I was extremely excited when I heard that a book on feminism and feminist studies has finally been published in Urdu. Since the last five years, the word ‘feminism’ has very much become part of the everyday conversation and dialogue in Pakistan. This is basically because of the much-discussed, much-talked-about and much-criticised event known as ‘Aurat March’, which was initiated by a group of feminists in Karachi in 2018.

However, when I held the book in my hands and read the title — Aurat, Justujoo Aur Nisai Andaaz-i-Fikr [Woman, Struggle and the Female Style of Thinking] — I was, to be honest, taken aback. Was the book going to be about feminism, or about femininity? How does the word ‘feminism’ translate into the Urdu language? Will the book be able to explain feminist ideology to the reader and how the two concepts and ideas differ?

Even though many women — especially young women — are coming towards feminist ideas, not many are clear about what feminism actually stands for. There is much false propaganda against feminism and this is reinforced by fundamentalist groups and certain elements of the media that see women’s liberation and emancipation as a threat.

There is not enough awareness about feminism in Pakistan; the little that people do know about it is very biased and seen from the lens of a patriarchal society, therefore it is very essential and creditable that a book on feminism in Urdu is now available. This makes this book very welcome and one must congratulate the publishers, the printer and the editor. Readers owe a great debt to the book’s publishers — the Centre of Excellence for Women’s Studies (CEWS) at the University of Karachi (UoK) and the Anjuman Tarraqqee-i-Niswan — and Karachi Studies Society, which has served as consultant. It is wonderful that they have deemed it fit to publish a book in Urdu on feminism.

From the point of view of the contents, the book is interesting. Nasreen Aslam Shah, head of the department at CEWS, has compiled 10 papers written by herself, her faculty and her former students. There is much to inform readers about the history of the women’s movement in these essays.

A compilation of essays on feminism in Urdu is a welcome development, but could have been better thought through

There is no doubt that critical assumptions, historical circumstances and ideologies generally have been hostile towards women’s movements and there are not enough works to read about women’s contribution towards the development of societies. Shah’s book is an attempt to make available for Urdu-language readers a group of works that together bring various thoughts and approaches to feminist ideology and create a narrative on patriarchy and its contested margins.

The debates, on what constitutes ‘women’s work’ and what are women’s roles, have had to change over the years. As feminists, we do need to question words such as “izzat” [honour] and “zyadti” [excess] when it is used for the English word ‘rape’. Detailed feminist scholarship will offer new interpretations, new words, new vocabulary, new narratives, new norms and practices.

These are the kind of questions that must be raised in books on feminism. The women’s texts in this book document the many-faceted and often-challenged arguments within the women’s movement as crucial to an understanding of the feminist movement and the resistances it encounters and engenders.

In the preface, written by Shah, we are informed that, in 1989, Women’s Studies Centres were set up in five public universities of Pakistan, in the cities of Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Quetta and Peshawar. The library of the CEWS at the UoK holds many books on women’s studies, but since almost all of these are in English, it became imperative that a book on feminism in Urdu should be considered. Thus, the present volume emerged.

During the reading of the preface, the Urdu word “hawala” [reference] occurs repeatedly and I was dismayed to find that it has been used at least 15 times in the three-and-half pages of the preface. It is certainly not a word of literary value, and the constant repetition smacks of poor proofreading.

March 8 is the International Women’s Day and it gets mentioned as a rallying point for activities on women’s issues, but its significance, history or background is not explained. Since the book has been written keeping students and academic scholarship in mind, one feels more consideration should have been given to explaining how and why this particular day is celebrated around the world.

The first paper is by Dr Seema Manzoor, assistant professor at CEWS, UoK, and titled ‘Nisai Tehreek Ki Taareef-o-Adabi Tajziya’ [History of the Women’s Movement and Literary Analysis]. She chooses to begin with what I consider a cliché couplet by Allama Muhammad Iqbal:

“Vajood-i-zan se hai tasveer-i-kainaat main rang
Issi ke saaz se hai zindagi ka soaz-i-daroon”

I would roughly translate this into English as: The image that this world presents derives its colours from woman/ She is the lyre that imparts pathos and warmth to the human heart.

One can question how appropriate this couplet is to begin a book on feminism. One would argue that the concept of woman as decorative goes against the very basis of feminism. Surely, the attributes of womanhood are more than softness, sweetness and love. However, Manzoor does give references and quotes from early feminists such as Mary Wollstonecraft as well as contemporary feminists such as Judith Evans. She argues that feminism helps women develop self-confidence, assert their independence and end discrimination. She concludes that, for women to become self-reliant and independent, it is essential that all subjects need to be rectified and gender and class discrimination must end; only then can an equal society be formed.

Dua Rehma, lecturer at CEWS, writes on the different phases of the women’s movement internationally and the ‘four waves’ of feminism. It is an informative essay and gives the reader data and names of international feminists who struggled as suffragettes for the vote, Black women who fought against slavery, the equal rights movements, Simone de Beauvoir, Betty Friedan and Germaine Greer. There is also mention of the #MeToo movement.

Dr Shagufta Nasreen, assistant professor at CEWS, takes on a slightly more analytical approach as the title of her paper itself conveys — ‘Nisaiyat: Makaatib-i-Fikr’ [Feminism: Schools of Thought] — and describes the different approaches towards feminism as well as explaining the differing ideologies of liberal feminists, Marxist feminists and radical feminists.

An attempt to explain the difference between sex and gender and how to resolve this confusion is taken up in the essay by teaching associate Dr Shazia Sharafat. This is followed by assistant professor Dr Asma Manzoor’s paper on the history of the women’s movement in the Subcontinent. Other contributors include teaching associates Dr Shagufta Jahangir and Dr Rukhsana Siddiqui and assistant professor Dr Alia Ali. In the final essay, Shah concludes with the need and importance of feminism and for feminist research with a holistic approach.

A problematic aspect of the book is that it seems the papers have simply been compiled, rather than planned as a collection, and this leads to a lot of repetition of the same material or information, which is irksome.

I was also saddened to find that the Aurat March — a turning point and one of the most important landmarks for the women’s movement in Pakistan — is not mentioned in any of the papers, even though the book was published in May 2021, while the Aurat March began in Karachi in 2018. This event has shaken up the very structures of patriarchy in Pakistan and brought issues of the women’s movement into mainstream public debate, redefining sexual mores in a changing contemporary society.

In patriarchal ideology throughout the years, women have been depicted as stereotyped — they have not been accepted as researchers and it has mostly been men who have undertaken research studies. Male sexism has judged and decided women’s roles as researchers or writers. Therefore, a ‘feminist culture’ has not been allowed to develop. Tasks have to be assigned, themes located, areas of debate defined and feminist criticism and ideology has to be authoritatively established.

Once we have a better understanding of feminism, we can develop a theoretical and political critique of our patriarchal society, unpack the oppression of women and ensure their full citizenship in society.

Although there are far too many typing errors and proofreading faults running throughout the book — a sad situation, because one certainly expects a level of quality from a university publication — one hopes Aurat, Justujoo Aur Nisai Andaaz-i-Fikr will be the seed for further books on feminism in Urdu in the near future, so that feminist scholarship in Pakistan can develop further into an institution of humanistic discipline.

The reviewer is a performing artist and cultural activist.
She tweets @tehrikeniswan

Aurat, Justujoo Aur Nisai Andaaz-i-Fikr
Compiled and edited by Nasreen Aslam Shah
Centre of Excellence for Women’s Studies, University of Karachi
ISBN: 978-9699453113
252pp.

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, November 28th, 2021