Pakistani Women’s March, A Riveting Women’s Movement- Striving for Change, Causing Disruptions and Reflecting Resilience- A Feminist Content Analysis of Poster Cards from The Marches Of 2018 To 2022

Abstract

The paper aims to analyse the content of various placards from women’s marches held in Pakistan. Women’s march in Pakistan was initiated in 2018 from the biggest city, Karachi, of the country. Ever since its initiation, women’s march is confronted with severe backlash. Women’s march, its participants and displayed content in marches, is vehemently labelled as obscene, vulgar, and westernized (a negative trait in Pakistani society). This misogynistic resistance to a movement that is mainly asking for equal human rights is not only strong but unified and collective. One thing that is common among all the critics of Pakistan’s women’s march is that they are severely critical of the placards. The posters are accused of being un-Islamic, immoral, and based on western political agendas. This paper aims to examine different elements of these placards to understand the offence against the content displayed on them. Also, whether the content is genuinely against core social, moral & Islamic values. The article would analyse the content through feminist lens by employing feminist content analysis method. The data would be the script, pictures, and signs on these placards, which would be closely read and analysed to form conclusive arguments.