Voices of the Unvoiced

This book focuses on Pukhtun women’s educational struggle in the traditionalist Pukhtun society to succeed against the odds in Pukhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The study found higher education as a means of women's liberation – their struggle and experiences for higher education give them a unique position in their patriarchal culture. The province is dominated by the culture rather than the teaching of Islam. Therefore, people make decisions according to the Pukhtun culture and social values. Strong roots of patriarchy reinforced a religious misinterpretation that ‘culturalised’ Islam instead of Islamising their culture in the prevailing society. Both the stories of the book concluded patriarchy was the main cause of women's marginalisation, which further granted a fertile ground for the Taliban to sketch a strategic atrocity and ban women's education in the name of Islam in the Swat Valley. Patriarchy and militarisation have been used as a tool for cultural governance of identity and maintena