Nisa, Henna

Start date:
October 2017
Research Topic:
Daughterhood in Pakistani Families
Research pathway:
Research Supervisor:
Professor Sin Yi Cheung and Professor Emma Renolds
Supervising school:
School of Social Sciences,
Primary funding source:
ESRC Studentship

My project will explore the inter-generational lived experiences of Pakistani women as daughters, doing daughterhood, in terms of family culture, education, employment and marriage.

It will look at the ways in which gender, class and ethnicity impact the daily life of Pakistani women and how factors such as patriarchy, religion, family values and practices may act as barriers to progression for women. It will also seek to understand the ways in which these processes are negotiated or changed as Pakistani women try to become agents of their own destiny.

This projects aims to recognise the complexity of family life and identity of Pakistani women as daughters, as most literature tends to present them as a homogenous group with similar experiences of gender, education, marriage, employment and family life.
In a rapidly changing gender landscape, this project also addresses a gap in literature as it is unique in its style of exploring experiences of being a daughter in a Pakistani family through the use of creative methods.