Ethnicity, Sectarianism, and Violence Against Women in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: Analyzing the Intersectional Impact on Gender-Based Violence

This research focuses on how ethnicity and sectarianism cause gender-based violence against women in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa(KP), Pakistan. It finds that women from every group and community in KP, especially minority ethnic/sectarian groups,including Shias and Hazaras, and other marginalized ethno-sectarian groups, are more vulnerable to gender-based violencedue to patriarchy and ethno-sectarian politics. Data from several reliable government sources, books, and research articleshave been used to do a qualitative analysis of the sociocultural and religious factors that affect gender-based violence, aswell as access to justice and safety. Religious tensions have increased violence and lead to the exploitation of women. Further,domestic violence, insecurity, and health-related issues have become more pronounced since the outbreak of COVID-19.For these reasons, the study suggests that an intersectional approach be employed by using various community-basedinterventions, effecting legal changes, and improving education to minimize the deleterious effects of these phenomena.