Gender Consciousness Amongst Pukhtun, in Afghanistan and Pakistan Impact on the Status of Pukhtun Women
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Date
2015
Journal Title
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AREA STUDY CENTRE (CENTRAL ASIA), UNIVERSITY OF PESHAWR
Abstract
The study attempts and finds direct and dialectical association between
gender consciousness and status of women amongst Pukhtun, in Afghanistan
and Pakistan. Rejecting widely held presupposition that an apriori, fixed,
monolithic understanding of gender i.e., masculinity/femininity, exists
amongst Pukhtun, this study demonstrates that varied patterns and levels of
gender consciousness amongst Pukhtun exist which shape gender relations and
impact status of Pukhtun women in paradoxical ways. Gender consciousness,
reflected in notions, symbols, customs, institutions, laws and
policies,
multifariously develops dialectically within gender relations. However, the
association between genderrelations and consciousness is not mechanical and
one-sided. Gender relations interpret consciousness and consciousness shapes
these relations.
Chapter One defines and discusses key terms i.e., gender, gender
relations, gender consciousness and status of women; and builds theoretical
paradigm. It repudiates biological determinism and ensuing naturalization of
gender based division of labour, masculine/feminine roles, relationships,
privileges and discriminations.
Chapter Two delineates views of selected philosophers regarding gender
and status of women, identifying inherent gender biases, subsequently shaping
gendered consciousness and relations. It argues that essentialism inculcates
gendered consciousness while dialectical materialist socialist feminism rejects
fixed, given, universal masculine/feminine essences and hierarchical gender
relations and takes into account roles ofbodies, social, political and economic
factors; thus paves way for gender consciousness.
Chapter Three, Four and Five use selections from: selected genres of
Pukhto folklore and prose; twentieth and twenty first centuries’ Pukhto poetry
to delineate and assess varied manifestations of Pukhtun gendered and gender
consciousness. It identifies varied androcentric, dichotomous, hierarchical and
essentialist patterns of Pukhtun gendered consciousness that sanction absolute
authority of men over women’s body, emotions and actions. These patterns
legitimize patriarchal Puktun notions, customs, traditions and institutions,
ineulcating male-stream Pukhtunwali that dehumanize woman and lowers her
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status. Pukhtunpatriarchal gender relations and gendered consciousness are
grounded in strict division of labour, on the basis of sex difference, both in
production and reproduction. This division determines and affects social value
assignedto sexed bodies, labour and productof labour, control over resources,
their respective roles, status and privileges. Pukhtun gender consciousness
exhibits progressively varied levels: beginning with discernement of extremely
naked patriarchalpractices, it ascends to advocacy of right to life, education,
healthcare, work and consent to marriage and bringing forward ‘subaltern
Pukhtunwali’. There appear, occasionally, traces of higher transformatory
eritical consciousness too that recognizes women’s agency and calls for
collective political action to overthrow patriarchy. These varied patterns and
levels of Pukhtun gender consciousness reflect dialectical interplay of a wide
range of social, political and economic factors, most notably property
relations, division of labour in production and reproduction, strict demarcation
of private and public spheres.
Conclusions discuss paradoxical development of gender consciousness
and impact of varied patterns and levels of Pukhtun gender consciousness on
the status of women.