Negotiating studying abroad: honour ( <i>izzat</i> ) and Pakistani women’s aspirations for postgraduate education in China

Pakistan is the leading source of international degree students in China, yet women are disproportionately underrepresented. This study examines Pakistani women’s aspirations to pursue postgraduate education in China and their negotiations for family approval before transnational mobility takes place. While international education is often framed as a pathway to empowerment, we find that for these women, such empowerment needs to be understood critically as a carefully negotiated moral project. Drawing on interviews with 17 female Pakistani postgraduate students in China, the study reveals how participants strategically frame studying abroad through the discourse of family honour (izzat). China emerges as a ‘safe’ destination due to its geographical, cultural, and geopolitical proximity, along with its highly regulated campuses. The findings expand the concept of regulated empowerment in Pakistani domestic female education to transnational contexts, showing how patriarchal norms can be negotiated for empowerment to become possible for women in gender-restricted societies.