Introduction:

Field of Gender Studies is rich and diverse; full of controversies and active debates over the significant questions and appropriate answers concerning Gender differences and inequalities. Important questions regarding the categories of woman and man in terms of exploring identities it’s the politics played behind the scene. Being interdisciplinary in nature each discipline examines the ways in which distinction of gender and socio political inequalities are defined and discussed. Various conceptual frameworks are evaluated to look at these issues and draw inferences about it.

Message:

The Department of Gender Studies became functional in Sept. 2005, when it admitted its first batch of MA students. Gender issues and concerns have become a major focus of the Government of Pakistan initiatives in legal, political and developmental policies. The reason why Pakistan finds itself among the bottom ten least developed countries of the world is because of it very poor Human Development Index (HDI). The HDI is poor because of the huge disparity between men and women on this scale which is called the Gender Development Index. Realizing this, Pakistan has made National and International commitments such as CEDAW, MDG’s and MTDF to actively work towards removing this disparity. As such, human resource trained in the analysis and management of gender issues is a much sought after commodity in the current scenario and therefore the importance of the Department of Gender Studies.

The Department faces major challenges in terms of finding trained faculty to teach these skills and provide the Nation this much needed human resource. The subject is interdisciplinary in nature, looking at major areas of human endeavor through a gender lens. At present, there is only a foggy understanding of the concept at best. Ideally, gender issues should be mainstreamed in, at least, the Faculty of Social Science, so that there is a greater understanding of the issue and the subject is studied through multiple perspectives and angles and becomes every ones concern

The Department is functioning at three levels. Apart from providing academic programmes of various levels, it is also engaged in research and trainings on the multiple aspects of gender .

Vision for the future:

Our goal is to develop the Department into an Institute of Gender Studies. We hope and foresee the Department functioning on three levels, namely, academics, research, and training. The Institute, hopefully, will provide not only trained human resource in different aspects of gender but will also provide short term trainings to the public and private sectors and provide policy input through its cutting edge research.

Objectives of the Department

• To establish a better understanding of the scope and concept of the Gender studies
• To analyze the existing Gender disparities with specific reference to social, psychological, economic, legal, health and educational aspects.
• To help develop a theoretical framework of analysis of various dimensions of Gender Studies.
• To promote a critique of existing knowledge in relation to Gender and Development.
• To stimulate evaluation of contemporary development approaches and strategies as they effect Gender roles in particular and nation at large.
• To enable the students to organize development projects more effectively keeping in view gender needs.
• To help develop sustainable strategies for combating poverty, health and environmental hazards.
• To mainstream Gender perspectives in national development.

Major Areas

• Academics
• Trainings
• Research

Admission Criteria

• Preference would be given to the following:
• Students with at least two subjects in Social Science and/or Urdu/English Literature at the B.A. level.
• Fresh graduates.
• The applicants would be required to take a Written Aptitude Test followed by an Interview.
• The merit will be decided according to the following:
• B.A. 60%
• Test 20%
• Interview 20%

Faculty:

1. Rubina Khilji - Associate Prof. and Chairperson.
2. Anoosh Khan - Lecturer
3. Aisha Alam – Lecturer
4. Rabeea Hadi – Lecturer

Staff Pursuing Higher Education:

Inland

Visiting (UOP):

• Prof. Ahmed Ali – Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences
• Prof. Dr. Qibla Ayaz – Dean, Faculty of Islamic Studies and Oriental Languages
• Prof. Dr. Shah Jehan – Chair, Dept of Journalism and Mass Communication
• Prof. Dr. Zari Rafique – Chair, Dept of Social Work
• Prof. Dr. Amirzada Asad – Dept of Social Work
• Prof. Dr. Salma Shaheen – Dept of Pushto
• Dr. Nasir Jamal – Dept of English and Applied Linguistics
• Dr. Noor Jehan – Dept of Environmental Sciences
• Dr. Johar Ali – Dept of Sociology
• Ms. Danish Alam – Dept of Economics
• Ms. Iram Irshad – Dept of Psychology
• Ms. Fakhra Aziz – Jinnah College for Women
• Ms. Sadia Khalil – Jinnah College for Women

Visiting (Foreign/Pakistani):

• Prof. Dr. Shaheen Sardar Ali – Warwick University UK
• Dr. Muhammad Farooq – Religious Scholar
• Ms. Mariam Bibi – Khawando Kor
• Mr. Ghulam Mustafa – British Council

Scholorships Awarded to Students