Miss Javeria Shams1
1Deakin University, Burwood, Australia
Biography:
Javeria Shams is a PhD scholar at Deakin University, Melbourne, specializing in religious minorities in Pakistan. Her dissertation, titled "From Religious Identity to Social Class: The Complexity of Differential Treatment of Hindus, Christians, and Sikhs in Pakistan," is a comparative study of the lived experiences of these communities, focusing on how the interplay of religious identity and social class contributes to varying levels of differential treatment.
As an interdisciplinary scholar, Javeria's work spans various fields, including religious studies, religion and politics, peace and conflict studies, human rights, critical caste studies, and gender studies. She has worked as a university lecturer in Pakistan.
Abstract:
In Pakistan’s deeply patriarchal and highly religious society, where fundamentalist ideologies have historically shaped social and political structures, women from religious minority communities face heightened vulnerabilities. While even Muslim women experience gender-based violence and discrimination, the challenges are significantly more severe for Hindu women, who endure forced religious conversions, coerced marriages, and systemic exclusion. This study explores the intersecting oppressions of patriarchy, religion, and structural violence faced by Hindu women in Pakistan. Employing an intersectionality lens, this research unfolds how religious ideologies and institutional discrimination along with societal norms converge to sustain these forms of oppression. Drawing on primary data of 120 cases of forced conversion, documentary analysis and ethnographic research, this research uncover the complex ways in which Pakistan’s patriarchal and theocratic structures enable and legitimize forced conversions. The critical analysis contributes to understand the complexities of gender and religion-based violence and the need for systemic reforms to protect minority rights and advance gender justice. Moreover, the findings will add to global discussions and academic discourses on intersectional oppression, gender justice and minority rights in theocratic states.