Pathways
Changing Narratives of Empowerment in Pakistan: Trajectories of Desire and the Mediation of Socio-Cultural Spaces
2007 - 2012
We examine the discursive changes that are taking place in areas related to the media, predominantly satellite television and religion, viz the global upsurge of religious fundamentalisms and resurgent patriarchies in Pakistan, in the wider context of new technologies, consumerism and globalisation. We have identified and attempt to grant visibility to new pathways and sites of change in the area of media and religion and women’s empowerment.
Resources For This Project
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Religion And Women: Trajectories Of Empowement BDI 2
As Bangladesh turns 40, improvements in women’s wellbeing and increased agency are claimed to be some of the most significant gains in the post-independence era. Various economic and social development indicators show that in the last 20 years, Bangladesh, a poor, Muslim-majority country in the classic patriarchal belt, has made substantial progress in increasing women’s access to education and healthcare (including increasing life expectancy), and in improving women’s participation in the labour force. The actors implementing such programmes and policies and claiming to promote women’s empowerment are numerous, and they occupy a significant position within national political traditions and development discourses. In the 1970s and 1980s development ideas around women’s empowerment in Bangladesh were influenced by an overtly instrumentalist logic within the international donor sphere. …
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Trajectories Of Desire And The Mediation Of Socio-Cultural Spaces, Final Report
As part of the South Asia Hub of the Pathways to Women's Empowerment Research Programme, 'Changing Narratives of Sexuality: Trajectories of Desire and the Mediation of Socio-Cultural Spaces' this action research project was designed to examine discursive changes and their impact on women's lives/identities in areas related to (i) religion specifically the global upsurge of religious fundamentalisms and resurgent patriarchies with reference to the rise of Wahabi Islam as a hegemonic discourse, new religious practices and women in Pakistan and (ii) the media, predominantly satellite television, in the wider context of technologies, consumerism and globalization. The project aimed to identify and uncover new pathways and sites of change in the two areas mentioned above by using different methodological techniques. The project was expanded by the Simorgh Lahore Partnership to include traditional religious practices and rituals in the religious component so as to deepen understanding of the processes of change that are underway to see how far they are conducive to women's empowerment and to what extent they merely reformulate and reinforce existing norms regarding women's status and position in society. In the process, it examines the ways in which these factors shape women’s identities and self perception. …
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Trajectories Of Desire And The Mediation Of Socio-Cultural Spaces: The Impact Of The Media And Religion On Women’s Lives In Bangladesh And Pakistan
This presentation given by Neelam Hussain to the South Asia Hub Conference held from 26-28 July 2011 in Dhaka, was on research conducted by the Simorgh Women's Resource and Publication Centre, Lahore. The aim of the research on the impact of the media and women's religious gatherings on women's lives in Pakistan was to examine the impact of two seemingly disparate yet interlinked modern day phenomena, namely: the dars (women's religious gatherings) and new technologies, specifically satellite television and the mobile phone. …
