Dr. Ghazal Zulfiqar has a PhD in Public Policy from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, an MSc in Development Finance from the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and an MBA from the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi.
Prior to joining LUMS she was faculty at the University of Massachusetts’ (UMASS) Department of Economics. She also worked as a policy researcher at UMASS' Center for Social Policy where she was involved in policy evaluations and consultancies for the Massachusetts’ Department of Early and Secondary Education, the Department of Transitional Assistance, the Massachusetts government’s homelessness prevention initiative, and several private foundations.
Her policy experience includes rural development in the southern United States. Apart from this she has worked in international project finance and investment banking at Citigroup, Inc. in Pakistan and the UK with projects spanning the African continent and South Asia.
Research Interests
The global political economy of labor, class, and global finance.
Affiliation / Honours
- Co-chair elect of the Academy of Management's (USA) Critical Management Studies Division
- Associate Editor at the journals Human Relations (ABDC=A*) and Organization (ABDC=A)
- Academy of Management Learning and Education (AMLE) Best Paper of the Year Award 2021
- Best Paper Awards for 2019 and 2020 at the Academy of Management Conferences.
- University of Massachusetts Boston's Public Policy Book Award - 2014
Industry Focus
Informal economy
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2023). Employing Memories of Biopolitical Racism for Consciousness Raising Across Time and Space. Management Learning.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2023). Digital Financialization and Surveillance Capitalism in the Global South – The New Technologies of Empire. Organization: the critical journal of organization, theory and society.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2022). The Social Life of Gold: How A Gendered Asset Serves Social Reproduction and Finance in Pakistan. Gender, Work & Organization.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2022). Global production networks and the social reproduction of homebased worker households in the COVID pandemic –gendered vulnerabilities in the Global South. Organization: the critical journal of organization, theory and society.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2022). Rural Patriarchy, Intimate Selving, Purdah, and the Elusive Right to Own Land for Women in Pakistan. Journal of Business Ethics.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. & Prasad, A. (2022). How is Social Inequality Maintained: Towards Integrating Status Construction Theory and Social Identity Theory in Conceptualizing Dirty Work. Human Relations.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. & Prasad, A. (2021). CHALLENGING SOCIAL INEQUALITY IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH: CLASS, PRIVILEGE, AND CONSCIOUSNESS-RAISING THROUGH CRITICAL MANAGEMENT EDUCATION. Academy of Management Learning and Education.
Prasad, A. & Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2021). Resistance and Praxis in the Making of Feminist Solidarity: A Conversation with Cynthia Enloe. Gender, Work & Organization.
Roberts, A. & Zulfiqar, G. (2019). The Political Economy of Women's Entrepreneurship Initiatives in Pakistan: Reflections on Gender, Class and 'Development'. Review of International Political Economy.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2019). An Analysis of the Homeworker Network in Pakistan: A Global Justice Network (GJN) Perspective. Global Networks: A Journal of Transnational Affairs, doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/glob.12254.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. & Khan, M. (2018). NGO-led Organizing and Pakistan's Homeworkers: A Materialist Feminist Analysis of Collective Agency. Journal of Business Ethics.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2018). Financializing the poor: 'dead capital', women's gold and microfinance in Pakistan. Economy and Society.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2018). Dirt, Foreignness and Surveillance: The Shifting Relations of Domestic Work in Pakistan. Organization: the critical journal of organization, theory and society.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2017). From Kashf Foundation to Kashf Microfinance Bank - Changing Organizational Identities. Asian Journal of Management Cases.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2017). Does Microfinance Enhance Gender Equity in Access to Finance? Evidence from Pakistan. Feminist Economics, 23 (1), 160-185, doi:10.1080/13545701.2016.1193213.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2014). Micro finance- To What End? Findings form Pakistan.. The Economic & Political Weekly.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2013). The Economy of Shame- A Review of ' Microfinance and its Discontents- Women in debt in Bangladesh' By Lamia Karim. .. Wellesley Women's Review of Books.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2011). Review of ' Social Justice and Gender Equality: Rethinking Development Strategies and Micro Economic Policies'. Feminist Economics.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. & Ashraf, F. (2017). Livestock Microinsurance in the Soon Valley – Pakistan, Published. In Harnessing the Role of Rural Organizations in Social Protection, FAO.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2024). From Microcredit to Feminist Finance - A Critical Exploration of Inclusive Finance, Under Review. Elgar Handbook of Global Governance.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. & Prasad, A. (2023). The Epistemology of the Toilet - Doing Class Work in Pakista, Published. Postcolonial Feminism in Management and Organization Studies, Routledge.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. & Shafique, A. (2022). Inequality Rising: The Gendered Impacts of Precarious Labor and Financialization., Published. Elgar Handbook on Risk and Inequality, Edward Elgar.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2019). The Social Life of Gold: How a Gendered Asset Serves Reproduction and Finance in South Asia. Academy of Management, Boston, United States of America.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2019). The Politics of Informality in Localizing Transnational Activism in the Homeworker Network. Academy of Management, boston, United States of America.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2017). Dirt, Distance and Foreignness: Domestic Workers in a Gated Community. Academy of Management, Atlanta, United States of America.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2017). The Fractured Struggle for Home Based Women Worker Rights in Pakistan. Academy of Management, Atlanta, United States of America.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2015). 'Global Policy Network and Micro Finance - Non-state Actors and Local Development in Pakistan'. Academy of Management Annual Conference, Vancouver, Canada.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2015). Global Policy Networks and Microfinance – Non-State Actors and Local Development (in Pakistan). Academy of Management, Vancouver, Canada.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2015). Gold Collateralized Microcredit and Women's Autonomy in Pakistan. American Economic Association, San Francisco, United States of America.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2014). Research and evidence on the impact of microfinance. South Asia Microfinance Network, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2014). 'Is Micro finance Working? Research and Evidence on the impact of Micro Finance'. Annual Conference of South Asia Micro Finance Network, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. & Weller, C. (2014). Does Financial Market Diversification in Non-OECD Countries Reduce Macroeconomic Volatility? An Econometric Exploration. Annual Conference of the Eastern Economic Association, Boston, United States of America.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2014). Changing Trends in Microfinance's Emphasis on Gender. International Association For Feminist Economics, Association for Allied Social Sciences Association (ASSA), Philadelphia, PA, United States of America.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2014). Commercialization, Financial Access and Poverty in Pakistan.. Annual Conference of the Eastern Economic Association, Boston, Boston, United States of America.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2013). The Gendered Political Economy of Building Peace in Conflict-Affected States. Conflict Transformation through Economic Development and Innovation Conference, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2013). Microfinance and Human Development: Does Institutional Form Matter?. Association of Comparative Economic Studies, ASSA, San Diego, CA, United States of America.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2013). How Institutional Structure Shapes Outcomes in Microfinance. McCormack School of Policy & Global Studies, UMass Boston. Research Seminar Series, Boston, United States of America.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2012). Financial Market Diversity and Macroeconomic Stability. Annual Conference for the Eastern Economic Association,, Boston, United States of America.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2012). Microfinance, Poverty and Gender Empowerment – Evidence from the Field. Center for Social Policy, UMass Boston, Boston, United States of America.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2012). Closing Resource Gaps: Microfinance?. College of Management, UMass Boston, Boston, United States of America.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. & Takenaka, R. (2012). Using Technology in Qualitative Research. McCormack Graduate School, UMass Boston, Boston, United States of America.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2012). Microfinance and the Promise of Social Change – Can a Financial Intervention Empower Women?. IX Annual Social Theory Forum, Boston, United States of America.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2012). Microfinance and Poverty Alleviation: Findings from Pakistan.. Annual Conference of the Social Science History Association, Vancouver, Canada.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2019). The Social Life of Gold: How A Gendered Asset Serves Social Reproduction and Finance in South Asia. Academy of Management Annual Meeting.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2019). The Politics of Informality in Localizing Transnational Activism in the Homeworker Network. Academy of Management Annual Conference.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2017). The Fractured Struggle for Home Based Women Worker Rights in Pakistan. Academy of Management Annual Conference.
Mir Zulfiqar, G., Bashir, M. & Prasad, A. (2023). The Persistence of Workplace Sexual Harassment–A Postcolonial Exploration of Victim Accounts.
Anwar, U. & Zulfiqar, G. (2023). The Kafala System, Patriarchal Connectivity and Migrant Masculinities.
Weller, C. & Zulfiqar, G. (2013). "Financial Market Diversity and Macroeconomic Stability".
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2013). 'Financial Market Diversity and Macroeconomic Stability' Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts Amherst..
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2009). System redesign to End Homelessness: An Overview and Assessment. Center for Social Policy, UMass Boston..
Mir Zulfiqar, G., Stone, M. & Werby, E. (2009). Boston Housing Authority Public Housing Recipients: A Socio-Economic Profile..
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2009). Boston Housing Authority Section 8 Waiting List: A Socio-Economic Profile. Center for Social Policy, UMass Boston..
Friedman, D. & Zulfiqar, G. (2009). Massachusetts' System Redesign to End Homelessness: An Overview and Assessment.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2009). Boston Housing Authority Section Recipients: A Socio-Economic Profile. Center for Social Policy, UMass Boston..
Mir Zulfiqar, G., Stone, M. & Werby, E. (2009). Boston Housing Authority Section 8 Recipients: A Socio-Economic Profile.
Stone, M. & Zulfiqar, G. (2009). Boston Housing Authority Section 8 Waiting List: A Socio-Economic Profile..
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2018). The All Male Economic Advisory Council.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2013). Virtuous' Debt Status and Precarious Living Dawn News.
Mir Zulfiqar, G. (2013). Hunger Amidst Plenty – A Review of Ash in the Belly – India's Unfinished Battle with Hunger by Harsh Mander Dawn News.