Book Launch: Domestic Violence in Pakistan: The Legal Construction of Mad and Bad Women

When: Thursday, October 1, 2026, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
Where: Online and In-person at Room 313, Third Floor, Laws Building, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road E1 4NS

Domestic Violence in Pakistan: The Legal Construction of 'Mad' and 'Bad' Women Pakistani women are increasingly pursuing legal avenues against acts of domestic violence. Their claims, however, are often dismissed through character allegations that label them as 'bad' women in need of control, or 'mad' women not to be trusted. Domestic Violence in Pakistan (OUP, 2025) explores why the subjectivities of women victims are constructed in particular ways, and how these subjectivities are captured and negotiated in the Pakistani legal system. Drawing on feminist poststructuralist accounts relating to the use of gendering strategies, and an analysis of over a hundred case files and judgements, seventy-two interviews, and court observations in three cities of Pakistan, Dr Kamal’s new book shadows the experiences of women victims of domestic violence in both criminal law and family law proceedings to capture and offer empirical insights in relation to gendered subject formation in discursive spaces.

Speaker: Dr Daanika Kamal - Royal Holloway.