female car mechanic driving change in patriarchal Pakistan

Uzma Nawaz, a 24-year-old from a small, impoverished town in eastern Pakistan’s Punjab province, has become one of Pakistan’s first female car mechanics. Nawaz graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering and now works at an auto repairs garage in the eastern city of Multan. “I took it up as a challenge against all odds and the meagre financial resources of my family,” Nawaz told AFP. Women in rural areas in Pakistan are often encouraged to marry young and devote themselves to family over career, according to AFP. “When people see me doing this type of work, they’re really surprised,” she said. “And I think that I also try to do the work in such a way that they’re really surprised by me.