ISLAMABAD/OP-ED: Post-feminism in Pakistan emerges not as a successor to feminism, but as a cultural accommodation , a framework that repackages empowerment in forms digestible to patriarchal society. Rather than challenging oppressive norms head-on, it often works within them, creating a facade of progress that leaves deep-rooted inequalities untouched.
Feminism, at its core, advocates equality between men and women. Yet in Pakistan, where patriarchal and religious structures dominate social life, feminism remains deeply contested. Many within society, particularly male actors, perceive feminist demands as disruptive to traditional hierarchies. Despite the increasing visibility of women in public and professional life, studies repeatedly show that women continue to be targeted in the name of religion, culture, and morality. Feminist movements , particularly grassroots initiatives like the Aurat March , have become symbolic battlegrounds, confronting patriarchal interpretations of faith and advocating for bodily autonomy, legal reform, and reproductive rights. Their slogans, such as “Mera jism, meri marzi” (“My body, my choice”), have sparked furious backlash, exposing how taboo female agency remains.
Postfeminism, by contrast, offers a palatable and less confrontational version of empowerment. It celebrates choice and visibility but often without interrogating the context and constraints that shape those choices. It thrives particularly in elite urban circles, where modernity coexists with deeply ingrained traditions. Here, empowerment is frequently defined through professional success, fashion, and lifestyle , realms that allow women to appear liberated while still conforming to acceptable feminine roles.
Literature and media have played a significant role in constructing this postfeminist sensibility. In Saba Imtiaz’s Karachi, You’re Killing Me!, the protagonist Ayesha Khan navigates Karachi’s chaotic streets, confronting sexism with wit and resilience. Her visibility in public spaces , from newsrooms to cafés , is a form of resistance, yet it is filtered through satire, irony, and a narrative that accommodates rather than confronts systemic patriarchy. This reflects a broader cultural shift toward individualized, symbolic resistance that avoids the structural critique central to feminist activism.
One of the most emblematic examples of postfeminist negotiation is the “doctor bride”, a figure celebrated for her education, yet often pressured to prioritize domestic responsibilities over a medical career. While these women possess educational capital, their professional identity is frequently subordinated to marriageability and motherhood. This gendered hybridity, where career and domestic roles entangle, reinforces traditional values under the guise of empowerment. Some women doctors actively manage both domains, presenting themselves as career-oriented yet family-first. Others retreat into domesticity, using their education not for public service but to bolster family status. In both cases, the cultural norms around tradition and masculinity remain intact.
Such postfeminist narratives tend to exclude rural women, working-class realities, and minority voices , those facing the harshest consequences of gender-based discrimination, economic exclusion, and legal inertia. Feminist activism, despite being undermined and often vilified, continues to confront these issues directly. It challenges state-backed religious conservatism, from the Hudood Ordinances to the gatekeeping power of the Federal Shariat Court , and demands that women’s rights be treated not as privileges but as foundational entitlements.
In many Muslim-majority societies, including Pakistan, liberal feminists often advocate for gender equality through the universal language of human rights and political secularism. This places them at odds not only with religious conservatives but also with critics who view secularism itself as a Western imposition. The feminist movement in Pakistan remains embattled not just by cultural resistance, but also by misconceptions and deliberate delegitimization. Feminists are vilified as “Western agents,” derided as elitist “feminazis,” and accused of moral subversion. Their calls for equality are conflated with demands for supremacy, and their political critique is dismissed as cultural betrayal. This vilification—both public and private—has severely damaged the movement’s credibility among the general population. The result is a polarizing climate where feminist voices are either dismissed as foreign agents or co-opted by sanitized postfeminist tropes that celebrate form over substance.
Moreover, the NGO-ization of feminism, where activism is refracted through donor agendas and project cycles, has diluted its ideological edge. Funded activism risks perpetuating depoliticized gender discourse, addressing symptoms but not root causes. Government co-optation further fragments feminist solidarity, as programmatic reforms avoid challenging patriarchy head-on for fear of jeopardizing institutional alliances.
Ultimately, postfeminism in Pakistan is troubling because it downplays the transformative potential of feminist movements. It reflects the tension between symbolic progress and substantive transformation. It allows for aesthetic rebellion, aspirational careerism, and curated independence, while leaving power structures largely intact. It is troubling not because it celebrates visibility, but because it mistakes visibility for liberation.
By repackaging agency within socially acceptable norms, it offers visibility without transformation, choice without freedom, and empowerment without equity. In doing so, it sustains, rather than dismantles , the patriarchal Islamic structures embedded in society. Real change demands not just representation, but liberation , not just survival within tradition, but it’s redefinition.
(The opinions are the authors, Europeantimes.org bears no responsibility for the same)
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Matteo Bianchi
Matteo Bianchi is a geopolitical analyst and author. With a distinguished career in information and security in government and the corporate world, Bianchi has lived in 4 continents and worked in several verticals. He is currently retired and writes on geopolitics, AI and cybersecurity.
