Distinguished Speaker Lecture Series
Center of Business and Economic Research
“Where are Pakistani Women in CPEC?” by Dr. Eram Ashraf

The Chinese government considers the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) a flagship project for their Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Hence what takes place here has significance for China’s other international projects. Official discourses in both countries mostly describe their relations in masculine terms, as iron brothers. It leads to the question, where are Pakistani women in CPEC? A gender lens, inspired by Cynthia Enloe, is utilised to highlight relations between both countries in the CPEC era, by making Pakistani women visible. As such, it draws on the author’s original dataset of awards given to Pakistani citizens by Chinese entities, during the first decade of CPEC (2013- 2023). 176 Pakistani recipients have so far been identified, 99 of whom were awarded specifically for CPEC related work. Out of these 99, only four were Pakistani women. Hence these findings reveal the existing gender gap in Sino-Pakistani ties.