POLITICS OF AURAT MARCH: A GENDERED NEO-LIBERALIST INSIGHT INTO INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY CELEBRATION IN PAKISTAN

Abstract

The present study explores the discourse used in the ‘Aurat March’ celebrations in observance to International Women’s Day on March 9, 2019 in Karachi and Lahore, the major cities of Pakistan. Western post feminism has immersed into social and cultural norms of contemporary Pakistani society.  Theoretically grounded in Gill’s (2006) concept of ‘gendered neo liberalism’ and Cixous ‘The laugh of the Medusa’, a qualitative enquiry into the selected posters hoisted in Aurat March procession highlights relevance of the march to the changing context influenced by strong opposing direction followed by Pakistani women. Such a deviation has led them to associate their situation to gendered neo-liberalism, a power exercise to seize the political rights of women. A critical thematic analysis of the slogans exposes the effectiveness of the posters on target group to foster new identities. The study concludes that instead of getting hold of political rights, the activism has greatly endangered women by foregrounding their bodies as ‘objects’ ready to be consumed further. Moreover, the idea of ‘sex self identification’ has created a chaos in Pakistani society directly in clash with religion and culture. For future researches, this study proposes an investigation at a broader level in Pakistani context if an explicit rejection of the social and cultural structures leads to bring change in the status of Pakistani women in general or the activism holds elite class women a priority.

Keywords: Aurat March, Deviation, Activism, Post-feminism, body femininity, neo-liberalism