Gender Studies as an Academic Discipline in Pakistan: Issues, Challenges and Prospects
Author: Rabbia Aslam, rabbia@qau.edu.pk
Department: Sociology
University: Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad , Pakistan
Supervisor: Dr. Sarfraz Khan
Year of completion: 2024
Language of dissertation: English
Keywords:
Knowledge Production
, Women and Gender Studies
, Discipline
, Academia
Areas of Research:
History of Sociology
, Social Transformations and Sociology of Development
, Women in Society
Abstract
My research is focused on women’s gender studies as an academic discipline in Pakistan in order to discuss issues, contestation, and expectations from the field. Further, it explores the process of institutionalization of the discipline in contemporary Pakistan. The issues include organizational, financial, and advancement challenges of gender studies in patriarchal societies like Pakistan. The objective of the research is to document the history of the discipline and to analyze its issues, challenges, prospects, and current state in Pakistan. I have adopted the feminist qualitative methodology, and my theoretical propositions are grounded in the feminist research principles and feminist standpoint theory. To meet my objectives I have conducted 22 semi-structured interviews with the teaching faculty of five leading public sector universities in major metropolitan cities of Pakistan. The sampling technique is goal-oriented. The aim is to establish what kind of knowledge is being produced by gender studies academics in these universities. Further, the data around the future and expectations involves debate about the multidisciplinary nature of gender studies, varied notions of its independent status and the integration debate in gender studies. Here one of the biggest obstacles is the impetus (funding) to establish and expand gender studies, which come from international compulsion by global governance institutions and foreign aid agencies. Still, the implementation of these programs ends up at least partially in the hands of conservative (even anti-feminist) administration at the universities who perceive the enforcement of gender studies as contrary to Pakistani culture and perhaps a threat to religious ideologies. It helps us to see how it gets through within already established social sciences because in our context it is still considered an ideological and political, not a purely scientific discipline. It is an institutionally fragile discipline because it is still evolving and making its space within mainstream social sciences in Pakistan. The policy recommendation for this research could be that the marketability of the field can be achieved with the support of national machinery regarding gender equality in Pakistan. Further, with the help of academic institutions, universities, researchers and think tanks should do brainstorming for the execution of more collaborative work on egalitarian terms to redefine the local knowledge production practices and process of doing research with a gender perspective in Pakistan. The department of gender studies can be part of the advisory board of the different organizations working on gender and social issues. Lastly, gender specialist positions can be generated at public offices, and weightage should be given to those who possess a degree/certificate and/or diploma in gender studies. It can help raise awareness among practitioners in the different social sectors.
