Voices of Change: Women's Influence in Northwest Pakistan

Voices of Change explores the influence exercised by forty-eight ordinary yet extraordinary Muslim and non-Muslim women as they study and work in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), northwest Pakistan. At the end of the twentieth century there were few women in KP's public spaces. Today, there are many women in these same spaces. Individually and collectively, they are reshaping societal practices throughout the province. Not least, in KP's conservative, patriarchal society, they have persuaded the heads of households to allow them to work alongside men, overturning entrenched societal norms. These ordinary women are influencing as those who hold authority although only a few are organizational leaders. Yet, influence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is culturally male, and there is a dissonance to female influence that all women have to overcome. They have to tackle stereotypical attitudes regarding female morality and trustworthiness and deal with obstructionism on multiple levels.

The forty-eight Muslim and non-Muslim women in Voices of Change are also representative of the many who are redefining female honor as well as female influence in KP. In women's hands, influence is a tool and a strategy that is reshaping cultural codes and quietly changing the public sphere for future generations.