Using ethnographic data collected with Muslim women teachers from rural and low-income communities in Pakistan, this article shows how empowerment for these educated women meant access to different forms of power within families and communities. The focus on the issue of choice in marriage reveals how the participants conceptualised empowerment as…

In this article, we analyze the coverage of Malala in "The New York Times" and "The Wall Street Journal" to explore how these influential media sources characterize Islam and Pakistan to tell Malala's story. Our discourse analysis reveals how these newspapers construct Malala's status as a global icon as an embodiment of her…

In contemporary times, the status of Muslim women has become a lens to approach and engage with Muslim societies. Embedded in these narratives is an image of Muslim women as oppressed victims of their patriarchal families and societies. In this article, we focus on the lived experiences of educated Muslim women from Pakistan and India to examine…

Through employing ethnographic data collected with female teachers from rural and low-income communities in Pakistan, this paper examines how parhi likhi (educated) women's access to valuable opportunities in public domains is contingent upon them becoming subject to new regulations, especially regarding their sexuality. This gendered process of…

In a world marred by the fears of religious extremism, Muslim women have become subjects of various global projects that aim to modernize 'traditional' Muslim societies through women's education and empowerment. Embedded in these discourses is an assumption that "all" educated Muslim women will empower themselves through challenging the…

The contemporary paradigm of international development invests in individuals and communities as the main agents of development. In this paradigm, education is presented as the central avenue for individuals and communities to generate resources and networks to empower themselves. Some development and feminist scholars have critiqued this intense…