Abstract
This chapter studies the representation of the ‘new Pakistani women’ in contemporary Urdu dramas. Specifically, it examines the heroines of four recent dramas that have been celebrated for their progressive outlook on women’s issues. I argue that the discourse on women’s rights has been reinterpreted to shape a normative role model for urban middle-class women. This new woman is set in opposition to the upper-class, ‘westernized’ women as well as to ‘backward’, lower-class women. She is expected to be educated, self-reliant, and aware of her rights but also family-oriented, respectable, pious, and above all, ready to compromise on her desires in order to avoid familial and social conflict. By doing so, she preserves the unity of the family and by extension of the nation.
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Notes
- 1.
I would like to thank Nazia Hussein for her helpful comments, as well as Emilie Frenkiel. The usual disclaimers apply.
- 2.
See Annex 1 for a description of the corpus. I have watched these dramas on video-sharing websites, where the dramas were often uploaded by the networks themselves. Some of the episodes were subtitled in English, but I tried to rely as much as possible on my own translations. I use a simplified system of transliteration, without diacritic signs or long vowels, unless it is the most common transliteration (e.g. in the case of Rehaai). I thank Gayatri Rathore for helping me clarify some of the dialogues.
- 3.
These are not the only dramas meeting these criteria, but as one drama represents about 16 hours of videos, it was important to limit the corpus. I also chose to focus on dramas set in urban settings.
- 4.
I am here inspired by Lata Mani’s work on the debates over sati in colonial India (Mani 1987).
- 5.
I draw my information on her from an interview she gave in the show Mera Safar, anchored by Ray Khan and broadcasted on BBC Urdu on 10 March 2016. See: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03m4zbw (access 12/02/2017).
- 6.
http://kashf.org/?page_id=15 (access: 22/07/16).
- 7.
- 8.
Titzmann’s work focuses on India but ‘pro-women’ advertising is also developing in Pakistan, as shown by the advertisement for the company QMobile released during the 2016 Ramadan featuring a young female cricket player struggling for her father’s approval (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ3X4CWStoM accessed 23/02/2017). This advertisement was largely commented in the social media.
- 9.
‘kis aurat per hath utahane ki ijazat de Quran? Sarkash aur na-farman aurat, na mai sarkash thi aur na hi na farma.’: ‘Which woman does the Quran allow to hit? The rebellious and disobedient woman, I wasn’t rebellious and I wasn’t disobedient’.
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Videos
“Mera Safar”, BBC Urdu, 10 March 2016, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03m4zbw. Accessed 23 Feb 2016.
“Naya zamaana. Nayi baatein” (New Age. New Conversations), QMobile Advertisement https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ3X4CWStoM. Accessed 23 Feb 2016.
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Annex 1: Description of the Corpus
Annex 1: Description of the Corpus
Drama | Director | Writer | Producer | Plot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Zindagi Gulzar Hai | Sultana Siddiqui | Umera Ahmed | Momina Duraid | Kashaf is rejected by her father. She struggles to become economically independent and to find marital happiness. |
Rehaai | Mehreen Jabbar | Farhat Ishtiaq | Momina Duraid | Three women, who are confronted to child marriage and domestic violence, become economically independent. |
Chup Raho | Yasir Nawaz | Samira Fazal | Six Sigma Entertainment | Rameen is sexually harassed by her sister’s husband and silenced by her family. |
Kankar | Aabis Raza | Umera Ahmad | Momina Duraid | Kiran is a victim of domestic violence and struggles to get social acceptance after her divorce. |
Drama | Major female characters | Secondary female characters | Channel | Period | Number of episodes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Zindagi Gulzar Hai | 5 | 3 | Hum TV | 2012–2013 | 26 |
Rehaai | 3 | 4 | Hum TV | 2013 | 15 |
Chup Raho | 3 | 2 | Ary digital | 2014–2015 | 28 |
Kankar | 1 | 7 | Hum TV | 2013 | 25 |
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Dutoya, V. (2018). The New Heroine? Gender Representations in Contemporary Pakistani Dramas. In: Hussein, N. (eds) Rethinking New Womanhood. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67900-6_4
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