Unveiling Silenced Voices: A Feminist Narrative Study of Oppressed Women in Balochistan

Abstract

Women’s lived experiences in patriarchal societies often remain unheard, not because they are absent, but because they are linguistically and socially constrained within dominant structures of power. This study examines the discursive features in the narratives of women residing in a shelter home that represent experiences of subjugation in the socio-cultural context of Balochistani society. The study employs Feminist Narrative Theory (1992) as its theoretical framework and applies Van Dijk’s (1998) socio-cognitive model of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as its analytical method. The findings reveal that women describe experiences of violence, control, humiliation, and surveillance through both explicit and subtle linguistic strategies. Discursive features such as disclaimers, pronoun usage, adjectives, and adverbs reflect constrained agency, reinforce patriarchal authority, and intensify representations of suffering. The study concludes that women’s oppression in Balochistani society is sustained not only through direct acts of domination but also through everyday language and discourse, which normalize unequal power relations while providing limited spaces for resistance and self-expression.