Interpreting Islam, Modernity, and Women's Rights in Pakistan

In Pakistan, myriad constituencies are grappling with reinterpreting women's rights. This book analyzes the Government of Pakistan's construction of an understanding of what constitutes women's rights, moves on to address traditional views and contemporary popular opinion on women's rights, and then focuses on three very different groups' perceptions of women's rights: progressive women's organizations as represented by the Aurat Foundation and Shirkat Gah; orthodox Islamist views as represented by the Jama'at-i-Islami, the MMA government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (2002-08) and al-Huda; and the Swat Taliban. Author Anita M. Weiss analyzes the resultant "culture wars" that are visibly ripping the country apart, as groups talk past one another - each confidant that they are the proprietors of culture and interpreters of religion while others are misrepresenting it.

Anita M. Weiss is a professor and head of the department of International Studies at the University of Oregon, USA. She has published extensively on social development, gender issues, and political Islam in Pakistan. Recent books include Development Challenges Confronting Pakistan (co-edited with Saba Gul Khattak), Pathways to Power: the Domestic Politics of South Asia (co-edited with Arjun Guneratne), and Walls Within Walls: Life Histories of Working Women in the Old City of Lahore.