From the Courts, to the Streets, to the University: Fighting to Save Gender Studies in Pakistan, 2018–2023

Abstract

Abstract: This article traces the recent growing contestation leveled against the discipline of gender studies in Pakistan. In 2020 a petition was filed in Lahore High Court against the teaching of gender studies in higher education institutions across Pakistan that should be seen as part of the national backlash initiated against feminist struggles/movements in Pakistan. Documenting the narratives of five founding heads of WGS departments through in-depth interviews, I have analyzed how WGS has not only historically but also in contemporary times encountered challenges at various levels. In addition to those interviews (primary data), I also relied on secondary sources to unearth those contestations against WGS. It is reflected in this research that WGS has journeyed through different phases, encountering antagonism and resistance, and eventually received acceptance as a field of study in a society like Pakistan, which is highly patriarchal. Though it has gained acceptance over the period, the struggle experienced by the practitioners and scholars of WGS has remained constant. They are labeled as anti-culturalists and anti-religious and stereotyped as "Westerners" toeing the Western philosophy being part of WGS. These allegations are augmented by the arguments around the scope and marketability of WGS reflecting the systemic realities of the neoliberal economic order, where education is valued on its market and commercial basis. Though the Aurat March of 2018, as theorized by feminist scholars, started the fourth wave of women's rights activism in Pakistan, it faced a huge backlash from the state and society alike. Since WGS vehemently supports women and gender rights activism and movements in general, in Pakistan the backlash was also directed against WGS. It is argued and theorized that the growing contestation and backlash to the Aurat March and WGS in Pakistan should be seen in a global context in recent years where anti-gender discourses (coupled with transphobia) are widely shared and disseminated. This article, therefore, situates these challenges faced by WGS within these local and global realities.