Through my son: Immigrant women bargain with patriarchy

Gender Inequality in the Public Sector in Pakistan

“…It has been argued that patriarchy is so pervasive that no society can claim to be without some level of gender inequality (Johnson 2005;MacKinnon 2010). This stems from the hierarchal gender relations between men and women (Hunnicutt 2009: 557), so that powerful positions are effectively reserved for men in all economic, cultural, social, public, political, legal, religious, and professional institutions (Johnson 2005;Shankar and Northcott 2009). The exact nature of patriarchy, however, varies from society to society.…”

“…Under the system of classic patriarchy, the household is controlled by the eldest men in the family (Moghadam 2002;Shankar and Northcott 2009;Yount 2011). Women's access to resources, choices, and employment decisions depend on the men in the family (Jejeebhoy and Sathar 2001), and girls are married at a young age and leave their father's house to enter the new family unit as the most subordinate individual.…”

“…They are controlled by the husband's father and the elder women in the family (Moghadam 2007), and as such the choices of these women are mediated by the context of their new family (Lovell 2000) and they must improvise and negotiate within this patriarchal context (Yount 2011: 44). Women only gain some space by bargaining on the basis of the number of sons they give birth to (Shankar and Northcott 2009). The patriarchal system coopts the elder women by giving them authority over the younger women in response to their lifelong allegiance to the patriarchal beliefs (Hunnicutt 2009: 564) and this helps to sustain the patriarchal system of power of men over women (Shankar and Northcott 2009;Yount 2011: 44).…”

“…Women only gain some space by bargaining on the basis of the number of sons they give birth to (Shankar and Northcott 2009). The patriarchal system coopts the elder women by giving them authority over the younger women in response to their lifelong allegiance to the patriarchal beliefs (Hunnicutt 2009: 564) and this helps to sustain the patriarchal system of power of men over women (Shankar and Northcott 2009;Yount 2011: 44).…”

“…This suggests that women's low representation and limited access to resources rather than being thought of as the causes must be seen as the effects of the patriarchal control of institutions. The political theories of gender inequality in the labor market that had been unequivocal about patriarchal processes, policies, and procedures giving power to men and disenfranchising women merit serious consideration by the development actors (Connell 2005;Johnson 2005;Shankar and Northcott 2009;MacKinnon 2010;Walby 2010).…”