Khatoon: Photographic Project Explores Women's Role in Pakistan

The photographic project 'Khatoon' (Urdu for 'woman') by photojournalist Giovanni de Mojana and social worker Benedetta Gavazzi investigates the role of women in Pakistan. Pakistan ranks second-to-last in the 2024 Global Gender Gap Index and has only celebrated Aurat March (International Women's Day) since 2018. The project features women from Punjab's countryside, Karakoram mountains, and cities like Karachi, Islamabad, and Lahore—including boxers, NGO directors, singers, dancers, and motorcyclists—documenting struggles against inequalities in education, healthcare, public life, career opportunities, and domestic work. According to UN Women, Pakistani women perform ten times more unpaid care and domestic work than men. The project began in 2024 and has been exhibited in Milan at CAM Garibaldi with the Consulate of Pakistan and Italian friends of TCF, at Osteria del Treno with a charity auction by Art Defender and TCF, and at Fotobus Society in Paris during Paris Photo. Currently on display at Paris Berlin Fotohaus in Bordeaux (April 2–27, 2025), it will be hosted at Somerset House in London from April 17 to May 5, 2025, as part of the Sony Award, where Khatoon is shortlisted in Professional Documentary Photography. A charity auction in October 2024 raised funds to guarantee one year of education for sixty children in Pakistan.