The book talk relates to Womansplaining, a recently published anthology on feminist politics in Pakistan edited by Sherry Rehman. Womansplaining engages with the work of leading feminist scholars and activists on Pakistan across various sectors, issues, and generations. The talk focuses on the mobilization within the feminist movement on questions of class and the economic and labor rights of women, as well as the role of the state in the realization of class mobilization in the current moment.

Ayesha Razzaque is currently working as the Technical Advisor to the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training. She has a doctorate in Educational Administration from Michigan State University. Ayesha benefits from 15 years of experience supporting education development and evidence-based policymaking. She writes regularly for a Pakistani English Newspaper “The News International.”

Afiya Shehrbano Zia is a Karachi-based feminist scholar, activist, and author of Faith and Feminism in Pakistan; Religious Agency or Secular Autonomy? Dr.  Zia holds a Ph.D. in Women and Gender Studies (University of Toronto) and is currently the Franks B Weeks visiting assistant professor for Feminist Studies at Wesleyan University.

Sara Malkani is an Advocate of the High Courts of Pakistan. She practices in the areas of criminal litigation, family law, labour and employment law, and public interest litigation. She is a Legal Adviser Asia for the Center for Reproductive Rights, a New York based human rights organisation.  She is a founder and Chairperson of the Women Lawyers' Association, an organisation that aims to promote gender equality in the legal profession.

Zeenia Shaukat is a Karachi-based researcher. She has studied Economics and International Communications. Her professional background spans the development sector, human rights, legislation, and media, through association with organisations such as PILER, Sindh Human Rights Commission, The News International, and Sherry Rehman. In her research work, she seeks to focus on human rights and development.

Maryam S. Khan is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Development and Economic Alternatives (IDEAS) in Pakistan. She is presently also pursuing her doctoral degree in law at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on constitution-making in Pakistan. Maryam's published works and ongoing research focus on themes of socio-legal studies in post-colonial South Asia, including comparative constitutionalism, ethnic federalism, legal mobilization and judicial politics, and social movements.