Fluctuating Stances: How land Deputes Actuate and Renovates Gender Norms in Malazai Pakhtun

Abstract

This research investigates the impact of land disputes on the activation and transformation of gender norms within the Pakhtun community of Dir Upper, located in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The community confronts considerable challenges arising from land disputes, which produce both adverse consequences and, as the study title intimates, certain adaptive functions. To elucidate the relationship between land disputes and gender norms, two sub-themes of gender dynamics were delineated, drawing on data from a doctoral study employing an ethnographic methodology. Data was obtained from 45 participants through the use of a semi-structured interview guide, with participants selected via purposive sampling. Thematic analysis facilitated the derivation of key inferences and the construction of the report. The results demonstrate that, although land disputes frequently exert negative effects on women and their entitlements, they simultaneously precipitate transformations in entrenched customary practices pertaining to gender and property rights. The proliferation of legal cases is generating judicial precedents that augment women's awareness of their agency and property entitlements to an unprecedented degree within the cultural history of this group. Moreover, land disputes involving sisters without brothers are gaining increased salience in public discourse, while the prevalence of pejorative constructions such as ‘Meraat’ is diminishing within the study population. In addition, religious authorities and social media influencers—galvanized by ongoing land disputes—are actively advocating for women's property rights, resulting in a growing number of individuals granting full or partial property rights to female relatives.