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Respectfully Excluded: Symbolic Violence, Space and Benevolent Sexism in Academia in Pakistan

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  • Fatima Junaid
  • Mian Shakeel Ahmad
  • Sunbal Taj

Abstract

Feminist scholars have long recognized the gender‐based challenges that women in academia face. We undertake a qualitative study of how women in academic institutions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), a province in Pakistan, experience exclusion. We draw on narratives elicited through hypothetical vignettes from 10 women academics in KPK, collected via a Facebook group. Our analysis reveals how gendered discourse, spatial arrangements, and institutional practices converge to create mechanisms of exclusion, frequently misrecognized as care, morality, or professionalism. Contributing to gender studies, we bridge Ambivalent Sexism Theory and Symbolic Violence Theory. We demonstrate that benevolent sexism (BS), often expressed through language of protection and respect, functions as symbolic violence by reinforcing gender hierarchies and constraining women's autonomy. Our second contribution is a place‐based analysis that shows how spatial segregation, shaped by cultural norms in contexts such as ours, enables the enactment of BS as symbolic violence. This form of exclusion is embodied in women's everyday experiences, offering a culturally situated understanding of how gendered power operates through spatial segregation and discourse in academic settings.

Suggested Citation

  • Fatima Junaid & Mian Shakeel Ahmad & Sunbal Taj, 2026. "Respectfully Excluded: Symbolic Violence, Space and Benevolent Sexism in Academia in Pakistan," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5), pages 1959-1972, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:33:y:2026:i:5:p:1959-1972
    DOI: 10.1111/gwao.70172
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