Doing daughterhood in Pakistani families: continuity and change across three generations of women

Nisa, Henna 2026. Doing daughterhood in Pakistani families: continuity and change across three generations of women. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

In this study I delve into the dynamics of daughterhood across three familial generations of Pakistani women; grandmothers, mothers, and daughters, examining the interplay of continuity and change in their lived experiences. Employing a creative approach to narrative interviews and using Reflexive Thematic Analysis, my research explores the gendered expectations faced by thirty Pakistani women living in the UK. The research highlights how familial, cultural, and religious attitudes associated with burden and honour shape the ways in which women understand and respond to expectations of daughterhood. Women from all three generations articulated a shared understanding of their roles within a knowledge system that frames them as the carriers of familial honour whilst simultaneously positioning them as familial burdens. Key expectations and pressures included being domestically skilled as a prerequisite for married life, having arranged cousin marriages, bearing children early in their marriages accompanied by a societal preference for sons, and regulations on their clothing in line with notions of modesty and tradition. My analysis highlights the diverse ways daughterhood is done, negotiated and at times undone across the three generations of Pakistani women. Although expectations associated with burden and honour continued to shape women's lives, these expectations were engaged with differently according to the social, historical and familial contexts in which women lived. First-generation women often described burden and honour as embedded within everyday family life and gendered expectations, while second-generation women navigated these expectations within the changing circumstances of migration, education and employment. Among third generation women, expectations associated with burden and honour continued to influence decision-making, but were frequently reinterpreted through engagement with religion, education, and work. Together, these accounts illustrate the diverse and uneven ways daughterhood is experienced, negotiated, and understood across generations. My study is the first study of its kind in the UK that explores the experiences of daughterhood across three generations of Pakistani women.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Schools > School of Social and Spatial Sciences
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	13 October 2026
Last Modified:	13 Oct 2026 10:02
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/190185

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