| Formation: | 2018 |
| Women Democratic Front (WDF) | |
| Native Name: | English: {{font|size=200%|{{nq|ویمن ڈیموکریٹک فرنٹ |
| Leader Title: | General Secretary |
| Leader Name: | Alya Bakhshal |
| Leader Title2: | President |
| Leader Name2: | Ismat Shahjahan[1] |
| Type: | Women's organization |
| Focus: | Socialist Feminism |
| Location: | Pakistan |
Women Democratic Front (WDF) is a Pakistani independent socialist-feminist organization. It was founded in the federal capital Islamabad on March 8, 2018,[2] by hundreds of delegates from Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
WDF aims to unite women across the country to build a socialist feminist[3] movement to transform the International Women's Day celebration in Pakistan into real means of action. The manifesto and constitution of WDF strives to a broad-based struggle against capitalism, patriarchy, religious fascism, national oppression and Pakistan's authoritarian political system.[4]
The Front was inaugurated on International Women's Day, 2018,[5] when a large number of students, working women, intellectuals and political activists gathered for Aurat Azadi March, 2018.
WDF is a women's organization based in Pakistan which aims to build an organic socialist-feminist mass resistance movement by bringing together struggles of working-class women (doing mental or physical labour) from rural and urban areas. WDF adopts democratic and peaceful and means of resistance.[6]
WDF was formally established as a resistance movement on International Women's Day International Working on March 8, 2018, in Islamabad at a foundation congress by delegates from provincial units which were functional since 2014.[7] The congress laid the foundation of Aurat Azadi March (Women's Freedom March) in Pakistan.[8]
WDF considers violence, discrimination and patriarchal oppression as part of overall oppression and exploitation of the masses in Pakistan on the basis of class, gender and nation – pillars of capitalism, imperialism, feudalism and religious extremism. WDf is committed to continue its struggle until the women's right to life, their emancipation from all forms of oppression, progress and peace; and to establish people's democracy in Pakistan. Their ideology is described by socialist-feminism and history of women's political struggles.[9]
WDF is a federal organization with country-wide presence as four national units in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Punjab/Islamabad; Baluchistan and a federal unit. WDF also aims to make units in the disputed territories of Gilgit-Baltistan, Kashmir to organize women of these areas making them part of the movement.[10]
WDF has following intertwined elected structures:
These structures exist at three levels of district, federal and provincial/national levels.
The Federal Cabinet of WDF comprises five members:
President: Ismat Shahjahan
General Secretary: Alya Bakhshal[12]
Secretary Information and Publishing: Tooba Syed[4]
Secretary Education and Art: Shahzadi Hussain[10]
Secretary Finance: Lubna Kifayat
Jalila Haider, one of the provincial president of WDF,[10] [13] from Quetta, Balochistan was named in the 100 Women in 2019[14] [15]
Nargis Afsheen Khattak (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter of WDF)[16]