The Power Paradox in Muslim Women’s Majales: North-West Pakistani Mourning Rituals as Sites of Contestation over Religious Politics, Ethnicity, and Gender

Authors

Mary E. Hegland, Santa Clara UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1998

Publisher

The University of Chicago Press

Abstract

During revolutions, rebellions, and movements, women are often called on to serve contradictory roles. They are asked to perform workpolitical, communicative, networking, recruiting, military, manual - that generally goes beyond the society's usual gender restrictions. At the same time, women serve as symbols of movement identity, unity, commitment, and righteous entitlement. To fit into this idealized symbolic image, individual women must fulfill often "traditional" or even exaggerated "feminine" behavioral and attitudinal requirements, such as loyalty, obedience, selflessness, sacrifice, and "proper" deportment: all in all, they are to put aside any personal aspirations and wishes for self-fulfillment and give their all to promoting the values and interests of their nation, revolutionary movement, or social group.

Comments

Copyright © 1998 The University of Chicago Press. Reprinted with permission. https://doi.org/10.1086/495257

Recommended Citation

Hegland, M. (1998). The Power Paradox in Muslim Women’s Majales: North-West Pakistani Mourning Rituals as Sites of Contestation over Religious Politics, Ethnicity, and Gender. SIGNS, Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 23(2), 391–428.