Reinforcement of Male Hegemony through Female Madaris In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Abstract

The last four decades have witnessed a rapid increase in female Madaris in Pakistan. This paper examines whether these Madaris empower young women or buttress gender relations and male hegemony. This paper, based on qualitative interviews with Muhtamims, teachers and female students in ten female Madaris of Deobandi sect in two districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, argues that female Madaris are among the several institutional mechanisms through which gender relations are legitimized and women are taught to accept a male dominated culture, its legitimacy, and their subordination to it and in it. It further asserts that these Madaris construct young women as gendered human who position themselves as inferior to men and thus contribute to the perpetuation of male hegemony. The paper suggests that independent female Madaris with female Mohtameem and female teaches will make Madaris as powerful spaces that will enable young women to negotiate the existing gender relations in the light of religious injunctions interpreted from women’s perspective.