Portrayals Of Women In Pakistan PDF Download

This project examines portrayals of women’s suffering and binary feminine morality in popular Pakistani Urdu TV dramas, categorizing these dramas within a coined genre of “suffering women,” and investigates the extent to which distance from mainland Pakistan and local Pakistani culture affects diasporic viewers’ ‘critical proximity’ to the representations of suffering women narratives and female characters. At the academic intersection of gender, media, and migration, arise discussions of diasporic women’s dissonance, as opposed to concurrence, with ‘home’ country or culture. Within this project, three basic conventions of the suffering women genre are outlined as (i) on-screen crying or suffering women, (ii) male or female patriarchal characters, and (iii) taqdeer, or karmic or poetic justice. It explores this trend by textually analyzing selected popular dramas and asking Houston-based Pakistani viewers about their experiences and sentiments regarding the dramas. Using three hugely popular dramas––Humsafar/Life Partner (2011), Meray Paas Tum Ho/I Have You (2019), and Zindagi Gulzar Hai/Life is a Rose Garden (2012)––as case studies, the project employs a multi-method analytical strategy of historical research, textual analysis, and audience interviews to create a holistic conversation around the emotional and societal impact of Pakistani suffering women dramas on diasporic Pakistani viewers. Themes addressed include matters of second generation Pakistani feminism, hegemonic gender roles, and binary perspective on women’s morality