Women’s Agency as Reason for Life Threats Among the Pashtuns in Pakistan: Narratives of Women Fleeing Honor Killing and Masculine Domination.
Outcomes: Gender‑Based Violence
View SourceKey Social Norms Take-aways Social norms tied to honor (izzat) and masculinity (ghairat) function as powerful regulatory mechanisms that legitimize violence against women who deviate from expected gender roles. The study highlights that threats of honor killing are not simply individual acts of violence but are socially sanctioned responses to perceived norm violations, particularly when women exercise agency. Critically, the discussion suggests that social norms both constrain women’s behavior and shape men’s use of violence as a means of restoring status, yet women’s acts of resistance (e.g., fleeing) demonstrate that norms can be contested and destabilized.
Objectives The article aims to examine how women’s agency is linked to life-threatening violence in Pashtun honor-based contexts, specifically exploring how deviations from gender norms provoke threats of honor killing and how women navigate and resist these structures.
Methods The study uses a qualitative research design based on semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 17 Pashtun women and girls residing in a government shelter in Peshawar, Pakistan, who were facing honor killing threats. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis, with inductive coding to identify key themes related to honor, agency, and masculine domination.
Results Findings show that honor-based violence is triggered when women are perceived to violate entrenched gender norms around chastity, obedience, and family reputation. Even unintentional or false associations with men can result in severe punishment, including death threats. Violence is socially legitimized as a way for men to restore honor and maintain masculine dominance. At the same time, the study identifies women’s agency in acts such as fleeing to shelters, which directly challenge patriarchal control. These acts expose tensions between internalized norms and individual resistance.
Conclusions The study concludes that honor killing is deeply embedded in social norms that uphold masculine domination and control over women’s bodies and behavior. However, women’s agency—expressed through resistance and escape—reveals cracks in these normative systems. Addressing honor-based violence therefore requires shifting the underlying social norms that equate masculinity with control and violence, while also supporting women’s capacity to exercise agency within restrictive social environments.
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