Marching Through Contested Ideologies: A Socio-Cognitive Critical Discourse Analysis of Aurat March Coverage in Dawn Newspaper (2018–2026)

Abstract

This study examined the coverage of the Aurat March feminist movement in the leading English language newspaper, Dawn, of Pakistan for the period 2018 – 2026. The Aurat March started in Karachi in 2018. Now it has become prevalent in all major cities of Pakistan. The movement calls for equality for women, autonomy of the body and the elimination of violence from the hands of men. But it also has a lot of opposition from religious organizations, the state and conservative voices. This research was a type of qualitative research. A total of 60 news articles, editorials, opinion pieces and repression reports from Dawn newspaper have been analyzed using Van Dijk's Socio-Cognitive Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). The analysis shows three major ideological frames that have been used in Dawn's reporting. These are legitimation of the liberal feminists, containment of the patriarchs, and securitization of the state. Results indicate that a supposedly liberal newspaper such as Dawn, establishes feminist activism in conflicting socio-cognitive spaces. The study updates the previous research on the events up to the year 2026 including new and previously unanalyzed events like Sindh NOC (28 conditions) and detentions of feminist activists by Islamabad police.

Keywords: Aurat March, Critical Discourse Analysis, Van Dijk, Socio-Cognitive Model, Feminist Discourse, Pakistani Media, Dawn, Ideological Framing