Navigating Advocacy as a Disabled Woman: A Qualitative Study of Gender and Disability in Pakistan

This qualitative research examines the lived experiences and advocacy practices of urban Pakistani women with physical and sensory disabilities. Drawing on Feminist Disability Studies and Global South feminist scholarship, it explores how disabled women define advocacy, how they carry it out in everyday life, and how gendered and socio-cultural conditions shape these practices. Based on semi-structured interviews across multiple Pakistani cities, the findings reveal that participants navigate several challenges: structural inaccessibility, restricted mobility, familial surveillance, institutional exclusion, and uneven access to disability organizations. In response, they develop strategies rooted in faith, identity, and relationality that challenge Global North models of advocacy, which are often grounded in visibility and individual autonomy. By centering embodied knowledge and relational agency, this research offers an in-depth account of disability advocacy among Pakistani disabled women.

Author dc:creator

• Mahvish Nazar (24400202)

• Disability Studies

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright
• Open Access after 2028-05-01

DOI dc:identifier

https://doi.org/10.25417/uic.32995268.v1

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:figshare.com:article/32995268