Relearning womanhood online: digital counterpublics and post-migration identity among Pakistani Muslim women

Migration reshapes gender ideologies and practices, yet little research examines how digital technologies support this transformation among migrant women. Drawing on observations of a Pakistani migrant women-led digital group and interviews with participants (n = 20) in Canada, this study examines how women use digital space to construct a ‘migrant woman’ identity distinct from ideals of womanhood in both their home and host societies. The findings highlight the emergence of a digitally mediated womanhood, which is relational and actively developed through collective exchange of information and experiences within a vast and dispersed Pakistani virtual community in Canada. Focusing on gendered expectations post-migration, I argue that digital spaces function as both a community and a counterpublic, where women contest competing expectations, compare practices, and offer advice. These findings illuminate the processes underlying gendered integration.