If, as Imran Khan claims, his party — the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) — is victorious in the Pakistani general election, the women of that nation may face a disastrous era of gender discrimination and repression.
The clues that Khan’s ascent bodes poorly for Pakistani women can be found in the lead-up to the election. In one recent interview with Hum news, Khan denounced Western feminism as an impediment to motherhood. And his promise of making Pakistan an Islamic state, something that has in the past meant heightened restrictions on women, is also making Pakistani feminists shudder.
Ironically, it was the July 6, 2018, conviction of a woman, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, and her father, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, for corruption that made room for Khan’s victory. With his main opponents sitting in Adiala Jail, there was nothing to stop him.
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