DefinePK

Abstract

This study examines the Aurat March in Pakistan as a contemporary feminist movement through the lens of New Social Movement (NSM) theory, intersectional feminism, and postcolonial feminist perspectives. Emerging in 2018 as a decentralized, multi-issue mobilization, the Aurat March departs from elite-led, rights-based advocacy by embracing symbolic protest, digital activism, and collective identity formation across diverse constituencies, including women, transgender persons, domestic workers, and students. Drawing on qualitative methods interviews, focus groups, participant observation, and discourse analysis of media and digital content this research explores how the March’s slogans, visuals, and performances challenge entrenched patriarchal, religious-nationalist, and neoliberal norms, while provoking organized backlash from conservative actors such as the Haya March. Findings reveal that symbolic resistance and cultural subversion are central to the movement’s identity politics, with digital networks amplifying both solidarity and moral panic. The study contributes to NSM theory by contextualizing it within a Muslim-majority, postcolonial setting, highlighting how backlash itself reinforces movement boundaries and solidarity. It also underscores the role of Pakistan’s digitally connected urban middle class in shaping protest aesthetics and narratives, offering theoretical, empirical, and policy insights into feminist resistance, digital safety, and inclusive gender justice frameworks in South Asia.