Pakistani Women’s Rights

Shamila Chaudhary authored an article for the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs. The piece discusses women's rights movements in Pakistan, including the protests across the nation on International Women's Day 2019.

A country hostile toward women, Pakistan faced a reckoning on March 8 when thousands took to the streets to commemorate International Women’s Day—a demonstration of how Pakistani women grow stronger in their resolve to challenge the many forms of isolation and exclusion that give Pakistan one of the world’s poorest records of gender equality.

Signs protestors made decried all forms of discrimination, from severe physical violence endured by rape survivors and honor killings to the unequal division of labor inside the home. The march provoked backlash from various segments of Pakistani society that believed the gathering threatened prevailing cultural values.