laws and Equal Rights Amendment (did not pass in congress by 3
votes) but Civil Rights Act was passed. Additionally, it established marital rape laws, domestic violence centers, aid for
battered women, and the National Organization for Women.

Third wave of feminism: Third Wave of feminism began between 1980 and 1990 and is referred to as postmodern
feminism. It originated as a backlash to critical deficiencies perceived throughout the era of Second Wave
feminism. throughout the era of Second Wave feminism.
Four major theoretical perspectives contribute to postmodern feminism: intersectionality theory, postmodernist and
poststructuralist approaches, global feminism, and the agenda of a new generation of younger feminists that were discontent
with the previous state of feminist theory .Third Wave feminist theorists reject the traditional idea of femininity and
incorporate components of queer theory, transgender politics, intersections between race and gender, and individualist
feminism in their studies of women.

1st wave feminism: voting rights, property rights, birth control (that existed at the time - condoms or sponges and, just as
important, education about sexuality and how to prevent conception.

2nd wave feminism: sexual freedom, legislative work to change sexist law, integration into the workplace, equal funding,
integration into the political arena.

3rd wave feminism: sexual freedom, inclusion of gendered females, diversity, inclusion of women of color and women from
other cultures - plus the issues surrounding both 1st and 2nd wave feminism.

Liberal Feminism

According to Rosemarie Tong, Liberal Feminism began in the 18th and 19th centuries and has continued through to the
present day. Throughout its history the liberal feminist movement has been and continues to be focused on eliminating
female subordination, "rooted in a set of customary and legal constraints blocking women's entrance to and success in the
so-called public world." Its long history is a testament to how well it has been able to adapt and change to the many issues
confronting women.

Marry Wollstonecraft is an example of a liberal feminist thinker and the US suffrage movement is an example of a Liberal
feminist movement. Betty Friedan’s National organization for women (NOW) is a liberal feminist organization.

Mary Wollstonecraft
She talked about educational disparities laid stress on education of women and said that the truly educated women will be a
major contributor to society’s welfare. In ‘A Vindication of The Rights of Women’, she celebrated the rational thought of
women to attain full personhood. She urged women to become autonomous decision-makers. What Wollstonecraft most
wanted for woman is personhood. Women should not be reduced to the ‘toy of man’. Rather, she is an ‘end in herself’ his
rattle.

19th Century Thought (Equal Liberty)

John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor (Mill) joined Wollstonecraft in celebrating rationality.
They wanted women to pursue their desires. If society is to achieve sexual equality, or gender-justice, then society must
provide women with the same political rights and economic opportunities as well as the same education that men enjoy.
19th Century Action (The Suffrage)
Both John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor believed women needed suffrage in order to become men’s equals. They claimed
that the vote gives people the power not only to express their own political views but also to change those systems,
structures, and attitudes that contribute to their own or other’s oppression.
Seneca Falls Convention (1848), New York led by Elizabeth Cady Stantan, Declaration of Sentiment was produced. It
was a vintage point of the 20th century. Susan B Anthony and Cady Stanton established the National Women Suffrage
Association. As a result of their efforts for gaining vote for women the 19th amendment was passed.

Radical Feminism

Rosemarie Tong defines a radical feminist as one who "insist(s) the sex/gender system is the fundamental cause of
women's oppression." Unlike the liberal feminists who work within the system for change, the radical feminists want a new
system altogether. The current state of affairs promotes a sexism which "is the first, most widespread, deepest form of
human oppression," so it must be changed.

Redstockings is an example of a radical feminist organization.

View of Alison Jaggar and Paula Rothernberg
1. Women were, historically, the first oppressed group.
2. Women’s oppression is the most widespread existing in eventually every aspect of society.
3. Women’s oppression is the hardest form of oppression to eradicate and cannot be removed by other social changes such
as the abolition of class society.
4. Women’s oppression causes the most suffering to its victims, qualitatively and quantitatively.
5. Women’s oppression provides a conceptual model for understanding all other forms of oppression.

Radical feminism is a perspective within feminism that calls for radical reordering of society in which male supremacy is
eliminated in all social and economic contexts.
Radical feminists seek to challenge patriarchy existing in social norms and institutions, through purely political process. This
includes challenging traditional roles, opposing the sexual objectification of women and raising public awareness about
violence against women.

Patriarchal Theory
It maintains that the primary element of patriarchy is a relationship of dominance. Radical feminists believe that men use
social systems to keep women suppressed. They believe that eliminating patriarchy will liberate everyone from an unjust
society. Patriarchy a system dominated by men has systematically oppressed and marginalized women.

Movement
The ideology of radical feminism in the United States developed as a component of the women’s liberation movement.
Chronologically, it can be seen within the context of second-wave feminism that started in the early 1960’s.
Many local women’s groups in the late 60’s, such as the UCCA (Women’s Liberation Fund) WLF offered diplomatic
statements of radical feminism’s ideologies. UCCLA’s WLF co-founder Devra Weber calls:
“Radical feminists were opposed patriarchy, but not necessarily capitalism. In our group at least, they opposed so called
male dominated national liberation struggles”.
They took up the cause and advocated for a variety of women issues, including abortion, the Equal Rights Amendment,
access to credit, and equal pay.
Second-wave radical feminism saw greater numbers of black feminists and other women of color participating.

Action
They introduced consciousness awareness (CR) groups that allowed women from various backgrounds to share their
experiences of oppression and discrimination as a result of male supremacy. In 1968, they protested against the Miss
America pageant by throwing high heels and other feminine accoutrements into the garbage bin, to represent freedom.

Aims of Radical Feminism

1. Expanding reproductive rights. It includes not only the right to abortion and birth control but also her right to make those
choices freely without pressure from individual men.
2. Changing the organizational sex culture e.g. breaking down traditional gender roles reevaluating societal concepts of
femininity masculinity. Calling for structural changes to different institutions such as the family to stop male dominance.

Radical feminists see prostitution as a form of male dominance and it affirms and reinforces patriarchy as a form of slavery
resulting in sexual subjugation of women.

Radical feminists charge that the production of pornography entails physical, psychological, and/or economic coercion of the
women who perform in it even when the women are being presented as enjoying themselves. Radical feminists say that
women in pornography are brutalized in the process of its production. Pornography contributes to sexism. Robin Morgan
summarizes; “Pornography is the theory, and rape is the practice.”

Radical lesbians are distinguished from other radical feminists through their ideological roots in political lesbianism. Radical
lesbians see lesbianism as an act of resistance against the political institution of heterosexuality, which they view as violent
and oppressive towards women.

Kate Millett’s Sexual Politics (1970)

She claimed that male-female sex relationship is the paradigm for all power relationships. Because male control of the public
and private worlds maintains patriarchy, male control must be eliminated if women are to be liberated. To eliminate male
control, men and women have to eliminate gender.
Millet observed in contemporary feminism a determined effort to destroy the sex/gender system- the basic source of
women’s oppression and to create a new society in which men and women are equals at every level of existence.

Shulamith Firestone’s Dialectic of Sex

She claimed the material basis for the sexual/political ideology of female submission and male domination was rooted in the
reproductive roles of men and women. Firestone’s reflections on women’s reproductive role led her to a feminist revision of
the materialistic theory of history offered by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
Firestone proposed to make up for this oversight by developing a feminist version of historical materialism in which sex class
rather than economic class, is central concept.

Marxist Feminism

Marxist theory attempts to explain the structure of modern industrial society with special emphasis on class and labor.
According to Marx, society is broken up into two classes containing those who own the means of production (factories, tools,
capital) and the laborers who are exploited to produce the items demanded by the ruling classes. This exploitation is
extended to women with the addition of sexism and gender inequality. Marxist feminists are primarily concerned with the
division of labor that keeps women in the domestic sphere and men in the work place. In addition to this, when women do
enter the workforce, they are delegated to jobs that are deemed appropriate for their gender and are usually underpaid for
their work.
Marxist feminism is a branch of feminism focused on investigating and explaining the ways in which women are oppressed
through systems of capitalism and private property. According to Marxist Feminism, women’s liberation can only be
achieved through a radical restructuring of the current capitalist economy, in which much of women’s labor is
uncompensated.

Productive labor is compensated in the form of paid wage while reproductive labor is associated with private sphere and is
not for the purpose of receiving a wage.
Women are assigned to domestic sphere where the labor is reproductive and thus un-compensated and un-recognized in
capitalist system. It is in the public and private institution to exploit the labor of women as an inexpensive method of
supporting a workforce. Marxist feminists argue that exclusion of women from productive labor leads to male control to both
private and public domains.

Wages for Housework

Marxist feminists devoted their activism to fighting for the inclusion of the domestic work within the waged capitalist
economy. The idea of creating compensated reproductive labor was present in the writing of socialists, such as Sharlotte
Perkins Gilman (1898) who argued that women's oppression stemmed from being forced into the private spheres.

Psycho Analytic Feminism

Psycho analytic feminism is a theory of oppression, which asserts that men have an inherent psychological need to
subjugate women. The root of men's domination and women's subjugation lies deep within the human psyche. This branch
of feminism seeks to gain inside into how our psychic lives develop in order to better understand and change women's
oppression. This pattern of oppression is integrated in society thus creating and sustaining patriarchy. Societal change can
be developed through discovering the source of men's domination and women's subjugation, which largely resides
unrecognized in individual's unconscious.

Two Main Sections Psycho Analytic Feminism;

Micro Level
This section/branch focuses on examining differences between women and men, particularly on women psychology as well
as the environment in which the personality of child develops. This includes;
1. Childhood learning and formation
2. Relationships with parents
3. Early sexuality traits
4. It also explores the establishment of masculinity and femininity.

Macro Level
It investigates the construction of gender. It encompasses:
1. Examination of masculinity and femininity
2. Emergence of adult sexuality
3. Continual reinforcement of patriarchy

It also studies societal institutions such as economy and employment, science and knowledge, arts and language.

The exploration of women's role as mother and daughter is a central topic in psycho analytic feminism.
Utilizing Freud's object relation theory, Chodrew's examines the relationships of mothers and their children and concludes
that femininity is the strong representative of the strong tie to the mother, whereas the masculinity manifests itself as
distance from mother and father. Masculinity represents the possibility of gratification and femininity signifies the
impossibility of a union.
It is based on household practices of the parents as well as how the children are socialized on conscious and subconscious
levels. This reinforces boy's desire to dominate girls and girl's willingness to cooperate and compromise in their agency.
Psycho analytic feminists suggest that the key to changing gender construction can be achieved through altering parenting
practices.

Post-Modern Feminism

Jacques Derrida
Like Jacques Lacan, Jacques Derrida focused much of his work on the mechanisms of the Symbolic Order, i.e., the series of
interrelated sign, roles and rituals a child must internalize in order to function adequately in society. The more a child
submits to the linguistic rules of society, the more those rules will be inscribed in his/her unconscious. In other words, the
symbolic order regulates society through the regulation of individuals; as long as individuals speak the language of the
symbolic order-internalizing its gender, race and class roles-society reproduces itself in constant forms.

Feminist Movements in Pakistan

Through the passage of time, with the help of activists, numerous laws were established for a better status for women.
These laws include among numerous:

Dowry and bridal gift restriction act (1976)

 Criminal law act (2004)
 Protection of women act (2006, revise the hadood ordinance)
 Protection of harassment of women at work place (2010)
 Prevention of anti-women practices act 2011.
 Domestic violence act 2012
 Enforcement if women ownership rights acts 2012
Famous Organizations:
1. All Pakistan women association (APWA) was established in 1949. It aimed at providing moral, social, and economic
welfare for women.
2. Women Action Forum (WAF) was found in 1981 in response to the Hadood ordinance. it focuses on strengthening women
position in society.
3. Aurat foundation (AF) was founded in 1986. it works to provide information and undertake advocacy for women issues
and good governance.
4. The human rights commission of Pakistan (HRCP) was established in 1987. it has established a leading role in the
struggle for the provision of human rights for all and democratic development in the country.
5. The AGHS legal and cell was established in 1980 and focuses on the rights of women, children and minorities.
6. National commission on the status of women NCSW) was established in 2000. The NCSW examines policies, programs
and measures taken by the state for women development and gender equality.

Famous Contributors:
1. Raána Liaqat Ali Khan, established APWA and Pakistan women national guard (PWNG).
2. Jahan Ara Shah Nawaz and Shaista Ikram Ullah ware members of the first legislative assembly of Pakistan. Their first led
to the Muslim Personal Law (1948), charter of women rights (1956) and the Muslim family law Ordinance (1961).
3. The following women contributed to the feminist movement in the Urdu Literature.
 Ishrat Afreen
 Ada Jafri
 Hajra Masroor
 Fehmida Riaz
 Parveen Shakir
 Begum Akhtar Riaz Uddin
4. Zaib-un-Nisa, a writer and journalist is considered as the pioneer of feminism in Pakistan. She is served as the face of
independence, professional Pakistani women and defined the role of women in the term of contribution towards society.

Figures and Stats – Gender gap, undp gender inequality index, violence against women, female literacy rate

UN for Women

UN institute ECOSOC was established. The member states of UN were 51 in 1951, Out of 51 only 13 allowed women to
right of equal vote and right to hold public office.
In June 1946, the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) established the Commission on the Status of
Women (CSW) to ensure the empowerment of women and gender equality

Four conferences by UN on women.

 First world conference (1975)
 Second world conference (1980)
 Third world conference (1985)
 Fourth world conference (1995)

The first conference was held in Mexico in 1975 also known as the international women’s year.

Major Concerns and Issues

• Discrimination against women

• Ensuring full gender equality
• Participation of women in development
• Social and economic integration for women
• Increased contribution of women in global peace
• The attention of global community to be drawn to develop the future oriented goals, effective strategies and plans of action
for advancement of women
OVERALL DESCRIPTION
It was the largest international forum in which women themselves participated. Out of 133 states, 130 were headed by
women. Women also organized NGO forums at that time. It was stressed on countries to make policies for women. Eastern
states were more concerned on peace but western states were more concerned on the role of women in development.

The second conference was held in Copenhagen in 1980 and there was a general consensus that significant progress had
been made since the nations had met 5 years earlier in Mexico. The greatest achievement was the passing of CEDAW
(Convention for the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women) by the General Assembly. The bill also known
as the bill of rights for women and was legally binding on the 165 states.

Despite the progress made, the Copenhagen Conference recognized that signs of disparity were beginning to emerge
between rights secured and women's ability to exercise these rights. To address this concern, the Conference pinpointed
three areas where specific, highly focused action was essential if the broad goals of equality, development and peace,
identified by the Mexico City Conference, were to be reached. These three areas were equal access to education,
employment opportunities and adequate health care services.

The third conference was held in Nairobi in 1985.

Forward Looking Strategies

A strategy was made on previous experiences. Three basic measures of categories were identified in this forward looking
strategy. The main points are;
• Constitutional and legal steps
• Equality in social participation
• Equality in political participation and decision making

Further Recommendation and Concerns

• Employment
• Health
• Education and social services
• Industry and science
• Communication and environment

Over All Description

At the Third World Conference held in Nairobi in 1985, the UN revealed to Member States that only a number of women
benefited from the improvements and participants were asked to find new areas to ensure that peace, development and
equality could be achieved. Three sectors identified in Nairobi include equality in social participation and equality in political
participation and decision-making. The conference further recognized the necessity of women to participate in discussions in
all areas and not only on gender equality.

In the 4th conference held in Beijing in 1995, the ‘Beijing Platform for Action’ (BPFA) was adopted. The Declaration embodies
the commitment of the international community to the advancement of women and to the implementation of the Platform for
Action, ensuring that a gender perspective is reflected in all policies and programs at the national, regional and international
levels. The Platform for Action sets out measures for national and international action for the advancement of women over
the five years until 2000.

12 Ares of Platform for Action

• Women and Poverty
• Education and Training of Women
• Women and Health
• Violence Against Women
• Women and Arm Conflict
• Women and The Economy
• Women and The Power and Decision Making
• Women and The Mechanism for Advancement
• Women and The Rights for Human
• Women and The Media
• Women and The Environment
• Women and The Girl Child
The Role of Ngo’s
4,000 NGO’s representatives were there. They were recognized as change makers with regard to equality, violence and
discrimination.
Over All Description
The overriding message of the Fourth World Conference on Women was that the issues addressed in the Platform for
Action are global and universal. Deeply entrenched attitudes and practices perpetuate inequality and discrimination against
women, in public and private life, in all parts of the world. Accordingly, implementation requires changes in values, attitudes,
practices and priorities at all levels.
The Conference signaled a clear commitment to international norms and standards of equality between men and women;
that measures to protect and promote the human rights of women and girl-children as an integral part of universal human
rights must underlie all action; and that institutions at all levels must be reoriented to expedite implementation. Governments
and the UN agreed to promote the “mainstreaming” of a gender perspective in policies and programs.

Gender and Development

The six main theoretical approaches are:

(1) The Welfare Approach;
(2) Women In Development (WID);
(3) Women And Development (WAD)
(4) Gender And Development (GAD)
(5) The Effectiveness Approach (EA)
(6) Mainstream Gender Equality (MGE)

Status of Women in Pakistan

The Ideology- “No nation can rise to the height of glory unless their women are side by side with them…It is crime against
humanity that our women are shut up with in the four walls of the houses as prisoners. There is no sanction anywhere for
the deplorable condition in which our women have to live.”
Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Father of the Nation

“The Reality-Pakistan was made only for the powerful and for the men. It was not made for weak and poor women like me.
What are we worth and what is our status here? Nothing at all …"
Basheeran Bibi, one of the numerous female victims of violence in Pakistan

According to the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap, Pakistan is among the worst places for women in the world.
The recent report of United Nations Development Program (UNDP), ranked Pakistan at 123 out of 148 countries in the 2012
Gender Inequality Index (GII) (UNDP, 2013). In addition, low female literacy rate is one of the main causes of women's all-
round deprivation and violence as experienced by them. It also causes low participation in the political, economic and social
activities. They cannot achieve their rights and compete for available opportunities in the job market. This situation has led to
the social and economic dependence of women which in turn ensures male domination in society.

Education, marriage, health, economic stats for women

Status of women’s education in Pakistan

Although, Pakistan is a signatory of UN Education for All Frame Work for Action Documents, which places considerable
emphasis on women education, particularly the elimination of gender disparities in primary, secondary and higher education,
but the target of achieving education for all in Pakistan is still far from satisfactory.
Pakistan has the third highest number of out of school female students in the world: 55% of out of school children in
Pakistan are girls. However, it should come as no surprise that Pakistan is listed as one of the countries have large gender
gaps in education, and therefore requires hefty investment in girls education for a socioeconomic uplift.

Issues Faced by Women as Voters

1. Absence of voter registration.
2. Problems related to CNIC.
3. Gender role perception.
4. Lack of awareness for their roles and rights.
5. Absence of decision making in voting.
6. Patriarchic mindset and dominating problems.
7. Ethnic Issues and tribal Culture
8. Terrorism and Security Threats
“Less than 5% of female political representatives have fathers or husbands belonging to working class.”
(Farzana Bari)

Violence against Women and Theoretical Foundations

Micro-Oriented/Individual/Direct Violence Theories

 Social Learning Theory

 Personality Characteristics and Psychopathology
 Biological Theory
 Exchange Theory
 Resource Theory

Social Learning Theory

Individuals learn how to behave through both experience of and exposure to violence. Intergenerational transmission of
violence–Social learning theory can also be used to examine how the relationship between the victim and offender
contributes to the cycle of violence:
 Learned helplessness
 Survivorship

Personality Characteristics and Psychopathology

Individuals who use violence against women have some sort of personality disorder or mental illness that might get in the
way of otherwise normal inhibitions about using violence.
 Those who engage in violent behavior are seen as sick individuals who are different from other people.
 Focusing only on psychological factors tends to decrease the abuser’s responsibility for his actions.

Biological Theory
It suggests that violence against women is related to the process of natural selection. Rape can be viewed as an extreme
response to the natural selection pressure on men to reproduce combined with attempts by females to control the identity of
their partner.
 Biological and Neurological factors -Childhood attention deficit disorders and head injuries as risk factors
 Eliminates responsibility for the offender

Resource Theory
Violence occurs in a family in order to maintain power. Posits that the decision making power within a given family derives
from the value of the resources that each person brings to the relationship. This may indicate resources such as financial,
social and organizational.

Exchange Theory
Individuals engage in behavior either to earn rewards or to escape punishment. Violence is a means by which individuals or
groups can maintain or advance their interests.

2. Macro/ Cultural/ Indirect Violence Theories

 Feminist Theory
 Family Violence Perspective
 Subculture of Violence
 Cultural Acceptance of Violence
 Stress

Feminist Theory
Violence occurs as a result of a male-dominated social structure and the socialization practices that teach gender-specific
roles for men and women.
 Patriarchy
 Gender roles
 Does not account for violence by women in both
 Heterosexual and lesbian relationships.
Family Violence Perspective
Violence affects all family relationships (both men and women can be violent) and the origin of the problem is in the nature
of the family structure.
Subculture of Violence
Certain groups in society may be more likely than other groups to accept the use of violence in specific situations.
Cultural Acceptance of Violence
Cultural approval of violence in certain areas of life such as in movies and sporting events may spill over into other areas of
interpersonal interaction and contribute to the use of violence against women.
Stress
Stress is a significant risk factor for violence against women; violence is often used in response to a stressful situation.

According to the EU-wide Survey on Violence against Women conducted by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, 22% of
women have experienced some form of physical and/or sexual violence by a current or previous partner.
(EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, EU-wide Survey on Violence against Women 2014)

According to Amnesty International human rights organization, in the area of prevention of violence against women,
“The government of Pakistan has not only failed to educate the public in general and women in particular about rights and
freedoms laid down in the constitution and state law, it has also failed to remove widespread misperceptions that Islam
sanction crimes of honor, and has taken no measures to correct the widespread gender bias of law enforcement personnel
and to provide adequate gender sensitization training to all staff likely to deal with complaints by or about women.”

In 1973, Constitution of Pakistan states that no court shall have jurisdiction unless it is authorized by the constitution or
under the law but it is unclear what if any steps have been taken by the government to abolish the panchayat. Now where is
this better illustration than in the case of Mukhtaraan Mai, there is no question that a panchayat took place to determine
what was to be done in regards to Mai’s brother Shakoor. When the panchayat decision f marrying Mai to Khaliq was
rejected, Mai was told that if she came to panchayat and asked for her brother’s forgiveness he would be free as per
Balouch custom. The gang rape of Mai upon her arrival was a result of a form of retributive justice, sanction by a traditional,
exclusively male, judicial council that not only allows but orders the bartering and rape of women to settle dispute.