Paper short abstract:

Contrary to popular Western assumptions that take religious affiliation as the primary reason for Muslim women oppression, the women activists of JI Pakistan throw a light on an alternative reality that highlights women independence, rights, and freedom through their active participation in party.

Paper long abstract:

The role of women in shaping the political formation of Islamist parties in dominantly Muslim countries has significantly increased in recent years. There women play an important part by not only advocating their party's overall agenda in the wider political scene, but also by increasingly pushing for political demands to seek higher female representation as potential leaders within these parties. unfortunately, despite all their efforts for the progress of any Islamist party, Muslim women have been marginalized in general and their struggle has been unacknowledged most of the time. Based on ethnographic fieldwork with the women members of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan,I have found that there is a general upward trend in women's membership in Jamaat and I attempted to understand why would women join such parties that will eventually limit their freedom and borderline them. I also support my point by relying on audio visual material from my ethnography as well as some secondary material from the Internet, blogs, and social media websites.