Constrained Agency: Female Resistance in Jamil Ahmad’s The Wandering Falcon through Naila Kabeer’s Empowerment Theory

Abstract

The representation of women’s agency and resistance is critically examined in this study through the application of Naila Kabeer’s Empowerment Theory in Jamil Ahmad’s The Wandering Falcon. The research challenges the dominant tendency in existing scholarship to portray women in tribal patriarchal settings primarily as passive victims of structural violence. Instead, it highlights the presence of subtle, situational, and context-dependent forms of resistance that emerge within constrained social conditions. The study argues that female characters in the novel navigate a complex landscape of cultural restrictions, gendered hierarchies, and survival pressures. While overt rebellion against patriarchal norms is rare and often met with severe consequences, the narrative reveals alternative forms of agency expressed through silence, endurance, negotiation, and strategic compliance. These actions, although not traditionally recognized as resistance, function as meaningful survival strategies that destabilize the notion of absolute female passivity. Naila Kabeer (1999) conceptualizes empowerment as the ability to make “here and now” strategic life choices within existing structures of constraint. This theoretical lens is central to the analysis, as it allows for a nuanced reading of empowerment as relational, contextual, and non-linear rather than absolute liberation. By applying Kabeer’s triadic model of resources, agency, and achievements, the study demonstrates how women in The Wandering Falcon exercise limited yet significant control over their lives despite entrenched patriarchal dominance. The exploration further emphasizes that empowerment in the novel cannot be separated from socio-cultural realities. Tribal customs, honor systems, and gendered power relations continuously shape and restrict women’s decision-making capacities. However, within these constraints, the study identifies micro-level acts of resistance that reflect resilience and adaptive agency. These findings contribute to a more layered understanding of gendered subjectivity in marginalized communities. Moreover, the study raises important ethical questions regarding the representation of silenced or marginalized women in literature. It problematizes whether literary narratives risk reinforcing victimhood by overlooking everyday forms of agency, or whether they can recover suppressed voices through critical interpretation. In doing so, the research positions itself within feminist literary discourse that seeks to balance recognition of oppression with acknowledgment of agency.

Keywords: Female agency, empowerment, resistance, patriarchal society, Naila Kabeer, tribal culture, feminist literary criticism.

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20697976