Regulating Women’s Bodies: Reproductive Power and Female Agency in Pakistani Contemporary Novels in English

Abstract

The objective of this study is to examine how contemporary Pakistani novels written in English represent the regulation of women’s bodies and reproductive roles, and how female characters negotiate agency within patriarchal structures. The research aims to explore the intersection of gender, power, and bodily autonomy, highlighting the ways literary narratives critique social, cultural, and religious constraints imposed on women. It also seeks to analyze how reproductive power is portrayed both as a means of control and as a potential source of resistance and empowerment. The study adopts a qualitative research approach based on close textual analysis of selected contemporary Pakistani English novels. Using postcolonial feminist theory and concepts of body politics, the research examines narrative techniques, character development, and thematic patterns related to bodily regulation, reproduction, and female agency. The selected texts are analyzed within their socio-cultural context to understand how literature reflects and challenges dominant patriarchal ideologies. The analysis reveals that women’s bodies in these novels function as contested sites where social norms, moral expectations, and power relations are enforced. Reproductive roles such as marriage and motherhood are shown to limit women’s autonomy, yet the narratives also present subtle and overt forms of resistance. Female characters assert agency through self-awareness, emotional resilience, and acts of defiance, thereby destabilizing traditional gender roles.