Re-Reading of Sidhwa’s The Pakistani Bride: A Feminist Critique of Female Objectification in Pakistan

Abstract

The paper undertakes a re-reading of Sidhwa’s The Pakistani Bride to examine the objectification of women in Pakistani patriarchal society, employing the theoretical framework of Martha Nussbaum and Rae Langton. Sidhwa’s literary text effectively captures the everyday instances of marginalized women who are suppressed by patriarchal norms and traditions. The framework of Nussbaum and Langton provides a robust framework for evaluating the various ways that social structures dehumanize and objectify women. Women objectification remains a ubiquitous problem, extensively embedded in social and cultural practices around the globe, and is especially prevalent in South Asian societies, including Pakistan. Employing the qualitative textual analysis method, the study scrutinizes the themes of objectification portrayed by Sidhwa in her fictional narrative such as, focusing on ownership, silencing, denial of autonomy, deprivation of subjectivity, imposition of inertness, and instrumentality. Through a focused critique, the text exposes the objectification of women, the findings of research reveal that on a large scale, females are treated as mere objects within the male-dominated social structure in Pakistani society. This re-reading of Sidhwa’s The Pakistani Bride illustrates how deeply rooted gender roles preserve systematic disparities, with long-term implications for women's autonomy and societal positioning. The research concludes that Sidhwa’s fictional narrative is a powerful critique of patriarchal oppression, motivating readers to rethink, confront, and oppose these inequalities.