Here's the plan

1 - show your willingness to participate here
2 - study one topic daily (in detail)
3 - write it's detailed summary here
4 - read summaries of others

So let's suppose the first topic is as follows

Introduction to Gender Studies
 Introduction to Gender Studies
 Difference between Gender and Women Studies
 Multi-disciplinary nature of Gender Studies
 Autonomy vs. Integration Debate in Gender Studies  Status of Gender Studies in Pakistan

Now, the one who first reads this and is willing to join, will take up the first subtopic I.E "introduction to gender studies" or a topic of his/her choice and study it and write it's summary but before doing so he/she should mention it here so others can pick up a different topic. After all the subtopics are done and understood we can move on to another topic and so complete the course in a divide and conquer paradigm

All those who are interested, can write here.. Let's start this from 1st of of November!

Good job. I'll contribute my share in this thread by taking " Autonomy vs. Integration Debate in Gender Studies" .
Reserve it for me!

You have reserved it for yourself; let it be "first come, first reserve" ...

I'll take "status of gender studies in Pakistan"

Women in Pakistani society have been always oppressed and have been victims of forced marriages, honor killing, unacceptable dowry demands, haq bakshish (marriage to Quran) and acid attacks. They have always been dependent on men for their survival due to their economic backwardness and due to very low political representation coupled with the social structure of our society.
Pakistan was ranked 134th out of 135 countries among worst places for women in the world (2012, world economic forum). According to a report of the united nations development program, Pakistan was ranked 123 out of 148 countries in the 2012 gender inequality index.
Gender studies, in the light of the above circumstances, is very important for betterment of the situation as gender studies focuses on the study of gender in general but women in particular and works for empowerment of women or at least advocates to do so.
PU (Punjab University) established its gender studies department in Pakistan around 2001, which shows how neglected this subject has been in our country. Furthermore, university of Karachi established “Centre of Excellence for Women's Studies (CEWS)” around 1989 however it started advanced courses only around 2002. Similarly, I could not come across any university that has offered courses on the subject before this and although now the subject is gaining some attention but it is not as much as it should be considering the gender inequality that exist in our country and the adverse effects it is bringing to us as a nation. Recently, FPSC included gender studies as a subject in its optional subjects for civil services exams and this was indeed a positive step as the subject will now get more attention.
In my opinion based on the readings I came across, the subject needs to be introduced in many universities and must be funded and encouraged by the government. Considering gender studies is a western subject and has its roots in the west and that most of the theories in gender studies originate from the west, there is a need for research so that those theories could be made relevant in the context of our society. Gender studies should also be offered as an optional subject in college and university level courses and should be introduced in other competitive exams (like FPSC included it as an optional subjects in css) as an optional subject. Gender studies requires much more attention then what is currently given to it as a subject in order to achieve or at least work for achieving gender equality

SOURCES : different websites from google

The government needs to counter the age-old tradition of forced marriages in Pakistan

By: Shaikh Abdul Rasheed (The Nation)

On September 7, 2015, three Baloch girls, 14-year-old Surat, 10-year-old Nagina, and 7-year-old Sabina, were abducted from near their neighbourhood, Bhangoria Goth in Azizabad Karachi and were brought to Shikarpur. The girls were handed over to an influential landlord. Two of them, Surat and Nagina, were forcibly married off to Saleem Jatoi and Imam Bux Jatoi respectively. On October 19, 2015, the kidnapped girls were recovered from Sukkur. Regrettably, Surat, Nagina, and Sabina are not the only girls who have been abducted and forcibly married. There has been a plethora of such incidents in Pakistan, the lion’s share of which are not reported owing to various factors.

The role of civil society in ensuring the protection of constitutional rights of citizens of Pakistan is very important. The Pakistani civil society did play a vital role in the recovery of these girls. However, the government was not ready to take action against the culprits abetted by the big hands. Civil society activists staged country wide protests which resulted in the government finally taking an action.

No doubt, the heinous and un-Islamic tradition of forced marriages exists in many parts of the world. But lamentably, it is ubiquitous in the country on a large scale. Although Islam does not allow parents to take away the rights of children in selecting their spouse and to impose their decisions on them, yet Pakistan, the ‘Islamic state’, takes the top rank in the issue of forced marriages, because it is widespread in our society. Acting upon established outdated social norms and rituals in Pakistani society, people marry their children in the same breed or the same community. On the contrary, young children, growing up in a free society, are reluctant to follow these social norms and rituals because they believe in liberty of selecting their own life-partner themselves. Thus pandemonium is created in family and children, especially girls, are made the victim of forced marriages. Nearly 50 percent of all the globally reported forced marriages are reported from Pakistan.

According to UNICEF’s estimates presented at Girls Summit 2014 in England, globally around one in three young women currently aged 20 to 24, approximately some 70 million, were married before the age of 18. Of those, some 23 million entered into marriage or union before the age of 15. In Pakistan, nearly half of all marriages involve girls younger than 18, and 70 per cent of Pakistani girls are married before their 16th birthday.

Child marriage is sheer violation of human rights. It deprives millions of girls worldwide of their childhood, education and health.

Human rights expert and child rights consultant, Iqbal Ahmed Detho expressing his views about forced marriages, said that in Pakistan, human trafficking is a common practice: “The middle class, in search of employment, migrate from rural areas to urban areas. The agents of human trafficking organizations use various tactics and methods to trap females, especially young girls, of these migrant families by offering jobs in industries and houses. Consequently, the agents sell out the girls in different parts of the country and abroad especially for the purpose of prostitution and forced marriages. The forced marriages can be both: child marriages and adult marriages.”

Further he said according to the Prevention of Anti Women Practices (Criminal Law amendment) Act 2011, Chapter XXA Offences against Women, under section 498​B. (Prohibition of forced marriage): “Whoever coerces or in any manner whatsoever compels a woman to enter into marriage shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term, which may extend to ten years or for a term which shall not be less than three years and shall also be liable to fine of five hundred thousand rupees.”

“In spite of this, the practice is taking place in full swing in Sindh and other provinces of Pakistan. To control forced marriages, it is a pre-requisite to empower women politically, socially and economically,” he said.

To stop the practice of the forced marriages in society and to protect lives and futures of thousands of girls, the responsibility should be placed on shoulders of the government to galvanize civil society, human rights activists, and educated men, women, girls and boys across the country. There is need to harness the skills, talent and productivity of all the people. Education is one of the most effective ways to prevent and end forced marriages. It must be necessitated to promote and protect women and girls’ right to education.

__________________
I want to fight an unended war....