Liberal Feminism In Pakistan

Today everybody is talking about liberal Feminism throughout the world including Pakistan. Liberal feminism is promoting sexuality as freedom and liberation from moral/social codes to ensure modern woman’s independence. Liberal feminists are of view that freedom is a vital treasure and no culture, society or any other form of institution can suppress it. Liberal feminists insist on independence of women. Liberal feminists consider freedom in a sense of “personal autonomy”, as living one’s life with one's peculiar preferences and “political autonomy”, as being co-creator of the environment in which they live. Personal autonomy is explained as freedom to exert one’s own will and choices with equal opportunities like men in all aspects of life

Woman is free in Islam to work. However there are some limitations for woman in Islam which only ensure her respect and dignity and also ensure proper family structure. The problem with a feminist position which totally rejects Islam is that this does not take into account the importance of Islam for women. Women do not tend to report religion as the source of limitations placed on them (Shaheed 1995). Our main purpose is to show that what are the main reasons of incompatibility of western feminist liberal ideologies in Pakistan being an Islamic country. And to show that these ideologies are not universal in nature. Islam gives more autonomy to women than these ideologies within honor. But there is an increasing trend in Pakistan like other countries to follow these ideas. But this is creating problems within family life which is the basic unit of any society. To explain this view of “being free of the limits set by patriarchal moralistic laws” briefly we will be pinning down Beauvior's theory in her book "The Second Sex ” and its impact on social moral

Beauvoir studies the roles of wife, mother, and prostitute to show how women, instead of transcending through creativity, are forced into monotonous existences of having children, tending house and being the sexual receptacles of the male sexual longing. To counter these views in “Moth Smoke” we have used the concepts presented by Nausheen Ishaque , who calls postmodern feminism a “syndrome” for Pakistani society and Farhat Jabeen’s idea of Islamic-Pakistani feminism. We have done quantitative research in the study by textual analysis of “Moth Smoke” to identify the operation of liberal personal autonomy and its grim effects on family and marital