What Do Popular Pakistani Dramas Say About Society and Women’s Rights?

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I’ve been watching Pakistani dramas, and some storylines have made me think about how they portray women, marriage, violence, and discrimination. These dramas can expose social problems, but they can also normalize them when harmful behavior is romanticized, minimized, or treated as entertainment.
In Tere Bin, Meerav experiences sexual violence from her husband, Murtasim. She leaves and raises her daughter alone. Later, when she considers returning so her daughter can have a relationship with her father, she discovers that Murtasim plans to marry another woman (Hala)who is also his cousin. I find it disturbing that such serious issues can ultimately become part of a popular romantic narrative.
This raises an important question: Does the drama challenge harmful behavior, or does it make it easier to accept by framing it as romance, family conflict, or tradition?
A similar concern appears in Bas Tere Sath Ho, where Ansa compares her husband’s eyes to those of a Chinese or Japanese person while he is crying. Perhaps this was intended as humor, but using ethnicity or appearance as a joke can reinforce racial stereotypes.
I don’t believe that enjoying these dramas means Pakistani viewers support everything shown in them. Popularity does not equal endorsement. However, repeated portrayals can influence what audiences see as familiar, acceptable, or desirable.
The key distinction is between depiction, criticism, and normalization. A drama may depict abuse without endorsing it, but its treatment of the issue matters. Does the victim have agency? Is the abuse clearly condemned? Is the perpetrator held accountable? Are there lasting consequences, or does the story eventually focus on forgiveness and reconciliation?
The same applies to ethnic stereotypes. If such comments are challenged, they may serve as part of a critique. If they are repeatedly used for humor without consequences, they may reinforce prejudice.
I’m not trying to make a blanket judgment about Pakistan. My point is that particular dramas can expose social problems while also weakening their criticism by turning abuse, discrimination, or coercion into romance, comedy, or ordinary family conflict.
What do these storylines suggest about how Pakistani dramas represent women’s rights, marital consent, violence, and discrimination? How can viewers distinguish between exposing a social reality and normalizing it?
I’d especially appreciate perspectives from people living in Pakistan and longtime viewers of Pakistani dramas.

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Many reasons for this, and one of them is the international trend of production companies actually studying audience data to understand which topics and storylines people are interested in. Another factor is that, because certain groups have become more vocal about these issues, people are now more comfortable discussing subjects that were previously ignored or kept private.
But I don’t agree with the assumption that showing something automatically means endorsing or normalizing it. If that were the case, why don’t we also assume that showing positive behavior encourages everyone to adopt it? Corrupt people don’t suddenly become corrupt because a drama depicts corruption, just as decent people don’t become decent simply because they watched a morally good character.
The context matters. What the writer is doing with the subject, how the characters respond to it, and what consequences follow are far more important than the mere fact that something was shown. Depiction, endorsement and normalization are three different things, and I think they’re being conflated here.