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Pakistan Journal of Gender Studies: Annual
PATRON Amara Soonthorndhara

Prof. Dr. Muhammad Ajmal Khan Institute for Population and Social Research
Vice Chancellor, University of Karachi Mahidol University, Thailand
Karachi, Pakistan
Misbah B. Qureshi
EDITOR Institute of Gender Studies
Nasreen Aslam Shah Sindh University Jamshoro, Pakistan
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Pakistan Journal of Gender Studies
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the 16th volume of Pakistan Journal of Gender Studies.
Volume-16 March, 2018
CONTENTS
Anoosh W. Khan Pakhtun Women and the Creative Expression: A Means of 1

Quotidian Agency
Ansar Waseem Female Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth: An 15
Institutional Theory Analysis
Farah Adil & Shehla A. Yasin Exposition of Gender Awareness in Primary Textbooks of 37
Punjab: Gendered Content Analysis
Kausar Perveen, Yamna Hasan & Glossophobia: The Fear of Public Speaking in Female and 57
Abdur Rahman Aleemi Male Students of University of Karachi
Muhammad Amin, Ijaz Ahmad Problems of Females’ Progression in Higher Education: 71
Tatlah & Arfa Afghani Perceptions of Female University Students
Nadil Shah, Rana Saba Sultan & Balochi Oral Literature and Gender Construction 89
Bashir Kaker
Rummana Zaheer, Saman Hussain Agricultural Development and the Role of Women's Self- 103
& Muhammad Nadeemullah Employment in Pakistan
Sadaf Mehmood Tabooed Subaltern: A Study of Ghulam Abbas’ Reshma and 121
the Women Quarter
Sammar Abbas, Zeeshan Zaib Negotiating the Cultural Barriers: A Study of Organizational 139
Khattak & Muhammad Commitment of Pakhtun Female Employees in Pakistani
Khushnood Banking Sector
Sara Pervez & Khalid M. Iraqi Gender Discrimination – Prevailing State in Pakistan 153
Seema Manzoor, Dua-e-Rehma & Qualitative Exploration Of Violence Against Women 171
Naheed Abrar (VAW) Regarding Social and Cultural Trends Among
Women In Pakistan
Shagufta Jahangir & Asma Prevalence of Sexual Harassment among Sportswomen in 201
Manzoor Pakistan
Tayyaba Zarif, Aziz-u-Nisa & Enhancement of Communication Skills of International 217
Abdul Nabi Language at University Level: Teachers' Side
Pakistan Journal of Gender Studies 1
Vol. 16, 2018, pp. 1-14, ISSN: 2072-0394
© Centre of Excellence for Women’s Studies, University of Karachi
Pakhtun Women And The Creative Expression: A Means Of

Quotidian Agency
Anoosh W. Khan
Department of Gender Studies
University of Peshawar
Abstract
It is human nature that we tend to stereotype certain individuals and groups based on
their ethnicity, race, religion, and even looks, among other attributes. That is the case
with Pakhtuns as well. Non-Pakhtuns, within and outside Pakistan, do not have a very
positive notion about them; more so about their treatment of women. In this paper, I
demonstrate that there is no doubt that the Pakhtuns are restricted, in some cases, by
their cultural boundaries but then everyone, irrespective of their ethnic, racial, and/or
religious backgrounds have their limitations. In order to prove my stance I have first
of all interviewed some native Pashto speakers to get a general understanding about
and usage of Pashto tappa and contemporary poetry composed by women. Using
Althusser’s framework of ideology and Ideological State Apparatus, as the theoretical
foundation, I argue that Pakhtun women are culturally interpellated but they have
their own ways of practicing their agency. These women may not be able to totally
challenge structural and cultural norms but they definitely know how to use their
quotidian agency. Finally, I conclude that agency should not be understood in the
narrow sense; it can have different meanings for different people in different contexts.
Key words: Pakhtun women, Pashto Tappa, Ideology, Interpellation, Agency.
‫تلخيص‬
2 Pakhtun Women and the Creative Expression: A Means of Quotidian Agency
Introduction
“Seeing is believing” is a rather clichéd English phrase; nonetheless this phrase carries
weight. Perhaps, it holds true for the Pakhtuns as well. Before 9/11 and more so after the
tragedy Pakhtuns have been stereotyped even more. As elsewhere I have stated, “A
common notion among many Pakistanis even today is that the Pakhtuns/Pashtuns or
Pathans1 are woodcutters, children-abductors, and violators of women rights; in short
they are barbarians of a stone-age, living in some remote and rugged lands! The West2
erroneously perceives Pakhtun men as Talibans and the women as the burqa-clad (veiled),
both of whom epitomize religious and cultural radicalism. In other words, Pakhtuns are
regarded as a gender biased, gender segregated (spatially and emotionally), and a
patriarchally structured people (Khan, A., 2012a; and Khan, A. 2012b). However, to
judge someone or something it is better to get to know them, even slightly.
In this paper, I demonstrate that there is no doubt that the Pakhtuns are restricted, in some
cases, by their cultural boundaries but then everyone, irrespective of their ethnic, racial,
and/or religious backgrounds have their limitations. By using Althusser’s framework of
ideology and ideological state apparatus I argue that Pakhtun women are culturally
interpellated but they have their own ways of practicing their agency. These women may
not be able to totally challenge structural and cultural norms but they definitely know
how to use their quotidian agency. In order to explicate my stance I use Pashto folk,
especially the genre of tappa and some contemporary poetry, composed by women, as
examples. Finally, I conclude that agency should not be understood in the narrow sense;
it can have different meanings for different people in different contexts.
Literature Review: Establishing the Premise, Elaborating the Genre, and

Elucidating the Theory
There is a wide variety of literature in print (Abu-Lughod 1986, 1990, 2008; Briggs 1985;
Friedlander 1975; Grierson 1884, 1886; Henry 1975; Jacobson 1975; Karp 1988;
Kolenda 1984; Munda 1975; Narayan 1986; Raheja and Gold 1994) that shows how
women voice their concerns; comment on the cultural nuances; and hence prove literary
expressions as agentive tools for tradition-bound women.
As such, tappa is the most commonly used genre of Pashto folk literature. Pashto folk
songs are generally composed in lyrical couplets which are called Landai or more
commonly Tappa (plural: Tappay). Mohmand (2010, n.p.) explains that Pashto folk
songs are couplets of a unique cadence, authored mostly by females addressing their
lovers. Their authorship has remained anonymous for all these centuries. Tappay have
been sung over hill and vale and before the practice of printing tappay were learned by
heart and passed down by the word of mouth. According to Mohmand (2010, n.p.) every
Anoosh W. Khan 3
verse ends with a (stretched) “aa” sound as a mark of exclamation. Each verse is
composed of twenty two syllables. The first line with nine syllables is shorter than the
following line with thirteen syllables. The shortfall is made up for during singing with
expressions of love and pathos differing from area to area. The themes vary from love to
social problems, nationalism, patriotism, and even anathema and sarcasm.
According to Shah (2011, n.p.) some tappay begin with a fond opening phrase of “ya
qurban!” (Oh, dear one!), meaning respect to the listener. Tappay are sung with loud
melodious voice and could be accompanied by mangay, tabla, baja, and sitar.3 He
elaborates that tappay are generally sung at weddings, other celebrations and at times
without any celebratory occasion. A tappa can be about human emotions, achievements,
heroes, villains, and the environment.
Enevoldsen (2004) states that most of the tappay currently used are made by women.
Romantic in nature most tappay deal with the lover and the beloved. A related theme is
that of separation, “not only of the lover from the beloved, but of friends and of a man
from his country and his family” (p. xiii).
Khan, Q. (2008) also affirms that tappa is “essentially a feminine form, mostly composed
and sung by women. It is also essentially an anonymous form, usually extempore and
unwritten” (p. 10). He also adds that the older people usually use tappay related to
religion and morality. Whereas, the younger lot quote romantic, nationalistic, and
idealistic tappay (p.12)
As explicated above and later expressed by my respondents tappay tend to express everyday
issues, emotions, and happenings in the life of a person in a simple and yet powerful manner.
Besides, as I read and was told that most of the Pashto tappay were composed by women
though they come down to generations anonymously. Therefore, I use tappa as an example
to explicate my stance because it is widely used by native Pashto speakers.
I argue that tappa is one of the many ways through which Pakhtun women practice their
quotidian or everyday agency. In order to validate my argument I use Althusser’s (1971)
theoretical framework of ideology and ideological interpellation. According to Althusser
(2005) ideology is a system of representations, having nothing to do with consciousness
and influencing men and women through structures unawares (p. 233). As such, Ideology
is an unconscious process which acts through structures and is a process that escapes men
and women. Althusser (1971) calls these structures Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs)
which include family, educational, religious, and legal institutions, media, and culture
among others. Along with ISAs, Althusser (1971) states, that there are the Repressive
State Apparatuses (RSAs) as well. These include the government, the administration, the
army, the police, the courts, the prisons, etc. (p.145). However, the difference between
these two types of state apparatuses is that ISAs function through consent, whereas RSAs
function through violence and coercion. As such, ISAs influence individuals unaware and
are always at work without the conscious knowledge of the individuals.
According to Althusser (1971) ISAs interpellate or hail social individuals and when these
social individuals respond to the interpellation they become social subjects. As a result
of interpellation, the “process of recognition” begins and the individual can either accept
or reject a subject-position or else he or she can agree to disidentification. According to
Pêcheux (1982, pp. 156-159), the individual who responds to and accepts the
interpellation or the hailed position is called a universal subject and the one who refuses
to comply is the subject of enunciation. The universal subject or the “good subject” is the
one who abides by the expected social and cultural norms whereas the subject of
enunciation or the “bad subject” does not. Besides, accepting or rejecting a social subject-
position, a social subject can adopt disidentification which constitutes “working of the
subject-form and not just its abolition” (Pêcheux 1982, p. 159). As such, in this paper I
demonstrate that Pakhtun women respond to the cultural interpellation and respond as the
disidentifying subjects by using tappa as means of their quotidian agency.
In anthropological and sociological literature agency has multi-tiered meaning(s) and the
notion can be expressed and practiced in various ways in different cultures, structures, and
circumstances. Ahearn (2001) defines agency as, “the socioculturally mediated capacity to
act” (p. 112). And Mahmood (2001) believes that “[the] ability to understand and
interrogate the lives of women whose desire, affect, and will have been shaped by
nonliberal traditions… think of agency not as a synonym for resistance to relations of
domination, but as a capacity for action that historically specific relations of subordination
enable and create” (p. 203). And Hilsdon (2007) believes that agency is something that
arises from within the discursive discourses (p. 127). Therefore, Raval (2009) believes that
women who grow in different cultures are bound to internalize desires according to their
respective situations (p. 492). Correspondingly, Heron (2008) states, “When it comes to
human agency, people make choices, motivate and regulate their behaviour on the basis of
belief systems and cultural backgrounds” (p. 87). Keeping in view the opinions of these
scholars agency is a temporally, culturally, and socially contextualized phenomenon.
As such, literary expressions, whether in the form of folk songs or published poems,
should be understood and accepted as agentive tools used by women in the Pakhtun
culture that may not change the cultural power dynamics but they definitely create some
awareness among both men and women and to an extent challenge the cultural taken-for-
granted perceptions. Finnegan (1991) explains that in order for a folk tradition continue it
has to be used by its people; whether its followers exploit, change or follow it blindly (p.
112). And Geertz (2003, p. 36) believes, “But that is what listening to the voices of our
own literary tradition…brings on as well: the sense that there is more to things than first
Anoosh W. Khan 5
appears and that our reactions are where we start, not where we end.” Abu-Lughod (2008)
also categorically discusses the importance of songs and stories as a medium of
expression in traditionally gendered societies.
Methodology: Method, Field Site, and Respondents
For this paper, apart from using and analyzing Pashto tappay, I have included few lines
from some contemporary Pashto poetry by women as well. Besides, I have also
interviewed three respondents, two men and a woman. I purposively selected Pakhtuns
research respondents residing in Peshawar. These respondents belong to different parts of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and are native speakers of Pashto; Pashto being their mother
tongue. The respondents are between 30-50 years old. And I intentionally interviewed
respondents who were educated and by educated I mean that these respondents have a
masters, M. Phil, or PhD degree. The reason I interviewed educated people was that I
wanted to know how far, if at all, the educated, comparatively exposed, and what we call
“modern” Pakhtuns use the traditional and colloquial language. Since my research is
ethnographic in nature I include some verbatim responses of the research participants.
Tappa: The Gendered Voice
During my discussions with my respondents it was apparent that like any culture even
among Pakhtuns poetry is a dominant form of literary expression. However, I was told
that folk literature and especially tappa, as a form of literary genre, was more popular
among the masses than any other literary genre.
Nadia, a young academic whose research focuses on Pakhtun culture began by reiterating
the fact that tappa is the most common form of expression. She explained,
It maybe because its wording and composition is very comprehensive;
and one tappa can convey many things at a time. Secondly, it is popular
because most of the Pakhtuns are familiar with its content. There are
multiple themes in tappa, for example, bravery, nung (respect), ghairat
(honor), peghore (taunt); everything that is there in the Pakhtun culture.
Tappa is also a struggle to maintain the Pakhtun cultural norms, for
example, the ideals of masculinity and femininity.
Another respondent, Daud, was of the opinion that tappa is the most popular genre in
Pashto literature. It is very popular in the rural areas. The illiterate or the not trained in
modern education use tappa a lot, “you will see them working in the field and singing
tappay.” He also explained that Pashtun women know a lot of tappay and they use them
on different occasions according to the context. However, Daud also said, “Our educated
lot do not know much about tappa because I think they are more attracted towards the
modern media, Hollywood, and Bollywood music.”
Accordingly, the usual themes of tappa are about life: anything that is related to life. It is
the most popular form because its composition is simple. As Daud pointed out, “It is folk
poetry therefore it is pretty much close to the aspirations, the worries, the life of common
man and woman. It speaks of the common person’s life. It is short; so you can remember
it very easily. It is precise and comprehensive.”
In the following section I quote some tappay, their translation and explanation to
demonstrate their wide thematic range expressing the female voice. For example, Eid is
one such festive occasion which culturally sanctions meeting and mixing of relatives and
friends. However, there are cultural restrictions that do not allow unrelated men and
women to meet and greet. Yet, the beloved passes on a message, usually sung, that:
Janana rasha ka me gore
Pa sro jamo ke laka gul walara yama (Mohmand, 2010, p. 3)
(Darling come if you want to see me
In a red dress I stand like a rose (translation by author)
Te da akhtar pa sahar rasha

Za ba dar-oozam thore starge sra laasoona (Mohmand, 2010, p. 28)
(Come over on Eid morning
I’ll come out, kohl eyed and henna-stained hands) (translation by
author)
Both these tappay are in the female voice because firstly the gendered verb endings (as in
Udru) are female. Secondly, the dress code and the make-up (red dress like a rose; kohl
eyed and henna stained hands), respectively, show that it is a woman who is suggesting to
her lover to meet her on Eid. Besides, the persona is dressed up for this meeting; she will
not meet her lover shabbily dressed. Amongst the cultural restraints this is how she
practices her quotidian agency.
Furthermore, it is interesting to see Pakhtun women, particularly in the rural areas, are so
explicit in voicing their concerns about their sexual and personal desires. Whether these
emotions are sung in public domains, as in all-female gatherings, or expressed privately
among female relatives and/or friends, I think it bears to the fact that these women have
the space and the agency to express their emotions unlike many others.
Zama janam nadaan halak de
Che khulgai warkrham beya dae waee haloona (Mohmand, 2010, p. 36)
(My lover is a naïveté
When I kiss him he tells our secret to all) (translation by author)
Anoosh W. Khan 7
Zama chargul ke sa guna wa

Ta ba da sro anango na akhistal khwandoona (Mohmand, 2010, p. 37)
(Don’t blame my jewellery
You could have still relished on my cheeks) (translation by author)
Seena palang leche balakhth de

Zama napoya yar pe sar na lagaweena (Mohmand, 2010, p. 40)
(My bosom the bed, my wrists the pillow
My naïve lover doesn’t recline) (translation by author)
Da beganae ajaba shpa va

Da che da yar pa gheg ke laka panrha rapedama (Mohmand, 2010, p.14)
(It was, indeed, the night of all nights, last night
When I quivered as a leaf pressed to his bosom tight)
The above tappay, that is, in Pashto, through their linguistic markers suggest the female
voice. The persona talks about janan halak (lover-boy); zama chargul (my jewelry); seena
palang (bosom—the bed); rapedama (shivering and the verb has a feminine ending).
Besides, the women practicing quotidian agency by singing tappay themselves, there are
other tappay where the female concern about (dis)honor, (dis)respect, (in)equality, etc.
are voiced in a perhaps masculine or apparently gender-neutral voice. Nonetheless, the
aim is the wellbeing of the women which eventually lets them not only become aware of
their traditional limitations but is in fact a way of consciousness raising of the Pakhtun
men as well. As such, indirectly, such tappay advance the cause of Pakhtun women’s
quotidian agency. For instance, the following tappay underscore this claim:
De Pakhtun dae Pukhto taa gora
Che loor ao khor laka sarwee baya kawee na
(Imagine the Pakhtun’s sense of honor
He sells his sister and daughter like cattle) (translation, Khan, Q., 2008,
p. 23)
De khazay marg ta haajat neeshta

Bala pe okra da ae marg dae; mra ba sheena
(There is no need to kill your wife
Just marry another one, she will die herself) (translation, Khan, Q.,
2008, p. 24)
Da ser ao maal khatra pakay wee

Cha che dwa banay pa yao kor saa talay wee na
(It is dangerous for both your health and wealth,
To keep two wives at the same time) (translation, Khan, Q., 2008, p. 24)
Similarly a verse of a song, in a male voice, shows the cultural limitation of a man who
wants to greet his beloved but is conscious of the societal stigma that may be attached to
a single woman meeting and greeting a single, unrelated (or even related) man:
Zra raa ta waiyae che wersha tae pukhtana oka
Galay che paata shawuma da mae sta haya ta katal
(My heart bids me to inquire about you
Keeping your honor in mind, I kept quiet) (Translation by author)
One of my respondents, Yasir, a man in his early 50s gave a plausible explanation of how
Pakhtun women practice agency. He believed that the relationship a woman is in
determines her level of agency. He was of the opinion that perhaps a woman of herself
and in-herself does not have much agency because Pakhtun society respects relations. He
explained that literature has played a role in giving some agency to women. He thought
folk literature gives more agency to women since it comes first in oral form then the
written form. There are certain forms which are specifically the domain of women. The
voice is that of woman; the composition comes from a woman; the participation, and the
performance of emotions is mostly that of a woman; like for example the tappa is
perhaps the sole form which is specifically a form in which women specialize in. They
compose these during celebratory activities and during mournful activities. And during
activities that perhaps shows reflection of a woman on the political, economic, and social,
issues she finds around herself. In addition to these collective spheres tappa is also used
for the individual sphere where woman expresses her emotions as an individual. Most of
the folk stories like “Adam Khan- Durkhanay”, “Yousuf Khan-Sher Bano”, or any other
for that matter, the role assigned to woman seems to be more powerful than the one
assigned to the man. Why? Because it is actually the woman who works a pivot or what
John Donne calls the stationery leg of the compass and the man revolves around that leg.
Or for man, woman is the emotional hub; the emotional nucleus. For example, Yasir
quoted a tappa from the folktale of “Sher Alam Khan-Maimoonai”, and explained that in
this tappa the voice is that of a woman, “my requests bought you from the other end of
the world/but how do I bring you back from the world of the dead?” The background
being that in “Sher Alam Khan-Maimoonai”, Sher Alam came back from India for her
but then his paternal cousins murdered him. Yasir emphatically stated, “Imagine the
power she has; imagine the agency. I would say that mother, daughter or sister would not
exercise that power over man. But then that agency is available to a woman if she is in a
social, legal or at times even in a biological relationship.”
Yasir was also of the opinion that tappa is the most popular genre of folk literature because
it is public property; perhaps no researcher actually knows when it actually started. He
thought it started with the heart beat—whenever the Pakhtun heart beat the first time at that
time the tappa was born. Furthermore, the language in it is really very simple. It uses very
colloquial expressions; it does not depend upon the beauty of the language; it does not
Anoosh W. Khan 9
depend upon the conventional figures of speech; the main focus is on the idea. The main
focus is on the body; it is not the cosmetics. Yasir reiterated the fact that some tappay are
really very simple but if one looks at the thought process and the strings attached to the
thought process some of them are really very loaded for example:
Che maazigar tanoor ta kae numa
Loogay bana kum jera taa pasay koama
(In the evening when I bake bread
I cry and tell people the smoke brings tears to my eyes) (translation by
respondent)
This is indeed a loaded tappa. It is a comment on how woman is repressed because she
cannot even openly perform her emotions of missing her love. Perhaps, because showing
a sign of weakness will make her less of a woman. Or perhaps, one is not supposed to
publically show one’s emotions. Or perhaps, there are other problems which are more
pressing than missing one’s love. For example, most Pakhtuns work abroad on minimum
wage and how they and their families or loved ones do not want to stay away from each
other. But then there is a bigger need; the physical need is perhaps prior to the emotional
need. The voice is in this tappa wants to admit that she has this emotional need too. But
she would not want to come across as a weakling. She would not want to come across as
somebody missing her love because in the absence of her husband or father she may be
the head of the family and she does not want her family members to see her as a weak
person. Because given the environment that the Pakhtuns have seen and continue to see
even today if the male family member is not there the rest of the family members will
look up to the elder woman and one would assume that if she is baking bread at the
tanoor or clay oven it is not only literal or physical but also metaphoric; she is providing
bread for the family members. And if the elder of the family shows weakness she will not
be in a position to explain to the rest of the family members why the man in their life is
not there or how she is capable of fulfilling his duties.
However, another way to look at this tappa would be that how oppressive the society is
which does not perhaps allow woman to publically display her emotions about how she is
missing her love, or her fiancé, or her husband. And by not publically displaying her
emotions she is singing it! This woman is so mindful of the physical limitations but at the
same time is also admitting that she has her emotional needs too. So she would rather
blame the smoke from the tanoor or clay oven to be responsible for the tears that she is
shedding than to admit that she is missing someone. But it is noteworthy to see how she
is performing her emotions of missing him and yet not publically admitting it. No doubt,
it is a very bleak comment; a cutting comment on Pakhtun society in not giving woman
that liberty, that agency where she can express her emotions. And that agency is provided
by tappa which is why perhaps it is very popular. And it is equally popular among men
and women.
Almost all tappay, with a few exceptions here and there, are sung by men. Perhaps it is an
attempt to compensate for what Pakhtun men deny women in real life. So they sing women’s
songs. And the voice men do not allow her they sing those songs to accompaniment of music
and to the traditional gathering of men. And in a way language and tappa gives woman that
power which she cannot have in her personal sphere; it is a voice that she acquires, though a
little twisted too, and sings it to everyone. So it seems as if the physical voice is what is
denied to woman but the voice or the person who speaks to us in the tappa is actually
celebrated. Pakhtun man in a very compensatory manner acknowledges this power.
With regard to Pashto folk songs Salma Shaheen, a Pashto scholar and poet, says,
We have 85% folklore that is created by women. Why they created it is because they are
the marginalized class. These Pakhtuns have a strange psyche…where [romantic] interest
is generated or developed, there has to be a separation. You cannot meet anyone [you
like]. When you cannot meet anyone, you are unhappy and when you are unhappy art is
created… for creativity separation is necessary.
Apart from folksongs and literature there are Pakhtun women who are housewives,
working women, or both and at the same time are poets as well. Besides, personal issues
these women raised environmental and social questions. One of them said,
The fresh blowing breeze of the city
Now whimpers through the skyscrapers
The jasmine and roses
Now await their gardener
The night-glory in my courtyard
Now yearns for a drop of water.
The second poet said,
I will only come when

The sky turns azure
The flower beds turn red
The mustard flowers bloom yellow.
What is the ratio of hatred

In the village-winds now?
I will only come when
The hearts are cleansed.
Come my dear!
I will take thee to my village
It has been a while in foreign lands
That I have been venting my emotions.
Anoosh W. Khan 11
These poems and the tappay illustrate that Pakhtun women, depending on their level of
education, social status, and access to opportunities have various ways of practicing their
agency, either quotidian or restricted.
Conclusions
Althusser (1971) believes that all social individuals become social subjects when they
respond to an ideological interpellation. However, their subject position is determined by
the way they react to the interpellation, that is, as a good, bad, or a disidentifying subject
(Pêcheux, 1982). Besides, ideology always needs a conduit, which Althusser calls the
Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs), to interpellate an individual. Among others, culture
is a strong ISA which interpellates both men and women. But Pakhtun men and women
respond differently to the cultural ideological interpellation. Most Pakhtun men respond
as the good or disidentfying subjects; yet some also afford to be the bad subjects.
However, most Pakhtun women only respond as good subjects by abiding by the
gendered cultural norms and expectations. As most Pakhtun women cannot respond as
bad subjects due to cultural censures therefore they resort to a disidentifying subject-
positions and use tappa , the most popular and accepted genre of folk literature, to voice
their concerns and emotions. Since the disidentifying subject adopts a middle path as the
not-so-good and the not-so-bad subject, therefore by using tappa as a form of expression,
these women are not considered cultural rebels. Therefore, composing and singing or
even prosaically uttering tappay give Pakhtun women quotidian agency of sorts.
In this paper, I wanted to demonstrate that according to the non-Pakhtun standards
Pakhtun women may have restricted agency or perhaps no agency. However, one of the
ways to practice that agency within restricted cultural structures is through the use of folk
and contemporary literary genres.
Alcoff (1988) believes, the position of women can actually become the location of
constructing meaning rather than the place where meaning can be discovered (p. 434). In
addition, Raheja and Gold (1994, p.123) aptly justify women’s folk songs by stating that
in many cultures women’s relationships are not given primary importance so these
women use these folk songs as a way to challenge some tenets of the cultural discourse .
As such, Pashto poems and folksongs prove to be the medium that strategically voice and
advocate social, cultural, and gender issues. Hence proving that that agency should not be
understood in the narrow sense; it can have different meanings for different people in
different locales; at different times, and in different contexts.
End Notes
1. Pakhtuns/Pukhtuns/Pukhtoons and Pashtuns are orthographic and linguistic variants

used for the same ethnicity. The difference in pronunciation of the “kh” and “sh”
sound is due to the two different dialects spoken in the northern and southern
districts, respectively, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan . The British, following the
Indians, used the word Pathan(s) for this ethnic group.
2. By “West” I primarily mean countries in North America, Europe, and other

economically and technologically developed countries that lie to the west of
Pakistan.
3. Mangay (or ghara in Urdu) is an earthen pot-bellied pitcher used for producing a
hollow sound; tambal is a tambourine-like instrument; baja is the harmonium.
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_____________________
Prof. Dr. Anoosh W. Khan is Chairperson in the Dept of Gender Studies, University of
Peshawar.
Vol. 16, 2018, pp. 15-36, ISSN: 2072-0394
Female Entrepreneurship And Economic Growth: An

Institutional Theory Analysis
Ansar Waseem
School of Business & Economics
University of Management & Technology, Lahore
Abstract
Women are untapped resources for economic growth. Female entrepreneurs, like their
male counterparts, can boast the economic growth of a country. Women owned business
creates jobs which results in poverty alleviation and eradication of unemployment.
Similarly, women entrepreneurs add diversity to the entrepreneurial mix of a country.
Female entrepreneurs intensify competition through creativity and innovation. However,
the institutional profile and overall business environment of any country have significant
role in women business start-ups. This study attempts to provide a plausible account on
how women entrepreneurs increase economic development of a country. It is proposed
that women entrepreneurs enhance the national competitiveness level which leads to rapid
economic growth. Moreover, the relationship between female entrepreneurship and
national competiveness level is moderated by overall business environment of the country.
To test this framework, data was collected from different sources. The results of
regression analysis support the research hypotheses.
Keywords: Female Entrepreneurship; Economic Growth; National Competitiveness;

Institutional Profile; Business Environment.
‫ﺗﻠﺨيﺺ‬
16 Female Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth: An Institutional Theory Analysis
Introduction
Active participation of women in economic activities is necessary for development of any

country (Sarfaraz, Faghih & Majd, 2014). Countries with low participation of women are
characterized by under utilization of the resource which has profound effect on their
economic growth (Albotmeh & Irsheid, 2013). Among these activities, entrepreneurial
initiatives have significant effect on the economic development of a country, and women
entrepreneurs are major contributor to this growth (Goltz, Buche & Pathak, 2015). In the
past, entrepreneurship was considered to be male dominated; but now researchers, policy
makers and overall population is giving due attention to female entrepreneurs (Ramadani
et al., 2015). Now, female owned businesses are expanding in all countries. Women are
considered to be fast growing entrepreneurial population (Nguyen, Frederick & Nguyen,
2014). According to Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, around 25% to 35% companies in
the formal sector are owned by women (Estrin & Mickiewicz, 2011). Inspite this, the
share of female entrepreneurs is far less than their male counterparts (Hattab, 2012) and
this trend is prevalent worldwide.
Women entrepreneurs are considered to be important for economic growth of any country.
This is more relevant for low income level countries where majority of micro-enterprises
are owned and operated by women (Palanivelu & Jahan, 2014). Entrepreneurs create new
business which results in more jobs, thus reducing unemployment (Okah-Efogo & Timba,
2015). According to knowledge based view of the firms, entrepreneurs relies more on the
human capital to achieve sustainable competitive advantage rather than the accumulation
of physical factors of production. Female entrepreneurs are not exception. Much like their
male counter parts, they innovate. New business endeavours promote competition
through innovation (Colombelli, Krafft & Vivarelli, 2016). Entrepreneurs intensify the
competition by encouraging new entrants and upgrading/developing existing technologies.
Literature shows that there are two ways that innovation can lead to economic growth.
First is technological competitiveness which involves development of new products and
services; the second is cost competitiveness which entails replacement of human capital
with traditional factors of production (Petrariu, Bumbac & Ciobanu, 2013). Therefore,
new business ventures result in fostering economic development through competition and
innovation (Llussa, 2009).
Despite the fact the women entrepreneurship is on rise, women entrepreneurs operate in
low growth sectors. Due to many individual, socio-cultural and economic constraints,
female entrepreneurs are limited to micro-enterprises (Welter, 2004). A growing body of
research is focusing on the role of institutions on the growth of entrepreneurship among
females (Terjesen & Amoros, 2010). Creation of new business ventures is dependent
upon the overall environment (Minniti & Nardone, 2007). Likewise, any country’s
business infrastructure is the core facilitating factor in growth of business (Marques,
Ansar Waseem 17
2017). A number of country level factors such as lack of access finance, regulatory issues,
and confinement to low growth sections result in less participation of women in
entrepreneurial activities. Females face considerable issues in raising capitals. This
becomes importance for the success of their ventures because female have very less
saving of their own (Danish & Smith, 2012) and they also receive very little support from
their family. Regulatory and financial institutions are important for business activities as
they directly and indirectly affect the demand and supply of entrepreneurs. Therefore,
whether entrepreneurial initiatives are productive, non-productive or even destructive
depends upon the development of institutions (Acs et al., 2011). Given the importance of
institutions, female entrepreneurial activities are closely related with the institutional
system of a country (Verheul, Stel & Thurik, 2006).
An over whelming amount of literature concurs that entrepreneurship boasts economic

growth. However, the role of entrepreneurship in economic growth is still underestimated
(Acs et al., 2011). “Although it is widely acknowledged that entrepreneurship is an
important force shaping the changes in the economic landscape, our understanding of the
relationship between entrepreneurship and development is still far from complete” (GEM
2008 Executive Report, cited in Sarfaraz, Faghih & Majd, 2014). The studies exploring
the relationship between entrepreneurship and economy activities are limited to firm level
and very few have considered the aggregated or national level (Dejardin, 2011; Kobeissi,
2010). This study aims to provide a plausible account of causal relationship between
entrepreneurial activities of women and economic growth by using data at national level.
Moreover, scholars have limited understanding on how business ventures are more
successful in one country as compared to others (Busenitz, Gomez & Spencer, 2000).
This is because literature of female entrepreneurship has given more attention to
individual factors as compared to social and collective environment (Lock & Smith,
2016); and legal and business environment are seldom discussed (Ahl, 2006). Most of the
research of female entrepreneurship has focused on the availability of credit and financial
institutes; while the role of other institutions has been overlooked (Terrell & Troilo,
2010). It is proposed that the variation in the rate of entrepreneurial activities especially
among women can be explained through the national competition level, overall business
environment and institutional system.
Goncalves et al., (2015) note that due to mathematical restrictions of their model,
neoclassical economists have neglected the role of entrepreneurs in the national economic
growth. Given the importance of female entrepreneurship in economic growth of a
country, this study aims to fill the gap in research by focusing on female entrepreneurship
and economic growth in global context. This study will contribute to the extant literature
on female entrepreneurship and economic growth in three ways; first the importance of
female entrepreneurship and its effect on growth of business competitiveness is
highlighted; second by emphasizing how business environment can lead to competition
among firms operating in a country; third, by asserting the importance of female

entrepreneurship and business friendly policies in economic growth of a country.
This study deals with the basic question: how opportunities of entrepreneurial activities
for women in a country can lead to its economic growth. This study uses institutional
theory since it is particularly suitable to analyze national context for entrepreneurship
(Baughn, Chua, & Neupert, 2006) as institutions shapes the entrepreneurial decisions
(Naguib & Jamali, 2015). This framework allows observing the effect of opportunity
driven female entrepreneurship and a supportive business environment in enhancing
national competitiveness which can in turn leads to rapid economic growth. This is in line
with observation of Acs et al., (2011) that the nexus between entrepreneurial activities,
institutional conditions and economic growth may be considered while studying
entrepreneurship in a country. This study also take into consideration the interaction
between different levels as Wennekers and Thurik (1999) note that “linking
entrepreneurship to economic growth also means linking the individual level to the firm
and the macro level.”
Literature Review
Female Entrepreneurship and National Competitiveness
The role of entrepreneurs in boasting economic performance of a country can be assess

through the introduction of new product and services, and growth in technological
innovation (Goncalves et al., 2015). An entrepreneur is regarded as an innovator and risk
taker, who promotes economic development through competition and introduction of new
technology (Gries & Naude, 2011). He or she can spot an opportunity which others fail to
notice the same (Palanivelu & Jahan, 2014). The technological innovation promotes a
healthy competition between the firms which results in either lower cost or better quality
of product. Entrepreneurship is generally regarded as a positive phenomenon (Colombelli,
Krafft & Vivarelli, 2016). This is because creation of new business ventures intensifies
the competition (Hilman & Warokka, 2014).
The greatest proponent of role of entrepreneurs in fostering competition is Schumpeter.

His notion of ‘creative destruction’ elaborates his claims that entrepreneurs introduce
new technologies and innovations in the market which gradually replace old and
inefficient ones (Goncalves et al., 2015); thereby not only encouraging the participation
of new entrant but also facilitating development of existing firms. Thus, development of
new products and services encourage people to invest more in technological innovation,
leading to a stiffer competition at national level (Petrariu, Bumbac & Ciobanu, 2013)
Female entrepreneurs just like their male counterparts also intensify competition between
firms operating in same market. Female entrepreneurs add diversity to the economic
Ansar Waseem 19
activities in the country (Verheul, Stel & Thurik, 2006). Female owned businesses are a
source of productivity and they encourage the development of new business (Nguyen,
Frederick & Nguyen, 2014). This leads to a greater competition between firms. This
study considers the role of opportunity driven entrepreneurship among female is defined
as “which is an active choice to start a new enterprise based on the perception that an
unexploited or underexploited business opportunity exists” (Acs, 2006). This type of
female entrepreneurship contributes more towards innovation and competition as
compared to the necessity based entrepreneurship because they can easily identify and
exploit an economic opportunity (Palanivelu & Jahan, 2014).
Based on above discussion, our first hypothesis is given below:
Hypothesis No 1:
Opportunity driven female entrepreneurship intensifies national competitiveness.
Moderating Role of Business Environment on the Relation between Female

Entrepreneurship and National Competitiveness
Cultural and legal environment of a country have profound effect on the level of
entrepreneurial activities taking place in it (Baughn, Chua, & Neupert, 2006). Institutions
can be categorized differently. For instance, in his seminal work, North (1990) has
distinguished between two types of institutes: formal and informal. Formal institutes
provide a regulatory environment in the form of laws, rules and governmental procedures
where business operates (Pulido, Jimenez & Noguera, 2014). These formal institutions
promote business by reducing transaction cost (Estrin & Mickiewicz, 2011). Both formal
and informal institutes are helpful in the promotion of quality as well as quantity of
female owned business (Terjesen & Amoros, 2010). Formal institutes establish the ‘rules
of game’ which can shape intentions and strategies of entrepreneurs (Goltz, Buche &
Pathak, 2015). In similar lines, Kostova (1997) has used regulatory, cognitive and
normative dimensions to explain institutional profile of a country. The regulatory
dimension entails laws, rules and governmental policies that provide support in launching
new business, reducing risk for entrepreneurs and facilitating entrepreneurial activities
(Busenitz, Gomez & Spencer, 2000). More recently, Bates, Jackson and Johnson (2007)
have proposed 3M framework (Market, Money and Management) to explain launch and
growth of business endeavours. The same has been extended by Brush, De Bruin and
Welter (2009) to included two more factors i.e. motherhood and meso/macro factors.
These two additional factors explain the role of culture and other regulatory forces in
growth of business ventures.
Formal institutes are ‘rules of the game’ (North, 1990). They not only affect the extent of
females entering into self employment but they also have significant influence on the
type of enterprise women will own (Aidis et al., 2007). A strong regulatory environment
such as regulators, institutes, economic and political pillars play an important role in
flourishing entrepreneurial activities (Terjesen, Bosma & Stam, 2016). Main function of
institutes is to provide a stable mean for interaction between different actors of economy
(Noguera et al., 2015). High quality of institutional support encourages entrepreneurs to
pursue productive activities (Estrin & Mickiewicz, 2011). Better legal system, business
regulations, and bankruptcy laws are increases entrepreneurship (Terjesen, Bosma &
Stam, 2016). Bankruptcy laws are of particular help because of resolving insolvencies
(Armour & Cumming, 2008).
Literature shows that females entrepreneurs faces problem in raising capital for their
business (Lock & Smith, 2016) due to which their enterprise cannot flourish (Welter, 2004)
or they have to wait for the launch of their business projects (Llussa, 2009). Women’s firms
are regarded to have lower initial capital as compared to their male counterparts and their
businesses run at lower debt and equity business (Jennings & Brush 2013). Since women
mostly own firms belonging to informal sector of economy, their capital is more likely to
come from informal sources (Coleman & Carsky, 1996; Terjesen, Bosma & Stam, 2016).
Women are also prone to discriminating attitude from banks and other financial institutions
(Sara & Peter, 1998) because of issues such as prejudice or credibility (Danish & Smith,
2012). Despite their low prosperity to bankruptcy, women have to pay more interest on
loan as compared to males (Llussa, 2009). It is assumed that women are incapable of
managing capital (Rubio-Bañón & Esteban-Lloret, 2016). Therefore, women have to rely
more on personal saving than men (Morris et al., 2006). The undercapitalization of female
owned business results in their below-par performance. Due to their small business size and
small growth sector, women have difficult relationship with financial and credit institutions
(Poggesi, Mari & De Vita, 2016). For such women, raising capital becomes a challenging
job since they have less personal saving and receive little financial support from their
family. Thus, access to finance becomes crucial to the success of the business especially at
the start-up stage (Danish & Smith, 2012).
Similarly, business environment has significant influence on national competitiveness.

Porter (1990) has proposed a national diamond model to predict national competitiveness
level of industrial countries. According to this model, government policies as well as
supportive and related industries affect competiveness of a country (Kordalska & Olczyk,
2016). A supportive institutional structure can influence the innovation activities carried
out by the entrepreneurs (Busenitz, Gomez & Spencer, 2000) which can in turn affect the
competition level. Therefore, institutional profile and business environment of a country
have a profound effect on both activities of female entrepreneurs as well as national
competitiveness level.
Ansar Waseem 21
Hypothesis No 2:
The relationship between opportunity driven female entrepreneurship and national

competitiveness level is moderated by business environment of a country in such a way
that a better business environment will lead to more competition.
Female Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth
Social scientists have paid considerable attention in studying how entrepreneurial

activities in a country leads to its economic growth. Entrepreneurship is viewed as a
driver for economic development and innovation (Acs, 2006; Acs et al., 2011; Brush et al,
2006; Busenitz, Gomez & Spencer, 2000; Dejardin, 2011; Hayton, George & Zahra, 2002;
Lock & Smith, 2016; Korez-Vide & Tominc, 2016; Sarfaraz, Faghih & Majd, 2014; Stel,
Carree & Thurik, 2005; Terjesen, Bosma & Stam, 2016; Verheul, Stel & Thurik, 2006).
Baumol (1990) holds the view that entrepreneurial activities can be productive, non-
productive and even destructive for a given economy. However, a great amount of
literature concurs that entrepreneurial activities are important for economic development
and growth of a country. There is consensus among researchers that entrepreneurship is
the ‘driving engine’ of many economies (Gallant, Majumdar & Varadarajan, 2010).
Women represent an untapped source of entrepreneurial talent (Baughn, Chua, & Neupert,
2006; Sarfaraz, Faghih, & Majd, 2014). Like male entrepreneurs, women
entrepreneurship is regarded to be positively associated with economic growth of a
country. Female entrepreneurs can help in job creation and employment generation
(Noguera et al., 2015) along with reduction in gender discrimination and wages
difference (Ghani, Kerr & O’connell, 2013). On the other hand, low level of female
entrepreneurship may negatively affect the economic growth of a country (Terjesen &
Amoros, 2010). Female entrepreneurship can be used as a potent tool for poverty
eradication (Kobeissi, 2010). Marques (2017) notes that “women entrepreneurs may
contribute to development with multiplier effects due to their greater concern for
household welfare, their greater propensity to employ other women and their
complementarily to overall entrepreneurship”.
Previous researches have ascertained claims of scholars about the relationship between
female entrepreneurship and economic development. For example, empirical work of
Carree and Thurik (2003) provides valuable inside in the relationship between
entrepreneurial activities and economic development of a country. Similarly, in the
context of Ghana, Chamlee-Wright (2002) has found that female entrepreneurs can
reduce the poverty level of a country. Okah-Efogo and Timba (2015) have found that
SMEs owned by women can be used to reduce unemployment among them which leads
to economic growth. It means that if proper opportunities are given to female
entrepreneurs can contribute to their economy through job and wealth creation, poverty
alleviation, innovation and enhanced national income (Brush & Cooper, 2012; Gallant,
Majumdar & Varadarajan, 2010; Rubio-Bañón & Esteban-Lloret, 2016).
Hypothesis No 3:
Opportunity driven entrepreneurship among women is positively associated with

economic growth of a country.
Mediating Role of National Competitiveness Level in the Relation between Female

Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth
There is a consensus among the scholars that entrepreneurs and competitive business
environment is essential for economic development of a country (Hilman & Warokka,
2014). Origin of these works can be rooted back to the work of Schumpeter who regarded
entrepreneurship and innovation to be critical for economic growth of a society.
Schumpeter regards entrepreneurs to be crucial in bringing innovation to the business
sectors. According to Schumpeter (1934), entrepreneur “incessantly revolutionizes the
economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a
new one”. Therefore, he emphasized the role of entrepreneurs in increasing national
economic growth as their innovative capabilities intensify competition. Following this,
Wennekers and Thurik (1999) argue that Schumpeterian entrepreneurs are better able to
take part in economic development.
This means that dynamic and innovative organizations enhance competition in the
business market. Therefore, both dynamic and static competitiveness between firms can
be used as a predictor of economic growth (Schwab & Sala-i-Martin, 2015). Female
entrepreneurs make valuable contribution in technological innovation, providing
employment and increasing wealth in an economy (Brush et al., 2006). Entrepreneurial
activities of female are regarded to be “generator of innovation, creativity, growth and
employment” (Garcia & Capitan, 2016). The study of entrepreneurship entails
identification and exploitation of an opportunity (Davidsson & Honig, 2003).
Entrepreneurship focuses on “optimization within existing mean-end framework” (Shane
& Venkataraman, 2000). Such optimization will be beneficial in removing any
inefficiency in the system. Therefore, opportunity driven female entrepreneurship can
lead to higher competition and an efficient economic system.
To conclude this discussion, female entrepreneurship can lead to creation of businesses,

which in turn creates employment opportunities, intensifies competition between firms,
support technological development, and eventually lead to a higher level of economic
growth (Acs, 2006).
Ansar Waseem 23
Hypothesis No 4:
Competitiveness of business markets meditates the Opportunity driven entrepreneurship

among women is positively associated with economic growth of a country.
Based on the above hypotheses, a conceptual framework is developed which shows the
interaction between opportunity driven female entrepreneurship, business environment,
national competitiveness, and economic growth.
National Competitiveness Level
Business
Environme
Opportunity
Driven Female GDP Per
Entrepreneursh Capita
Figure No 1: Conceptual Framework
Result Section
This study aims to investigate the impact of opportunity driven female entrepreneurship
and supportive business environment in increasing national competitiveness level and
economic growth of a country. For this purpose, data regarding different variables
involved in the study was obtained from different sources. To measure female
opportunity driven entrepreneurship, data was collected from Global Entrepreneurship
Monitor (GEM) which focuses on entrepreneurial activities in a country as a whole
(Estrin & Mickiewicz, 2011). Total Early Stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) Index
was used which measures the level of opportunities for female entrepreneurs on the basis
of number of business start-ups and new ventures that are less than 3.5 years old (Hattab,
2012; Adom & Asare-Yeboa, 2016). The overall business environment was measured
from Distance of Frontier Score obtained from Doing Business Report. Data regarding
competitiveness level was obtained from Global Competitiveness Index (CGI) developed
by World Economic Forum as it is the most cited source and standard to measure national
competitiveness (Kordalska & Olczyk, 2016; Korez-Vide & Tominc, 2016). Lastly,
economic growth was measured by Gross Domestic Product per capita. Data is
considered at country level following Kobeissi (2010) who notes that the literature on
entrepreneurship is limited to a region or country, and studies comparing entrepreneurial
practices on global level are scarce. Table No 1 shows the sources of data along with the
results of descriptive statistics.
Table: 1
Descriptive Statistics of variables
Name of variable Data Source Mean Standard
Deviation
Gross Domestic Product World Bank 2015 25,837.74 19,849.78
per Capita
Opportunity driven female Global Entrepreneurship 69.66 12.13
entrepreneurship Monitor, 2015
Business environment Doing Business Report 69.78 9.36
2015
Global Competitiveness Global Competitiveness 4.56 0.55
Index score Report 2015-2016
Correlation between variables was checked using Pearson’s correlation. Table No 2

shows the results of correlation between variables. All the variables were positively and
significantly correlated with one another. Female opportunity driven entrepreneurship is
positively associated with both GDP per capita and competitiveness score.
Table: 2
Correlation between variables
Name of Variable 1 2 3 4
Gross Domestic Product per Capita 1
Opportunity driven female entrepreneurship 0.360*** 1
Business Environment 0.769*** 0.374*** 1
Global Competitiveness Index score 0.688*** 0.526*** 0.716*** 1
*** p<0.01, ** p<0.05, * p<0.1, ϯ p<0.15
On the introduction of business environment as a moderate in the regression model, the

value of R2 increases to 0.591. Moreover, the interaction term, found by the
multiplication of mean centered terms of predictor and moderator, is statistically
significant in the model.
Ansar Waseem 25
Table: 3
Moderating role of business environment on the relationship between opportunity
based female entrepreneurship and competitiveness score
Name of Variable Unstandardized R2 Δ R2
Coefficient
Opportunity based female 0.024*** 0.277 0.277***
entrepreneurship (OE) (0.141)
Business environment (BP) 0.035*** 0.591 0.314***
(1.267)
Interaction (OE x BP) 0.001* 0.616 0.025*
(0.001)
***
p<0.01, ** p<0.05, * p<0.1, ϯ p<0.15
Number of Observation = 33
In order to further ascertain the moderating role of business environment, its effect size
on the relation between opportunity based female entrepreneurship and competitiveness
score was calculated. Table No 4 shows that at the lower value of moderator, the
relationship between the predictor and the outcome is statistically insignificant. However,
the same relationship becomes significant when we move to mean and higher value of
moderator. This shows that the relationship opportunity based female entrepreneurship
and competitiveness score is significant at mean and higher value of business
environment.
Table: 4
Effect size of the business prospect on the relation between opportunity based
female entrepreneurship and competitiveness score
Mean-Centered Value of the Effect Size of Moderator on relation between
cultural and social norms opportunity based female entrepreneurship and
competitiveness score
-9.3607 0.0038
0 0.0123**
9.3607 0.0208*
*** p<0.01, ** p<0.05, * p<0.1, ϯ p<0.15
Similar results are obtained from the slope test. The slope of the line based on the
regression equation represent the relationship between opportunity based female
entrepreneurship and competitiveness score. Slope of this line gradually increases as we
move from lower to higher value of business environment. This shows that our
Hypothesis No 2 is proved.
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2 High business environment
1.5
1 Med business environment
0.5 Low business environment
0
Low female Med female High female
opportunity opportunity opportunity
driven female driven female driven female
entrepreneurship entrepreneurship entrepreneurship
Figure 2: Moderating role of business environment on the relationship between

opportunity based female entrepreneurship and competitiveness score
Table No 5 shows the results of mediating role of competitiveness score on relationship

between opportunity driven female entrepreneurship and log GDP per capita. According
to Model No 1 of the Table No 5, outcome (log GDP per capita) is positively associated
with female opportunity driven entrepreneurship, and this relation is statistically
significant. However, the relationship between dependent and independent variables was
very weak as the value of R2 was very low. Furthermore, this relation is significant at
p<0.05. This shows that our Hypothesis No 3 is proved. This finding differs from the
results of Korez-Vide and Tominc (2016) who, in the context of Central and Eastern
European states of the European Union, have found an insignificant relationship between
early stage entrepreneurship level and growth of GDP.
Table: 5
Mediating role of competitiveness score on relationship between opportunity
driven female entrepreneurship and log GDP per capita
Name of Variable 1 2
Opportunity driven female 0.008** -0.001
entrepreneurship (0.004) (0.003)
Competitiveness score 0.424***
(0.070)
Constant 3.745*** 2.453***
(0.246) (0.294)
**
Value of R 2
0.104 0.470***
Note: Values represent un-standardized coefficients while those in parenthesis are
standard deviation of un-standardized coefficients
*** p<0.01, ** p<0.05, * p<0.1, ϯ p<0.15.
Ansar Waseem 27
However, the introduction of competitiveness score as a mediator renders the female

opportunity driven entrepreneurship statistically insignificant while the mediating
variable itself remains significant. This partially supports the results of Kordalska and
Olczyk (2016) who have found that Global Competitiveness Index can predict growth of
low and high income level countries. This shows that competitiveness score mediates the
relationship between female opportunity driven entrepreneurship and economic growth of
the country. Hence, our fourth hypothesis is also proved.
Discussion
After reviewing the factors which positively or negatively affect success of

entrepreneurship, Garcia & Capitan (2016) believe that there are three analytical
perspectives found in the literature. First is the Schumpeterian perspective who insists on
combining economic conditions and functioning of market to be predictive of
entrepreneurial activities. Then there is psychological perspective presented by
McClelland which focuses on the individual attributes of the entrepreneur such as risk
aversion, novelty and innovation, long term planning and accepting of responsibility for
actions. The third stream of research emphasises on the role of contextual factors, such as
social capital, social networks, working conditions, business environment etc, in the
development of entrepreneurship. Based on these previous lines of enquiries, this study
focuses on the impact of female entrepreneurial activities and a supportive business
environment in enhancing national competitiveness and boasting economic growth of a
country.
First of all, this study using data from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and
Global Competitiveness Index (CGI) proves existence of relationship between
opportunity driven entrepreneurship among women and national competitiveness level.
This shows that different composite measures such as GEM and CGI based on macro-
economic indicators have made it easier to understand the relationship between
entrepreneurial activities and national competitiveness level (Goncalves et al., 2015).
This finding confirms that women entrepreneurs add diversity to business market. Their
creativity boasts innovation and competition in the business which encourages new
entrants and improves performance of existing firms. These findings are aligned with the
research of Verheul, Stel and Thurik (2004), who in their study of 29 countries note that
countries having higher entrepreneurial level show more participation from female
entrepreneurs.
This study also shows that the relationship between opportunity driven entrepreneurship
among women and national competitiveness level is moderated by overall business
environment of the country. This supports Busenitz, Gomez and Spencer (2000) who
assert that variation in the level of entrepreneurial activities can be explained with the
help of institutions which can both guide and constraint business activities as well as
national economic growth. Paenicny et al., (2014) concluded that environmental barrier
and difficulties in financing are two important factors which can inhibit growth of a
country. In some countries, gender discrimination coupled with weak institutions can
discourage women starting their own business (Marques, 2017).
This study shows that opportunity driven female entrepreneurship is positively and
significantly related with economic growth. This confirms result of Acs (2006) who have
found a positive relationship between ratio opportunity and necessity entrepreneurship
and economic growth. Finally, this study also proves that the relationship between
opportunity driven female entrepreneurship and economic growth is mediated by national
competitiveness level. This supports claim of Schumpeter and other scholars who regard
that entrepreneurs intensify competition between firms which boasts economic
development. The growth of dynamic and innovative enterprises can be used as an
indicator to gauge the economic growth of a country (Paenicny et al., 2014). National
competitiveness is important for both developing and developed countries alike and
policy makers are focusing on this issue (Kordalska & Olczyk, 2016). On the other hand,
obstacles in the entry of women in entrepreneurship can have detrimental consequence on
innovation, competition and economic growth of country (Kobeissi, 2010).
Recommendations
Results of this study show the importance of business start-ups by females which is
quickly becoming a worldwide phenomenon. As the number of women launching their
own business is steadily increasing throughout the world, and it is exploiting an untapped
source of economic growth (Hattab, 2012). Governments are focusing on developing
policies use women entrepreneurs in achieving rapid economic growth. These policies are
directed at attracting female entrepreneurs who have lower rate to start a business as
compared to men (Rubio-Bañón & Esteban-Lloret, 2016).
However, more efforts are still required by the governments to encourage participation of
women in economic activities. Due to poor social position, women have less bargaining
power to negotiate with suppliers and customers as well as dealing with government
officials. It is imperative that policy makers should focus on creating a supportive policy
for women entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurial policy is defined by Stevenson and Lundstrom
(2001) as “measures taken to stimulate more entrepreneurial behaviour in a region or a
country.” These policies can range from improving input factors associated with demand
and supply of entrepreneurial activities, preferences and decision making process of
entrepreneurs (Terjesen, Bosma & Stam, 2016). Such policies will enhance female
business start-ups and promote women owned business by providing an equal playing
field to both male and female entrepreneurs.
Ansar Waseem 29
It is also equally important for government to develop institution supportive for female
entrepreneurial activities. Financial institutes and their credit policies play an important
role in the growth of entrepreneurship especially in low income level countries. Some
believe that the unfavourable economic policies related to loan are prime hurdle to the
growth of female businesses. On the other hand, availability of credit to women will
result in poverty reduction and economic growth (Lock & Smith, 2016). Therefore,
governments should work on developing supportive credit policies (Galindo & Mendez,
2014). This ensures availability of credit which can prevent female owned firms from
performing below par due to under-capitalization. Thus, a better financial system and
regulatory environment in a country can foster creation of new business entities.
Conclusions
According to Schumpeter (1947, cited in Galindo & Mendez, 2014) “we should
recognize the importance of, and systematically inquire into, entrepreneurship as a factor
of economic growth”. With this purpose in mind, this study provides a framework on
how female entrepreneurship can lead to economic growth. Economic growth is, in fact, a
journey from developing country to advanced ones and it can be used a bridge to gap the
difference from developed countries (Kowal & Roztocki, 2013). In order to achieve
rapid economic development, it is imperative to create opportunities and supportive
environment for female entrepreneurs because the overall business environment and the
growth orientation of the entrepreneurs have significant influence on the growth of a
dynamic organization as well as the country (Paenicny et al., 2014). Female
entrepreneurs can increase the competiveness level in a country through creativity and
innovation which boasts economic performance.
Many governments around the world have realized the importance of developing
informal business sectors (Lock & Smith, 2016). Since female entrepreneurs mostly work
in informal sectors, therefore, attention is given to encourage women to start their own
business (McGowan et al., 2012). A special focus on generating more opportunities for
female entrepreneurs will result in financial independence, social empowerment, and
economic development of women. Some aspects of female entrepreneurship are tied up
with institutional system of a country (Minniti, 2010). Therefore, governmental policies
should enables entrepreneur to legally register their corporation easily and protect them
from investment risks (Busenitz, Gomez & Spencer, 2000). This will lead to the creation
of new business ventures that can further economic growth as they support competition
and innovation.
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______________________
Ansar Waseem is Ph.D Scholar in the School of Business & Economics,

University of Management & Technology, Lahore, Pakistan.
Vol. 16, 2018, pp. 37-56, ISSN: 2072-0394
Exposition Of Gender Awareness In Primary Textbooks Of

Punjab: Gendered Content Analysis
Farah Adil
&
Shehla A. Yasin
Department of Gender & Development Studies
Lahore College for Women University
Abstract
Gender is a socially constructed phenomenon through which a society assigns certain
roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes to men and women. Usually children
develop their gender identities and learn what being male or female meant, between
the ages of 3 to 7years. These concepts been taught by society through socialization
which includes various agents of socialization and learning. After parents schools are
most influential agents of socialization where students learn from peers, teachers and
books. Text books have a long-lasting impact on students’ interpersonal development
and provide role models for children in defining standards for feminine and masculine
behaviors. Considering the impact of textbooks on child development; this study was
designed to review how gender is represented in the texts and how the themes of
stories and pictures in text books are presenting gender awareness? The sample of the
research was Urdu textbooks of primary level (1-5) being taught in schools of the
Punjab. We used content analysis to find out the concepts about gender awareness and
also calculated the frequencies of pictures presenting gender ratio in concepts of the
textbooks. The results showed gender biases in the content of the textbooks and lack
of the content that promote gender awareness among primary level students. Male
gender is over represented and stereotypical beliefs prevail in pictorial representation
as males being shown as doctors and females as housewives. It is suggested to
involve gender specialists, school psychologists and educators in developing
curriculum to integrate gender perspective and gender awareness at all levels and to
eliminate gender biases in textbooks so that to develop an equitable society.
Keywords: Punjab Textbooks, Primary Level, Gender Awareness, Pictorial and

Textual Concepts, Stereotypes, Gender Bias.
‫ﺗﻠﺨيﺺ‬
38 Exposition of Gender Awareness in Primary Textbooks of Punjab: Gendered Content Analysis
Introduction
This article is based on the exploration of gender awareness and gender inclusion in
currently taught Punjab text book board primary curriculum. Before discussing the
importance of gender awareness in curriculum, it is important to understand the concept
and significance of gender and gender awareness. The meaning and expression of
gender is based on a society’s values, believes and preferred ways of organizing
collective life (Holmes, 2008).It is also found that gender being a socially constructed
phenomenon helps to assign certain roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes to men
and women. It refers to the roles and responsibilities; that are created in our families,
societies and our cultures. The concept of gender also includes the expectations held
about the characteristics, aptitudes and likely behaviors of both women and men
(UNESCO, 2003).Gender matters as source of personal and collective identity and is
also important to demonstrate structural inequalities between men and women that need
explanation and redress (Woodward, 2011) whereas gender awareness is an
understanding that there are socially determined differences between women and men
based on learned behavior, which affect their ability to access and control resources.
This awareness needs to be applied through gender analysis into programs, policies and
evaluation (Justice Glossary, 2013).Now the question arises that how gender and
gender roles are learned initially? The researchers analyzed that it is an established fact
that, not only parents, teachers, peers and media but also the children’s books
contributed a lot to understand the gender relations; being a male and female and also
played a vital role to shape children’s thinking of their location in a gendered
society(McCabe, et al. 2011; Fox, 1993; Skelton, 2006).
Theoretical Framework
Different theories have analyzed that awareness about gender is primary aspect of
learning, which then provides a solid foundation to understand complex relations
Farah Adil, Shehla A. Yasin 39
among gender. Kohlberg (1966) theorized that the child is an active and vital
contributor in her own learning experience and she dynamically shapes and modifies
knowledge which she learned.
He argued that learning about ‘gender identity’ is the first stage that children start to
explore around the age of 2-3 years and ‘gender stability’ is the second stage to learn that
gender is stable and cannot be changed in the age of 3-7 years. The final stage is ‘gender
constancy’_ learning gender awareness, which starts from 7 and lasts till 12 years in
which children have to understand that gender is fixed and never to be changed despite
changing the behaviors, attitudes and appearance. Throughout this theory‘ gender
stability’ appears to be a very crucial stage of learning gender awareness among children,
which influences perceptions and behaviors towards their identities. Usually this is the
stage when formal education of a child starts so if we inculcate gender awareness related
concepts in the primary textbooks we would be in a position to create awareness and
sensitivity about gender among children (UNESCO, 2003).
Second important theory in this regard is the gender schema theory, which explores
how gender identity is developed through gender schemas. Schemas refer to a mental
structure which contains general expectations and knowledge of the world. These
schemas may include expectations and perceptions about people, social roles, events
and behavior about a situation. According to Bem (1981), there are multiple schemas
regarding gender which are associated with certain expectations, traits, and interactions
among people that differentiate feminine and masculine characters. Apparently, these
schemas are the product of those stereotypes which are mostly prevailed among the
social group of any society. It is important to understand that these schemas and
stereotypes are the by-product of any particular social environment as every society has
its own diverse features about male and female such as anatomy, reproductive function,
division of labor, and personality attributes, so societies assign these attributes to the
people about their gender but also allocate them to shape that gender information and
start to behave as feminine or masculine.
Gender is everywhere and can be learned from any society. Bem (1981) argued that child
takes part in learning process of specific information that is mostly about behaviors and
attributes of their identity in the form of schemas.
Campbell, (2004) further explains Bem’s theory and states that, the ability to recognize
gender starts in infancy and the development of these mental schemes become rapid in
the age of 2-3 years in which children first start to differentiate physical appearance of a
boy and a girl, which include beginning of awareness(2-3years), rigidity(5-7years) and
flexibility (around 7 year of age). In the beginning years, child has to learn gendered
notions like characteristics, behaviors, and personality traits as schemas and this learning
process is speedy in the beginning age of 2-3 years. Rigid stage of gender learning starts
in 5-7 years of age in which child begins to be fixed on the gender schemas which he/she
have learned in the beginning and they have rigid insight about theses gender notions and
follow them i.e. only girls wear pink color and boys can be builders etc. Whereas the
third stage is about flexibility of gender notions and the children have to learn that there is
no issue if boys wear pink color and girls can be builder. Yet again, the second stage of
rigidity is crucial in a child’s life. If gender equitable schemas are learned in this stage,
children can behave in more gender sensitive way towards others.
Gender Stereotypes and Curricula
Gender awareness is necessary for gender sensitivity. Gender awareness is the ability to
analyze and understand the society from the perspective of gender roles and behaviors
that affected women’s needs in comparison to the needs of men (UNIFEM, 2005).
Gender awareness is a learning process which is influenced by the stereotypes prevailed
in a society; that are the products of societies where people accept the differences and
generalities (Keefe, Marshall, & Robeson, 2003). These stereotypes are comparatively
well developed by 5 years of age, and become rigidly defined between 5 and 7 years of
age (Martin & Ruble, 2004) thus preschool years are vital to deal with gender
stereotypes. These stereotypes are produced by schooling where boys are not encouraged
to develop traditional feminine skills like caring for others, and they are also not
encouraged to enter female traditional fields.
Noddings (2002) argued that education at all levels should prepare every one-- males and
females to be responsible and caring family members. Nodding’ ideal is schools that
teach not only science, history, and math, but also how to care for others and build a
satisfying family life. But unfortunately, gender stereotyped curricular material
diminishes education for all students. When students learn primarily about straight, white,
economically comfortable men and their experiences, perspectives, and
accomplishments, they are deprived of understanding the majority of the population
especially women and minorities. If analyze on the more personal level, biases in
instructional contents encourage boys or men to see themselves as able to fulfill high
ambitions and affects the course of events and discourage women from those self-
perceptions (AAUW, 1998; Smith 2004b).
Keeping in view the partial effects of gender stereotyped curricula, it is analyzed that
children between ages 3 to5 have developed their gender identity and begin to
understand what it meant to be male or female. Soon after getting gender identity
awareness, children begin to develop stereotypes, which they apply to themselves and
others. Preschool educators can help children to develop a positive sense of their own
gender. Teachers who are familiar with the factors that influence gender identity and
stereotype development, and who understand the child’s active role in gender identity
formation, can more effectively counteract and even neutralize gender biases in their
classrooms and attempt to prevent the formation of negative stereotypes among
children (Zaman, 2007).
Moreover, gender is rapidly developed in primary school years, in which a child learn
more actively because children began to participate outside and to learn social
environment in formal schooling and practice their cognitive, social and physical
skills in the new social environment. Mostly teachers, peer groups and literature
including; textbooks, story books etc. are the sources of learning for primary school
children. Books have created incredible impacts on young children (Narahara, 1998).
The main characters mention in the books provide role models about masculinity and
femininity for children because children are active reader of the books and the
contents of the books (illustrations) presented a cultural resource for children to learn
social norms (Jackson, 2007). The textbooks are considered imaginary especially for
early primary school students from where they learn new concepts, attitudes and
somehow relations as well. Textbooks play a vital role as80 to 95% of students spend
their time to learn through texts and tutors prepared instructs through textbooks
(Sadker and Zittleman, et al., 2007).Therefore, textbooks are depicted a sex
segregated world, where boys and girls are presented with different and specific roles
and behaviors in the society (Dean, 2007).
Similarly, the pictures presented in the books provide role models for children with
standards of masculine and feminine behaviors where sexism demonstrates through
diverse ways in literature for children (Tsao, 2008). Moreover, the content and visual
presentation of the knowledge in the textbooks transmits norms, values and social
behaviors in generations. Therefore, writing a textbook in a sensitive way to choose
the values, norms and representation is so important to maintain social cohesion and a
harmonious relationship between men and women (UNESCO, 2005). So we can
suggest that in primary schools, being the first formal stage of education, curriculum
must naturally be well organized. At this stage the child shows signs of his
intellectual need, capacity and interest. This is, in fact, an appropriate stage and time
for formal introduction to knowledge through curriculum. Here moral education can
impart moral sentiments and positive attitudes in the early personality of the child
(Dash, 2010). Moreover, the literature presented in textbooks should be meaningful in
gender perspective way to create gender awareness among students at early stage of
learning.
Literature Review
So far as indigenous Pakistani literature in this context is concerned; very few researches
were found in perspective of gender analysis in textbooks in Pakistan. These researches
mainly analyzed biases in portrayal of gender in images and texts of curriculum (Jafri,
1994; Mirza, 2004; Mirza & Ranaa, 1999).
Some of these researches indicated that female characters have been portrayed in typical
and traditional roles i.e. domestic; while male/young boys have been presented to enjoy
more choices. Female characters are portrayed as having low abilities as compared to
male counterparts (Anwar, 1998; Unnisa, 1989; Jafri, 1994; Mirza, 1999; Shafi).
Jafri (1994) analyzed the primary and middle school language, Pakistan Studies and
English language books. She found that girls/women were underrepresented and
portrayed in stereotypical roles in the textbooks. Women were shown domestic and men
are presented in their professions like doctor, engineer, former, potter, policeman,
postman etc.
A study conducted by UNESCO (2004) found that in curriculum from I to X grade in

Pakistan showed very few references about gender equality and respect for women in
textbooks.
Mirza, (2004), analyzed that in the development of curriculum, both in images and texts,
male personalities are highlighted and a very few number of females are depicted in
textbooks.
In Punjab curriculum, girls/ women are depicted in traditional and stereotypical roles and
characters. Female illustration are biased and presented women with no choices both in
personal life and workplace and are confined at home, on the other hand males/boys are
presented in strong images with dominating roles and considered important for family
(Farah & Shera, 2007).
Jabeen (2014) analyzed that gender stereotypes are present in textbooks through content
and images, and she investigated that negative stereotypes about females were depicted
frequently in the texts and images in curriculum.
Keeping in view above mentioned literature; it was attempted in present study to analyze
gendered perspective in Punjab Urdu text books of primary level. The study intended to
explore gender biases along with gender awareness in the content, pictures and texts of
the textbooks.
Significance of the Study
The present study is significant for providing a view of gender awareness in primary
Urdu Punjab textbooks; including contents, pictures and texts, which may help authors,
writers; publishers, and educational policy makers to incorporate gender equitable
information in primary curricula of Punjab. It is critical to explore these aspects because
gender sensitivity in children can help promote a harmonious society.
Objectives of Study
The objectives of analyzing primary Urdu Punjab textbooks are to:

1. Examine the gender ratio of personals in constructing textbooks contents
2. Analyze gender notion/concept in the stories/lessons
3. Analyze the extent of gender representation in pictures and text
4. Evaluate stereotypical notion about gender
Method
Research Design
This is an archival study in which textbooks were analyzed with gender perspective in
review of how gender is represented in the texts? How and to what extent the themes of
stories and pictures in textbooks are presenting gender awareness?
Sample
The selected sample of the research was Urdu textbooks of primary level (1-5) published
in 2016. The researchers belong to Punjab therefore selected the Punjab textbooks in
Urdu. The focus of selecting Urdu textbooks was that Urdu language is most frequently
spoken language in Punjab. However, the aim of selecting primary level textbooks was
that students of primary level are between ages 4-7 years and this is the ripe age of
gender identity formation (Campbell, 2004).
Procedure of the Study
Urdu Punjab textbooks were analyzed at four levels: 1. First, quantify the information
about the authors/supervisors/editors of the Urdu textbooks; their gender ratio and
educational background because, this it is an important aspect to further analyze the
contents, pictures and text of the textbooks in gender perspective. 2. Secondly, quantify
the frequency of gender representation in the pictures. 3. Third, interpret every
story/lesson carefully to understand the concepts and assemble a list of themes to review
gender awareness in content. 4. Fourth, interpret all units of textbooks and list out gender
stereotypes both positive and negative in contents, pictures and texts, respectively.
Analysis
Quantitative and qualitative content analysis was used to analyze data. For this purpose
frequency of each category was calculated and compared.
Results
Results of the research are presented in the form of tables and charts as follows. Firstly
we attempted to analyze the gender ratio of text book authors and results are depicted in
figure below:
100%
80%
60%
Male
40%
Female
20%
0%
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5
Figure 1: Frequencies of the gender ratio of the authors in Urdu Punjab textbooks (1-5) level.
This information can also be presented in table as follows:
Table: 1
Frequencies of the gender ratio of the authors in Urdu Punjab textbooks (1-5) level
Primary level (1-5) Male (f) % Female (f) %
Level 1 8 80% 2 20%
Level 2 0 00% 9 100%
Level 3 0 00% 9 100%
Level 4 7 70% 3 30%
Level 5 6 75% 2 25%
The above table 1 indicates sex-disaggregated data of authors/editors/supervisors/artists

of primary (1-5) Punjab Urdu textbooks, which is an important aspect that influences
the whole content formation in textbooks. It shows that primary Urdu textbooks of
levels (1, 4 and 5) showed sex segregated data in the part of book construction, where
males are dominating with 80%, 70%, 75% and females are less represented
respectively, 20%, 30% and 25%. On the other hand the textbooks of primary levels (2,
3) showed 100% female representation in text books construction.
Next we attempted to explore the educational background of textbooks authors and data
revealed following:
100%
90%
80%
70%
60% Urdu
Persian
50%
Iqbalyat
40%
Politics
30% BSc
20%
10%
0%
Figure 2: Frequencies of educational background of the authors in Urdu primary Punjab textbooks
This graph shows the educational status of the authors of the primary (1-5) Urdu Punjab
textbooks. It is observed that almost 90% of authors of primary levels (2, 3, and 4) have
higher education in Urdu while 10% have others. However the authors of primary levels(1,
5) have diversity in qualification, level 1 showed 66% have higher education in Urdu while
33% in Persian, similarly level 5 showed 63% have higher education in Urdu, 18% Persian,
8% respectively, Iqbalyat and Politics. It is analyzed that the books written by writers with
education background other than Urdu showed diversity and awareness about gender issues
in the content of textbooks while the books written by authors with higher education in
Urdu showed more gender awareness in pictorial presentation rather than in content.
Our next objective was to find out the frequency of gender portrayal in all level books
irrespective if this depiction is positive or negative.
80%
70%
60%
50%
40% Male
30% Female
20%
10%
0%
Figure 3: Frequencies of portrayal of gender representation in pictures in primary Urdu Punjab textbooks
Table: 2
Frequency of gender wise portrayal in text books
Primary Level (1-5) Male (f) % Female (f) %
Level 1 20 52% 18 48%
Level 2 218 56% 168 44%
Level 3 196 54% 168 46%
Level 4 25 73% 9 26%
Level 5 32 78% 9 22%
The above table indicates the sex-disaggregated data of gender portrayalin pictures in
primary Urdu Punjab textbooks. It appears that male pictures (characters, illustration)
dominate the books having 52% representation whereas female representation is 48% in
primary level 1. Gender presentation in pictures in primary level 2 is 56% for males and
43% for females, while gender portrait in primary level 3 is 54% form male and 46% for
females. Similarly, gender representation in primary level 4 is 73% for males and 26%
for females, while in primary level 5 the males are depicted as 78% and females are
presented 22% in pictures of textbooks. So over all male representation outscored female
representation in all level books.
After pictures’ analysis we analyzed themes of stories and results were as follows:
Table: 3
Frequencies of themes of stories in primary Urdu Punjab textbooks
Themes Frequencies
Religion 22
Social issues 17
Moral stories 16
National solidarity 11
Technology 9
Environment 8
Political leadership 7
Cultural issues 7
Gender issues 7
Agriculture (rural life) 4
Table demonstrates the themes described in the primary Urdu Punjab textbooks. It is
analyzed that the theme of 22 units of primary textbooks is religion and 17 units present
the theme of social issues which included the following concepts (relationships, road
ethics, leisure, health and hygiene, professions, and terrorism) while16 units are
presenting the theme of moral stories, 11 units shows the theme of national solidarity,
while 9 units are presenting the theme of technology which include the following
concepts (science, computer skills, communication skills, and globalization), 8 units are
depicting the theme of environment, and 7 related to the theme of political leadership.
The above table shows 7 units are presenting cultural issues which include the following
concepts (inter-cultural harmony, national heroes, history, and national heritage) and 7
units of the primary Urdu textbooks of Punjab are presenting the theme of gender issues
which include the following concepts (male gender identity, freedom of choice, active
citizen, girls’ education) while 4 units are on the theme of rural life and agriculture.
We were also interested to find out that in which professions males/females are depicted
because professions have an important stereotypical segregation. Results indicated that
men were prominent in leadership roles and physical work; whereas female were
depicted as teachers.
Table: 4
Frequencies of sex segregated representation in professions
Themes Males Females
Political Leadership 9 2
Agriculture 4 1
Teaching 1 8
The above table shows the gender representation in different characters in units in
primary levels (1-5) where eleven political leaders are depicted in which only two are
women politicians and similarly out of five characters from agriculture, only one
character of woman is mentioned. On the other hand, teaching is considered as
stereotypical profession for women so for eight characters of female teachers are depicted
where only one illustration is about male teacher.
Gender Biased Presentation in Pictures and Texts
Following illustration and texts are evaluated and were found gender biased:
Table: 5
Gender biased text and illustrations
 The unit/lesson 6, (“Ashraf kaGanwoon”, page 16) from primary level 1 shows
gender biases in representation both in picture and content. The lesson is about
rural life in which only a man is represented as a farmer and his hard work and
contribution is recognized. There is no rural woman depicted in this lesson.
 The content of unit/lesson 19, (“AikKiran”, page 30) from primary level 1 is
portrayed stereotypical image and text, about a girl and a boy in which a girl is
represented as active and beautiful while a boy is depicted as passive, sleepy and lazy.
 Image in lesson/unit 11, (“AlimkaShowk” page 66) from primary level 3 represents
gender biases and depicted only men in it, while content of the lesson/ unit is gender
sensitive that highlighted achievements of both gender in science and technology.
 After analyzing unit/lesson 12 (“Mara Gawoon Mara Ghar”, page 46) from
primary level 5, again the role of rural women is missing in the content of the
lesson. The content of the lesson is gender biased and represented only men as a
farmer and working in the field.
 Image in lesson/unit 16 (“Humary Payshay”, page 66) from primary level 5
represented gender biases, only a man in it is represented as a professional while
the content of the lesson is gender sensitive which highlighted both gender in
different professions.
 Image in lesson/unit 17 (“Main Scout BanooGa”, page 70) from primary level 5
indicates gender biases where a boy is depicted as a scout, while the content of the
story is represented gender sensitive information about both gender.
Table 5 represents gender biased text and pictures in primary text books. Stereotypes and
minimizing females’ role and efforts are apparent. Further we explored gender
stereotypes in books and results were as follows:
Table: 6
Gender stereotypes depicted in primary (1-5) urdu punjab textbooks
Male Stereotypes Female Stereotypes

Breadwinner Leader
Leader Achiever
Brave Active
Explorer Good Communicator
Learner Learner
Decision maker Professional
Confident Wise
Task oriented Confident
Thinker Explorer
Achiever Sport lover
Courageous Partner
Head of the family Aware
Active Encouraging
Educated Supportive
Hardworking Sharing
Patience Energetic
Adventurous teacher
Aggressive domestic
Lethargic
The above table shows gender stereotypes depicted in primary Urdu Punjab textbooks.
The content analysis of Urdu Punjab textbooks shows traditional male stereotypes with
aggressive and lethargic as negative stereotypes. However, in primary Urdu Punjab
textbooks, the female stereotypes are depicted in transition way, which are other than
traditional stereotypes and represented only teacher and domestic as traditional
stereotypes about female.
Discussion and Conclusions
The quantitative results revealed an interesting picture of gender awareness gaps in the
existing text and images at primary level curricula of Punjab Urdu textbooks. Our very
first analysis indicated the ratio of males and female authors of text books. There seemed
an imbalance and disproportionate situation as there was sheer dominance of male
authors in level 1, 4 and 5 books (80 %, 70% and 75% respectively), whereas in level 2
and 3 males were totally absent. It is also in congruence with Jabeen, et al., (2014), who
highlighted that Urdu Punjab textbooks construction is dominated by male authors

(74.21%).
Secondly the analysis of authors’ qualification revealed that Urdu remained major subject
of most authors yet no book was written by authors with Urdu background only.
Interestingly wherever there was diversity in authors’ educational background there
seemed more awareness about gender issues in content and where there authors were
mainly with Urdu background, the books lacked diversity in content and pictures were
used to create gender awareness, which might be an attempt on part of the government of
Pakistan to launch programs to reduce inequality in educational sector (Ministry of
Education, Pakistan, 2009). This finding is our unique contribution because as per our
knowledge no one attempted to analyze books in this context.
Next we attempted to evaluate books in terms of portrayal of gender (irrespective of its

being positive or negative portrayal) and found out that male characters and illustrations
outscored female characters and illustrations at all five levels. This was specifically
prominent in level 4 and 5 books where there was just 22 and 26% representation of
female characters and illustration respectively. One reason for this underrepresentation
might be the dominance of male authors in 4 and 5th level books. In level 4 there were 7
male authors and 3 females whereas in level 5 there were 6 male authors and 2 females.
This finding is also in line with Jafri (1994) who highlighted underrepresentation of
females in primary and middle level books.
Further we analyzed data qualitatively and the textual and content analyses of concepts
and themes of stories showed that religious units are more frequently included in primary
Urdu Punjab textbooks. Religion is one of the most influencing means of socialization in
one’s life where gender roles and responsibilities are adequately defined; this can be a
reason for inclusion of Islam in primary Urdu Punjab textbooks. Moreover, it is a part
and parcel of Pakistan education policy to include standard Islamic narratives in text
books, for example a major objective of national education policy 1998-2010 was to
include “the Quranic principles and Islamic practices as an integral part of education
system” (Sajid, 2016). So it seemed justified that religion is most frequent theme of
primary text books. Secondly, social issues and moral stories appeared to be illustrated
more in textbooks; it can be a good source of transforming gender awareness among
students through ethical expression. It is also in line with previous research which
explored that the major themes in Pakistani text books were the gender representation,
cultural issues like nationalism, inclusion of the target culture, inclusion of social
attributes and inclusion of religious diversity (Essays, UK, 2013).
Moreover, we also explored that text in primary books also included themes on
technological advancement, intercultural harmony, freedom of choice and globalization
which is again a reflection of government policies to update education in science and

technology (MOE, 2017p.12) and to promote social cohesion and inclusion of the
deprived sector which has been excluded on the basis of religion, class or creed. As stated
in the educational policy 2009: "To promote national cohesion by respecting each other’s
faith and religion and cultural and ethnic diversity" (MOE, 2009 p.17-18).
Further we analyzed the text in terms of gender representation in professions and gender
biases (if any). Results revealed that there exists gender bias in the texts at various places.
For example (See Table 5): political leadership is male dominated, woman is missing in
agriculture, and women are presented in stereotypical profession of teaching. This is also
in line with Mirza (2004) who indicated gender bias in text books and Farah and Shera
(2007) who claimed that males/boys are presented in strong images with dominating roles
and considered important for family. This is also against the education policy which
claims to eliminate discrimination based on gender (MOE, 2017).
Next we attempted to analyze the text to explore any gender stereotypes in text books.
Results indicated an unfortunate picture; because text was loaded with gender stereotypes
(See Table 5). The existence of stereotypical material in texts leads to a distorted image
of gender roles as Dean (2007) emphasized that the writers show a gendered picture of
world in stereotypical situations and thus learners are persuaded to opt it. Similarly,
UNESCO, (1997) analyzed negative stereotypes and descriptions about gender in
transcripts and images of Pakistani curriculum.
But there also appeared a ray of hope as we explored a transition in stereotypes about
girls/woman in a positive way, they are depicted as (active, good communicator,
professional, wise, confident, supportive, energetic, aware etc.), but on the other hand
traditional stereotypes about masculinity are still the part of texts. Early studies explored
that women are presented in unusual and traditional ways i.e. domestic worker while
boys/men are presented more benefited in preferences. Girls/ females are shown with
inferior status as compare to male counterpart (Anwar, 1998; Unnisa, 1989; Jafri, 1994;
Mirza, 1999; Shafi) but our finding revealed betterment in situation. It appeared that new
writers and authors are improving the content and depicting females in better roles as
compared to previous texts. So we can conclude that no doubt gender biases are still a
part of content and images of the primary Urdu Punjab textbooks, but there also appears
some gender parity in images and texts now.
So we can conclude that in Pakistan textbooks are the central source of information and
they are also designed to reflect the values and aims of the nation. There seems a strong
influence of government policies in designing the content of books. It can also be
interpreted in the following words that the textbooks tell children what their elders want
them to know (Kalmus, 2004). But unfortunately, it is not through government control
only but there also exist certain pressure groups which somehow succeed to influence
government (Essays UK, 2013). Yet new education policy (2017) inculcates certain
positive issues but implementation on these too is required. There is a need to write
gender balanced books specially at primary level because gendered learning starts in 5-7
years of age in which child start to be fixed on the gender schemas which he/she learned
in beginning and they have rigid insight about gender notions and follow them (Bem,
1981). This stage of rigidity is crucial in a child life; therefore, if he/she learns gender
equitable behavior or schemas in this stage, they can behave in more sensitive way
towards society.
On the other hand not just content but pictures also inspire children’ insight of learning;
researches repeatedly conclude that subliminal messages impact our rational, intentional
and conscious behavior (Ruch, Zust & Henke, 2016). Thus the pictures which presented
gender awareness will be more rewarding than pictures of gender without message. There
is a need to present pictures that show gender equality messages and develop schemas of
parity among students at early stage of learning, following examples may be included in
pictures with messages, i.e. Woman is doing domestic work and man is helping her in
domestic task, both man and woman are working in offices; rural men and women are
equally working in the field, both boys and girls are studying in schools, no violence
against women, etc. it will help in achieving gender stability. The learning content can
stabilize the gender notion; therefore gender equitable/sensitive knowledge is required at
primary level that further helps to accept gender equality later on.
Gender awareness at primary level may incorporate the sense of equality among students
that may prove fruitful to promote parity among gender relations, roles and
responsibilities in future. The transition of stereotypes about female could be productive
to eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education and achieve gender
equality by ensuring girls’ full and equal access to, and achievement in basic education of
good quality.
Limitations and Future Suggestions
The study is limited in scope as it caters Urdu text books only; other books like English,
Pakistan studies etc. can also be included in future research. It is recommended to include
gender sensitive people in books construction team; so that better books can be obtained.
For this purpose including gender experts and psychologists in editorial boards is
expected to be beneficial.
There is a need to incorporate gender awareness in the contents of the text books that may
enhance gender identity, human rights, gender equality; women empowerment and
reduced violence against women. Socio-cultural taboos can be highlighted through
pictures and texts, which may include child marriage, child abuse, child labor and
beggary etc. to create awareness about contemporary gender issues among students of
primary level. It is proposed that gender analysis of curricula is essential in every coming
year so that to make textbooks more gender sensitive which help to create gender
awareness among students off all levels and further for society development on the basis
of equality.
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_________________
Farah Adil is Lecturer in the Department of Gender & Development Studies, Lahore
College for Women University.
Dr. Shehla A. Yasin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Gender &

Development Studies, Lahore College for Women University.
Vol. 16, 18, pp. 57-70, ISSN: 2072-0394
Glossophobia: The Fear Of Public Speaking In Female And

Male Students Of University Of Karachi
Kausar Perveen
Yamna Hasan
&
Abdur Rahman Aleemi
Health and Hospital Management
Institute of Business Management-Karachi
Abstract
Individuals who have fear speaking publically suffer from strong fear in social
performance situations and social sphere. (Stein, Walker, & Forde, 1996).This
research aims to investigate (a) if the level of anxiety is higher in females then males
while speaking publically. (b) if students tend to be more anxious while speaking in-
front of opposite gender (c) if there is an association between reduction in public
speaking fear in students and adaptation of effective psycho-physiological strategies
for language learning. Samples of 126 undergraduate students have been selected in
an equal ratio of male and female students from university of Karachi. Frequency and
percentage analysis has been made to determine the level of public speaking fear in
male and female students. A factorial ANOVA has been applied for comparative
analysis of anxiety levels in males and females while presenting in front of the
opposite gender. Further, a paired t-test has been applicable to determine if psycho-
physiological strategies for language learning are effective for reduction in
glossophobia. The study affirmed that female students get more anxious then males
while giving speech publically. It has also found that there is no effect of gender of
audience on anxiety level of students during public speaking. Public speaking anxiety
has a strong relationship with the adaptation of psycho-physiological strategies and
can be reduced effectively.
Keywords: Glossophobia, Language Learning, Public Speaking, Psycho-

Physiological Strategies, Speaking Anxiety.
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Introduction
Glossophobia, also known as “speech anxiety” is the feeling of fear while speaking in
front of public, often characterized as fear of speaking publically or nervousness in
communication. It is a feeling of panic related with different physiological changes like
elevated heart and breathing rates, over-rapid reactions, trembling of muscles and
shoulder and neck area stiffness among others (Tse, 2012). Glossophobia is a Greek
originated word, glosso means tongue, and phobia means threat or fear (Ali & Nagar,
2013). Public speaking fear is considered a type of societal dread that causes severe
escaping of speaking in front of others because of fear of awkwardness or humiliation
(Hancock, Stone, Brundage, & Zeigler, 2010). It is a type of social phobia having great
social importance, people with public speaking fear face great difficulty in pursuing their
career goals and promotion, this may cause frustration, depression and distress in their
personality (Mel Slater & Barker, 2002). Glossophobia, along with performance
nervousness, communication uneasiness, stage fright or fear of negative inference are
categorized under social anxiety (Anke, Marcia, Anne, & Westenberg, 2002).
Whereas, public speaking apprehensions are easily identified by various noticeable

physical and psychological indicators, however, some of these are easily evidenced by
spectators and are possibly caused by certain psychological pointers (Barlow, 2002). The
most common symptoms include trembling or shaking of hands, mind going blank,
Kausar Perveen, Yamna Hasan, Abdur Rahman Aleemi 59
difficulty in speech or in performances (Kushner, 2010). When public speaking fear

arises in an individual, he or she usually hesitates to participate in routine activities;
making him/her handicap and can erode the individual’s quality of life (Hancock, Stone,
Brundage, & Zeigler, 2010). Similarly such conditions are also noted to cause anxiety in
most of the cases as noted by (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986) that anxiety is “the
feeling of pressure, nervousness, tenseness, and worry associated with a stimulation of
the autonomic nervous system”, and is closely associated with the fear of speaking in
public (Huang, 2012). By the same token Cunningham, Lefkoe, & Sechrest, (2006), finds
that public speaking fear is related to lack of courage to address public, however, on the
contrary they argued that it is not necessary to cause failure in social milieu, people with
speaking apprehension publically often are playing triumphant roles in society.
Notable differences are also found between genders, male and female speakers were
observed to face different levels of fears while speaking in public. According to a survey,
women were found to be more (27%) anxious in public speaking then men (14%)
(Hancock, Stone, Brundage, & Zeigler, 2010). Also the composition of the audience is
also found to be significantly contributing in the same fashion. Many bodily and
emotional symptoms have been identified in public speaking fear, and found to be
directly related to the audience. Sometimes such fear can also cause symptoms of mental
issues (Barlow, 2002). In the academic world in particular, and in our professional lives
in general, often the ability of an individual is judged by his oral communicative
performances, where people with public speaking fear usually ends up weakly (Bodie,
2010). Thus, leaving a void with the likelihood that their abilities may be judged wrongly
(APA, 2013). Similarly, a significant relationship has also been established between Poor
oral communication and lower educational results and lower levels of working ability as
an employee (Goberman, Hughes, & Haydock, 2015).
However, it is worth noticing here that, several academic programs and courses—
particularly at university level are designed to address and to train the students to cope
with such symptoms. Most of these programs are aimed to transform the students into
competent and professional communicators, to communicate, to express and advocate
ideas effectively (Heng, Abdullah, & Yusof, 2012). However, to the best of our
knowledge, no such evidence exists—particularly, in the case of Pakistan to shed light on
the fear of public speaking in our university students which may in turn become a token
of indication of the effectiveness of these programs. Thus, this study is intended to fill
this gap. Specifically, pertaining to the widespread issue of public speaking fear in
university students, this study is designed to identify that whether female students feel
more speaking anxiety in speaking publically or male students. Additionally, it is also a
point of concern that the gender of audience greatly influences the level of fear in speaker
students. Further, this study will shed light on whether the adaptation of psycho-
physiological strategies for language learning help to reduce the public speaking fear in
university students, as it is noted by (Field, Duffy, & Huggins, 2013) that psychological
disorientation acts as a intervening factor in students’ success. The main objectives of the
study are to investigate (a) if the level of anxiety is higher in females then males while
speaking publically. (b) if students tend to be more anxious while speaking in-front of
opposite gender (c) if there is an association between reduction in public speaking fear in
students and adaptation of effective psycho-physiological strategies for language learning.
Brief Literature Review
Many researchers have identified anxiety or fear of examination as an important type of

social phobia that affect performance. Prevalence rate of this issue in western societies is
7-13 % (Tillfors, et al., 2008). Daly, Vangelisti, & Lawrence, (1989) and Allen, Hunter,
& Donohue, (2009) specifies in their researches that public speaking fear is a quite
known form of social phobias, with great social emanations. Individuals who are afraid of
speaking publically faces many challenges in pursuing their career goals and found
limited scale for promotions, which leads to considerable personal agony, dissatisfaction,
and gloominess (Pertaub & Barker, 2002).
American Psychiatric Association specified in 2013 that the public speaking fear is one
of the forms of social anxiety disorder in which mainly people have fear of negative
estimation. It may be elucidated that up to 75% human behavior may affect due to this
issue (McConnell, 2009).
A survey shows that approximately 21% of respondents ever suffer from this problem, in
their view it may be tremendous and reason of great misery or evasion (Ruscio, Brown,
Chiu, & Sareen, 2008). People with this problem are unable to demonstrate their skills in
different social situations, they feel uncomfortable and not only have fear of wrong
estimation by others but also humiliation. Although they know that this fear is baseless
but they suffer from severe anxiety in the feared situation, in turn they always stay away
from the situation where they have to speak in public (Pertaub & Barker, 2002). Knappe,
et. al.(2011) estimated that 25%of youth also have an extensive fear of public speaking.
Another survey explored that 34% Canadian respondent found more anxious and
confused as compare to others in the situation of speaking in public (Stein, Walker, &
Forde, 1996). A moderate definition suggests that speaking in the presence of large
number of people may affect up to 75%. (McConnell, 2009).
Conbeck, (2011) cite James McCroskey (1984), 30 to 40 % of Americans suffer from

Communication Apprehension that affects their ability and willingness to speak
publically (Colbeck, 2011). Strahan (2003) explored that poor grades in studies also is the
result of public speaking fear among students, rather than to overcome this fear they
avoid to be acquainted to this situations, ultimately this fear is an obstacle in their career
opportunity which might require public speaking.
Stein, Walker, & Forde (1996) have explored that approx 10% of those who suffer from
this problem specifically their life being affected in three spheres first during education
second at work and third in their social life and relationships. It is also explored that
despite the serious effects of disorder, mostly people are not intended to get treatment. If
the disorder is not treated effectively it may become more serious problem, in result
people are failed to have quality of life, they are unable to perform important social roles
in society (Furmark, 2002). The seriousness of social phobia is due to remain untreated
(Tillfors, et al., 2008). Many researchers have been putting their effort to investigate the
therapy of this specific phobia; in this regard they have suggested that virtual reality
exposure could be a possible therapy to treat specific phobias. (Pertaub & Barker, 2002).
Yalçın & İnceçay, (2014) defined that foreign language fear is another important
phenomenon. Research shows it can be easily observed in class room activities. Students
who have foreign language fear refrain themselves from such learning activities and have
low performance as compare to non-phobic (Yamat & Bidabadi, 2012). Anxiety
associated to the adopted language lies of “self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings and
behaviors related to classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of the
process for language learning” (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986). Learning an adopted
language is an exceptional problem in its nature because it tends anxious people to
communicate in a language upon which lack perfection. (Tsiplakides & Keramida , 2009).
Fluency in speaking foreign language is important to minimize the speaking phobia. If

they have fluency in foreign language which is required to communicate than they can
participate in classroom discussion fearlessly (Rajanthran, Prakash, & Husin, 2013).
Another concern related to foreign language anxiety is prestige of student in the
presence of peers that confined them to speak caused by of the fear of negative
estimation (Boath, Stewart, & Carryer, 2012). According to the psychologist Grasha,
(1987) and Meyer, (2009) this is the responsibility of the instructor to consider some
interventions. Like, foster motivation, and classroom based debates to improve the
foreign language skills of students. Instructors should analyze the capability of the
students, their attitude and skills for oral communication, and to identify the reasons
that cause their reluctance and lack of willingness to involve in speaking activities
(Tsiplakides & Keramida , 2009). One of the major causes of producing anxiety in
students is speaking in the foreign language (Young, 1990). Student that suffer from
public speaking fear are more profound to skip social events and gatherings. They feel
hesitate to attend oral communication classes (Lynch, Correia, & Cunningham).
Tools and Methods
Given, the overwhelming amount of literature exists and the various dimensions and
factors being studied, along with several methodologies being followed. It does suggest
that sufficient conditions exist for gender of speaker and audience to induce speaking
speakin
anxiety and whether the adaptation of psycho-physiological
psycho physiological strategies for language
learning help to reduce that fear in university students. Hence to get hold of a meaningful
theory, the following conceptual framework has been developed.
Figure 1: Co
Conceptual
nceptual Framework. Source: Authors’ rendition
Given the above conceptual framework, a structured, self-reported

reported questionnaire has been
provided to the respondents to obtain the data. The instrument contained three parts of
pre-validated
validated items from different
different studies. First, from the work of McCroskey (1998) on
“Personal Report of Public Speaking Anxiety (PRSPA).” This tool has been applied to
evaluate the feelings of subject while speaking in front of against gender audience.
Second, to compare the female and male scores of anxiety while giving a speech in front
of majority female or male audience, a 7 items questionnaire has been used that is
composed in regard of the Ethical Principle of Psychologists and Code of Conduct
(American Psychology Association, 1999) (Razak, Yassin, & Tengku Mohamad Maasum,
2017).. Last, to determine the relationship between the adaptation of psycho-physiological
psycho
tactic for language learning and the reduction in fear and anxiety of speaking publically, a
9 item questionnaire, developed by Kostic Bobanovic (2004), has been used. All three
instruments were on 5-points
points likert scale answering pattern showing responses from
“strongly disagree to strongly agree.”
The target population is the undergraduate students of University of Karachi, which is

one of the largest and prestigious institutions of the country. A total of 126 undergraduate
students with equal proportions of male and female were surveyed on the basis of
Convenient Sampling. The level of while speaking in public for both males and female
students has been analyzed with pre
pre-defined
defined scoring ranging from; High, moderately high,
moderate, moderately low and low. Further, a 2x2 between subjects factorial ANOVA
has been conducted to cocompare
mpare the anxiety scores in female and male students while
giving a speech in front of majority female or male audience. In addition, a paired tt-test
was applied to compare the reduction in fear of public speaking through adaptation of
psycho-physiological strategies for language learning.
It was hypothesized in this study that:

H1: The fear of public speaking is relatively more in female students then male students.
H2: Female students tend to be more anxious while speaking in-front
in front of majority male
audience.
H3: Male students tend to be more anxious while speaking in-front
in front of majority female
audience.
H4: There is a positive reduction in fear of public speaking if students make use of
affective psycho-physiological
physiological strategies for language learning.
Results
Figure 1: Level of Fear of Public Speaking

Male Female
41.3%
38.1%
33.3%
28.6% 27.0%
20.6%
6.3% 4.8%
0.0% 0.0%
High Moderately Moderate Moderately Low

High Low
Out of the total 63 male respondents 33.3% reported that they have moderately high fear
of public speaking, 28.6% have moderate fear, 27% have moderately low fear, and 6.3%
have high fear while 4.8% have low fear of public speaking. On the contrary, out of total
63 female respondents, 41.3% have moderately high fear of public speaking, 38.1% have
moderate fear, and 20.6% have high fear, while no female student reported moderately
low and low levels of fear of public speaking. Hence, it is affirmed that the fear of public
speaking is relatively more in female students as compared to male students in university

of Karachi.
Table: 1
ANOVA
Sum of Df Mean F Sig.
Squares Square
Gender of Audience Between .071 1 .071 .229 .633
(Ladies) Groups
Within Groups 38.730 124 .312
Total 38.802 125
Gender of Audience Between .508 1 .508 1.600 .208
(Men) Groups
Within Groups 39.365 124 .317
Total 39.873 125
The main effect for whether or not the gender of audience mattered was insignificant
i.e .P(1.96) 0.229, p>0.05 in the case of all ladies audience and P(1.96) 1.600, p>0.05 in
case of all men audience. It appears thatin both male and female students the level of
anxiety is not any higher when in a situation of giving a speech to an all-male or female
audience.
Table: 2
Paired Samples Test
Paired Differences t Df Sig. (2-
Mean Std. Std. 95% Confidence tailed)
Deviation Error Interval of the
Mean Difference
Lower Upper
Pair 1 Fear of Public -.31746 .84523 .07530 -.46649 -.16843 -4.216 125 .000
Speaking -
Adaptation of
psycho-
physiological
strategies
Table: 3 (a)
Regression Statistics
Model Sum of df Mean F Sig.
Squares Square
1 Regression 5.611 1 5.611 10.580 .001(a)
Residual 65.762 124 .530
Total 71.373 125
a. Predictors: (Constant), Adaptation of psycho-physiological strategies
b. Dependent Variable: Fear of Public Speaking
Table 3 (b): Coefficient

Unstandardized Standardize T Sig.
Coefficients d Coefficient
B Std. Beta B Std. Error
Model Error
1 (Constant) 1.59 .295 5.421 .000
Adaptation of .328 .101 .280 3.253 .001
psycho-
physiological
strategies
a. Dependent Variable: Fear of Public Speaking
Furthermore, adaptation of psycho-physiological strategies have a significant effect on

lowering public speaking anxiety in university students, t (126) = 4.216; p< 0.05. Also
through regression statistics it has been analyzed that there is 79% association between
fear of public speaking and adaptation of psycho-physiological strategies (F=10.580,
p<0.05). According to t-test and regression analysis, it can be concluded that higher
levels of public speaking anxiety in students can be reduced by the adaptation of adequate
psycho-physiological strategies.
Conclusions
The study gave a clear insight of the fear of public speaking in university students of
Karachi. It can be concluded from the study that female students have relatively more
fear of public speaking then male students, as they have found mostly at moderate and
moderately higher levels of public speaking anxiety some of the male students reported
with elevated levels of anxiety while some also found with moderately low or low levels.
It was also perceived that may be the gender of audience have some influence on the
anxiety of speaker students (Mohamad & Wahid, 2009), but the study has affirmed that
the anxiety level of speaker students have no effects from the gender of audience. Further
it is also deduced from the results that, by adapting the psycho-physiological strategies of
language learning, the public speaking fear can significantly be reduced. It can be
concluded that anxiety typically affects physical actions when an individual with this
disorder acquainted to speaking publically, but this disorder is controllable through the
adoption of different strategies (Khan, Ismail, Shafique, Ghous, & Ali, 2015). Thus, it is
recommended to the students who feel fear while speaking publically, to adapt some
psycho-physiological strategies, like listening to music, reading books, discussing the
issue with a person they trust, language learning, writing their experiences in a diary etc.
to ease their nerves, so that they can successfully get rid of this kind of social anxiety.
This can make their quality of life better and may lead them to progressive career and
future endeavors.
Recommendations
Despite the significant presence of speaking anxiety, there are a number of ways defined
by the researchers that focus on reducing the glossophobia especially in students. Some
effective psycho-physiological strategies are provided here in for practical implications.
1. Exposure therapy is one of the best suggestions by the Finn, Sawyer, & Schrodt,
(2009). They stated that “graduated exposure involves presenting [students] with
a threatening stimulus for short periods of time ranging from a few seconds to a
few minutes, depending on the noxiousness of the stimulus.”
2. Cognitive modification has also proved to be an effective strategy for the people
with public speaking anxiety that emphasizes first on realizing about the fear and
hesitation for speaking publically and then train your mind to cope with it by
putting yourself in imaginary situations of giving speeches (Fremouw & Scott,
1979).
3. It is also recommended to do some exercise before the speech session to reduce
the adrenaline levels like aerobic exercise, deep muscle relaxation, visualization
strategies and deep rhythmic breathing. These techniques are considered helpful
in fight and flight situations (Westwick, 2014).
4. Listening to broadcasting sessions and some light music also calms the nerves and
makes the speaker comfortable in delivering the speech (Tse, 2012).
5. Instead of a monologue it is recommended to have a dialogue session with some
friend or a person speaker feels comfortable with.
6. Also to write the vocabulary and experiences in the diary enables the learner to
grasp on the foreign language early.
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_______________________
Dr. Kausar Perveen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology,

University of Karachi.
Yamna Hasan is a student of MBA in the Health and Hospital Management, Institute of
Business Management-Karachi.
Abdur Rahman Aleemi is a Senior Lecturer in the Health and Hospital Management,
Institute of Business Management-Karachi.
Vol. 16, 2018, pp. 71-88, ISSN: 2072-0394
Problems Of Females’ Progression In Higher Education:

Perceptions Of Female University Students
Muhammad Amin
Department of Education
University of Education
Ijaz Ahmad Tatlah

&
Arfa Afghani
University of Education, Township Campus
Abstract
The study aims to investigate the barriers that hinder in the progress of females’
higher education. The study adopted a mixed methods approach. The quantitative data
is collected from 200 female students of a Pakistani public university through a
structured questionnaire, whereas to generate the qualitative data semi-structured
interviews are conducted from 15 female students from the same group. The findings
highlight ignorant parents as major barrier in the way of females’ higher education.
Moreover, cultural norms, low socio-economic status, unavailability of universities in
remote areas, and stereotype thinking of families are also pointed out as main barriers
of females’ progression in higher education. Some implications for policy are offered
and suggestions for future research are proposed.
Keywords: Females’ Problems, Higher Education, Pakistani Societal Context
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72 Problems of Females’ Progression in Higher Education: Perceptions of Female University Students
Introduction
Females play critical role in the society. There are many negative aspects prevailing in
our society such as hunger, poverty and ignorance but females’ higher education seems
more important. Females are considered dependent and this dependency occurs mainly
because of the lack of higher education. The issue of illiteracy of females is today’s
challenge, and more specifically lack of females’ higher education is accepted by all
development agencies as major challenge. If females are highly educated, it is beneficial
for themselves and their families as well. It is proven through studies that wages of
females increase by 10-20% by increasing one year of education (Herz & Sperling,
2004:22) and can have a positive impact on the welfare of their families. Educated
females have lower health risks related to pregnancy and they can take care of their
children in a better way. An educated female pays more attention towards the education
of her children especially of her daughters. Ratio of domestic violence is seen less in
educated females. Pakistani society is considered less likely to pay attention towards
females’ higher education because of various reasons such as it is male dominant, has
firm and negative conventions/customs, gender disparity, conservatism, religions
misperception, and female harassment.
Male and female has the equal right to get education and to enjoy the benefits of
educational opportunities (Terry & Thomas, 1997). Knowledge and skills contribute
meaningfully to the society and these can be gained through education. When we talk
about laws and policies, it should be understood that resources and programs for both
male and female students’ must be there. It is seen that mostly uneducated females
become a victim of violence as compared to the educated females because they do not
know how to protect themselves as they are unaware of their rights (Heise et al., 1999).
Females’ higher education enhances the economic development of the country. The more
the females earn, the more the income of the country will rise (Stephan, 2002). In
Pakistan, girls are restricted to get higher education and gender-based discrimination in
education is also there, that is why the females are lagging in almost every profession. In
addition to the above mentioned reasons, there are also some other factors, that hinder the
females’ higher education, such as gender injustice, posting at distant from their own
houses, transport problems, political insecurities and unnecessary political interference.
Hamid (1993) observed that cultural traditions of Pakistan keep the girls away from
education as people make their own rules perhaps based on the culture and label them as
the religious norms of the society (Khan & Ali, 2005). Similarly, low school enrolment in
rural Punjab adds to the low ratio of females in higher education, as the figures show that
the Net Enrolment Rate (NER) of females at secondary level in rural Punjab is 7% as
compared to 24% and 17% in major cities and other urban areas (Punjab Bureau of
Statistics (PBS), 2005). In the constitution of Pakistan, females’ education is considered
Muhammad Amin, Ijaz Ahmad Tatlah, Arfa Afghani 73
as important as for males, and free elementary/secondary education to remove illiteracy

in females is compulsory. Moreover, it is important to make technical and professional
education/higher education equally accessible to all on the basis of merit (Constitution of
Pakistan, Article-37). However, almost in all the areas of the four provinces of Pakistan,
females are being neglected in this regard.
In traditional societies like Pakistani, females are supposed to do only household work
and to look after the children that cause the low parental investment in the education of
their daughters and consequently it hinders the females to move towards higher education.
Conservative parents usually do not want to spend more money on females because of the
traditional thinking that the leading role in professional and social life is limited to males
only. According to them, girls are more inclined towards household work comparative to
boys (Colclough et al., 2000). Concept of co-education is also taken in wrong sense by
mostly parents. They think that co-education is not educating girls and boys rather it is
spoiling them in the name of liberalism. In some extreme cases, around the globe,
females are considered useless except the physical object for male sexual desire (Bartky,
1990; Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997).
Review of Literature
Pakistani society is a male dominant that is why males are encouraged in every field of
life whether it is education or profession. Literacy rate of male is more than that of
females because investment in human development is more towards men (Skalli, 2001).
It is observed that females have fewer chances to get higher education as well as
technical education and to enter in professional life also (Khan, 2007). Ronning (2000)
highlights that the power issue is at the core of the nexus under debate that makes the
males superior and to tackle this superiority is to realize the importance of females’
higher education. Females’ higher education plays an extremely serious and vital role in
the improvement of a country, particularly in the monetary advancement of a nation.
However, economic and sex partialities, as mentioned above, are major hindrances in the
way of females to get higher education and because of these reasons females are not able
to play a dynamic role in the improvement of society (Parveen, 2008).
In 2006-2008, Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) conducted a survey and reveal that

females and males legislators have different interests and perspectives of life. This
highlights that policy with reference to females should be framed by females because
they can easily highlight the general concerns of their sex. So, this study may be
significant for female policy makers at government and Higher Education Commission
(HEC) level to address the females’ problems that they are facing in the way of getting
higher education. This study may add to the theory/literature already exist with reference
to females’ progression in higher education. Keeping in view the focus and significance
of the study, the research question under investigation is: What are the barriers in the
progress of females’ higher education? The next section presents literature review on
some of the related factors such as cultural norms, low socio-economic, ignorant parents,
unavailability of universities, and stereotype thinking of families that hinder the females’
progression in higher education.
Cultural Norms: Culture is a vast terminology and it covers every aspect of life. Culture
is one of the major criteria that define standards of behaviors (Crapo, 2000). A culture is
a complex system of norms of set standards which all the members of society generally
follow. Though Pakistan is itself signatory of UN Education for All (EFA) Framework
for Action (2000) Document, which emphasis on females’ higher education, but the
efforts to achieve the target of higher education for females are still unsatisfactory. If we
see females’ literacy rate, it clearly shows that priority is given to men as compared to
females (Skalli, 2001) because of male dominance in our culture. Females are restricted
to get higher education and other professional degrees as cultural norms play the role of
glass ceiling in the way of females’ higher education (Khan, 2007). Pakistani society is a
typical society and it has conservative cultural norms which has placed females in the
category of mothers and house wives while males are placed in the category of leaders of
home. Usually parents perceive that leadership is only limited to the male members of the
society. Hence, females should not be indulged in higher education. This discrimination
starts at early age, when girls are engaged in household works, they are given training to
always sacrifice for their male siblings so they become habitual of it. Same is the case in
their higher education when they are restricted for it by saying that you have to go to your
husband’s home and it is useless to carry on your studies.
Early marriages of females are also very common in Pakistani culture. Mostly stereotype
parents feel their daughters a burden on them and they want to get rid of this burden as
soon as possible. Generally, in such societies males are considered as earning hands and
females as the guardians of home. There are strong political, societal and cultural
pressures that shape the male dominant society of Pakistan with rigid traditions and
conservative thinking patterns for example it is against the family respect if females’ go
for higher education especially in co-education setup. In Pakistan, willingness of families
towards females’ higher education is very low because of the negative thinking.
According to such families, females should attain the Islamic education while
school/college/university education is prohibited for them. Females are bounded in
homes in the name of Islam and culture.
Low Socio-Economic Status: Low socio-economic status is also a strong barrier in the
way of females’ higher education. Families who have low income, they give priority to
boys’ higher education as compare to females. Such types of parents think, in the end
girls have to go to husband’s home so it is useless to spend money on females’ higher
education. So, the girls are restricted and they are indulged in household activities
(Khalid & Mukhtar’s, 2002). Furthermore, females’ higher education is comparatively
more expensive than males, as females mostly use private transport and parents with low
socio-economic cannot afford it.
Ignorant Parents: One of the tragedies happen to females is that in some cases the fate
of the females is decided solely by the parents, especially when parents are low qualified
or ignorant, in all walks of life whether it is education, marriage or professional life.
Sending of females to higher level of education is considered against the honor of parents.
Ignorant parents consider boys as lucky charms for them and girls as a burden, therefore
girls are kept illiterate (Rizvi, 1980). Ignorant parents are keen about the education of
boys and consider the girls as liability, so that their investment in girls’ higher education
is very low and insufficient. Ignorant parents are not interested to send their daughters in
universities and at an early age they make their daughter aware that she is only a
temporary member of the family, and any skill she learns will benefit not her own family
but her in-laws, therefore a very few parents prefer their daughters to send them in
vocational institutes (Rizvi, 1980). Another hurdle in the way of females’ higher
education is early marriage of girls that is because of parents’ ignorance. After marriage,
young girl's right to gain entrance to formal and even non-formal education is extremely
restricted due to house management responsibility, childbearing and societal customs that
view marriage and education as contrary (Mathur, et al, 2003). The societal beliefs and
practices of the family leader, who is male usually in societies like Pakistan, play a major
role in deciding whether females will go for higher education or not because decision
making is in his hand (Keng, 2004; Buchmann & Hannum, 2001).
Unavailability of Universities: The unavailability of higher education institutions in

remote areas is another reason because of which females are not getting higher education.
Female student face many issues, such as traveling long commute on private transport
and residing in hostel especially when it is private, are expensive but more importantly
these convert into security issues of girls and this is true to a large extent. Generally,
female students are not comfortable to travel in public transport on daily basis because of
sexual harassment and bullying problems from males. There are a number of girl’s sexual
abuse cases which have been seen and these become the basis of not sending females to
the institutions far from homes. Residential and commercial development like hotels
around the females’ institutions is adding into this problem (Dhakku, 2012).
Unfortunately, restrictions on the movement of females, prohibiting from education, is
the most widely practiced method for handling the issue of females’ security.
Stereotype Thinking of Families: Pakistani society is a stereotype society as male

members are always given better education than females. Mostly people think that males
have to be the source of income so they should be given higher education, while females
have to serve her parents and after that her in-laws so females are to get the know-how of
domestic skills and there is no need to send them in institutes for higher education (Khan,
2007). As it is socially expected from females that they would perform household tasks and
it takes less effort to learn these skills, so females have lesser right than males on health and
education facilities, and food resources. Males are considered as the security assurance for
family so stereotype families invest in the higher education of their sons. According to
these parents this investment would be more beneficial in their old age. If females are
highly educated than their husbands, the stereotype husbands consider themselves at low
level. According to them, females should not be highly educated and females should be
kept at low level. When a girl born, it is viewed as a terrible sign for the entire family but
when a boy is born it is celebrated with incredible ceremony and show. The common
concept about females is that they are considered and treated as the property of their spouse
and a female as a wife cannot challenge her husband. People with such mentality do not
support co-education. In Pakistani society, boys are trained for office jobs, politics, army
and business while girls are trained for domestic work and how to serve the elders
especially the male members of the society. The co-education is perceived by conservative
parents a threat to this conventional division of labor. Co-education is considered a symbol
of liberalism in Pakistan. Females are restricted to get higher education.
Methodology
The mixed methods approach has been adopted to conduct the study, so paradigm of this
research is pragmatism. Data was collected/generated from one Lahore based campus of
a public university of the Punjab. Female students of Master and M.Phil level of the
selected university were defined as target population of the study. Selection of the
university, campus and respondents is convenience based. Structured questionnaire has
been used to collect quantitative data from 200 students (100 Master level and 100
M.Phil level), whereas qualitative data consists of 15 interviews from the same group.
Both the structured questionnaire and semi-structured interview protocol were self-
developed and were made final through expert opinion and pilot testing. The language of
both the tools was English. Permission from the registrar of the selected university and
from the principal of the selected campus was sought before the administration of the
tools. Moreover, informed consent form was attached with the questionnaire, and for
interview, respondents were personally requested and then interviewed whoever was
willing. However, seven M.Phil and eight Master level students were interviewed. The
quantitative data is described through frequency and percentage, and qualitative data is
analyzed through thematic analysis. Thematic analysis was used because themes were
pre-defined in the semi-structured protocol.
Data Presentation and Findings
This section contains quantitative and qualitative data and findings followed by discussion.
Table: 1
Cultural Norms
SA A D SD
(1) (2) (3) (4)
Questionnaire Items
Frequency Frequency Frequency Frequency
(Percentage) (Percentage) (Percentage) (Percentage)
1. Due to the cultural norms, 62 64 42 23
most of the parents expect (32.5%) (33.5%) (22%) (12%)
their daughters to look
after the house and pay no
attention to their higher
education.
2. Some parents are more 46 63 47 35
focused towards domestic (24.1%) (33%) (24.6%) (18.3%)
skills of their daughters
like cooking, sewing as
compared to higher
education.
66% of the participants, when agree and strongly agree are combined, highlight that due
to the cultural norms, most of the parents expect their daughters to look after the house
and pay no attention to their higher education. However, 34% of the respondents, when
disagree and strongly disagree are combined, oppose this view. On item no 2, 57.1% of
the participants were of the view that some parents are more focused towards domestic
skills of their daughters like cooking, sewing as compared to higher education; while 42.9%
of the participants contradict this view.
The qualitative data support the findings of quantitative data as is evidenced from then
below presented response:
I think yes, …our cultural norms are barriers. … peoples’ views about
females’ higher education are very narrow [restricted]. Those females
who get higher education, they cannot give proper time to their homes,
their married life is also affected because of over-burden, they are
much indulge in outside as compare to home. Actually the people who
did not get higher education, still they have wrong concepts about
females’ higher education. (Respondent (R) 12) …limits are always
there which are mostly religious and people only restrict their females
to get higher education in the name of religion which has become a part
of our culture. (R7)
Table: 2
Socio-Economic Status
SA A D SD
(1) (2) (3) (4)
Questionnaire Items
1. Money is the main hindrance 47 90 37 17
in the way of females’ (24.6%) (47.1%) (19.4%) (8.9%)
progress in higher education.
2. Low socio-economic status 50 79 40 22
hinders the females’ higher (26.2%) (41.4%) (20.9%) (11.5%)
education.
3. Higher education is expensive 57 71 39 24
regarding hostel expenditures, (29.8%) (37.2%) (20.4%) (12.6%)
tuition fee and transportation
that only elite class and feudal
have a privilege to get them.
The data highlight that 71.7% of the respondents pointed out money as the main hindrance
in the way of females’ progress in higher education. On the other hand, 28.3% of the
respondents deny this opinion. In response to item no 2, 67.6% of the participants were of
the view that Low socio-economic status hinders the females’ higher education. While 32.4%
of the participants, negate this view. For item no 3, more than half (67%) of the
respondents believed that Higher education is expensive because of hostel expenditures,
tuition fee and transportation that only elite class and feudal have a privilege to get them;
whereas, 33% of the respondents were in the opposition of this view.
The qualitative data supports this view as the below response shows:
Yes, according to me, socio-economic status becomes a barrier in
females’ higher education, parents think that there is no need of
females’ higher education as females have to go their husbands’ home
and it is useless for us. Secondly, dowry is also common in our society
so parents consider it a double burden as we give our daughters higher
education side by side their marriage. (R9,12)
One of the respondents has explained this opinion in some other way:
Yes, economy is the major factor which sometimes creates hurdles in
the way of females’ higher education. If they have money, parents will
spend on their daughters’ education, especially on their higher
education. But in this matter awareness should be there. Some parents
have high socio-economic status but they do not care about females’
higher education. (R6)
Table: 3
Ignorant Parents
SA A D SD
(1) (2) (3) (4)
Questionnaire Items
1. Some parents pay more attention 49 89 36 17
towards boys’ education because (25.7%) (46.6%) (18.8%) (8.9%)
they consider that boys earn for
them in future while girls go to
their husband’s place and give no
benefit.
2. Illiterate parents hinder in the 61 66 47 17
progress of females’ higher (31.9%) (34.6%) (24.6%) (8.9%)
education as they are unaware of
the importance of education.
3. Narrow minded parents do not 53 68 46 24
allow their daughters to get (27.7%) (35.6%) (24.1%) (12.6%)
professional and technical
degrees as these degrees lead
towards a professional life.
4. An early marriage of girls is also 47 65 57 22
a barrier for their higher (24.6%) (34%) (29.8%) (11.5%)
education.
A reasonable number of female students (72.3%) believed that some parents pay more
attention towards boys’ education because they consider that boys earn for them in future
while girls go to their husband’s place and give no benefit. However, 27.7% of the female
students respond negatively to this view. For item no 2, 66.5% of the respondents highlighted
that Illiterate parents hinder in the progress of females’ higher education as they are unaware
of the importance of education. While 33.5% of the respondents reject this view. In response
to item no 3, 63.3% of the participants were of the view that Narrow minded parents do not
allow their daughters to get professional and technical degrees as these degrees lead towards
a professional life. On the other hand 36.7% of the participants oppose this view. For item no
4, 58.6% of the participants highlight the view that an early marriage of girls is also a barrier
for their higher education. But 41.3% of the respondents negate this opinion.
In qualitative data, many participants highlighted that ignorant parents support the above
findings and consider females’ higher education as an unimportant thing as is evidenced
from the below response:
Ignorant parents think females’ higher education is a useless thing
because in the end, females are born for domestic work and females
have to marry and would go to their husbands’ home. Sometimes,
parents think if females are highly educated, it would be difficult to
find a perfect and highly educated groom for them….and it is the
tragedy of our society that boys are not as educated as our girls are.
(R12) Ignorant parents do not know how females can contribute in
country’s progress…they do not have awareness. Because they did not
see the university life and they think if we send our females at
university, it is only wastage of time. (R11)
Table: 4
Unavailability of Universities in Remote Areas
Questionnaire Items SA A D SD
(1) (2) (3) (4)
1. Unavailability of universities in 39 75 51 26
small cities can be a hurdle for (20.4%) (39.3%) (26.7%) (13.6%)
females’ in higher education.
2. Parents feel uncomfortable to 47 80 40 24
send their daughters in hostels (24.6%) (41.9%) (20.9%) (12.6%)
due to the security reason.
3. Transportation affects the 44 77 57 13
females’ higher education if (23%) (40.3%) (29.8%) (6.8%)
universities and colleges are far
from their houses as it is quite
risky and costly as well.
4. Pakistan spends around 2% of 56 73 36 26
GDP on education which (29.3%) (38.2%) (18.8%) (13.6%)
provides very low percentage to
spend on the higher education.
More than half (59.7%) of the respondents believed that unavailability of universities in
small cities can be a hurdle for females’ in higher education; 40.3% of the respondents
deny this view. For item no 2, again more than half (66.5%) of the respondents thought
that parents feel uncomfortable to send their daughters in hostels due to the security
reason, with 33.5% perceiving this view in an opposite way. On item no 3, the data show
that 63.3% of the participants believed that transportation affects the females’ higher
education if universities and colleges are far from their houses as it is quite risky and
costly as well. However, 36.6% of the participants contradict with this view. Moreover
the data, for item 4, demonstrate that 67.5% of the respondents thought that Pakistan
spends around 2% of GDP on universities which provides very low percentage to spend
on the higher education, While 32.4% of the respondents oppose this view.
Unavailability of universities in remote areas was also seen as main hurdle in the way of
females’ higher education:
Unavailability of universities hinders[sic] females’ higher education
and it is a big problem in remote areas. Parents do not send their
daughters in universities only because of the long distance. Moreover
females face conveyance problems. Higher education costs much and

parents cannot bear the expenses. (R1) Parents are not ready to send
girls as they think, girls have to face a lot of problems of transportation,
residence, security and how they manage themselves in hostels. That’s
why parents do not send their daughters. (R15)
Table: 5
Stereotype Thinking of Families
SA A D SD
(1) (2) (3) (4)
Questionnaire Items
1. Stereotype thinking of parents 48 79 38 26
affect the females’ higher (25.1%) (41.4%) (19.9%) (13.6%)
education since they feel that
educated girls visualize themselves
superior and cannot find suitable
grooms.
2. Some parents restrict the 55 75 44 20
movement of their daughters inside (28.8%) (39.3%) (21.5%) (10.5%)
the house in the name of religion.
3. Co-education becomes an 60 74 41 16
obstacle in the way to females’ (31.4%) (38.7%) (21.5%) (8.4%)
higher education as parents do
not allow their daughters to study
with the boys.
4. A stereotype husband thinks he 79 56 38 18
should be more educated than his (41.4%) (29.3%) (19.9%) (9.4%)
wife.
The data show that, in response to item 1, 66.5% of the respondents believed that
Stereotype thinking of parents affects the females’ higher education since they feel that
educated girls visualize themselves superior and cannot find suitable grooms; 33.5% of the
respondents contradict with this view. For item no 2, when participants were asked that
some parents restrict the movement of their daughters inside house in the name of religion,
68.1% of the participants agreed with it. While 32% of the participants disagreed with this
view. In reply to item no 3, 70.1% of the participants were of the view that co-education
becomes an obstacle in the way to females’ higher education as parents do not allow their
daughters to study with the boys. However, 29.9% of the participants reject this view.
Qualitative data support these findings in the following way:

Stereotype thinking of families definitely oppose the females’ higher
education…, if previous generation is illiterate, families think next
generation would also be alike. So it is a hurdle in the way of females’

progress in higher education. Females’ are restricted to get higher
education because some families think boys’ higher education matters
while girls’ should only be perfect in domestic skills and they have to
move in their husbands’ home so it is the wastage of time and money to
spend on females’ higher education. (R1) Religious families do not
want their females to go out of homes openly for studies [because]
people…do gossips about their females [in a negative sense].
(R13)…[these] families exploit their females in the name of religion
and… such people misuse the message of Islam [that]Islam does not
allow females to get higher education. (R9&5)
Discussion
Cultural norms are highlighted as barrier in the females’ progression for higher education.
Tembon & Fort (2008) support these findings by arguing that girls are always provided
low level education as compare to boys. Findings point out that Pakistan has a
conservative male dominant society and has many cultural norms that prohibit females
especially from higher education. This is supported by Himayatullah & Parveen (1990)
with the argument that low participation rate of females in higher education is because of
different cultural barriers. In comparison to other countries, the situation is not much
different because it was found that in 15 major states of India gender gaps are there with
reference to higher education (Hirwav & Mahadevia, 1996). Similar evidence has been
found in the case of Zimbabwe as well (Mehretu, 2001).
In the present study, economic constraints are revealed as factor that influences parental
decisions to send their boys to school as compared to girls with the argument that boys
become the earning hand of parents in future. However, in order to strengthen the socio-
economic status and to run the home expenditures, males and females need to work
together highlights the importance of females’ higher education. The ratio of females’ in
higher education is very low in Pakistani context in spite of the fact that females’
population is more than 50%. This dilemma is also evidenced in Ghana where only 12%
women were enrolled in the six public universities in the academic year 2000-2001
(National Council on Tertiary Education, 2006). Moreover, culturally females are
considered as the dependent ones because there is male dominance in Pakistani society.
Pakistan National Plan of Action for Women (1998) set a goal regarding gender equality
and equity in education and it was due to achieve by 2013, however it still needs a lot to
be done. In this regard, Pakistan can take the example of United States where females’
number in higher education is rising and both genders are getting higher education no
matter it is in co-educational set up or single-sex institutions (Datnow, et al, 2001).
Furthermore current study shows that low enrolment of girls in higher education is
mainly because of the unavailability of universities in remote areas of Punjab. This is
supported by the previous study that highlight that females have limited access to higher
education (Sathar, et al, 2000). Current study further point out that females face problems
to move into distant institutions as compared to men because public transport is not
available in remote territories of Punjab. Where public transport is available girls cannot
use public transport as frequently and with peace of mind as compared to boys. There are
security issues for females while travelling in public transport especially where females
are not allowed to move alone culturally. Literature supports these findings
(Ramachandran, 2010). Finally, stereotype thinking of families whether they are parents
or they are husbands (if girls are married at an early age) pressurize females in different
ways to not to go for higher education and quit that if they have started. In some cases
female students are not allowed to even submit the final thesis once they got married.
Rossi, (1987) support these findings by maintaining that Pakistani female has always
been a victim with reference to progression in higher education. Gender based
discrimination is also evidenced in some other countries of South Asia and Sub-Saharan
Africa with respect to getting higher education.
Conclusions
The findings and conclusions of the present study have some implications for policy and
practice. The study explored the barriers in the way of females’ higher education. The
findings of the present study illustrate that constraints in the way of females’ higher
education are there; however it is not limited to the Pakistan, barriers and restrictions are
also there in some other Asian and African countries. Findings of the present study
demonstrate that females had been through troublesome circumstances and facing social
boundaries in getting entrance into higher education. These types of social boundaries are
deep rooted in sex segregation focused around masculine structure of the overall
Pakistani society specifically and international society in general. The findings from this
study were supported by various researchers from different contexts (Terry & Thomas,
1997; Sticht, 1994; Sticht & McDonald, 1990).
It is further concluded from the present study that because of cultural norms, low socio-
economic status, ignorance of parents and stereotype thinking of families prevailing in
the Pakistani society, females face difficulties in getting higher education. Mostly
stereotype families want their females to be limited within the four walls of homes.
Females are kept away to continue their higher education in Pakistani society (Hamid,
1993). However, interestingly, Organization for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) point out in 2008 that ratio of females’ higher education is
increasing as time passes and ratio of females in higher education is also rising as
compared to men in Pakistan. The inequalities to the detriment of men would be well
entrenched at the aggregate level by 2025, with some 1.4 female students for every male.
In some countries such as Austria, Canada, Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom,
there could be almost twice female students as compare to male (OECD, 2008). The
above discussion implies that especially in Pakistan and generally at international level,
there is need to take some policy measures that help to overcome this dilemma through
encouraging females’ progression in higher education. Since more than half of the
world’s population comprises on females, therefore without females’ involvement dream
of world’s development would be incomplete.
The findings of the present study show that unavailability of universities in remote areas
is also a big hurdle in females’ way to progress in higher education. Parents do not want
their daughters to go out of their homes and reside in hostels due to the security reasons.
It is also concluded that stereotype families do not want to send their daughters in co-
educational institutes because parents are scared that their daughters may adopt bad
company and this would lead them towards a liberal life in which they would be able to
take bold decisions regarding their lives. If they are married, their husbands and in-laws
are not supportive in carrying their higher education because of the stereotype thinking of
their husbands. In this type of conservative atmosphere, females cannot continue their
higher education in co-educational institutes. So, it is suggested that there would be at
least a university at district level and its campus/sub-campus at tehsil level.
In present study, both qualitative and quantitative data was collected from female
students of the university. It is suggested for the future research that data may be
collected from parents and husbands (in case of married girls) as well because they are
the stakeholders and females are dependent on them generally. If parents are literate, their
views can be more interesting that why they do not want to educate their daughters and
what are the reasons to restrict their daughters from higher education.
Priority is always given to the boys and girls are always pressurized by saying that you are
a girl so you are not allowed to do this. And if a girl is married, her husband could also give
this reason that how they can manage their families when their wives are in universities or
do a job. Low ratio of females in higher education cannot be increased without giving
awareness to them and their families. Pakistani society needs to adopt modern school of
thought regarding gender where gender equality is considered as prime important in policy
making regarding every aspect of life in order to make the position of females strong.
Males usually play leading roles everywhere whether it is the domestic or professional
matter. Everything is done according to the wish of males, for example in almost every
home everything is cooked which is liked by males even if that is disliked by female
members but no one cares, and females also understand always their responsibility to
sacrifice because of societal culture. Male should acknowledge the importance of females’
higher education and females should also take part in societal activities and confidently
face the problems in their lives instead depending on males.
President, Prime Minister and the Political leaders should take the progression of females’
higher education as personal concern; this will also send a positive message in the society
regarding gender equality. Females’ higher educational issues should be debated at
parliamentary level so that precautionary measurements could be taken to avoid the
barriers in the way of females’ higher education.
It is important to state here that despite the efforts of some NGOs towards females
strengthening, no considerable change can be seen to up-lift a females’ status or even to
make the general public more helpful for the prerequisites of the female acceptance in all
walks of life. The females’ higher education conditions are pretty much the same as in
other aspects of life, females are facing sexual segregation in different structures. There
are different explanations for these disappointments, in the same way as the patriarchal
personality set of society, misinterpretations of Islam by fundamentalists, unfair
enactments and the nonattendance of legitimate execution of females’ related laws.
Pakistani public sector has financial constraints, so private sector needs to share their
responsibility and work for the benefits of females in order to uplift their country.
Finally, since females are discouraged at their grass root level when they are at primary
level and they are restricted to go up to the higher level of studies. So, it is suggested that
rigidness in the way of females’ higher education should be eradicated and minds of
parents/society need to be broadened in order to enable females to move in society and to
make a strong position among males. The above debate demands that work on both short
run and long term policies is needed that would change the traditional views of society
and adopt coherent approaches and practices along with political commitment and
financial investment to empower the females.
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________________________
Dr. Muhammad Amin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Education,

University of Education, Lahore.
Dr. Ijaz Ahmad Tatlah is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Education,

University of Education, Lahore.
Ms. Arfa Afghani is M.Phil Scholar in the Department of Education, University of

Education, Lahore.
Vol. 16, 2018, pp. 89-102, ISSN: 2072-0394
Balochi Oral Literature and Gender Construction

Nadil Shah
&
Rana Saba Sultan
Bashir Kaker
BUITEMS University, Quetta
Abstract
Language plays a vital role for the shaping of the social structure of a society. Similarly,
proverbs are the significant part of any language being used in a day to day
communication. These proverbs are transformed and transferred from generation to
generation in according to the social events and conditions. The current study carried
out on representation of women in Balochi language proverbs. The purpose of this study
was to critically analyze the gender representation of women in Balochi language
Proverbs. In present study purposive sampling technique is used to collect data. The
data were collected from four books on Balochi proverbs among them 15 proverbs are
critically analyzed. All those proverbs which represented women are taken and analyzed.
Moreover, the Hegemonic masculinity, hegemony and social constructionism theories
are used to analyze the data. The findings of this study suggests that women are
represented in a gendered way depicting her role as dependency, submissiveness,
marginalized and lack agency whereas men have been portrayed as powerful, brave,
ruler and holds greater autonomy over economic, social, religious and political domain.
Keywords: Balochi Proverbs, Social Construction, Gender, Hegemonic Masculinity,

Patriarchy, Submissive, Dependent and Supremacy of Men.
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Introduction
Women are marginalized in everywhere in the world (Hussein, 2005) but the intensity of
oppression differs according to the society i.e. it may be low in developed nations and higher
in under developed or developing nations. Gender has become the most prominent debated
topic in contemporary scholarship (Balogun, 2010). Social scientists particularly sociologists
are intensively working for eradication of gender gap and disparity. Gender has developed a
field of study in the world which deals with different gender related issues. Many researches
have been conducted on this topic by field experts on different aspects of gender, such as
construction of gender through Textbooks (See Ullah and Skelton, 2013, 2016), Gender and
Media (see Ullah and Khan, 2014) and so on. The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology defines
gender as (5th Edition) “Gender is a socially constructed phenomenon which is related to or
determined by biology (Abercrombie, et al. 2006, p.149)”. So, Gender has socially
constructed roles assigned to men and women in a society according to their sexes. The
present study concentrates on social construction of gender through proverbs.
The proverbs play a pivotal role for the construction of knowledge in a society because
these are developed from the social and normative structure of a society. Proverbs are the
fruits of human wisdom because these represent the hidden aspects of culture and
thoughts of a society (Storm, 1992). It is a kind of language through which we can
communicate messages. As Hussein (2005) argued, language is a symbolic act of both
representing and value things. Through these proverbs society perceives and expects
similar activities and roles from male and female according to their gender. On other
hand, both genders (Male and Females) follow the concepts of ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’
(Colhoun, 2010). The present study is conducted on Balochi proverbs. The word Batal is
used for proverb in Balochi language and proverbs have great importance in oral Balochi
literature (Khan, 2000). The purpose of the study is to know how women are presented in
Balochi proverbs and what kinds of reactions are showed by both genders while
following proverbial expressions.
Literature Review
Proverbs represent the thoughts and social structures of the society and gender based
proverbs clearly show the different social positions of males and females in the society.
Nadil Shah, Rana Saba Sultan, Bashir Kaker 91
Hiroko Storm (1992) mentioned some traditional Japanese proverbs in his article Women
in Japanese Proverbs that women are shown as inferior, stupid, submissive, changeable,
talkative, weak etc. and on the other hand, men are presented as Inexpressive, reasonable,
strong intention, tough, reliable etc. Further, he said that after Second World War the
status ofJapanese’s women became better because of equal opportunities but they had to
leave works because of marriage and childbirth due to which they could not play their
role in the society. He said that in proverbs women are showed as servants of husband so
she must obey him. Further Jeylen W. Hussein (2005) writes that women are represented
as weak, evil, unfaithful and dependent etc in African proverbs and on the other hand
men are legitimized to be subordinate and practice their power over women.
Wolfgang Mieder (1987, 1989) argued that proverbial language is not only used in
spoken languagein American society rather it became the prominent language in Media
such as advertisement, stickers etc (Cited by Prahlad, 2004). Proverbs usually represent
the traditional wisdom were the folks of the past.
AbasiKiyimba has conducted a research on Oral literature on Baganda(Uganda) society and

Cited a proverb “One who will become favorite, begins by giving birth to a baby boy” (2005,
p.255).This Proverb depicts that boy baby is appreciative and girls are not even a woman
who gives birth of boy baby is praised, loved and favorite. On contrary, she is blamed for
giving birth to a girl though it is not in the hand of mother. Another two proverbs cited by
Kiyimba“The son in his father’s seat” and “Girls as social and material wealth” (Kiyimba ,
2005, pp. 257-58). These proverbs clearly show that son (boy) is going to be the head of
home and girl is just temporarily gives some materials to her father when she gets married,
after which she will be taken by a groom and would be stilled with her husband. Similar
argument is given byHelen Yitah (2009) who cited a proverb in his research article titled
“fighting with proverbs”: Kasena women’ redefinition of female personhood through
Proverbial Jesting that “She is a dog of two houses”. There are two homes for a girl, one is
her father’s and second is husband’s one where she will go after marriage. He said this
proverb reflects the unreliability of women. Kiyimba (2005) mentioned another proverb and
said that girl is responsible for the maintenance of respect of the family.
Hussein (2005) claimed that meanings of the proverbs have harmful effects on women
attitudes and behaviors. He said that what society communicates with people according to
the sex, it represents the social thought about both genders. In concluded he argued that
that African proverbs were promoting gender biasness such as males are associated with
powerfulness, capability and strong and women are associated with humbleness,
changeability and weakness.
OledeleAbiodunBalosun (2010) said that negative proverbs are effecting the marriage in
Nigerian society because most of the proverbs express that women should not be trusted,
and in proverbial pictures shown that men should be suspicious, dishonest and secrecy
which may contribute for the separation of couples. These may cause frustration and
dependency of women and effects the empowerment of women (Balosun, 2010). Further,
he said Yoruba men are using these proverbs for justifying the patriarchal position and
practice their hegemonic power over women.
Meryem Belfatmi (2013) cited Yksel (1993) in her article The representation of women in
Morocco Proverbs which she said that women perceived as evils and mostly associated
with animals such as dogs, horse etc in proverbs through which people using false
generalization which creates more false conception about women. Further she said that
women are shown as beautiful, unintelligent, runner of the house, treated as animals, evils
etc. Further, she cited some Morocco Proverbs and said that woman are beaten to be
submissive and those proverbs which are about violence against woman or beating women
are indirectly indicate to force women to be submissive and dependent on male member.
Noor Sanauddin (2015) in his Ph.D. thesis Gender and proverbs in Pashtun society used
some theories while analyzing the proverbs such as “hegemonic masculinity” by Connell,
theory of ‘deficit’, ‘dominance’, ‘difference’ and ‘community’ of practice –which believe
that there is sexism in language. Man speaks/uses different language and female another.
Man’s language presents his dominancy in the society and female’s language shows
submissiveness. It also believes that language is a tool used for suppression and subversion
at the same time (Sanauddin, 2015).Dr. Shahid Siddiqui (2008) added that, “Since language
is a powerful tool to construct social reality with, women, by the use of sexist language, are
being dubbed as inferior and deviant. Sanauddin used “Intersectionality” theory by
Crenshaw, “patriarchy” by Walby’s, Theory of “patriarchal bargain” by Kandiyoti’s (1988),
theory of “patriarchal gender contract” by Moghadam (1992) to analysis the gender
relations and language in a society (See Sanauddin, 2015).He has also cited Dupree (1979)
that proverbs promote existing social system rather than questioning it.
Gender based proverbs are constructed through commonly-held beliefs about masculinity
and femininity. As Sarwet Rasul collected definitions of proverb from different sources and
concluded that “proverbs are based on precision, originated from human experiences, social
phenomena, folklore and general truth (2015, p.53). Further, She said that there is no absolute
truth available in those definitions because it is the social interpretation of truth. Proverbs are
not scientifically proved rather these are based on commonly-held views and constructed
according to the situations, events, experiences which were occurred in a society with the
particular time period. By these experiences, events and conditions, the proverbs are
constructed and became common in the broader society. On the other hand, proverbs reflect
the normative structure of society such as beliefs, norms, life style of that particular society.
The oral traditions (i.e. songs, folktales, stories and proverbs) can also influence the
member of the community where this common knowledge is prevailing and they strictly
follow them. As Dominguez said, “Oral traditions influence the way members of any
given community think, thus, how they perceive and feel about the world around them
(2010 cited by Rasul, 2015, p.54).”So, the women also strongly follow these oral
traditions though these are miss represented and against their social rights. Women
usually follow, whatsoever is told to her by male family members such as her father,
brother, husband or son (Rasul, 2015) because of submissiveness. Women are also
compared with evil and sometimes she is said to be worse than devil (Rasul, 2015)
Finally Balogun (2010) suggested that all responsibilities of the problems presented in
African proverbs should not be given to women such as separation, falseness, sexual
immorality and so on rather these proverbs should be revisited and reconstructed. We
should give awareness about the hidden realities of language discourse to our young
generation. As Balfatmi (2013) said that as much as awareness we give to the people
about such biased and stereotypical concepts in proverbs, as much they will avoiding by
using them and there is high chance of social equilibrium in the society. Sanauddin (2015)
has concluded his study that the construction of proverbs are unequal because most of the
proverbs are produced by men. The proverbs clear depict power relation and social
ranking of male and female. Susan Geiger suggested that we should accept the
interpretations of women about their identity because it is based on their experiences of
social world which exactly reflects their social reality (cited by Yitah, 2009).
Gendered discourse is very popular in our daily use language. It is common in day to day
language that we use to communicate with each other. There are different theories about
gender which deal with gender inequality and gender interaction in each society. As Raewyn
Connell (1995) theory Hegemonic masculinity clearly claims that how women are being
subordinated by men in society. As Connell (1995) defined that “Hegemonic masculinity to
explain the practices that promote the dominant social position of men and the subordinated
social position of women (cited by Sanauddin, 2015, p. 60).” This theory believes that men
usually try to legitimized their power through the help of creating patriarchal discourse in
daily life communication. So, In the context of Baloch society, the men use gender biased
proverbs to justify and legitimized their supremacy over women. The present study is
analyzed with help of this theory, that men have legitimize their masculinity on women with
help of daily used Proverbs. One theory cannot be enough for analyzing this study rather
Antonio Gramsci’s concept ‘Hegemony’ is also used for analyzing the data. According to
Gramsci (1971) hegemony means dominance of one group over other through their consent
because dominated group thinks that it is for the betterment of them actually it is not. But in
this study, the concept of hegemony is not used as Gramsci did because he applied it on
politics. In this study, it is used on Gender. How men are practicing and legitimizing their
power on women and they have maintained their social position in the society through the
consent of women by using different proverbs in their daily communication? For eliminating
this negative discourse, the women should go for ‘counter Hegemonic struggle (Gramsci,
2000)’ to eradicate this fake discourse through ‘war of position’ in the form of struggle over
traditional constructed ideas and belief which are shown in proverbs. Peter L. Berger and
Thomas Luckmann (1991) theory social construction reality is also applied on this research.
Berger and Luckmann (1991) said that reality is socially constructed which is based on
‘commonsense knowledge’ and social structure of society because commonsense knowledge
is usually in support of powerful segment of society (Ullah and Ali, 2012). Social
constructionists believe that knowledge is constructed through social interactions with others
(Mackinley, 2015). Further, he said that the qualitative researchers should use it a theoretical
framework while analyzing the social interaction of the people. In this study, the social
constructionism is used for analyzing the proverbs and how people interact with each through
gender based proverbs and create their social reality. Researchers also critically analyzes the
effects of gender biased proverbs for shaping the life style of women because it is the game
of language. “Language does not mirror the reality, rather it constitutes (Create) it (Fairhurst
and Grant, 2010, p. 174).” As it is said in hegemony that ‘knowledge’ is a social construct
that serves to legitimate social structures (Haywood, 1994, p.101)”.
Methodology
The present study is carried out through the help of qualitative method. Qualitative research
is focused on quality of a phenomena because data are proverbs which are in the shape of
statements.This approach also helps the researcher to analysis the data through
interpretation or subjective meanings of the proverbs. Another reason is, the researcher and
supervisor command on this approach. The data were collected from four different Balochi
books on Proverbs. The first one is “(‫ﺑﻨﺰﻩ )ﻗﺪﻳﺮ ﻟﻘﻤﺎﻥ‬ُ ِ‫ ﺭﺑﻴﺪگء‬-‫"ﺑﺘﻞ‬, the second one is ‫" "ﺑﺘﻞ ﮔﻨﺞ‬
(‫)ﻏﻼﻡ ﻓﺎﺭﻭﻕ ﺑﻠﻮچ‬, the third one is "(‫ "ﺑﻠﻮﭼﯽ ﺑﺘﻞ )ﺍﺳﺤﺎﻕ ﺭﺣﻴﻢ‬and the fourth one is ‫ ﮔﺎﻝ‬،‫ ﮔﻮﺷﺘﻴﻦ‬،‫"ﺑﺘﻞ‬
"(‫ﺑﻨﺪ )ﺷﮯ ﺭﮔﺎﻡ‬. These books were selected because these books are famous in Baloch
educated society and these writers also have more command on Balochi literature. Books
were selected through purposive sampling techniques. The purposive sampling also called
deliberate sampling (Kothari, 2014) which means select respondent which fulfill the
researcher’s purposive. These books are thoroughly read and collected all proverbs which
were related to both (male and female) gender. Secondly, all those proverbs have been
taken from selectee which represented women. After all, researchers have selected fifteen
(15) proverbs to analyze them. The data were analyzed through the lens of different
sociological theories such social constructionism by Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann,
Raewyn Connell’s theory of Hegemonic masculinity and Hegemony by Antonio Gramsci,
as discussed them detail in theoretical framework.
Key Findings and Discussion
Gender based proverbs show that women should be or force them to be submissive and
dependent on men (See Belfatmi, 2013 in Review of literature section). Here
submissiveness and dependency means those proverbs which represent those females are
submissive and dependent on their male members in family as well as on broader society.
Balochi proverbs also represent devil and degrade women on the basis of gender. These
also promote the supremacy of men over women.
"‫۔ ﺑﺮﺍﺕ ﺍﮔﺎں ﮐﻮﺭے ﮔﮩﺎﺭﺋﮯ ﺍﻣﻴﺖ ﻭﺍﺭ ﺍِﻧﺖ‬1”

(Sister expects from brother though he is blind)
Proverb No 1. This proverb is communicated when sister needs help from brother but he does
not fulfill her need.In this proverb, sister (female) is dependent on her brother. It stands to
reason that blind people are mostly dependent and in most of cases are desperately in need of
help from a physically fit and fine person. But surprisingly, the proverb’s meaning gives
superiority of a blind brother (male) over a physically sound sister (woman) which is totally
against the rationality. However, yet the brother (male) has more power which shows the
supremacist thinking of men in Baloch society. The proverb is a classic example of men’
attitude towards women which depicts that however a man is he or she is better and superior.
"‫ ﭼﻮ ﮐﻼﺕ َء ﮐہ ﻭﺍﺟہ ﻳﮯ ﻣﺎں ﻧﻴﺴﺖ۔‬،‫۔ ﺁ ﮔﻮﻫﺎﺭ َء ﮐہﺗﻨﮕﺌﻴﮟ ﺑﺮﺍﺕ ﻧﻴﺴﺖ‬2"

(If a sister is without a brother, she is like that fort which is without king.)
Proverb No 2. It is popular in Baloch society that fort is usually headed by a king who is a
male head/tribesman. Here it means that a male can only safeguard and protect. The
concepts of kingdom represent power and dominancy. This proverb clearly shows the
power relation in the society because there is external threat for fort when it does not have a
king. So, in this proverb, sister (female) is compared with fort and brother (male) with
kingdom which is power. The hidden message here is that a sister (female) is nothing
without a brother (male) because there is external threat for her. So, the brother is very
important for the survival of the sister without whom her existence or survival is in threat.
"‫ﺗﻴﻦ ُء ﻣﺎﺕ ﺟﻨﮑﺎﻧﯽ ﺷﮏ ُء ﺁﺩﻳﻨﮏ ﺍَﻧﺖ۔‬

‫ ﭘﺖ ﺟﻨﮑﺎﻧﯽ ﺳﺎﻫﮓ ﺍَﻧﺖ ﺳﺎﺭ‬،‫۔ ﺑﺮﺍﺕ ﮔﮩﺎﺭﺍﻧﯽ ﺁﻫﻴﻦ ﭘَ ّﻞ ﺍِﻧﺖ‬3"
(Brothers are like protecting walls for the sisters; father is the cold shadow for daughters
and mother is the comb and mirror for the daughters.)
Proverb No 3. This proverb is clearly presenting the patriarchal structure of society in

which female is inferior and male is superior because brother (male) is compared with
strong walls which is showing the security and protection. Father (male) is compared
with cold shadow which is important as well as need of everyone and it is also showing
that softness which is attached to women. On other hand, mother (female) is compared
with comb and mirror which represents the beautification because beautification and
sexism is attached with female. The mirror also represents the imagination which shows
that woman are usually in imaginary world and cut off from the real world.The most
important thing here is the question of the existence or identity of a daughter. So the
existence of girl has completely disappeared. This proverb is clearly showing the
dependency of women on men because men are the only ones who can give protection,
security, and comfort places for other family members and females are just for
beautification and cut off from the real world.
"‫۔ ﺟﻦ َء ﺭﺍ ﻣﺮﺩ ﺩﺍﺭ ﺍِﻳﺖ۔‬4"

(A husband (powerful) can control a wife.)
Proverb No 4. In this proverb, woman is represented as ‘docile body’. Because it is

showing that husband (male) is the only power and he can control his wife (female). The
hidden message is communicated here is that controlling power is man whatsoever he
says.The woman should follow because she is dependent on her husband. Another,
message is that woman cannot take good decisions because she is unplanned and
unsystematic. So it is the duty of husband to plan and help her to take right decisions
because the intelligentsia of woman is weak like a child. Thus, she has to be dependent
and submissive to her husband. Indirectly, this proverb is also saying that husband has
power to practices on his wife to control her.
"‫۔ ﮔﻮﺭءِ ﺟﻦ ءِ ﭘﺎﺳﺒﺎﻥ ﻫُﺪﺍ ﺍِﻧﺖ۔‬5"

(God is the security of Jewel’s wife)
Proverb No 5. Here the word “‫ ”ﮔﻮﺭ‬means Hindu (Hashumi, 2009, p.707) but generally it
is attached with Jewel (a person who makes necklace and other decorative materials
particularly for females). In history, Hindu or Christens usually did house works for
others due to which their wives were alone at their own houses. It was famous that wife
should not be alone at home. So, this proverb is clearly showing that woman is dependent
because she needs security and protection from man. But in real sense, she has threat
from man and he is the one who gives protection to the woman.
"‫ ﺟﻦ ﮐہ ﻟﺞ ﮐﻨﺖ ﺑﮩﺎﺋﯽ ﻟﮑﻬ ﺍِﻧﺖ۔‬،‫ ۔ ﻣﺮﺩ ﮐہ ﻟﺞ ﮐﻨﺖ ﺑﮩﺎﺋﯽ ﮐﮏ ﺍِﻧﺖ‬6"

(A shy man is worth a goat, a shy woman is worth a city)
Proverb No 6. This proverb is said when a male shies in front of the people and female
does not shy in front of the people. The shyness is attached with female because she is
responsible for maintenance of honor of the family and society. If a boy shies, he will be
blamed because he will have to be involved in public affairs. Therefore, this proverb
promotes submissiveness of women because females are being forced to be silent which
is attached to submissiveness. If a person is motivated to be talkative and forced not to
shy means promoting him/her to be super massive. In this proverb, females are forced to
feel shy in front of people and males are motivated to talk. Indirectly, women are directed
to be submissive to male members.
"‫۔ ﺟﻦ ﭘﺎﺩ ءِ ﺳﻮﺍﺱ ﺍِﻧﺖ۔‬7"

(Wife is like a shoe for foot)
Proverb No 7. In the given proverb, the woman is compared with shoe for foot because
shoe itself does not have any say. Whatsoeverthe direction is given it fallows. So shoes
are the followers of feet and the human who is wearing it. Similarly, woman is
submissive to man. Whatever direction is provided by man (foot), the woman (shoe)
should follow. The wife should follow the instructions and dictations of her husband.
"‫ﺗﯽ ﺟﻦءِ ﺟﻮﺩ ُء ُﭼﮑﺎﻧﯽ ﭘﺖ ﺍِﻧﺖ۔‬

‫ ۔ ﻫﺮﮐﺲ ﻭ‬8"
(Everyone is the husband of his wife and father of his children.)
Proverb No 8. The word “‫ ”ﺟﻮﺩ‬means husband (Hashumi, p. 381) but it is not popular in
common Balochi language. In Baloch society the word “‫ ”ﻣﺮﺩ‬is used for husband. The
word husband itself represents supremacy of man because husband is the head of family
who is responsible for the maintenance and earnings of the house. This proverb is clearly
showing that man is the husband of his wife and father of his children. So the
responsibility of husband is to provide education, health and food to children and solve
other issues related to home. It is clear that man is the superpower at home.
"‫ﺗﺎﺝ ﭘﺖ ﺍِﻧﺖ۔‬،‫ ۔ ﺟﻨﮏ ءِ ﻫﺎﺭ ﺑﺮﺍﺱ ﺍِﻧﺖ‬9"

(A girl’s necklace is brother and crown is father.)
Proverb No 9. This proverb is clearly showing the supremacy of male because necklace is
brother which tight on her throat and father is crown which is on her head. If the throat
and head are occupied then a person can’t do anything because he or she is totally
controlled. So the girl is totally controlled by her brother and father. Therefore, it clearly
shows supremacy of man over a woman.
"‫۔ ﻧﺎ ﻣﺮﺩءِ ﺟﻦ ﺭﻭﺕ ﺑﻠﮯ ﻣﺮﺩءِ ﺩﺷﺘﺎﺭﻧہ ﺭﻭﺕ۔‬10"

(Docile man’s wife can leave and become someone else’s wife but a strong man can even
dictate his fiancé.)
Proverb No 11. This proverb is quoted when a fiancé of a boy leaves or gets engaged with
someone else without the consent of fiancé. In Baloch society, if a boy gets engaged with a
girl then no one is able to take that girl from him without his consent. If the girl is engaged
with other boy without his consent, he is labeled “Na’ Mard” (a man who does not have
man power). The person who is docile (Na’ Mard), his wife can go/ taken by others but if
you are strong boy (Mard) no one can take your fiancée. So this proverb vividly says that
man is powerful, and girl is just a ‘docile boy’. So whatsoever a boy wants that will be
acceptable otherwise girl has no say in front of male. Even in Baloch society a fiancé could
give to other people without consent of girl (Read Shay Mureed and Hani story) because
Hani was the fiancée and cousin of Shay Mureed and she was given to Chakar.
"‫ﺳﺪ ﺟﻦ ءِ ﮔﻴﺮﻧﻴﮏ ﺍِﻧﺖ۔‬

َ ‫ ﻳﮏ ﺟﻨﮯ‬،‫۔ ﻳﮏ ﺟﻨﮯ ﺳﺪ ﺟﻦ ءِ ﻟﭻ َء ﺑﺎﺭﺕ‬11"
(One woman can spoil the honor/respect of hundred women and one woman can maintain
the honor/respect of hundred women)
Proverb No 12. It is said when a woman does not have good reputation in the society
because she wants to live independently and freely. It is clear that a woman is responsible
making good and bad reputation of other women in the society. If one woman is open
minded or ‘Be gerath’ according to the popular society, she will make all other woman bad
in the society. One case is generalized on all women in society because of patriarchal
structure. The purpose of generalization is to maintain the dominancy of men over woman.
So if she wants to make good reputation in the society, she will have to follow the
instruction of patriarchal structure of society otherwise her bad character is responsible for
creating bad names for other women in the society. But in actual sense, a woman is not
responsible for the respect of other because everyone is responsible for his/her actions.
"‫۔ ﺟﻨﮯ ﺟﻨّﺖ ﺟﻨﮯ ﺟﻨﺠﺎﻝ۔‬12"
(One woman is paradise and another woman is hell)
Proverb No 13. This proverb is mostly said when a wife does not obey her husband or
given instructions of society. In this proverb woman is compared with paradise and hell.
A wife will be called paradise if she facilitates her husband and follows the instruction of
husband and serves the interest of husband. A wife will be humble if she does not go on
‘social road’ of society. On the other hand, she is hell for her husband, when she does not
follows or rarely follows the recommended rules of husband. Despite being a colleague,
she is expected to assist the husband in the society which is against human nature because
all human born equal despite any gender difference.
"‫۔ ﺟﻨﻴﮟ ءِ ﻳﺎﺭ ﺷﻴﺘﺎﻥ ﺍِﻧﺖ۔‬13"
(Woman is the friend of evil)
Proverb No 14. It is also said that woman does not obey her male because it believed that
woman can easily be fooled due to her unintelligence. She is the friend of evil because
evil usually brings those people in his way and she does not have enough understanding
about good and bad. Evil becomes the friend of those who take decisions being inspired
from emotions. So women are said to be emotional creature that take decisions or act
according to their emotions.
"‫ ﻫﭻ ﻣﺮﺩءِ ﻗﺴﻤﺖ َء ﻣہ ﺑﺎﺕ۔‬،‫ ﺟﻨﮑﻴﻦ ﺟﻦ ُء ﺟﻨﮑﻴﮟ َﺟﮉ‬-14"

(Childish wife and camel calf should not come in the fate of someone)
Proverb No 15. This proverb is said when a wife does childish works and childish camel
“Jud” (a small camel which is newly ride able) (Hashumi, p. 369). If camel is a small and
newly in ride age, it will create a hurdle for owner. Similarly, a small wife is also a hurdle
for the husband. There are two concepts which are attached with female/Woman. Firstly,
she is analogized with animals and secondly with the concept of childish because both
have bad names in the society.
"‫ﭘﺮ ﺍِﻧﺖ ﺑﻠﮯ ﻧہﺗﭽّﻴﺖ۔‬

ُ ‫۔ ﺟﻨﻴﻦ ءِ ﮐﺌﻮﺭ‬15"
(A woman’s river never flows though it is full)
Proverb No 16. In this proverb woman is attached with river. In this proverb, two
concepts are there. Firstly, it is showing that woman cannot be perfect and secondly
woman desires more and more or the desires of woman are uncountable. In the first
concept, the river is full but does not flow which shows that she is a person with a body
which everyone has but cannot take decisions. In second point, the river is full and does
flow means all demands are fulfilled but she is still in need of more. It is totally
degradation of woman through proverbs.
Conclusions and Recommendations

It is to think upon construction of gender through proverbs which are based on traditional
myths and experiences which are passed from generation to generation. This study was
carried out to know the presentation of women in Balochi proverbs. It was concluded that
women are represented as submissive, dependent, and unintelligible and derogatory terms
have been used for women etc. These proverbs are also promoting the supremacy of men
over women and men are legitimized to practice their power over women by the patriarchal
social structure of society. These myths and traditional thinking about woman in Balochi
proverbs show the patriarchal structure society from history. These all are socially
constructed and men who practice their hegemonic power and promoted masculinity in the
society. Due to which, the men have power to manipulate and shape the social structure of
society according to the interest of their own. It is high time to revisit to such myths,
traditional proverbs about gender and reconstruct them with new ideas to promote gender
equality in the society because women are the important segments of society. The women
are not only responsible for bad occurrence in the society rather both men and women are
equally important for destruction and construction of society.
This study may not be generalized to the proverbs such as Pashtun, Sindhi, Punjabi and
other languages in Pakistan due to its limited scope. There is also few literature available
on gender and proverbs in Pakistani languages and more studies and researches need to
be conducted in this area particularly Balochi language. Studies need to be carried out on
gender construction and folk tales and songs in other Pakistani languages generally and
Balochi language particularly. Most importantly, This study is very important while
including proverbs in syllabus and curriculum development of the school textbooks.
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___________________
Nadil Shah is M.Phil. Scholar in the Department of Sociology, University of Karachi.
Dr. Rana Saba Sultan is Professor in the Department of Sociology, University of

Karachi.
Dr. Bashir Kaker is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, Balochistan

University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences, Quetta.
Vol. 16, 2018, pp. 103-120, ISSN: 2072-0394
Agricultural Development And The Role Of Women's Self-

Employment In Pakistan
Rummana Zaheer
&
Saman Hussain
Department of Economics
Muhammad Nadeemullah
Department of Social Work
Abstract
Pakistan aimed to achieve the target of 5.5% of GDP growth for the fiscal year 2015-16,
of which 3.9% is expected to catch from the agricultural sector. In the economy, about
42.3% of the total employment is attributed by the agricultural sector, of which about
72.7% is contributed by the 48.96% of the total population, the WOMEN. Female as
first-line labor force never receive the consideration of their actual contribution in the
development on national basis. Like other developing economies of the world, Pakistan
must to focus to expose and utilize the potential of the women labor force in agriculture.
The discussion on the agricultural development of Pakistan with reference to women's
self-employment is done in this study. Along review of literature and empirical studies,
to facilitate the discussion and conclusion, annual time series data from the period of
1985 to 2015 under the regression analysis is taken. The variables taken, to discuss the
strength and nature of association with the agricultural development of Pakistan by self-
employment of women, are gross domestic product of agriculture, literacy rate of
women, women employed in agriculture and domestic credit disbursement to
agriculture sector. The study expects the significant result withal positive association of
variables to the development of the economy.
Keywords: Women, Self-Employment, Agriculture, Economic Development,

Financial Assistance.
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Introduction
“What I learn from talking to so many women around the world: If you can empower
them with the right things, the right tools, they can lift up their family. And that
ultimately lifts up their community and their society” — Melinda Ann Gates1
The GDP growth of the year 2014-15 is recorded as 4.24% (the highest achievement
since 2008-09). Pakistan's finance minister declared to expect the target of the
developmental growth as 5.5% for the fiscal year 2015-16 which continues to grow to be
6% and 7% for the fiscal year 2016-17 and 2017-18 respectively. The declared target of
GDP expects the contribution of 3.9% from the backbone of the economy, the
Agriculture. The agriculture sector currently supports the growth with a contribution of
20.9% to GDP along contributing to the employment as 42.3%2 of the total employment
in the economy (Economic Survey of Pakistan 2014-15), of which about 72.7% is the
contribution of the 48.96% of the total population, the WOMEN (Labor Force Survey
2014-15, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics).
In the sector four distinct categories of employed female exists: employer, own account
worker, non-paid family worker and employees. Only 0.1% of the employer's ratio in
total employment is forwarded by females and 24.9% are getting remuneration in terms
of cash and commodities as being employees. 20.4% are working on own account. It is
very interesting to eyed that a significantly larger contribution in employment are of
Rummana Zaheer, Saman Hussain, Muhammad Nadeemullah 105
female for 54.5%, are those, who worked to help their family without any payment: the
non-paid family worker. The contrasting figures of employer, employee and non-paid
workers are highlighting the path to enhance and facilitate the female labor force in terms
of technical and financial assistance so, the last two categories may diversify their
objective to the category of the Employer so the sector may enabled to earn more. As the
employment ratio of women in agriculture is significantly larger it is definite that work
done on the self employment of women will be sound.
The financial assistance is getting serious attention in agriculture as the credit

disbursement in the sector by banks is accounted for PKR 326 billion as 65.2% of the
target for the fiscal year 2014-15. It is observed that this disbursement is 27.5% higher as
compared to preceding year. To score the above stated finance minister's declared mark,
many redeems for financial assistance has been announced and are in process too, among
these the promotion of the concept of self-employment is under practice with serious
attention3. Where the finance facilitate the many, literacy lacks the others. As far the
technical assistance is concerned the literacy rate of female is accounted much.
The agricultural activities are in practice in the rural areas of Pakistan where a very little
efforts are done for the degree education and technical training of agricultural activities
of females that's the reason of having more first line female labor force in agriculture as
compared to the other sectors (Faridi et.al. 2011). On the one end degree education resists
the women to work as self employed, on the other end, the illiteracy limitate them in their
vision of work and bound them to remain as less or non-paid. It is observed that the
literate women are more capable to reap the fruit of investment and accomplish the task
with more agricultural yield. It can be said that by promoting the literacy among the
females and spreading the dimension of agricultural disbursement will ultimately raise
the productivity of agriculture.
The ratio of women labor force in rural areas and credit disbursement to agriculture
sector clearly represents their significance to economic growth and particularly the
agricultural growth leading towards food sufficiency, poverty eradication and foreign
exchange earnings. But unfortunately the agriculture sector did not receive the attention
as much as it required on both the ends of financial and technical assistance. Furthermore
the always neglected gender strata in Pakistan - Women labor force did not receive the
needed attention at national level despite of its significance towards productive growth of
economy. In previous researches as found in literature, not focusing on self-employment
of women in agriculture sector as it has tremendous potential leading to economic
development. What this study aims to do, is to find the association of literacy rate and
availability of credit along technical knowhow of women labor force, that not only
motivate them to have their laboring practices in a more commercial intention but taking
it into broader view, also uplift the rural marginal class by involving them in economic
growth. Thus, this study evaluates the significance and effectiveness of women labor
force towards the agricultural development by promotion of financial and technical
assistance.
A Brief Performance History of Agricultural Sector
The major objective of the agricultural sector to the economy of Pakistan is of provision
of food security and maximization of agricultural yield leading to utilization of its export
potential and reducing deficit in current account balance.
Contribution of Agricultural Growth in Pakistan's GDP (%)

Contribution of Agricultural Growth in Pakistan's GDP (%)
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010-2015
Data Source: Federal Bureau of Statistics.
In the decade of 1960s, the agriculture sector was contributing 5.1% at an average to the
Gross Domestic Product of Pakistan. In 1970s there was a decline in the sector's contribution
towards economy' GDP by 2.7% and it reached at an average rate of 2.4% for the said decade.
The most highest achievement in the sector is recorded in era of 1980s4 by increasing an
average rate of 3% and reached at 5.4% . In 1990s, once again a decline could be eyed by 1%
at average and fallen at the level of 4.4%. The decade of 2000s is once again declined and
fallen at the average rate of 3.2%. The current regime consists of five years having the
growth as 3.16% which is far behind the targeted mark of the growth in the sector.
Percentage of Employment Distriution : Industry wise for the

year 2014-15
Agriculture Manufacturing Construction Trade Transport Services Others
2%
13%
6%
42%
15%
7%
15%
Data Source: Economic Survey of Pakistan 2014-15.
The agricultural sector enfolds 42% of the total employment including the sub-sectors of
crops, livestock, forestry and fishing, where crops attributed for 5.2%, livestock for 2.2%,
forestry for 2.6% and fishing for 2.6% in the productive yield of the sector for the fiscal
year 2014-15.
The Role of Women in Agriculture
In Pakistan, rural women has a major and idiosyncratic role in food security. The
women labor force participating behind the agricultural production are prominantly
very high as compared to men labor force. The sector 's productivity enjoying the
efforts done by 72.7% of women and 27.3% of men labor force of the total employment
in the sector( Economic survey of Pakistan, 2014-15).
The rate of participation of Pakistani women labor force has raised over the last three
decades while their involvement got intensified in agriculture sector. The participation of
women labor force in the sector is very hard-hitting as they perform plentiful labor tasks
like grass cutting, picking, sowing, harvesting, weeding and post-harvesting. Their work
participation could be seen at wider horizon during thwe sowing and harvesting farming
seasons.Along farm fields work they perform in allied fields too. They work for livestock
keeping like managing feed of animals, milking, processing of milk, obtaining bi-
products of milk like ghee, butter, and lassi etc. for commercial basis and for fullfilment
of food requirements at home. A Pakistani women spend about 15 hours/day in
agricultural activities performance majjorly in crop and livestock. They use forest for
essential household tasks likewise collection of wood to get house warm and cooking
food and collection of fodder for livestock keeping. In the sector of fishery they perform
post fishing activities like processing and preserving of fish and shrimps. They do not
move for fishing but participate by working on fishing net and fish carrying baskets.
Percentage of Employment Distribution in Agriculture: Gender

wise for the year 2014-15
Female Male
27%
73%
Data Source: Labor Force Survey of Pakistan 2014-15.
The ability to meet 100% food requirements of the sector's yield is due to lack of credit
assistance, lack of technical assistance to latest equipment information and other
technologies needed for increasing productivity, socio-cultural constraints like male
domonance and other traditional beleif system (Butt et.al. 2010).
A Brief Trend of Credit Disbursement to the Agriculture Sector
In Pakistan landholding patterns are mostly owned by small farmers where women labor
force found as being owners and non-paid family workers. Financial detrimental high in
effects for small land owners. It is not easy to access the bank for loan as collateral
needed to be acceptable are not in their range.
Agricultural Credit Disbursement in Pakistan

Agricultural Credit Disbursement in Pakistan (PKR in million)
400000
PKR in million
300000
200000
100000
0
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Data sources: 1. Adopted from Abdullah, et al. (2015). 2. Figures for the years
2014 and 2015 are taken from Economic Survey of Pakistan 2014-15.
During the period of 1985 to 1988, the lending institutions including banks and other
financial supporting institutions raised their credit disbursement by 35% to the
agricultural sector. The next two fiscal years of 1989 and 1990 the credit disbursement
declined by 9.6% and 4% of the very previous year. A slighter increase is observed in
availed mark of credit disbursement in the year 1991 and reached to PKR 14915.29
million by an increase of 6.8%. In 1992 a decrease of 2.9% of the preceding year is
disbursed in the sector. In year 1993 disbursement reached its most highest mark of the
preceding years at PKR 16198.31 million in the sector. In 1994 credit disbursement in the
sector declined by 5.01% of the preceding year. in year 1995 second highest
disbursement has marked of the history of PKR 21965 million. In year 1996 a slighter
decline of 13.03% and in 1997 a slighter increase of 2.16% is registered. In year 1998 a
prominent increase is registered in disbursement of PKR 32974 million. In year 1999, an
increase of 29.94% as compared to previous year had been recorded by lending
institutions. at the beginning of the 2000s a decline of 7.37% as compared to the year
1999 in the disbursement of credit is recorded. An increase of 12.85% of the preceding
year had been recorded in the year of 2001. The next three years of 2002, 2003 and 2004
showed an increase of 17.09%, 12.33% and 24.66% as compared to correspondence years.
The whole decade followed an increasing trend of disbursement of credit to the sector as
year of 2005 for 48.04%, 2006 for 26.43%, 2007 for 2.8%,2008 for 25.3%,2009 for
10.13%,2010 for 6.48%, 2011 for 6%, 2012 for 11.7%, while the year of 2012 showed a
decline of 21.37%, and once again an increase of 10.6% in year 2013, 2014 for 27.47%
as compared to the respective preceding years. The agricultural credit disbursement for
the year 2014-15 is the most highest figure of sector's history as PKR 500 billion( it was
380 billion for the preceding year) of which 65.2% is achieved as targeted. The disbursed
credit to the sector constitutes 52.1% of farm credit of which 16.5% is accounted to
small-scale farms and 31.3% is to large-scale farms while 47.9% of nonfarm credit. The
disbursement activity of credit to agriculture is performed by 5 Commercial banks, ZTBL,
15 DPBs, PPCBL, 7 MFBs and 4 Islamic Banks of the country( Economic Survey of
Pakistan 2014-15). Now likewise Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines,
Thailand and Vietnam contract farming is being practiced in Pakistan for the output of
maize, potato, rice, sugarcane and tobacco etc (Habib ,2015).
Literature Review
The effectiveness of women's self-employment to the prosperous growth of agriculture

sector for developing countries is a potential debate topic. Many researchers worked on
gender wise self-employment and its effects on the economy, along this some others
discussed the women labor force in agriculture sector of developing economies. The
relationship of the women's self-employment and their significant role in agriculture
possess many opportunities as well as constraints. The significance of agriculture for the
development of Pakistan's economy is very clear and sound (Butt et al.2010).
Women Labor Force and Self-Employment in World
If the studies regarding intensions to be self employed in labor force are reviewed, it is
find that there are two ends of self-employers; the opportunity self-employer and the
necessity self-employer. The opportunity self -employer pursue an opportunity in the
economy and enter into self-employment while necessity self-employer shifts into self-
employment due to lower returns in wage sector (Block & Wagner, 2006).
The higher level of unemployment is not the driving factor for entrepreneurship among low
skilled labor. The lower level of employment declines the opportunity self-employment.
The higher will be the propensity to self-employment the lower will be the low-skilled
labor and possess the strong correlation between the economic growth and self-
employment with respect to credit availability (Deli, 2011). While measuring the tendency
of low-skilled men and women labor force towards self-employment in US, it is concluded
that low-skilled labors are more tend to penetrate entrepreneurial world instead of degree
holders especially in case of women but the economic rewards are not as impressive as in
the case of men labor force. Promoting the self-employment among the women (not having
a degree education), may not bring the fruit of socio-economic well-being as rise in number
of dependents bound them to opt work-care choice (Lofstrom, 2009).
The developing economies in order to grow rapidly towards economic prosperity, more
tend to promote the concept of self-employment as they lack in: higher education, proper
channelized credit disbursement, per capita income and nuclear family structure. That's the
reasons that women on formal jobs in emerging economies are lesser in ratio as compared
to self-employment (Faridi et.al. 2011). Unemployment and poverty raises the concept of
self-employed women in the economy. The developed economies where women are
frequently appearing in higher education system, women are frequently seen on formal job
position. Developed economies lack in the concept of self-employment. There the women's
empowerment discussed as more than the self-employment in work. It is another fact that
the deprived labor market condition is also responsible for self-employment in the
economy. While in recession, the lenient availability of credit to private sector helps the
economy to overcame the constraint of unemployment (Fairlie, 2011).
On one end, high education positively influence the entrepreneurial skills that ultimately
urges the willingness to be self employed but on the other hand higher education raise the
chances to avail the higher remuneration posts that discourages the self-employment sector
(Le ,1999). Higher degree education as key driver for self employment. The propensity to
be self employed is higher in higher educated strata than of the lower educated strata (Rees
& Shah, 1986, Borjas & Bronars, 1989 and Evens & Leighton, 1989).
In the labor market of Vietnam the different trends of shifting are observed from wage-
labor to self-employed for men and women labor force. The determinants discussed in the
study finds that earning differentials (from wage to self employment) significantly
influence the self-employment in women. The no. of dependents in the family positively
affects the women labor force switching towards self-employment. The education
attainment positively affects the concept. Financial assistance raise the risk bearing
consciousness among the women and their intentions to be self employed (Trang &
Duchene, 2008).
Women's self-employment in agricultural sector of Pakistan
The factors affecting the performance of women labor force as self-employer leading to
the higher productivity of the agricultural sector are education, family members and
health (Georgellis & Wall, 2004 & LeAnht, 2000).
The productivity constraints faced by Pakistani women in agriculture, if discussed,

highlights the difficulties to access the latest technology because of the low literacy that
is most common in almost every rural region of the economy. Women in rural areas are
not much capable to get training on latest technical basis consequently are encountered
the low productivity. Along low literacy rate other factors responsible for low
productivity at women owned farms are lack of health facilities, benightedness of latest
technique, difficulty to reap the benefit of financial institutions, ignorance of the
segregated economic reforms on national level and low wages in rural areas are mainly
responsible for the low productive yield of women in agriculture(Begum & Yasmeen ,
2011).
There is an association between agro-growth and nutritional requirements. The choices of

women labor possess in agriculture are as work and care, and the empowerment of
women with reference to their choice of work-care. It is very interesting that as women in
rural areas have more no. of dependents tends to care but economic deprivation
compelled them work oriented in order to fulfill the nutritional requirements of their own
and households (Balgamwala et.al. 2014). The reason behind the increasing number of
women labor force in rural areas working in agriculture, is found as the migration of male
member of the family to abroad for earning make the female members able and necessary
to work out. The remittances from the abroad also strengthen them to utilize the domestic
resources. Livestock and vegetable harvesting confirms the availability of food
requirement by their own and vigorous source of their income too (Khan, 2007).
The significance of women labor force in agriculture sector of Pakistan, is represented by

the larger portion of the women labor force served the sector by cotton and vegetable
harvesting, keeping livestock and weeding are in fact non-paid. Badin is studies as field
where all the money earned by the family only belongs to men and women are non-paid
workers while another study field of Shadadpur where the income generated from
vegetable harvesting and livestock are in the hands of women. The significant difference
in the productive yield of both of the study fields is dramatically favored the Shadadpur
that empower the women in their job (Balgamwala et.al. 2015). Lack of technical
knowledge and credit availability are the core reason that women labor force worked as
non-paid worker not to earn but to fulfill the food requirements of the family. as the
women get the degree education, their propensity to self-employment decreases and vice
versa. Level of education is not the only hurdle for the females that not allow her to be
familiar to the latest equipments and techniques to get more yield of their efforts in the
sector (Khan, 2007). The lack of degree education and no. of dependents are significantly
affecting the women's self employment ration in Pakistan (Faridi et.al. 2011).
Financial support interestingly proved to be hampering in case of low-skilled women

labor force as compared to men (Lofstrom, 2009). The increasing trend in disbursement
of agricultural credit will be an encouraging step for female entrepreneurs. The credit
assistance is significantly effective for the agricultural sector's growth. Financial
assistance in terms of improved and certified seeds, pesticides, modern equipment for
farm related activities, fertilizers and liquid capital must be really helpful in getting rid of
malnutrition and poverty in rural areas, but improvement in the entrepreneurial
environment for small-scale agro based industries is seemed a factor that ultimately
accelerates the economic growth (Khan et.al. 2011). Credit supply pursue the agricultural
productivity, the livestock sector especially grows by more than 100%. The unpaid
family workers in agriculture are most critically registered than credit (Abdullah et.al.,
2009). Micro credit impacts positively to the total output yield of vegetable and crop
production at general and at particular wheat production (Arif, 2001). Micro credit does
not only facilitate the yield of agricultural sector but the level of employment and
standard of living among the masses also lift up (Waqar, 2002). The factor of financial
assistance is broadly discussed in research studies. The financial endowment is a key
constraint to self employment (Constant & Zimmerman, 2006). The importance of credit
as an essential to entrepreneurship is well recognized (Abdullah et al. 2015)
The betterment of nutrition could be driven by agricultural growth through women's work
but it may also implied detrimentally. The two categories in agricultural growth are based
first on agricultural yield and revenue and the other is implied by women work in the sector.
Both of these categories affects the nutrition status. The prior one raise the improvement as
raising the capacity to earn and consume while the later one influence positively but with
less care time adversely affects the work health in the sector (Gillespie et.al. 2012).
Cultural and religious interpretations are the constraints that limit the mobility of women
labor force and participation of this gender couldn't be eyed in its true horizon in
agricultural sector (Prakash, 2003). Likewise other developing countries rural women
labor force in Pakistan faces the socio-economic constraints like gender biasness, low
degree education, inability to access prior opportunities etc. (Lal & Khurana, 2011).
Women labor force not only faced economic exploitation while trading commercially but
some other socio-cultural issues also limitate their entrepreneurial activities (Balgamwala
et al. 2015). A larger ratio of women labor force do not expand their productive activities
as they are bound not to visit the markets, hence they are unaware about practicing
business conditions (Begum and Yasmeen, 2011) likewise credit terms and profitable
retail price (Khan, 2007).
Methodology & Model Specification
To support the hypothesis, empirical analysis is done by growth model with time series
data to discuss the agricultural growth along women's self-employment in the sector and
the determinants that affect it. The data taken for the exogenous variables from various
sources: agriculture, value added(% of gdp) under International Standard Industrial
Classification (ISIC), revision 3, as proxy for the agricultural development is taken from
WDI (World Development Indicators)5, literacy rate of females is obtained from Federal
Bureau of Statistics Pakistan, credit disbursement to the sector is adopted from Abdullah et
al.(2015)6 and Economic Survey of Pakistan 2014-15 and female self-employment rate is
gathered from WDI and various editions of annual reports of Pakistan Labor Force Survey.
The model applied to the study is:

AGY = β0 + β1LR + β2CRDT + β3SLF_EMP + µ
β1 < 0 β2 > 0 β3 > 0
Where, β0 is Y-intercept, AGY is agriculture, value added (% of gdp) of Pakistan, LR is

the literacy rate of females in, CRDT is credit disbursement to the sector, and the
SLF_EMP is rate of self-employment of female in the agriculture sector. β1, β2 and β3 are
parameters of the independent variables and µ is error term. The parameters are expected
to have the positive signs for credit disbursement and rate of self-employment of females
towards the sector's growth while the parameter for literacy rate is expected to have
negative sign as its inverse relationship with the sector's growth behavior.
Findings
Table of descriptive statistics represents the nature of the data used in the study. Table 1
represents the maximum value for AGY (agriculture value added) studied in data is 27.3
while the minimum value found in data is 21.5, the maximum value for CRDT (credit
disbursement to agriculture) studied is 168830.5 along the minimum value in the whole
studied period is found as 19102, LR (literacy rate in females) stands highest in the studied
period as 42% while the minimum literacy rate found in studied period is 29% and finally the
SLF_EMP (ratio of self employment) got its peak at 77.9 while remains at lowest of 62.9.
Table: 1
Descriptive statistics
AGY CRDT LR SLF_EMP
Mean 24.57692 63132.69 36.71308 71.49231
Median 24.1 44789.82 38.57 74.3
Maximum 27.3 168830.5 42 77.9
Minimum 21.5 19102 29 62.9
Std. Dev. 1.918399 47222.49 4.729772 4.737521
Skewness 0.024848 1.147693 -0.55616 -0.3452
Kurtosis 1.613128 3.111125 1.752352 1.718281
Jarque-Bera 1.043186 2.860621 1.513355 1.148041
Probability 0.593574 0.239235 0.469223 0.563256
Central tendency of the data is measured by the tools of median and mean. AGY,
agriculture, value added (% of gdp) stands for the mean of 24.57 and median as 24.1, the
greater mean than its median shows the positive skewness of the variable. CRDT,
agriculture credit disbursement has mean of 63132.69 and median of 44789.82 shows the
positive skewness of the variable in hypothesis. The literacy rate of female likewise the
other studies is negatively skewed as its mean 36.71308 is lesser then the median 38.57.
Skewness of variables shown in Table - 1 clearly represents that literacy rate (LR) and
self employment in females (SLF_EMP) are negatively skewed while agriculture value
added (AGY) and credit disbursement to the sector (CRDT) are positively skewed
variables of studied model.
Test applied to check normality of variables used in the model, is Jarque - Bera, shows
that all variables are normally distributed. Kurtosis is applied here to describe the nature
of variables in data as, CRDT (credit disbursement to agriculture sector) is laptokurtic
showing long - tailed, while AGY (agriculture value added), LR (literacy rate of females),
SLF_EMP (self employment in females) are short - tailed (platykurtic).
The empirical findings done in this study supports the hypothesis for the agricultural
development. It is hypothesized to have an inverse relationship between the literacy rate
and self employment as it is evident in literature to have higher literacy rate in labor force
reduces the intentions to go for self employment and the empirical findings witnessed the
same as the female literacy rate negatively affects the self employment rate of female.
While credit disbursements is seemed to have support the financial needs of a self
employment trend in labor force and found in study to have a positive association. And
finally the development of agriculture as literature represents is accelerated by
responding the sector's demand for finance also evident by our findings of having a
positive association between the two.
Recommendations
In spite of being an agricultural country, the fact that 30% of Pakistan's population lives
below the poverty line facing the food insecurity along 60% of its population living in
rural areas where agricultural activities are suited much, reflects that some measures are
seriously needed to be taken for removal of such contrasting conditions. Following are
the recommendations for developmental growth of agriculture by exploiting the potential
of women labor force in rural areas towards self-employment:
• Policy reforms are needed on regional, provincial and national level to encourage
small-scale agricultural industries and handicrafts in rural areas.
• Set of arrangements that facilitates to trained the women farmers for farm related
activities, livestock keeping along managing health, steps for effective water
management for irrigation and livestock, and knowhow of latest technique and
equipment used in agricultural activities.
• An encouragement should made on Government level for women farmers, to raise
their farm's yield by offering subsidies, relaxation in tax system, zero-collateral
based credit, availability of technological equipments to reduce the manual farm
related tasks, market access and availability of certified seeds. This will not only
lubricate the economy by a prominent growth rate but also helps the rural women
to overcame the threat of food insecurity.
• Design such programs on regional level that enable women farmers to be aware
about preservation process of vegetables, crops, fruits and dairy products. Focus
should be done especially on the ways to process the hide, skin and wool that
ultimately bonafied for women farmers in rural areas along helps in poverty
reduction in the economy.
• Introduction of the facilities on regional level so the women farmers may access
the upgraded conditions of physical and socio-psychological health so they enable
to participate well economically and socially.
• Initiatives to be taken on regional, provincial and national level to count the
efforts of non-paid family women workers. It will not only helps in removal of
social injustice but also enhance their self-empowerment that consequently raise
the economic gains.
Conclusions
Likewise other developing economies Pakistan is mainly dependent upon agricultural

activities not only to meet its domestic food requirement but also for providence of raw
material to many industries. Pakistan as being the sixth most populous country of the
world, have potential of its labor force in skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled laborers. But
this potential could only be used if the both gender of labor force (women and men) are
facilitated to essentials for entrepreneurship or for being employed.
The low productive yield of agriculture in Pakistan, reflects from the contrasting figures
of its contribution to GDP and percentage in total employment of the economy. To
improve that situation initiatives are needed for the encouragement of agricultural labor
force. The ignorant part of the economy, female as first-line labor force, never receive the
consideration of their actual contribution in the economic development on national basis.
As being a developing economy, Pakistan must expose and utilize the potential of the
women labor force in agriculture. Discarded equipments usage, lack of proper knowhow
to operate the equipments, expensive latest tools, lack of awareness to use the latest
knowledge and difficulty to access the market and bargaining prices are the core issues
among the many, that the female labor force faced in the sector. The literacy rate and
assistance in terms of credit are more valuable and seemed to be helpful for removal of
the other constraints of the sector.
To promote the concept of diversification of women's efforts towards self-employment in

rural areas, the effectiveness of education is found more concrete along the rising
productive yield of the agriculture. The higher productive yield of the sector helps in
removal of food insecurity, raising the economic performance on the level of
employment, elimination of poverty along fetching the foreign exchange in the economy.
It is expected that by upgrading the women labor force to the self-employed, the effects
on the targeted level of development will be commendable. The significance of the self-
employed women in the development of the economy is much sound.
End Notes
1. an American business women, philanthropist and co-founder of Gates Foundation

addressed while announced ranked third in Forbes 2014 lists of the 100 Most
Powerful Women.
2. decreased from 43.5% of the preceding fiscal year
3. as this year 6 schemes are announced to lubricate the concept by Prime Minister
4. in this era reforms are observed in tariff and trade culture, Pakistan make its first
attempt to openness of trade in this era too
5. www.worldbank.org/database
6. Abdullah, Zhou D. ,Ali S.K. , Jibran K. and Ali A.(2015),"Agricultural Credit in
Pakistan: Past Trends and Future Prospects", Journal of Applied Environmental and
Biological Sciences 5(12).
7. World Bank Poverty Estimaters 2010.
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and Employment. Thesis of M.Sc (Hons) Agric. Univ. Peshawar, Pakistan.
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of the United Nations 2015.
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Zahir, M. Faridi, Sharif, I. Chaudhry & Shoukat, M. Malik (2011). Why Women are Self-
Employed? Empirical Evidence from Pakistan, International Journal of
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_____________________
Dr. Rummana Zaheer is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics,

Saman Hussain is Ph.D Student in the Department of Economics, University of Karachi.
Dr. Muhammad Nadeemullah is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social

Work, University of Karachi.
Vol. 16, 2018, pp. 121-137, ISSN: 2072-0394
Tabooed Subaltern: A Study of Ghulam Abbas’ Reshma and

The Women Quarter
Sadaf Mehmood
Department of English
International Islamic University Islamabad
Abstract
Woman in Pakistan is defined through her body. Throughout her life she bears the
burden of family honour and prestige to move in patriarchal society of Pakistan. In
such a society where women experience different socio-cultural and economic
marginalization, it becomes difficult to articulate oppression of the fallen women who
trade their honour and prestige for the sake of money. While challenging the socio-
cultural standards of honour, the sufferings of their lives are completely neglected
within the confinements of hegemonic patriarchy. These socially outcast women are
tabooed subaltern who experience the brutalities not as human beings but as objects
and commodities. An invisible line is being drawn by the patriarchs between these
fallen women and the mainstream society whereby the respectable women devoid of
any socio-economic discrimination live and struggle for their survival. To investigate
the intricate lives of tabooed subaltern, present study dwells on subaltern theory of
Gayatri C. Spivak. This research aims to investigate that how tabooed woman exhibits
her agency but remains unheard or silent and how the literary world articulate
intricate existence of tabooed subaltern within socio-cultural chains? To examine this,
I have selected Ghulam Abbas’ Reshma and The Women’s Quarter which discuss the
positioning of tarnished women who are, because of their ruined celibacy, alien to the
society where men and women perform their traditional roles with honour and respect.
The study is significant to extend and develop Spivak's dealing of socio-cultural
silence to identify how literature might form an alternative archive attuned to the
complexities of voicing the tabooed subaltern.
Keywords: Subaltern, Women, Oppression, Representation.
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Introduction
Social positioning of Pakistani woman is reliant on her economic and geographic

conditioning (Tarar, 2014). Women consist of half of the population of the country are
striving for the provision of their basic rights of health and education. By supplying false
religious allegations Pakistani woman is subjugated and thus oppressed in socio-cultural
autonomies. In patriarchal structure of Pakistani society where male is dominant due to
his economic and physical puissance, the women is obliged to be subservient within
domestic sphere. While associating woman more with body her existence is confiscated
for the preservation of family honour. The present day woman of Pakistan is struggling to
deconstruct the patriarchal constraints. The state along with the activists’ agencies is
engaged to provide women equal opportunities to survive in the society. However, all the
joint forces could not liberate women from the patriarchal confinements of norms and
taboos yet legal interventions provide definite protection against any strong male
dominant ideology. Nonetheless, to picture the legal system of Pakistan with reference to
women’s rights, than it is still engaged in amending and revising the legislative
documents to protect women from the ills of patriarchy.
In such bitter circumstances whereby woman is grievously meeting the standards of

patriarchy it seems impossible to voice troublous miseries of those women who are
ensnared by the negotiations of their honour. These women are known as fallen women
who manage their everyday lives on the margins of the society. These socially outcast
women experience the brutalities not as human beings but as objects and commodities.
An invisible line is being drawn by the hegemonic patriarchs between these fallen women
and the mainstream society whereby the respectable women devoid of any socio-
economic discrimination live.
Sadaf Mehmood 123
In Pakistani society when a respected woman is unable to break the cultural codification,
justice for such fallen can never be imagined. In this study, I find these fallen women as
tabooed subaltern due to their exclusion from mainstream society. Encyclopedia
Britannica defines taboo as ‘the prohibition of an action based on the belief that such
behaviour is either too sacred and consecrated or too dangerous and accursed for ordinary
individuals to undertake’ (Fershtman, 2011, p. 140). Diverse explanations are supplied to
define taboo as a cultural and social imposition; however, alternative perspective is given
by Sigmund Freud (1955) by accentuating the strong unconscious restrictions that
adheres by the generations. Fauzia Saeed calls the sex industry as a taboo culture that is
nurtured by the unknown mafia. The dynamics of this mafia are fully facilitated by the
political agents that evidently intrude any threatening interruptions in the smooth
functioning of such vile business (Saeed, 2011). Drawing over Saeed’s association of
word taboo I use it for fallen women as tabooed women who exist in the society but
remain prohibited, unknown and definitely tabooed. These tabooed women are the
subaltern because of their inability to voice their oppression and their unawareness of the
agency.
The tabooed subaltern lacks socio-legal and politico-cultural protection in Pakistan

against any vehemence that they experience in their lives. For analogous situations
Spivak insists over the need of representation to voice such silences, to narrate the untold
and unheard stories. To proceed with this my argument is framed over Gayatri Spivak’s
theoretical interrogations of subaltern as an oppressed and socially neglected subject that
can be voiced through representation, as Beverly elaborates, through approximation.
Literature as a medium of representation and approximation of reality through narration
can be called as treasure trove of locating voices of subaltern. God of Small Thing (1997)
by Arundhati Roy and Slum Child (2010) by Bina Shah are some prodigious instances of
highlighting the socio-cultural and economically neglected class of subaltern. In Moth
Smoke (2000) Mohsin Hamid scathingly delineates the intricacies of sex trade and
commodification of prostitutes. Danial Mueenuddin in his collection of stories narrate a
diverse and equally convoluted perspective of the lives of women associated to different
social standards. Urdu literature of Pakistan provides rich thematic account of the social
realities that fail to reach international audience. The short fiction of Ghulam Abbas is
phenomenally sensational and moving with significant insistence on voicing the subaltern
to demonstrate convoluted existence of different socially and economically deprived
people. To examine his abilities of representation through approximation I have selected
his stories Reshma and The Women’s Quarter (Anandi in Urdu) with specific reference to
trace the voices of tabooed subaltern. This research aims to investigate the intricate lives
of tabooed women in such a society wherein women with certified esteem sigh for their
rights. The research finally concludes that in everyday lives these tabooed women strive
to dismantle their peripheral substitutes but they fail to do so.
Literature Review
Enucleating the ‘poverty’ of Indian national history, Ranajit Guha (1996) renders
historiography as a spurious production of elite heroism (Guha, 1996, p. 3). ‘They wrote
up the history of nationalism as the story of an achievement by the elite class, whether
Indian or British’ (Chakrabarty, 2000, p. 471). While celebrating the burlesque feint of
elitist heroism, national history has failed to interpret ‘the contribution made by the
people on their own, that is, independently of the elite to the making and development of
this nationalism’ (Guha, 1996, p. 3). By exposing the meretricious veracity of history,
Guha (1996) has established a new discipline; ‘Subaltern Studies’ to integrate the absence
of common people from their national history. Drawing over Antonio Gramsci, Guha
explicates the domination of elitism through his discourse on hegemony and borrows his
word ‘subaltern’ to introduce the non-elite class that is excluded from history because it
has no contribution in constructing the socio-economic institutions. For Guha (1984)
history could only be enriched if the efforts of subaltern groups are acknowledged
through academic revisions of history.
Intelligentsia of this newly born discipline has developed its argument by defining
subaltern as an oppressed subject within the hegemonic suzerain of elitism. Gayatri
Spivak (1994) in her essay Can the Subaltern Speak?, examines subaltern as an
oppressed class that cannot voice its oppression owing to the hegemony of western
discourse. By confining subaltern within gender and class specification, Spivak (1994)
seeks subalternity as being manipulated by the politics of representation. By evaluating
the limited scope of first world Feminism and contending with Deleuze and Foucault,
Spivak (1994) delineates the infidelity of western discourse to address third world
subaltern. Subaltern becomes invisible in the thick mist of catachresis, when the
transparency of intellectuals becomes vague to demarcate representation as re-
presentation. Spivak (1994) defines subaltern subject as incapable to represent itself that
instigated the western intellectuals like Foucault and Deleuze have to articulate the
oppressed for which they effaced their role. However, as the moment comes to voice the
disenfranchised they switched their role as intellectuals. She evaluates this shift because
of their reliance over conflated representation where subaltern becomes the coherent
political subject whose desire and interest are interpreted as unanimous.
Spivak castigates that subaltern as political coherent subject, ‘if given chance…and on
the way to solidarity through alliance politics… can speak and know the conditions’
while interrogating the hegemonic conditions of representation, ‘can the subaltern speak?’
(p. 78). By unfettering the representation mechanisms whether ‘darstellen’, or ‘vertreten’
spivak suggests that ‘beyond both is where oppressed subjects speak, act and know for
themselves’ that however, ‘leads to an essentialist, utopian politics’ (1994, p. 71). Spivak
(1994) perceives subaltern as incongruent and heterogeneous subject of desire and
Sadaf Mehmood 125
interest. She continues to argue that the otherness of non-western world remains mystery
for West that could merely be explored by considering the indigenous elite as subaltern
and for this reason episteme merely focuses over the centre (the West) and generalizes
the peripheries. This generalization eventually produces homogenous subaltern devoid of
any differentiation of class and gender. The produced discourse to articulate the subaltern
eventually silences its voice.
In this context the ‘woman is doubly in shadow’ (1994, p. 84). Spivak condemns the
equivocation of global sisterhood whereby the First World woman strives to speak on
behalf of the Third World oppressed sisters who cannot speak for themselves (Spivak,
1981). Third-world woman experiences heterogeneous oppressions that can never be
homogenized under the single slogan of global sisterhood. Spivak rejects this utopic
frame of first-world feminist resistance because of the inaccessible otherness of third-
world woman:
Between the patriarchy and imperialism, subject-constitution and
object-formation, the figure of the woman disappears, not into a
pristine nothingness, but into a violent shuttling which is the displaced
figuration of the ‘third –world women’ caught between tradition and
modernization (1994, p. 102).
Perceiving historiography in the parameters of stimulus-response and by critically

examining the paradoxical interventions of West to define the Other, Spivak castigates
the justifications for the legalizing white man’s burden. The existence of third-world
woman is oscillating between tradition and modernity that cannot be comprehensible for
the first-world woman, however, Spivak suggests that instead of speaking for them the
first-world woman can ‘learn from them’ and ‘speak to them’, the discourse of
homogeneity could be deconstructed (Spivak, 1981, p. 156). The critique of epistemic
violence of western discourse does not aim to evaluate the legal premises of civilizing
mission, Spivak enunciates that how the homogenous versions of freedom have been
represented whereby ‘the constitution of the female subject in life is the place of différend’
(1994, p. 97). Spivak analyses the tragedy of Bhuvaneswari Bhaduri; a woman who had
participated in freedom movement was a symbol of modern woman in the third-world. To
conserve her dignity, she preferred self immolation in context of Satti practice over her
appearance before British colonizers as a convict. Her agency was revealed when she
immolated herself during her menstruation against the ethics of Satti ritual. However, her
immolation was misrepresented by her own family as an outcome of an illicit love. Hence,
Bhuvaneswari could not voice her devotion and those who could, have re-presented her
as an immoral woman. Spivak’s polemical conclusion elaborates that the ‘subaltern as
female cannot be heard or read’ due to the equivocal re-presentation. The silence of
woman in the course of representation directs Spivak to emphasize over the need of
indigenous representatives owing to the shared socio-cultural context. She categorizes the
regional dominant groups who could potentially voice the subaltern, nonetheless, the
subaltern that is the unconscious of her oppression is only acknowledged by her dominant
master as oppressed.
The subaltern cannot speak. There is no virtue in global laundary lists with
‘woman’ as a pious item. Representation has not withered away. The
female intellectual as intellectual has a circumscribed task which she must
not disown with a flourish (1994, p. 104).
Bart Moore-Gilbert (1997) discerns Spivak’s trajectory of female subaltern as ‘doubly

marginalized by virtue of relative economic disadvantage and gender subordination’
(1997, p. 80). Gender subordination extends the definition of female subaltern who is
experiencing oppression within the premises of class and gender with further elaboration
of caste, religion and the domestic norms. Moore-Gilbert agrees with Spivak for
explaining female as doubly oppressed by further explicating the possible lines of
repression, however, he identifies several incongruities lurking in her argument as she
‘asserts that the subaltern cannot speak, she is, of course, herself constituting and
speaking for, or in place of, the subaltern’ (Moore-Gilbert, 2005, p. 464). He continues to
argue that if it has been impossible subaltern to be represented as Spivak has suggested,
then no text has been produced about them.
The purpose of writing Can the Subaltern Speak?, states Spivak was to public the tragedy
of Bhuvaneswari Bhaduri, however, it is evident that while voicing the subaltern like
Rani of Sirmur, Bhuvaneswari, she is also inveigles elitism by articulating the middle and
upper-class women. The strategic violations of representation and repressions are even
yet oblique. Spivak maintains that these two women ‘will be instructive if they remain
singular and secretive’ (1990, p. 245). Their silence is epitomized through their tragic
absence from the historical discourse (Spivak, 1999, p. 244). John Beverley (1999)
congruently renders Spivak’s politics of representation to allow subaltern to ‘speak for
itself’ (Beverley, 1999, p. 39). He identifies the possibilities of silencing the subaltern
within the ken of academic purview projections, for this reason, he does not make any
assertions of representing the subaltern ‘we do not claim to represent ('cognitively map",
"let speak", "speak for", "excavate") the subaltern' (Beverley, 1999, p. 40). However,
meantime, in his pretext for studying the subaltern he asserts:
We can approximate in our work, personal relations, and political practice
closer and closer to the world of the subaltern, but we can never actually
merge with it. We were to go to the people' (Beverley, 1999, p.40).
Beverley defines the question of representation of subaltern by using the word

approximation whereby subaltern though in reality cannot voice however it does register
the approximation of its repression.
Sadaf Mehmood 127
Subaltern studies registers rather how the knowledge we construct and

impart as academics is structured by the absence, difficulty, or
impossibility of representation of the subaltern. This is to recognize,
however, the fundamental inadequacy of that knowledge and of the
institutions that contain it, and therefore the need for a radical change in
the direction of a more democratic and non-hierarchical social order
(Beverley, 1999, p. 40).
For Beverley the gaps within the academic discipline of subaltern are one of the factors
that define its significance because they call for: 'a radical change in the direction of a
more democratic and non-hierarchical social order' (Beverley, 1999, p. 40). These
underlying factors at the same time also generate the possibilities of social change. At
this stage Beverley concurs that subaltern should be voiced through representation
whether it is cathectic approximation. This would make the subaltern knowable if not
heard.
Spivak’s theorization of subalternity can be perceived as a more comprehensive insight to

women’s positioning within national and cultural boundaries instead of the preposition of
universal subjugation. The present study elaborates subaltern agency and its consequent
silence through the politics of representation; however, this representation is an
approximation that articulates female subaltern who cannot speak for herself. Spivak’s
theorization of subalternity as oppressed and silent due to the hegemonic constraints of
socio-cultural and religio-political connotations explicates South Asian woman as doubly
in shadow. With reference to this, the current study is delighted to examine the subaltern
woman of Pakistan who bears her existence in the suzerain of patriarchy with all its
connected nomenclature whereby her representation is appropriated that reveals subaltern
as known but remains unheard.
The parochial society of Pakistan has legalized the patriarchal obligations whereby
woman is encumbered with ponderous jargons of honour and dignity. The lexicon of
good vs. bad has encaged women within selected confinements. She celebrates her legal
liberties by defining herself as independent emancipated women but her character
depends upon the patriarchal prescriptions that bound her to obedience and subjugation.
Within such an entrenched milieu, the lives of those who do not conform to the societal
codification of honour sob in periphery. The scale of status measurement of woman
categorizes them below ‘bad’ instead a ‘taboo’ subject. While alienating these fallen
women as taboo the men have unfettered themselves from abundant interrogations.
Qayyum et al. (2013) probes commercialization of sex into two kinds of exploitation
voluntary and involuntary exploitation. Voluntarily engagement in sex trade ‘includes
women who get start as prostitute willingly because of poverty, hunger, economic crisis,
family pressure, illness etc.’ whereas involuntarily confines ‘women who enter in sex
industry by force like trafficking, coercion, kidnapping and being deceived’ (Qayyum, et
al., 2013, p. 399). Both categories indicate diversity of oppressions and suppressions in
mainstream society that lead women to its peripheries. Qayyum investigates the intensity
of misery that these fallen women experience while living on the margins of society
whereby the pimp and the customers treat her as their property who unfortunately does
not voice her vehement oppression due to the absence of any socio-legal support.
By exposing the hidden realities of Red Light Area in Pakistan, Fouzia Saeed (2011)
delineates that these tabooed women have been besmirched, disrespected and outcast by
the men of the society. She realizes the sensitivity of her study through constant
intrusions of the government officials to obstruct her survey. Fouzia Saeed (2011)
narrates the tragic falls of the women of the brothel who could not breathe into the free
air and ask for justice against those who have violated their rights. The laws are made and
amended for the protection of women however no significant law has been made to
protect those hapless women who have been dragged to the gate of immorality and
disrespect by certain active mafia whether through abduction, kidnapping, trafficking or
rape. If once they dismally experience the abhorrence they could not trace their way back
to their loved ones and live their lives as fallen women (Sidhwa, 1989). These fate
smitten women could not voice their tragedies and if they do they remain unheard. The
only solution as Rehman (2011) traces out, to honour them in the society is to marry them
however, the respectable men do not consider this as a practical solution that eventually
bury them deep into the vile quagmire of atrocities (2011, p. xiii).
Ghulam Abbas who devoted his pen to Urdu literature, has done marvels in short fiction.
Due to the dearth of translated version, his prodigious collection remains unknown to
international audience. Abbas’ rumination for the underprivileged excogitates his readers.
The derelicts sob and articulate their forlorn days and nights within occluded
confinements of socio-economic measurements. In The Women’s Quarter and Reshma,
Ghulam Abbas narrates the despondent lives of tabooed subaltern who are struggling to
claim their right in the society but their efforts go in vein. Through his acute
approximation Abbas precociously ponders over the precarious existence of notorious
women which eventually reveals that subaltern can be voiced but remain unheard.
Research Methodology
This research is a qualitative and analytical study in which close textual analysis of
Ghulam Abbas’ The Women’s Quarter and Reshma, is carried out in order to articulate
the miseries of Tabooed Subaltern. The theoretical work of Gayatri Spivak and the
selected short fiction of Ghulam Abbas are the primary sources of data collection. The
secondary sources, however, provides affluent scholarly insights through books of
criticism, journal articles and reviews on theorization of subaltern subject. This paper
aims to interrogate the following research questions:
Sadaf Mehmood 129
1. How tabooed woman exhibits her agency but remains unheard and silent?
2. How literary representations articulate the intricate existence of tabooed woman
within socio-cultural chains?
Silences of the Tabooed Subaltern
The Women’s Quarter is a story that discusses the positioning of tarnished women who
are, because of their delinquency, alien to the society where men and women perform
their traditional roles with honour and respect. The story begins with a meeting of city
council where all respectable gentlemen are gathered to discuss the expulsion of women’s
quarter; the brothel. The agenda of the meeting engages each individual to express their
opinion for the eviction of the inhabitants of this quarter who labour their bodies ‘for an
evenings’s entertainment’ and are, for this reason, ‘considered by the city fathers as an
outrage against humanity, civilization and public morality’ (Abbas, 2000, p. 40).
Nomenclature of morality and civilization associates women to specific gendered roles
whereby she is glouriously adored for her docility, conformity, innocence and devotion.
The respected gentlemen are afraid of abasement of their conduct and therefore decide
their execution from the centre of the city:
These women reside in an area which is not only the centre of town but
also the hub of trade and commerce. All of us have to walk through this
quarter. Our women, our wives, mothers and daughters, have to visit this
area….it is only natural that when our women look at these shameless,
half-clad street walkers and notice how they have beutified themselves,
they should be led astray and feel tempted to model themselves after these
creatures.’ (Abbas, 2000, p. 40)
Abbas criticizes the redundant thinking patterns of the men of the society who consider
women merely as an object of beauty with debilitating moral conduct who could be
seduced by these creatures. Presence of these women with their ruined celibacy could
mislead the respected community to futile engagements. They assume that their
involvement in beautifying themselves could ‘ruin a happy home and destroy its peace’
(Abbas, 2000, p. 41). Under the aegis of the discourse of honour, the women of Pakistan
is domesticated and further marginalized in the absence of this preservation. The
protection of women’s honour echoes the family and the manly honour. The presence of
this quarter amidst the city epitomizes ‘shamelessness, lack of manliness, cowardice,
aggressiveness, theft and forgery’ (Abbas, 2000, p. 41). Encumbered with the frail logics
of honour, these patriarchs have associated every prevailing evil of the society to the
existence of this quarter by expressing their intolerance towards them: ‘the presence of
this class in our midst is a matter of shame for our city, our civilization and our culture’
(Abbas, 2000, p. 41).
The embarrassment that this quarter casts for the respected men inflicts them on every
passing day. The question of their survival afterwards instills each individual present in
the meeting hall. Abbas investigates the possibility of giving honour to these women by
tying them in wedlock, however; ‘for the sake of family honour and the protection of
their good name, no respectable family will ever permit these women to enter their home’
(Abbas, 2000, p. 43). In Pakistani society wherein women are killed for the preservation
of family honour this subaltern class of fallen women could not conform their code of
conduct according to the prescriptions of social morality. Abbas ponders over the bigotry
of men who do not consider these women as human beings and desire their expulsion:
‘The question before us is the expulsion of these women from city limits. Whether they
go to hell or elsewhere, after they are ejected, should be none of our concern’ (Abbas,
2000, p. 43).
The verdict of displacement of these women to the outskirts of city reveals the strength of
the man power. The men of the respected families have got succeeded in liberating
themselves from unseen burden of unethical practices in the society. These fallen women
have been shaken over the sudden orders of displacement to a desolated place outside the
city. These women have attempted to resist against the decision but they have been
silenced by the officials and in the end they have to evacuate. Abbas unravels the shallow
deceit of the men while narrating the episode of resettlement of these helpless women in
the far-flung area from city. The builders and the agents begin to plan the construction
site. The news of the new settlement instantaneously attracted the villagers from the
ambience to settle their enterprise. The desolated construction site have gradually
developed a mini-market from where the sweets, fruits, kebabs, baked bread can easily be
bought: ‘this area, which until only a few days ago had known nothing but the silence of
the countryside, was now full of life and activity’ (Abbas, 2000, p. 46). Day after day,
after the settlement of women, the area attains reputation of economic prosperity and
commercial prospect. In the new town the disenfranchised people have been facilitated
by receiving a sum to ameliorate their socio-economic standing. A sizeable population
has been agglomerated and converted this new settlement into:
…a whole city with its own railway station, town hall, law courts and jail.
It has a population of 250,000 with a college, two high schools…and eight
primary schools. Education is free—courtesy the city cooperation. There
are as many six cinema houses and four banks, two of them representing
the world’s biggest financial institutions. (Abbas, 2000, p. 55)
After few years the city that has begun its journey from desolation, is now making its
auspicious success stories with the name of Anandi. The women who have been executed
from the old city now occupy the centre of the city, the centre of commerce and trade.
The new settlement that has subjected to preservation of the disenfranchised and many
underprivileged, has paved paths for many to socio-economic affluence. Abbas closes the
Sadaf Mehmood 131
story on a Anandi city council meeting that is arranged for ‘the banishment of the
women’s quarter from the city as its residents trade their favours for money and are an
outrage against humanity, civilization and public morality’ (Abbas, 2000, p. 56). Abbas
denounces these respectable gentlemen who gathered for the execution of the women
who have made the city. He ironically demonstrates the respectable men of the society
who have begun their journey as disenfranchised, are now expelling the displaced
subaltern who have aided them to establish themselves. ‘A most eloquent gentleman is
now at the rostrum. “I fail to comprehend the reasons that prompted the city to permit this
impure class to settle in our midst…”’ (Abbas, 2000, p. 56). The impurity of this class is
overlooked when they have also been disenfranchised nevertheless, the convention of
social morality have ingrained as their socio-economic positioning has been ameliorated.
The closing reveals Abbas’ criticism over the men of the society who hegemonizes the
nomenclature of honour when they all are fed by these women. By highlighting the
potential of tabooed subaltern, Abbas closely inspects their agency by rebuilding their
space in the society of honour and dignity; however, their subsequent displacement from
the city pictures brutal configurations of hegemonic dominance. By voicing few men
from the meeting hall Abbas presents the manipulating discrimination of the so-called
social ethics. In The Women’s Quarter from displacement to resettlement and then again
the displacement Abbas’ women characters remain silent but by narrating the ongoing
activities in the ambience of women’s quarter and in the course of resettlement, Abbas
has incarnated the misery and vulnerability of this class who could not raise voice for the
sake of their survival. Thus, it is evident that the speech of male characters is exposing
their hideous atrocity but the silence of the tabooed women supplies their savvy
competence, who while whimpering in the social peripheries, can establish a trade and
commercial centre.
In Reshma Abbas presents a microscopic insight to the lives of these tabooed women.
Reshma who has been abducted in her childhood usually marries to an old, rich and
respectable man of the society and pretends as his devoted wife to rob the wealth of his
home. Through this promiscuous practice she supplies good amount to her clan. The
versatile narrative technique of Abbas concisely decodes the ferocious life span of
Reshma whose abduction has dislocated her in her own society. Abbas displays the
vulnerability of women who are relentlessly suffering for no fault of their own. The
violence she bears inside or outside the domestic sphere is due to her frail physical
existence. The social allegations over her physical existence have imprisoned her in the
congested cocoons swarming with bristling uncertainties. Fate-smitten Reshma who one
after another abduction and trafficking, has been bought and sold as a lucrative source for
fiscal prosperity of others.
Abbas previews the agonized life of women who are bound in patriarchal constraints by
assigning Reshma dual role; a character of a devoted wife gratifying the ethics of honour,
and a character of a treacherous woman who marries to acquire the riches of her in
contract husband by deconstructing the normality of honour nomenclature. In her both
roles, Abbas perceives the shrinking world for woman wherein she is not only liable for
the ordeals of her committed crimes but also for others’ crimes. The insight into the
horrible years she has spent in the house of Karam Din is an impending reality of a
conventional character of women within the domestic sphere: ‘Karam Din’s household,
where she had earlier been, was very different. There she was treated like a slave’ (Abbas,
2000, p. 126). Brutal treatment of Reshma by Karam Din reveals lurking insecurities to
Pakistani women who receive no respect even after meeting the standards of good
women. Reshma who remains busy in domestic chores whole day, her engrossment does
not conserve her positioning in Karam Din’s home. He often beats her and treats her as
an object of his physical gratification that reveals his insensitivity towards woman.
Karam Din epitomizes callous rituals of patriarchal men who possess women as their
property by defining them as a symbol of sexuality. He is a man who measures women
through her degree of servitude, obedience and devotion. Karam Din who is unaware
about the obnoxious tragedy of Reshma’s past treats her ruthlessly, however, as soon her
reality has been disclosed he fanatically chases her to strangle her throat.
In her teens she has been sold to a mad young man who habitually beats her. A man with
whom ‘despite his money, no father was prepared to have his daughter marry him’ (ibid).
Abbas manifests Reshma as a miserable woman who survives in the socio-economic
peripheries of the society who does not own any relationship in the society. Reshma has
faced the challenges of her life all alone when she was only five years old. Vulnerably,
she with her shadow encounters the bitter moralities of a patriarchal society whereby
women oscillate between the thin dialectic of good and bad. Abbas articulates the misery
and suffering of women like Reshma who dwell into the vicious muddle of isolation and
marginalization from where they cannot be rescued to live a prestigious life. Abbas in
Reshma has supplied diversity in the types of patriarchal agents who celebrate their
power of dominance by marginalizing and silencing the women. There are two kinds of
men usually exist to establish a congruent patriarchal infrastructure, men like Karam Din,
and men like Chaudhri Gulab. While becoming the wife of Chaudhri Gulab, Reshma
displays her fears for her new experience:
On the first day she was very nervous. She wasn’t sure what she was
getting herself into. She didn’t know what kind of a man she had here.
Was he cruel like Karam Din? Would he make her work too hard?
Would he beat her up? Who would be keeping an eye on her? (Abbas,
2000, p. 125)
Sadaf Mehmood 133
Her fears erode after a couple of days when she lives her days like a mistress in his home.
Chaudhri Gulab appears to be very ‘simple, quiet and harmless man’, an abstemious man
who prays regularly (Abbas, 2000, p. 125). These attributes cannot be regarded as part of
his blemish personality instead he is ‘big and strong and in full possession of his physical
faculties’ (ibid). As a subject of oppression and misery of men, Reshma has been looking
for a home where she could not experience the harshness of her life. Chaudhri’s home has
provided her the comfort that she has been looking after her abduction when she was just
five years old. While stretching out on the cot Reshma often recalls the days she has
spent in Karam Din house to feel the level of solace she is bestowed in Chaudhri’s house:
Karam Din’s household, where she had earlier been, was very different.
There she was treated like a slave and here she was the mistress of the
place. There she had reached a point where she felt no respect for
herself and hee she was treated with deference by everyone, including
Chaudhri himself. (Abbas, 2000, p. 126)
Reshma’s misery is revealed when Mai Jummi; the trafficker, visits her to remind her
vicious purcuits at home though she declares that ‘I am very comfortable in this home. I
do not want to move yet’ (Abbas, 2000, p. 128). Her desire to live with Chaudhri
indicates Reshma’s propinquity for a normal life where she could also neutralize her life
under the aegis of honour and respectability. This propensity urges her to beseech Mai
Jummi by offering the ornaments: ‘ “please let me stay. Take every ornament I am
wearing, and whatever Chaudhri gives to me from now on, will also be yours just let me
stay” ’ (ibid). The charisma of normal social life and sour experiences of her past
romanticize the idea of good woman living inside the four walls. Her lurking propensity
reveals through her attack on Mai Jummi after knowing her threatening intensions. This
act of violence defines Reshma between the lines of resistance and resilience, voice and
silence. However, her potential to succor her dreams instantaneously vanishes as she
realizes the depth of the matter: ‘Dark circles had appeared under her eyes and her face
was pale as if she had been assailed by a vicious disease’ (Abbas, 2000, p. 130).
The vicious disease that has ensnared her, symbolically demonstrates the turning point
for Reshma. This disease shakes Reshma to break the spell of her adoration for the
normal social conduct. Arrival of Karam Din brings forth Reshma out of charismatic
world and she hears Chaudhri Gulab calling her, ‘Wretch, shameless woman!’ (Abbas,
2000, p. 131). Reshma, who prepares herself to collide with the upcoming impediments,
finds Chaudhri wearing the same lens through which woman is abhorred for her ruined
celibacy and adored for her cocooned passivity:
This was the first time he had spoken to her so harshly and it was
strange but she did not feel hurt. In fact, she experiences a faint sense
of enjoyment and the suggestion of a smile appeared on her face…..
Reshma felt no anxiety or fear any longer. She had freed herself of self-
imposed inhibitions knit around such things as morals, self-respect and

right conduct. (ibid)
Throughout in her life Reshma strives to infix her feeble existence into fully edified
socio-cultural set-up. She reveres the days she spent with Chaudhri Gulab as his wife,
however, she strangely notices Chaudhri and Karam Din different sides of same coin.
The whoremongering Reshma flees away to save her life from ‘a strange couple with
their white beards’ but unfortunately she is caught up. Sarcastically Mai Jummi appears
dramatically to rescue Reshma from them and offers them their abducted wealth. The two
patriarchs and Mai-Jummi make negotiations to determine horrendous future of Reshma
who silently observes the decision-makers of her fate. Her debilitating vulnerability is
gnawing herself when Mai-Jummi successfully convinced the two old men to send back
the anemic beauty to vicious quagmire:
Reshma was walking in the moonlight as if in a trance. She hadn’t heard a
word of what had been said. There was a dreamy look in her eyes. She
wasn’t even conscious of walking, nor aware of where she was going
(Abbas, 2000, p. 135).
Conclusions
It might be noted that the selected stories define misery as collective experience for
women living on the margins. Abbas’ acuteness for articulating miseries of tabooed
subaltern through approximation, delineates his strong narrative abilities to break the
legalized silences. Abbas presents viciousness of patriarchal society whereby these fallen
women could not retain respect and dignity if tragically they fell into the vile quagmire of
sex industry. Present study has scrutinized that the fallen women are prohibited to be
known in and sympathized by the mainstream society due to its hegemonic infrastructure
of patriarchy. It is also being found that through literary representations of the tabooed
subaltern an attempt is made to highlight the intricacies of their existence. While
documenting the initial settlements of city’s commercialization in The Women’s Quarter
and through Chaudhary Gulab’s angst for unusual dark circles around Reshma’s eyes in
Reshma, Abbas presents a class of women that can be placed and then displaced and even
vanquished through socio-legal allegations of honour. Through appropriation of such
prohibited social realities, Abbas manifests socio-cultural and legal injustices that fallen
women experience while living on the margins. The ruined celibacy of these tabooed
subalterns causes eternal outcast that deprive them from any claim of being humans. This
study concludes that these subalterns strive to voice their oppressions through resistance,
however, this resistance is scattered that according to Spivak would remain ineffective if
it is not symbiotically consolidated. In the backdrop of this study, I would recommend
that the intelligentsia through media and literature should give voice to the troubles of
these fallen women who are tragically collided with this mafia. I would also recommend
Sadaf Mehmood 135
that the government should facilitate the research oriented studies to disclose the
afflictions of these tabooed women. Moreover, laws should be made to protect these
women from sexual violence and safeguard those women who want to live a respectable
life but due to social constraints they remain silent and continue their lives in brothels.
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___________________
Sadaf Mehmood is Research Associate in the Department of English, Faculty of

Language & Literature, International Islamic University, Islamabad.
Vol. 16, 2018, pp. 139-152, ISSN: 2072-0394
Negotiating The Cultural Barriers: A Study Of Organizational

Commitment Of Pakhtun Female Employees In Pakistani
Banking Sector
Sammar Abbas
ZeeshanZaib Khattak
&
Muhammad Khushnood
Institute of Business Studies
Kohat University of Science and Technology, Kohat
Abstract
This exploratory study has been carried out in different branches of a larger bank
within two cities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province viz Peshawar and Dera Ismail
Khan. The culture of province is dominantly based on ‘Pakhtunwali’ that refers to the
‘unwritten code of life that governs and negotiates the everyday life of Pakhtuns.
Pakhtunwali imposes certain cultural barriers on female employment. Among others,
‘Namos’ (protection of honor) is a foremost tenant of Pakhtunwali, which does not
allow females to participate in public life. However, a recent trend reveals that more
females, especially young ones, are getting engaged in paid work. These female
employees demonstrate their organizational commitment through negotiating the
cultural barriers at workplace. Grounded Theory techniques have been used to collect
and analyze field data. This study makes important contributions in terms of
understanding the work life of Pakhtuns female employees in a novel context. It will
also contribute in policy formulation towards gender equity and equality in the
context of Pakhtun region.
Keywords: Gender, Pakhtunwali, Organizational Commitment, Cultural Barriers.
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140 Negotiating the Cultural Barriers: A Study of Organizational Commitment of Pakhtun
Female Employees in Pakistani Banking Sector
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Introduction
For the last three decades, organizational commitment has remained one of the main
research interests in the field of organizational studies (Fisher, Boyle &Fulo., 2010). It
has been studied both as an attitudinal and behavioral phenomenon. The attitudinal aspect
is described in terms of identification with and internalization of organizational goals and
values, while the behavioral aspect tends to focus on the individual’s behavior as central
to organizational commitment. Allen and Meyer’s (1990) Three Component Model
(TCM) is significant to understand concept of organizational commitment in terms of
affective, normative, and continuance commitment. Affective commitment is a
psychological bond between the individual and organization and is complete alignment
between personal goals and organizational goals. Normative commitment is a sense of
obligation to remain as a member of an organization. Continuance commitment is the
individual’s desire to continue employment due to a perceived cost of leaving the
organization
Historically, two competing paradigms i.e. job model and gender model (Feldberg and
Glenn, 1979) have been used to explain organizational commitment among male and
female employees. The job model states gender differences are not relevant to
organizational commitment, while gender model believes gender differences are pertinent
to understand nature oforganizational commitment of the two. It is based on the
assumption that females prefer family roles over their work roles, while for males work
roles are paramount (Fisher et al., 2010; Aven, Parker & McEvoy., 1993). A number of
studies in the Western context have shown that males and females significantly differ in
their perceptions and expectation of respective workplace roles (Branscome, 1998).
Because of gender role ideology, female employees are perceived as being less associated
with their work roles even when they are at work. The added responsibility of domestic
chores puts female employees at a disadvantage where they are alleged to be less
committed employees (Peng et al., 2009).
Organizational commitment is a psychological contract between an individual employee

and organization (Scandura and Lankau, 1997). There has been evidence of gender
differences in regard to psychological contracts (ibid). Research on gender difference in
organizational commitment is not conclusive (Mathieu and Zajac, 1990). There are some
Sammar Abbas, Zeeshan Zaib Khattak, Muhammad Khushnood 141
studies which suggest that compared to males, female employees are more committed
(Gray, 1989; Angle and Perry, 1981), while others suggest that male employees are more
committed (Aranya et al., 1986). Still there are some studies which argue that there are no
gender differences with respect to organizational commitment (Bruning and Snyder,
1983). It can be claimed that until today, researchers have not succeeded in establishing
the specific relationship between gender and organizational commitment (Fisher et al.,
2010).
Literature Review
Traditional approaches to organizational commitment have discounted the fact that

different gendered experiences of employees can result in different levels and nature of
organizational commitment among them (Fisher et al., 2010). Male and female
employees have a different nature of organizational commitment because of different
workplace experiences (Singh and Vinnicombe, 2000). Consequently, it would be
misleading to conceptualize the gendered nature of organizational commitment without
understanding the workplace experiences of female employees. However, in many of the
previous studies on the subject life experiences of the individuals have been ignored.
According to Marton & Svensson (1979), life experiences are important avenues for
exploring meaning, sense making and social construction of reality. From this perspective
“the experiences of individuals, and contexts in which they occur, should be the main
source of data” (Fisher et al., 2010:283).
Though subject of organizational commitment has been widely researched, however the
question of how do the gendered lived experiences inform female employees’
organizational commitment, has not been addressed sufficiently (Fisher et al., 2010).
Today, females constitute a significant portion of the work force across the world. This
has significantly diverted the attention of organizational scholars (e.g. Aydin, Sarier &
Uysal, 2011; Seong, Hong & Park, 2011; Fisher et al., 2010) to appreciate gender as a
major facet of organizational commitment research.
Historically, there are few studies which focus specifically on organizational commitment
of female employees. Many of these studies have been carried out in the USA or in
Western context. In other parts of the world in general, and in South East Asia in
particular, the subject of ‘gendered nature of organizational commitment’ remained as a
novel concept to be explored. To the best of our knowledge there is hardly any prior
investigation in Pakistan that investigates the gender aspect of organizational
commitment in a way that this study does. Hence, this study looks at organizational
commitment in quite a different context and under quite different circumstances.
Personal Motivation for Study
After working for the last fifteen years in a public sector university, authors are well
informed about the difficulties being faced by female employees and female students in a
male dominated environment. Authors have witnessed female employees [students] who
quitted their jobs [education] because of different cultural barriers. This study is inspired
by the researchers’ own workplace observations. Researchers have observed that female
colleagues [students] face issues because of the gendered nature of workplace. Cultural
beliefs and norms are much dominant at workplace. There is very much less acceptance
of female employment. The intention behind all this is to make some contribution[s] for
easing the work life of female employees in Pakistan. This study will help in devising
policies to promote gender equity and equality at workplaces in Pakhtun region.
The Context of Study: Pakhtunwali Culture
This study has been carried out in different branches of a larger bank in Pakistan. These
branches were located in two cities (Peshawar and Dera Ismail Khan) of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa province. As stated earlier that this study is aimed at exploring the lived
experiences of Pakhtun female employees at workplace to understand the nature of their
organizational commitment. These lived experiences are context specific so to gain better
understanding of these lived experiences it is very much necessary to understand the
context of this study. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has culture of Pakhtunwali which describes
the ways of life for Pakhtuns. The two cities mentioned earlier are also dominated by this
culture which encompass the social life. Muhammad (2011: 105, 110) defined
Pakhtunwali as “the code of life as understood, interpreted and practiced by Pakhtuns.
Johnson and Mason (2008: 59) describe that
“Pakhtunwali is the keystone of Pakhtuns’ identity and social structure, and it
shapes all forms of behaviours from the cradle to the grave ... A Pakhtun must
adhere to this code to maintain his honour and retain his identity”.
Muhammad (2011) mentioned that among other nine main tenets of Pakhtunwali, nang or
namus is of much interest. Nang is “representing a man’s obligation to protect the
inviolability of his person, his property, and his women” (Johnson and Mason, 2008: 62).
Maintaining and protecting namus is considered as social, moral, and religious obligation
among Pakhtuns (Muhammad, 2011).
Cultural patriarchy is much more visible in Pakhtun culture. All the social, economic,
legal and religious powers lie in the hands of men. Men decide women’s fate (Kakar,
2006). In Pakhtun culture, women are symbol/careers of family honor. Any act of women
contradictory to Pakhtun norms is not allowed. The tradition of pardah (veiling) restrict
women within the four walls and does not allow for employment (Adrees, 2005).
Apparently, the life of Pakhtun females living in urban areas seems to be much different
from those of living in rural areas. However, when it comes to social integration of
females with males at workplaces then urban female employees do not enjoy much
liberty. Conclusively, Pakhtun females face multitude cultural barriers to join out of
home employment and they need to overcome these barriers to play their due part in
socio-economic development of the region.
Though there is provision of equal rights for all citizen of Pakistan irrespective of gender,
race, class etc. under the article 25 of 1973 constitution. However, the norms and
informal rules of society mostly deny these rights females. The case of Pakhtun females
in this regard is much severe. Pakhtun females are accommodated within the social
structure at a place where they do not deviate the standards of Pakhtunwali.
Methodology
This study has used grounded theory techniques as methods for data collection and
analysis. The field data was collected through unstructured interviews from the female
Management Trainee Officers (MTOs), and other relevant employees. The researcher
sought official permission from the bank for conducting the field work. In the start,
researcher used convenience sampling. Later on, snow ball sampling was followed.
Overall, twenty respondents were interviewed (15 females & 5 male). All the interviews
were tape recorded and transcribed. A prior consent of respondents was obtained. Other
ethical issues (informed consent & participant information sheet, cultural concerns) were
also taken care off. For example, interview quotes are indexed using fictitious names.
The data collection was guided by the principle of ‘theoretical saturation’ (Corbin &
Strauus, 1990). Theoretical saturation is the phase of qualitative data analysis in which
the researcher has continued sampling and analysing data until no new data appear and all
concepts in the theory are well-developed.
Data analysis was done using constant comparison method (Corbin & Strauss, 2008;
Charmaz, 2006; Glasser& Strauss, 1967). Constant comparison method is widely used
technique of qualitative data analysis. Glasser and Strauss (1967) describe it as a four
stage process. These four steps are looking/comparing for similar incidents in each
interview, integrating these into similar categories, delimiting these categories into a
theory and then writing a theory. This complex method can be simplified in terms of
developing open codes, thematic codes, thematic categories and writing a theory. Under
this method, we look for similar/different incidents simultaneously across all the
interviews and want to know how the different individuals have describe the similar
incident[s]. This helps us to develop and merge similar themes in terms of thematic codes.
By doing further comparison among thematic codes we are able to develop thematic
categories, which build our theory to understanding a specific social phenomenon.
In case of this study, at first, all the data were coded through line by line and paragraph
coding to develop the initial open codes, using both In-Vivo and descriptive codes (Corbin &
Strauss, 2008; Charmaz, 2006). In the second stage, focused coding (Saldana, 2009; Miles &
Huberman, 1994) was used to develop thematic codes. In third and last stage, theoretical
coding (Saldana, 2009) was used to systematically link initially developed codes to build the
core category of ‘resistance’. The next section presents the findings of this study.
Findings of Study: Resistance
For the purpose of this study, resistance refers to both internal and external resistance
which hinders female MTOs in their promotion to higher organizational position.
Internal Resistance for Female MTOs
It is important to reveal the underlying reason of internal ‘resistance’. This bank, since 2006,
has initiated Females Empowerment Program and started to hireyoung females as MTOs.
Male employees do not favor this and resist female MTOs.There are various reasons of this
resistance. Following, we describe that why and how there is resistance to female MTOs.
Why and how Resistance to Female MTOs
Internal resistance happens in different forms. For example, it was known that male
employees do not transfer/share knowledge to/with female MTOs. One female MTO
stated that:
If I have some problem I discuss with my [female] colleagues. If there are males
[employees] we cannot discuss because if you ask them, they will say “you do
not know? If we ask them they pretend to be busy, in fact they do not want us to
be at par with them. (Tania)
The statement suggests the signifying impact of societal gendered beliefs at workplace. It
was also known that there was no appreciation for female MTOs and there were some
incidents of ‘shouting’ on them. Female MTOs have perceptions that [male] employees
resist them not only in their daily work but also hurdles their career growth. Findings
revealed that certain organizational and personal factors also results into internal
resistance. These include financial benefits, promotion, fear of losing jobs, favors to
female MTOs, and age difference between male employees and female MTOs. For
example, one male employee narrated:
In this bank … for example, if a person (male employees)fulfills criteria but does
not get an opportunity, while the others (female MTOs) having the same
education but no experience are promoted, and gets 30% more salary ... I think we
have no future in this bank (Nusrat).
It shows that bank’s policies are perceived as discriminatory bymale employees. There is
widespread fear among male employees that sooner they are going to lose job because
now bank is hiring more MTOs. Male employees were of the opinion that top
management gives more favors to female MTOs. All this causes internal resistance for
female MTOs.
External Resistance to Female MTOs: Why and how?
The findings inform that local gendered practices also cause resistance to female MTOs.
Male employees have strong belief in social division between males and females and
have faith in ‘male as the breadwinner and female as homemaker’. The following quote
from a male employee’s interview transcript revealed this;
You know that we are not this much liberal that we allow our females to work
with males. Our religion forbids female employment. Islam has asked females to
remain inside the four walls [of home]. Females should be within the home and
to worry about domestic chores, not earning. This is the males’ duty to earn and
feed them. This is what our religion says (Shahzada)
This statement is reflexive of local gendered practices and religious orientation in regard
to female employment. Female employment is considered as losing respect and status in
society. Out of home jobs not only bear consequences for the family but also have
implications for females as well in terms of their marriage. During the fieldwork, it was
learned about a few females who quit their job after marriage as their in-laws did not
allow them for that.A female MTO explains the issue of social resistance as:
Parents are always supportive. I am here that is because of my parents, but
overall in the family people used to discuss about me and my job. They spread
negative things about me. They (relatives) say “see his daughter has become the
manager in bank and work with the male employees”. I mean we [society] do
not accept females working with males (Yumna).
These are not only social gendered beliefs and practices but also different religious
orientations of society cause resistance towards female employment. Unfortunately,
religious teachings of gender equity and equality in the context of female employment
have been misinterpreted. There is a belief that female employment is not allowed in
Islam. One female MTOs told that:
You know many people think that religion not allow female employment. They
say that female should remain within the four walls. There is religious pressure
as well (Nabiha)
It was known that seven female respondents, in these two locations, received life threats,
in one or other form from a specific group. These females were asked to quit their jobs.
A female MTO described the life threats in these words:
Yes we get threats. We received a call that we survived in yesterday’s blast but
will not survive the next time ... on that day we were very much afraid and were
not concentrating on work. We were looking at every customer with lots of
doubts. I was thinking about my kids ... it was really horrible (Saira)
In spite of all this it was encouraging to know that female MTOs ‘negotiate’ both internal
and external barriers and are continuing their jobs. This reflects their organizational
commitment.
Negotiating Resistance
It was known that female MTOs negotiate internal and external resistance to demonstrate
organizational commitment. Family support is very much important to negotiate with
internal resistance. One female narrated:
Yes there are problems when you are working with males. But we have to
survive here because I cannot leave my job only because of their (male
employees) behavior. At times that happens. Yesterday, there was a problem
then I called husband and told him, I would say that the confidence I have is
because of my husband. He always supports me (Shakeela)
Numbers of findings suggest that female employees consistently face issues at a male
dominated workplace. But, these female employees want to continue their job with this
bank. One female explained:
If we see there is still no concept of female employment in our society. People
do not like their females to go out for work. You can see many females if they
are in market or in university they are doing pardah (veil) … You know this
society ... my relatives were against my job. I told my parents that why I should
spoil my education because of them [relative] and then my parents stood with
me. (Yumna)
The findings suggest that females MTOs are victims of social and religious inequalities.
However, it is encouraging that these female employees are dealing with these
inequalities. They do not want to leave their job because of life threats and bombing. This
can be a highest possible level of their organizational commitment.
Discussion
Alvesson and Billing (2009) in their book ‘Understanding Gender and Organization’
discussed the concept of ‘Gender Symbolism’, which refers to a gendered symbolized
nature of jobs. Historically, higher organizational positions were occupied by males. Jobs
like managers, pilots, supervisors are associated with males, while nursing, sectary, and
housemaid are categorized as females’ jobs. Females’ absence in higher organizational
positions can be linked to societal gendered practices. When a shift of lower level jobs
occurs then there is no such reaction but if a power related job is shifted then there is a
much stronger reaction, Such as clerk vs. manager. Clerks used to be males, but now
females are taking over this profession; however there is no resistance to this takeover.
But, there is resistance if there is a case of a manager’s takeover because it is a threat to
the societal gendered beliefs and practices. If the gender symbolism is much stronger
there would be much resistance and opposition for females to move upward in the
Organization (Alvesson & Billing, 2009). Our findings also reveal the same.
‘Resistance to threat’ hypothesis’ (Blalock, 1967) can better explain the resistance to
female MTOs. This hypothesis suggests that as the proportion of females and minorities
increases in the organization, so does [white] male resistance (Pfeffer& Blake, 1987).
Blalock used the term minority for black people referring to them as a socially
subordinated group. In this study the term minority can be used for female MTOs
because they belong to socially subordinated group. In this bank due to the increasing
number of female MTOs, there is a perceived threat among male employees of losing
their jobs. As a reaction, male employees resist female MTOs to retain and maintain their
dominant positions. The level of resistance increases with the increase in the minority
group size, if there is the case of control over economic resources. This group
competition perspective (Tolbert, Graham & Andrews, 1999) suggests that as a
proportion of females in a work group increases, males will display more negative
attitudes towards them through economic and political resistance.
In a much broader context, organizational resistance is linked with regional cultural

norms and values. Higher organizational positions of female MTOs violate the social
beliefs and practices of power (; Acker, 2006; Lukes, 2005). Male employees resist
female MTOs because of their higher position. This relates to societal gendered practices
of males’ domination and females’ subordination (Roomi& Parrott, 2008). It is argued
that male employees hold strong beliefs inthese societal gendered practices which result
in resistance for female MTOs (Ali, Fani, Afzal &Yasin, 2010). It can be claimed that
societal gendered practices have strongly influencedorganizational and social resistance
for female MTOs. This claim is valid especially in a culture of strong patriarchy.
Social Identity Theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1986) suggests that males and females (during
course of interaction), act in a way to secure and assure their social identity. Hence, it can
be said that resistance for female MTOs is due to the protection of males’ social identity.
The ideology is that females should not come out for jobs because they are not
responsible to feed the family (Hakim & Aziz, 1998). This ideology emerges due to the
role of religion in informing the gendered practices (Adrees, 2005).
Conclusions
Organizational resistance is closely linked with societal gendered practices and religious
beliefs. It can be said that the workplace behaviors are gendered in nature. It seems that
male employees, in general, are not in favor of the female empowerment program of the
bank and perceive it as an effort by the bank to bring female employees to an equal or
higher status. Societal gendered beliefs and practices assign different social identities to
males and females; i.e. males as breadwinners and females as homemakers. Deviation
from these respective identities is strongly resisted in a patriarchal culture. Female MTOs
are seen as adopting those roles which do not align to their social identity. Religious
orientation of society also has an important role because of embedded nature of religion
and culture. Religious teachings are interpreted within the context of cultural gendered
practices and hence impose restrictions on female employment. Specific religious
orientations towards females’ employment have added to the difficulties of females
employees. This reflects the non-monolithic nature of traditional societies, for example,
the Pakhtun society. Pakhtun society can be described as Islamic Orthodox, which
believes in complete seclusion of females from public life and considers female
employment as harmful to societal and religious values.
Theoretical Contributions
This study enriches theoretical understanding of the gendered nature of organizational

commitment. Traditional studies on this subject have paid less attention to recognize the
importance of ‘subjective experiences’ of female employees as significant to their
organizational commitment. This study has tried to meet this deficiency in literature by
capturing the ‘lived experiences’ of female employees. This study suggests that
workplace experiences of female employees are very much important in defining their
organizational commitment. It also helps to remove the biasness of traditional jobs and
gender models to conceive the organizational commitment of female employees. Perhaps
it is the time to discard traditional approaches to the study of gender and organizational
commitment and to realize the importance of subjective meaning of gendered
organizational commitment. The novelty of the context further helps to enrich the
concept of gender and organizational commitment.
Practical Contributions
Findings of this study can be helpful in achieving workplace gender equality and equity
through different policy measures. This will help females not only to play active roles in
public life but will also help to avoid their social and economic deprivation.
Future Research
Many of the gender studies in Pakistan focus only on the social issue of females (e.g. lack
of educational facilities, limited access to health facilities, poverty). Though these are
important concerns but the workplace issues of female employees are of much
significance to be addressed to increase their participation in economic activities. It can
be only possible if we know about the ‘lived experiences’ of female employees at
workplaces. This study will initiate the discussion about the workplace problems of
females and will open new avenues for gender studies in Pakistan.
Recommendations
In recent times more females are joining out of home paid employment. To cope with the
global challenges, females need to contribute equally toward economic growth. This can
be possible if workplace are more conducive to female employment. For this, there is
need of consistent research efforts to explore various gender related issues at workplaces
and address them accordingly. This will encourage more females to join hands in national
economic development.
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_____________________
Dr. Sammar Abbas is an Assistant Professor in the Institute of Business Studies, Kohat
University of Science & Technology.
Dr. Zeeshan Zaib Khattak is an Assistant Professor in the Institute of Business Studies,
Kohat University of Science & Technology.
Dr. Muhammad Khushnood is an Assistant Professor in the Institute of Business

Studies, Kohat University of Science & Technology.
Vol. 16, 2018, pp. 153-170, ISSN: 2072-0394
Gender Discrimination – Prevailing State In Pakistan

Sara Pervez
&
Khalid M. Iraqi
Department of Public Administration
Abstract
Gender inequality is defined as unequal or unjust treatment because of someone’s

gender. Generally, females are the victims of such discrimination.. Inequality in terms
of gender represents a significant social problem in Pakistan as well as throughout the
world. The fact that women receive fewer privileges in terms of economic benefits
and education has become a worldwide issue. Even in Pakistan there is a huge gender
gap in terms of allocation of economic benefits and education. Not only that, females
encounter discrimination in all other areas of life and face violence which has been
mentioned in the study. The case study of different women has been used for this
study. A sample size of 15 respondents was taken. A structured questionnaire of 23
questions was prepared. It was found that in Pakistan, the violence against women
takes place in many forms such as honour killings, acid attacks, early marriages,
human trafficking, rapes, sexual harassment at workplace etc. In addition to that, the
Islamic concept of gender equality has been explained in order to examine the Islamic
practices that take place in Pakistan in terms of gender equality. The data has been
collected through secondary sources as well as primary including the interviews of the
victims of gender violence, various research journals, scholarly articles, research
papers etc
Keywords: Gender Discrimination, Women, Violence, Education, Equality.
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Introduction
Gender refers to socially constructed roles and responsibilities of women and men of a
society. The difference in roles and responsibilities among women and men stems from
our families, societies and their culture. The concept of gender includes our expectations
about the characteristics, attitudes and behaviors of women and men and is vital in
facilitating gender analysis. The different roles, rights and resources that both the genders
have in society are important determinants of the nature and scope of their inequality and
poverty. Inequality in access to resources between women and men is most common in
poor and developing countries. Gender inequality refers to inequality in conditions
among women and men for realizing their full human rights and potentials.
Gender equality usually refers to a condition of parity between men and women.
However, given the widespread tendency to ascribe different roles and status to each in
various settings across societies, what should constitute gender equality has provoked
fierce debate (Brownie, 2007). Based on the premise that females and males are
inherently different in their reproductive, psycho, physiological, and consequently social
functions, the question remains whether men and women can ever be truly “equal.”
Answers depend on the degree to which one thinks women’s and men’s capacities differ,
what should be equalized, and by what means (Eagly, 2007).
Sexual discrimination involves treating someone differently, usually less favourably,

because of his or her gender. The way it was in the past, men and women were treated
very differently. Boys and girls were taught to follow particular roles in society based
on stereotypical ideas about what they were considered capable of doing. Men and
women were – and still are to an extent – expected to exhibit
typically masculine or feminine behaviour. Such stereotyped views include seeing males
as strong, aggressive, and tending to hide their emotions. Females, on the other hand, are
seen as sensitive, over-emotional, and gentle .As a result of these views, women were
often denied opportunities and experiences that men received as a matter of right
(Helicon, 2016).
Sara Pervez, Khalid M. Iraqi 155
There are different roles and responsibilities of women and men in every society. These
different roles and responsibilities stem from our families, societies, countries and our
culture. The concept of gender discrimination includes our expectations about the
characteristics, attitudes and behaviours of women and men, how equally the resources
are distributed among them and how freely they can exercise their fundamental rights
which are vital in facilitating gender analysis. Inequality in terms of gender for access to
resources is most common in third world. Gender inequality means inequality in
conditions among women and men to enjoy full human rights.
Generally we talk about uplifting of women or empowerment of women in every society,

but still gender discrimination is practiced everywhere. It is increasing day by day in
every country or nation in one way or the other. The nature of inequalities based on
gender may have been changed but the policies and programs have failed to reduce
gender discrimination. Young girls and elderly women continue to strive for their basic
fundamental rights even in the developed and under developed nations.
Besides coping up with this discriminatory attitude, women also face and are the victims
of violence which takes many forms, mainly physical and mental i.e. physical violence in
the form of domestic physical abuse where female is beaten up on frequent basis at home.
This process of physical abuse is sometimes also carried by other women in laws who
torture young or newlywed female physically for various purposes. This sometimes leads
to serious incidents which may turn into the death of the victim. Other physical tortures
that women face at the societal level include rapes, sexual harassment, honor killings, sex
selective abortion etc.
The mental violence that females have to face includes again violence at domestic and
societal level. We are naming it as “violence” here since it is a type of torture that
deteriorate a girl’s individuality overall. Mental violence includes the myths and stories
that are fed into girls’ minds since the beginning that they are inferior to men and hence
they have no right to raise their voices against any unequal or unjust attitude prevailed
against them. The newlywed girls often encounter such mental tortures at in laws home
where they are supposed to live their lives as an inferior living beings with respect to her
in laws, are abused and shouted over dowry or small negligible day to day issues and are
usually not allowed to even reiterate against this prejudice. This cowardly act is equally
carried by other women of the household along with the husband and other in law males.
If however any girl finds the courage to raise her voice and refuse to tolerate such
violence which sabotages her individuality, she is perceived as un loyal to her husband
and morally degraded. Consequently, she is either asked to both surrender and continue
to live the same way or otherwise take a divorce resulting in devastating and demolish
her societal image. At the societal level, females encounter the issue of sexual harassment
at workplace, deprived from the basic right of education, bread earning, less wages and
they aren’t even supposed to go outside freely and hangout.
In Pakistan, men and women are still conceptually separated or segregated into two
different worlds (ADB, 2002). The male members of the family are allocated more
household resources as a consequence and the education is prioritized for boys’ vis-à-vis
girls as boys are supposed to be the only bread winners of the family and the girls are
required to oversee the domestic skills at home. The girl is considered to be the burden on
the family and hence the birth of a girl is not welcomed by most of the families in Pakistan.
The gender inequalities are observed in infancy stage, education sector, employment,
household decision making, and wage labor markets. Due to this discrimination, a Pakistani
woman also faces violence at domestic and societal level in the form of insurgency.
Objective of the Study
1. To analyze the gender discrimination in Pakistan keeping in view the Islamic

perspective of equality.
2. To analyze gender discrimination at each stage of life in Pakistan.
3. To examine the forms of gender discrimination prevailing in Pakistan.
Methodology
It is a qualitative research. Both primary and secondary sources have been used. The
secondary sources used are research articles, papers, journals and books. The primary
sources used are interviews with various women usually from less privileged background
who have experienced sexual disparity or violence. A total of 15 women were interviewed
who shared their experiences based on the questions asked. The questions covered the
following areas: inequality at infancy, childhood and adolescent, socioeconomic practices,
honor killing, sexual harassment and lesser wages. The responses were recorded and have
been discussed. International reports on gender discrimination and women violence
including reports by UNESCO, World Bank, UNICEF, Amnesty International, Quranic
verses related to gender equity etc have been cited.
Literature Review
There is a wide research on gender inequality. Few papers have been highlighted as under:
Chaudhry and Rahman conducted a research in 2009 on female literacy rate in Pakistan.
According to them, the female literacy rate in Pakistan was upto 38% in 2006-07
(Chaudhry, 2009). The increase in female education can improve human development
outcomes such as child survival, health and schooling (World Bank 2001, Schultz 2002,
Strauss and Thomas 1995, King and Hill 1993, World Bank 2007).
Maliha Tarar and Venkat Pulla (2014) studied on patriarchy and gender based violence
amongst Pakistani women. They conducted empirical study of fifty two women living in
seven women’s shelters of the Punjab, Pakistan. The paper examines how poverty
contributes to violent gender-power relations in Pakistani society and how patriarchal
structure utilizes violence as a tool to control women and their sexuality, particularly in
low income families. It also exposes women’s resistance, resilience and coping strategies
against poverty and violence. Their research findings exposed that there is a strong
relationship between patriarchy, poverty and gender violence(Tarar & Pulla, 2014).
Afzal et.al (2013) examined gender disparity at middle and secondary level education in
Punjab using primary data from MICS 2007-08. They concluded that the gap due to
differential treatment of parents with boys and girls under normal routine and social
aspiration reflected the preference for males over females, specifically in rural areas. In
urban areas, the importance of education proved dominating factor for eliminating
distinction between male and female enrolment (Afzal M., 2013).
Sadruddin (2013) presented a paper on sexual harassment at workplace in Pakistan. The

paper assesses the implementation of women rights in Pakistan and challenges confronted
by women besides evaluating their contribution in raising their voice against harassment
through the lens of working women. The phenomenological method was used for this
study. The results revealed that harassment is routinely practiced at workplace in Pakistan
and has genuinely impacted the working women to carryout work effectively.
Dipboye and Colella (2005) studied sexual discrimination in detail. Discrimination is

alluded to those negative and low activities that confine the equivalent treatment of
people. Generally, discrimination is seen as (1) the process of separation among persons
to achieve a choice, considering real criteria, for example, legitimacy or potential, or (2)
the method of separation among persons in light of attributes that are not sufficient or
significant for the action for which the separation is made. They are of the view that
Gender discrimination includes the second definition and presupposes unequal treatment,
in view of subjective criteria (gender), in each stroll of life. Gender discrimination can
take subtler and casual structures, for example, social prohibition, confinement and the
evasion of interpersonal contact. Discrimination ascends to preferences (negative conduct
towards somebody) and generalizations or stereotypes (qualities connected with
somebody taking into account intellectual judgment) (Dipboye & Collela, 2005).
Arif et al. (1999) conducted a research on the impact of poverty on primary school enrolment
in Pakistan and also analyzed the gender gap in enrolment at primary level. They found that
primary education is crucial for a society and plays an important role in economic growth and
development of a country. The authors examined the effect of poverty on primary school
enrolment. They concluded that there is equal effect of poverty on male and female
enrolment and unequal effect on income. The boy's enrolment in school was not influenced
by income while girl's enrolment was highly influenced by financial resources. They also
found out that poverty plays major role in primary enrolment of girls and it has negative
effect on primary school enrolment of girls in rural areas (Arif G.M., 1999).
Stromquist (2001) discussed in his research the poverty and its implications for education
in Latin America. The study analyzes the aspects of national and international policy
making regarding gender educational disparities in Latin America. Author said that the
policies of South America regarding poverty alleviation are fair and equality based but
gender disparities still exist in female access to education (Stromquist, 2001).
Knowles et al (2002) conducted a research on female education. They found that in

developing countries, female education increases awareness regarding child birth and
reduces infertility, infant mortality and increases school enrolment. The low investment
in women’s human capital is compounded by negative social and cultural practices that
restrict women to get education and hence they have limited opportunities available to
them in wage labor market. This has become the basis of social and economic
dependency of women on men (Knowles, Lorgelly, & Owen, 2002).
Ilkkaracan and Jamal in 2004 discussed in their study that patriarchy controls women’s
sexuality in most societies. They conducted their research on many Muslim women
writers according to them the control on women is achieved through social, political,
economic and cultural practices. Ilkkaracan also highlighted that religion often is misused
as powerful instrument of control especially on women which is a legitimate violation of
human rights (Ilkkaracan & Jamal, 2004).
Babar (2007) explained in his study that lack of education and economic opportunities for
women restrict their potential and thinking ability about their due rights. Furthermore,
poverty and religious extremism are also barriers in the way of Pakistani women
becoming progressive and independent. Women’s actions are highly regulated by their
male relatives. Men normally control their movements and behavior whether they happen
to be the father, husband or brother. The women of Pakistan have fewer economic
opportunities and they face major challenges to get their basic human rights including
education. Babar also explained that unless the traditional thoughts regarding women as
inferior, or as personal property are changed, it might be difficult for women to get any
sort of freedom in this atmosphere of fear (Babar, 2007).
Samina and Manzoor (2012) studied patriarchy and women in Pakistan. The study
analyses that most Pakistani women face inequality within the household and society. In
South Asian societies, particularly in Pakistan, there are different methods applied
including patriarchy to control women’s social and economic behavior. They studied
various household models and related them to a Pakistani household setup. They
concluded that that the subordination and exclusion of Pakistani women in the
development activities, flows from the barrel of patriarchy, which has denied women the
right of choice in engaging themselves either in productive and reproductive activities.
Under the patriarchal ideology, women’s labor has been divided into productive and
reproductive spheres (Isran & Isran, 2012).
Foundation of Equality in Islam
Islam is the only religion on this planet which emphasized most on equality in all aspects.
The foundation of Islam is based on the principle of equality regardless of age, gender,
race, cast, social status etc. Since Pakistan was formed in the name of Islam, it is crucial
to pinpoint various commandments given by Allah in His Holy book regarding equity,
biasness or gender discrimination. Few of the verses have been quoted below:
1. “Oh mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and created from it
its mate and dispersed from both of them many men and women... “. (Quran, 4:1,
7:189, 42:11, 16:72, 32:9, and 15:29).
2. “God has invested both genders with inherent dignity and has made men and
women, collectively; the trustees of God on earth”. (Quran 17:70 and 2:30).
3. “And their Lord responded to them (saying): Never will I allow to be lost the
work of (any) worker among you, whether male or female; you are of one
another... “(Quran, 3:195, 74:38, 16:97, 4:124, 33:35, and 57:12).
4. “The sole basis for superiority of any person over another is piety and
righteousness not gender, color, or nationality” (Quran 49:13).
5. "I shall not lose sight of the labor of any of you who labors in My way, be it man
or woman; each of you is equal to the other” (3:195).
The idea of gender parity is best exemplified in the Quranic interpretation of Adam and
Eve. The Quran expresses that both genders were purposeful and free. Indeed, even in the
issue of which sex was made first is not determined, inferring that for our objective in
this world, it may not make any difference. As Allah puts in:
"O mankind! Be conscious of your Sustainer, who has created you out
of one living entity (Nafs), and out of it created its mate, and out of the
two spread abroad a multitude of men and women. And remain
conscious of God, in whose name you demand your rights from one
another, and of these ties of kinship. Verily, God is ever watchful over
you! (4:1)".
Women are autonomous living beings, as exemplified by the way that every person will
be responsible for their own particular deeds on the Day of Judgment:
"No human being shall be of the least avail to another human being" (82:19).
If men were accountable of their women (fathers for their little girls, spouses for their
wives, and so on.), then this responsibility would be exclusively on men's shoulders to
hold up under until the Day of Judgment.
"And whatever wrongs any human being commits rests upon him alone;
and no bearer of burdens shall be made to bear another's burden..."
(6:165).
In Quran, reference to males and females is through characteristics and deeds, by which
we will be judged. The most devout of us, or the individuals who take after God's orders,
are alluded to as "devotees" or "mu'mineen". In numerous references, truth be told, the
Quran reverberates this balance by expressively rehashing "men and women" with moral
and useful qualities all through the verses, and even stresses this ten times in the
accompanying verse:
"Verily for all men and women who have surrendered themselves unto
God, and all believing men and believing women, and all truly devout
men and truly devout women, and all men and women who are true to
their word, and all men and women who are patient in adversity, and all
men and women who humble themselves before God, and all men and
women who give in charity, and all self-denying men and self-denying
women, and all men and women who are mindful of their chastity, and
all men and women who remember God unceasingly: for all of them
has God readied forgiveness of sins and a mighty reward" (33:35).
It is easy to comprehend that Quran forces being a "mu'min" (devout) with genuine
practice, so it is insufficient to simply have confidence on a fundamental level; we should
put our belief into practice. The same applies to our faith in the balance of men and
women; gender equality as laid out in the Quran should likewise be put into practice.
Rights Given to Women by Islam
Islam gave women the privilege to have individual property and allows a share in father's
and spouse's property which is never given before Islam and after it, the privilege of free
proprietorship and ownership.
Ladies has a privilege to hold and go about as full proprietor of property, she has right to
offer and buy, contract and exchange or rent any or the greater part of their properties at
her own wish.
By religious guidelines Muslim ladies may even keep their original surnames after
marriage, which is an image of their free property rights as lawful substances as Islamic
sharia permits.
Moreover, she gets upkeep or rehabilitation of period after separation or passing of

spouse called "iddat". She gets support for youngster bearing additionally living with
spouse even if there should be an occurrence of separation.
As Allah said in Quran:

“For men is a share of what the parents and close relatives leave, and
for women is a share of what the parents and close relatives leave, be it
little or much, an obligatory share” (Quran, 4:7).
As per Islam the foremost obligation of a woman is conceiving an offspring and

preparing him as a person who lives as indicated by Law of Creator. This is such a noble
duty, to the point that can make a model adjusted society. After this duty notwithstanding,
getting business is not taboo for women, but rather not on the expense of her youngsters
and other family obligations. A few positions and administrations are fit for her tendency
as nursing, instructing, drug, and social and beneficent work. A woman can do job if
there is a financial need and on the off chance that she has capacity and time after her
essential obligations.
Equality in Practice
Although Pakistan is an Islamic state and claims to follow Islamic laws and practices, it
fails to promote the basic principle of equality. Pakistani woman is still struggling to get
her basic fundamental rights of which she is deprived of.
In a Pakistani society, men and women are conceptually separated or segregated into two
different worlds. The male members of the family are allocated more household
resources as a consequence and the education is prioritized for boys as boys are supposed
to be the only bread winners of the family and the girls are required to oversee the
domestic skills at home. Hence education is not perceived as important for girls as it is
for boys. As a result, girls are left with no other choice than to stay back at home,
uneducated.
Due to the above mentioned scenario of a Pakistani rural sector, an incessant absence
from schools among girls is more serious in provincial zones of Pakistan than in the
urban regions. The illiterate mindset of the society has failed to realize the significance of
women’s education that could lead to the development of a nation (UNESCO, 2010).
The gender disparities are not only observed in the access to basic or higher education but
also there is a lack of attention to gender equality in teaching management or academics
that sees more women in early childhood education and primary teaching positions and
more men in tertiary or higher teaching positions. The male dominant leadership roles
have been observed in nearly most of the education institutes particularly in public sector
which has become a common dilemma of our society. The leadership roles particularly in
academics are reserved for men and they outnumber women in most of the higher
academic positions. There are fewer opportunities for females to participate in training
and continuing their professional development activities than their male counterparts.
The female/male ratios in decision making process in educational sector particularly, are
highly skewed against females and they experience unfavorable enrollment ratios in
secondary and higher education (Crenshaw, 1989). Although the government claims to
promote gender equality and cites the notions like “equal employment opportunities” the
reality seems to be different.
This is prohibition or limitation made on the premise of sex which has the impact of
invalidating the acknowledgment, delight or practice by women, regardless of their
conjugal status on a premise of equality of men and women of human rights and essential
opportunity in the monetary, social, common, political or other field (Chae et. al, 2008).
By the above explanation, it is clearly understood that the social and cultural rituals
practiced in Pakistan in the name of Islam and which restrict women to get education,
employment and deprive them of their basic human rights are totally against Islamic
teachings and Islam does not allow men to discriminate against women in all forms.
The interviews were conducted on 15 women. The questions were divided into following
six areas:
Inequality at Infancy Stage
The majority of respondents indicated that they faced discrimination when they were
pregnant in various ways. They said that almost every member of the family sadly, the
wise old ladies too want to have a son who would take their family’s name forward and
bring fortune to the family. They pray and carry out different rituals, often un Islamic, so
that God may bless them with a boy. This mindset has been observed in most of the
families of Pakistani society and the birth of a baby girl is not so warmly welcomed.
On the question regarding sex selective abortion, they responded that they did not have
ultrasound facilities so majority did not get a chance to know the sex of the fetus. This
also indicated that health facilities are deficient to rural women.
Sex-selective abortion is commonly practiced in many parts of the world where the
pregnancy is terminated or aborted based on predicted gender of the fetus. The selective
abortion of female fetuses is most common in areas where cultural norms value male
children over female children, especially in parts of People's Republic of
China, India, Pakistan, the Caucasus, and Southeast Europe (Goodkind, 1999)(A. Gettis,
2004) (Guilmoto, 2012).
The UNICEF report (2007) highlights the discrimination against females at various
stages of life including infant stage when misuse of pregnancy diagnostic tools become
common in the societies where there is a cultural and economic preference for males. It is
important to note that these discriminatory attitudes against females are greatly observed
in the third world countries where there is low literacy rates, poverty and patriarchy
embedded in the society. Girls are deprived of their basic educational rights in these
countries especially in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda etc.
(UNICEF, 2007).
Inequality at Childhood and Adolescent
When a girl enters her toddler or early childhood stage, she is deprived of her basic right
of social needs especially in rural sector main reason reportedly being poverty and
patriarchy. The social preference is given to sons since the birth of a girl was not
welcomed earlier as well. The boys are given good and healthy diet since they are
considered to be the bread winners of the family so their diet and health should be
properly taken care of.
The respondents agreed to the point that they faced criticism and hurdles regarding access
to education. Majority of the respondents were primary passed and were not allowed to
study further. Besides education, they also experienced biasness in their day to day meals,
where the male members are given good quality and quantity of food as compared to
them.
It was found that they are bonded in early age marriages usually in their teens and many
have little share in the economic activity of the family.
At adolescence, girls are not allowed to go to school because of the illiterate and negative
cultural practices usually derived from ancient Hindu mythology and is still deeply rooted
and embedded in our rural sector.
Among the serious threats to adolescence are abuse and savagery, and the absence of
crucial knowledge or education about sexual and reproductive wellbeing, including
HIV/AIDS. Particular zones that UNICEF (2007) highlighted were female genital
mutilation/cutting; tyke or child marriage and untimely parenthood; sexual misuse,
exploitation and trafficking; sexual and conceptive health; and HIV/AIDS. There is a lack
of proper healthcare facilities for mothers and their newborns. It is assessed that every
year more than half a million women—approximately one woman per minute—pass on
as a result of pregnancy complications and labor, 99% of which happen in third world
nations (UNICEF, 2007). There is a need to highlight women’s issues at the national
level such as more and updated knowledge and access to better health care, family
planning and education for women. The positive consequences of these productive
measures get passed to the children and eventually to the whole society.
Socio Economic Practices
The biased socio economic practices that respondents indicated were early marriages,
having little or no participation in decision making, the finances of the household are
mostly governed by the male member. They shared their stories about how often they are
beaten up by their spouses, brothers or fathers. Moreover, these women also indicated
that they are abused verbally on almost daily basis. On a question regarding dowry, the
married women among the respondents (10 out of 15) replied that their in laws asked for
a heavy dowry and upon not making it to the mark, they faced huge disputes or beaten up
badly. Majority of the rural women are bonded in a marriage system called “watta/satta”
in which the bride’s brother is married to her sister in law. It was revealed that this
system causes huge problems and disputes among the two families and majority of the
cases often end up with divorce.
In Pakistani society, women are abused both emotionally and physically. When she is in
her parents' home she will undoubtedly acknowledge whatever is given to her by her
family, truth be told it is thought to be her obligation to acknowledge her family`s
commands regardless of the fact that they are outlandish and uncalled for. She moves
under supervision of her new guardian when she gets wed and his orders get to be script
of her life without having a privilege of raising her voice or expressing her consent since
her advice or opinions are not viewed as sufficiently commendable to tune in.
Women in rural regions face more social and conventional imperatives and are relied
upon to stay at home for the consideration of family. They have less access to livelihood
and education than women from urban zones (Maliha and Venkut, 2014). Kumar and
Varghese (2005) concede that women are living in men ruled society and have fewer
chances to get training and job (Kumar, 2005). Government of Pakistan (2012) reported
that rural women are denied of their fundamental needs particularly of medicinal needs
and access to education is basically non-existent for them.
Honor Killing
When asked the question regarding honor killing, none of the respondents experienced
such act by themselves however they shared the stories of honor killings in their villages
which they had witnessed. According to them, the act of honor killings as a colossal
negative effect on Pakistani women keeps on being boundless. These include a female
being killed or murdered by a male relative, typically father, sibling or spouse, trying to
ensure the family's honor. This is generally on the grounds that the woman is associated
or charged with having an additional conjugal relationship or, if unmarried, of being
enamored with a boy of whom the young girl's folks and relatives oppose. Several such
killings occur in Pakistan consistently. This practice permits a male to murder a relative
who is involved in un-islamic acts so as to hold the family's honor (Fisk, 2010). The
killing is seen as an approach to reestablish the reputation and honor of the family
(Matthew A. Goldstein, 2002).
In Pakistan, honor killings are referred to locally as karo-kari. Karo-kari is a compound

word actually significance dark male (Karo) and dark female (Kari). Initially, Karo and
Kari were allegorical terms for miscreant and adulteress, yet it has come to be utilized
with respect to different types of perceived unethical conduct. Once a woman is named as
a Kari, relatives view themselves as justified to slaughter her and the co-blamed Karo
keeping in mind the end goal to reestablish family honor. In the larger part of cases, the
casualty of the assaults is female with her assailants being male individuals from her
family or group (Khan, 1999). Pakistan's Human Rights Commission reported that in
2010 there were 791 honor killings in the nation (Karimjee, 2011). Amnesity
International refered to 960 episodes of women alone who were killed in honor killings
that year (Amnesity International, 1999).
Sexual Harassment at Workplace
The respondents were asked if they had experienced sexual harassment at work ever. Out
of the total 15, 13 women affirmed that they had been the victims of such harassment.
Harassment is usually carried out by their superiors or bosses where they work. They
even offer financial gains such as money, promotions or other tangible incentives like
mobile phones, cars etc. in case the victim accepts to maintain the physical relationship
with them. When the victim declined the offer, they were fired, asked to resign or
demoted in the organization.
Provocation is one of the genuine nonsensical and inexcusable behaviors which routinely
takes place at numerous working environments. In spite of the fact that this noteworthy
truth is biting to be retained, yet it is the impression of the present condition of working
women on the planet (Sadruddin, 2013). United Nations characterizes harassment as a
sort of conduct (verbal or physical) that upsets work or advance hostile workplace. A
standout amongst the most widely recognized sorts of badgering or harassment is lewd
behavior or sexual harassment which is characterized as an exploitative set of accepted
rules which a woman discovers debilitating or hostile (Goonesekere, 2004). This
undesirable sex-related conduct (Fitzgerald, 1997) and covering marvels is the an integral
part of all occupations and commercial ventures (Hunt, 2007). It could be as sex
provocation (e.g., verbal/nonverbal behavior abuse); or immoral way of seeking attention
(e.g., touching, calling); or sexual intimidation (e.g., sexual rewards or dangers)
(Fitzgerald, Gelfand, & Drasgow, 1995). (Fitzgerald L. G., 1995).
Harassment is routinely drilled at working environment in Pakistan and has truly affected
the working women to do their work adequately. Inappropriate behavior for the most part
happens in private division than in broad daylight foundations (Sadruddin, 2013).
Women Work More Than Men But Are Paid Less
Majority of the respondents agreed that their salaries are lesser as compared to their male
counter parts. They work more but are under paid. Examples of such biasness were
observed among household maids, maids who work in schools and the male peons. They
said that they are made to work continuously throughout the day which also involves hard
work such as carrying weight (school bags, chairs, tables) from one place to another,
washing whole school and bathrooms etc. Whereas the office boy or peons in their
schools do not have such job responsibilities instead they only carry office orders from
one place to another, work as messengers and dispatching letters etc. which is
comparatively less hard working and they are paid much higher than these maids.
In many countries of the world, especially in Pakistan, women are considered to be the
inferior species of human being. They work side by side with men though but are
generally paid lesser than men. They do 66% of the world's work, get 10 percent of the
world's salary and own 1 percent of the method for production (Robbins, 1999).
As indicated by Inter Press Service, "On a worldwide scale, women develop more than
half of all the sustenance that is developed. In sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean,
they create up to 80 percent of fundamental foodstuffs. In Asia, essentially India,
Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, they represent around 50 percent of food generation. In
Latin America, they are primarily occupied with subsistence cultivating, agriculture,
poultry and raising little domesticated animals" (Osava, 2010).
However women regularly get little acknowledgment for that. Indeed, numerous go
unpaid. It is extremely troublesome for these women to get the money required to
purchase hardware and so on, because many nations still don't acknowledge, or
understand, that there is a change in the "conventional" roles of men and women (Shah,
2010).
Purposes behind such dissimilarity incorporate the way that women mostly are less paid
on the grounds that they frequently perform low-status occupations, contrasted with men
(UNICEF 2007, p.39).
Conclusions
Gender roles consist of shared expectations that apply to individuals on the basis of their
socially identified sex. It was found in this study that in Pakistani society, women are
abused both emotionally and physically. When she is in her parents' home she will
undoubtedly acknowledge whatever is given to her by her family, truth be told it is
thought to be her obligation to acknowledge her family`s commands regardless of the fact
that they are outlandish and uncalled for. She moves under supervision of her new
guardian when she gets wed and his orders get to be script of her life without having a
privilege of raising her voice or expressing her consent since her advice or opinions are
not viewed as sufficiently commendable to tune in. In Pakistan, woman is denied of her
basic fundamental rights mainly education. Besides, they are supposed to stay indoors
and are forced to look after household chores whereas males are the sole bread earners of
the family. This system prevails in most of the households especially in rural sector and
urban slums. The research findings indicate that despite of claiming itself the Islamic
state, Pakistan has miserably failed to implement the basic Islamic principle of gender
equality. Women are allocated lesser or no household resources and have very little or no
share in property due to the illiterate patriarchal mindset. Poverty is also a big factor in
promoting gender inequality which restricts children to get educated and consequently
the illiterate practices prevail in the society. By the above findings, it is clearly
understood that the social and cultural rituals practiced in Pakistan in the name of Islam
and which restrict women to get education, employment and deprive them of their basic
human rights, are totally against Islamic teachings and Islam does not allow men to
discriminate against women in all forms
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_________________________
Sara Pervez is Ph.D Scholar in the Department of Public Administration, University of

Karachi.
Prof. Dr. Khalid M. Iraqi is Chairman in the Department of Public Administration,

Vol. 16, 2018, pp. 171-200, ISSN: 2072-0394
Qualitative Exploration Of Violence Against Women (VAW)

Regarding Social And Cultural Trends Among Women In
Pakistan
Seema Manzoor
&
Dua-e-Rehma
Women’s Studies
University of Pakistan
Naheed Abrar
Department of Social Work
Federal Urdu University Karachi
Abstract
Violence against women (VAW) and women issues have appeared to be growing
threat for women globally, especially violence against women are causing severe
social and health problems due to social and cultural trends. Many researchers have
been involved in conducting research so far, but root causes and solutions are not yet
explored to eradicate the issue. This study is an attempt to provide a clear
understanding of the qualitative exploration of violence against women regarding
social and cultural trends among women in Pakistan. By using qualitative research
method researcher has analyzed different factors and circumstances which these women
are experiencing. For this purpose case studies research methods is used to analyze
specific issues within the boundaries of a specific environment and situation, because
case study research method is explanatory, descriptive and exploratory in nature. In
this study five case studies are incorporated to access the history and current scenario
regarding violence against women in Pakistan by using unstructured interview
schedule. Two hospitals (private and government) were selected as a universe of the
study, and the respondents were purposively selected for conducting interviews in
detail. The findings of this study reveal that the respondents have faced many types of
violence all through their life, which includes psychological and physical abuse by
males within or outside the family, which includes hitting, slapping and shoving and
other social evils like honor killing, rape, incest, acid throwing and burning and etc. It
is about high time and the need of the time for media and health professionals along
with the public sector to highlight the problems at mass level and to take up the
challenge for appropriate actions to curtail highly prevailing social evil (VAW).
Keywords: Violence against Women, Social and Cultural Trends, Exploitation,

Physical and Sexual Abuse.
172 Qualitative Exploration of Violence against Women (VAW) Regarding Social and
Cultural Trends among Women in Pakistan
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Introduction
“Violence against women is perhaps the most shameful human rights

violation, and it is perhaps the most pervasive. It knows no boundaries
of geography, culture or wealth. As long as it continues, we cannot
claim to be making real progress towards equality, development and
peace.” (Kofi Annan, 1999)
The performance and perception of violence regarding social context are of key
significance. Usually humiliation, insults and harsh arguments are taken as normal
attitude, but it is a violation of the rights of other human beings and it might be termed as
“senseless violence”. Such kind of violence is practiced to control others by using
repugnant use of power. In some cases it has been observed that violence takes the form
of ritual, for example, ill treatment with women and children is considered as routine and
it is practiced continuously therefore, it takes the shape of social ritual. Since violence is
a way of imposing power on others, therefore, women being submissive in nature become
easy victim and its nothing new Ahuja (1998), because it is an imbalanced relation
between a perpetrator and the victim, i.e. between man and woman, which leads to
inequality and discrimination against women to stop them from gaining empowerment
Seema Manzoor, Dua-e-Rehma, Naheed Abrar 173
(General Assembly, 1993). WHO defines violence as deliberate actions used to apply
physical force against a person, group or community, which has a high probability of
causing injuries, harming psychologically, or can even cause death in extreme cases
(WHO, 1996). Women become easy victims of violence throughout the world, because
they are neglected, thus the cultural framework, which is designed by dogmatic thoughts
of the patriarchal social system. Low social status of women enhances their submissive
role; therefore, as a result, it has become a normal societal behaviour. The aggression and
hostile attitude towards women in growing even in the 21st century, which is intensifying
the existing issues; thus, depriving women in gaining access even to basic resources.
Violence against women can be categorized in a wide variety of forms, which includes
domestic violence in all existing forms, girl child abuse (within and outside the family),
female infanticide, rape, incest, sexual assault, neglecting the rights of old women,
violence by intimate partner, forced marriage, child marriage, prostitution and etc.
According to the recent researches the trend of violence against women is constantly
increasing, though many laws have been formulated at the national and international level.
This situation clearly indicates that more efficient efforts towards the reduction and
control of violence against women in needed (CIC, 2010). Many researchers have argued
that violence against women is a major social issue; therefore, it needs special attention
for its resolution in order to deal with all the emotional consequences linked to it (Ali and
Gavino, 2008). Women also face domestic violence usually from their intimate partners,
which affects women physically, mentally and negligence of social well-being as well
(Gender Equity Program, 2012). In the past two decades the issues related to domestic
violence and its consequences in Pakistani culture have been recognized Khan (2009),
therefore, women’s rights groups have become more active and their sustained efforts are
attending the issue (U.S. Department of State, Human Rights, 2010). Researchers from
different regions and cultures are attempting to highlight the main causes more closely to
examine the perceptions and social attitudes, which is causing its prevalence. The social
practices and influences due to cultural setup should also be addressed to curtail the issue,
because without understanding the root causes the issue cannot be resolved.
The range of psychological, physical and sexual coercive actions by a male intimate
partner is generally known as violence against women (WHO, 1997). Globally VAW is
considered as the most insidious and unrecognized violation of human rights in the form
of abuse. There are some alternate terms used for domestic violence, which can be listed
as:
• Courtship violence
• Intimate partner violence
• Domestic abuse
• Domestic violence
• Wife battering
• Marital rape
• Spouse abuse (Saltzman, 1999).
Many researches have been conducted so far on various aspects of this issue, but still it is
very difficult to analyze the level of its prevalence due to the discrepancy regarding the
definition of the subject. VAW is still not addressed the way it should be, therefore it is
needed to universalize some standard facts and definitions Raphael (2000). The studies,
which have been conducted so far, lack in epidemiological factor that is why the
eradication of violence has become a very difficult task (Bradley, 2002). The global
statistics show that one out of every three women faces violence of different types in her
marital life at certain points. According to the records, almost 10 – 69% women have
been assaulted physically during their lifetime by their male partner (Krug, 2002).
Rennison commented that only in USA, wife battering act is very common, it occurs very
often and even women are murdered in violence acts (Rennison, 2003). Research
literature examination shows that violence cases are usually based on cultural setup and
socially constructed roles.
According to WHO estimates, 35 percent face physical or sexual violence at some point
of their lives either by their intimate partners or by other males. Whereas, some national
studies show that the estimates are up to 70 percent. Women who are abused by their
partners are more prone to have depression or abortion in case of pregnancy (WHO,
2013). Violence against women is a global issue and it is prevailing in all societies, but
still exact data is not available. Violence causes women to face psychological issues.
Even in western and European countries 43 percent women face psychological violence
by their intimate partners (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, 2014). Some
other studies show very alarming situation regarding violence against women that the
majority of women are even killed by their partners after abuse and violence (United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2014). Early marriages also contribute as a key
factor and it is estimated that globally 750 million women are married before their
eighteenth birthday. Early marriage trend is more common in developing nations. Child
marriage results in early and repeated pregnancies, which cause severe reproductive
health issue and high trend is seen in the form of the maternal mortality rate. Early
marriages deprive girls from getting education and also marginalize them from
socializing, which increases the tendency of domestic violence (UNICEF, 2017).
In Pakistani culture, domestic violence is taken as a family matter or a private matter;

therefore, it is not easy to assess the actual statistics of the victims (Fikree & Bhatti,
1999). Pakistani women suffer due to discrimination and violence because of religious
and cultural norms (Bettencourt, 2000). According to human rights watch estimates in
Pakistan, 70–90% women face domestic violence (Human Rights Watch, 1999).
Domestic violence has a wide range and its many forms are not even considered as
violence, but they affect women mentally, psychologically, emotionally and physically.
HRCP conducted a survey in Punjab in 2000; the findings indicated that 35% women
were hospitalized, because they were brutally beaten by their husbands. Only in Punjab
70-90% women face spousal abuse. Women are either beaten on petty issues or face
various forms of violence from their husband and in-laws (HRCP, 2000). Another study
was conducted in Pakistan showed that most of the women face physical violence, which
causes them severe psychological problems. Honor killing is very common in both rural
and urban setups; the Karo-Kari custom is practiced in various parts of Pakistan.
According to official statistics during the period 1998- 2004, 2800 women out 4000 cases
died as a result of violence acts. Research statistics reveal that in Larkana, Sindh, Karo-
Kari is a very common practice and almost all the victims are women (Felix,
2007). These researches indicate that in Pakistan, violence against women is a very
sensitive yet massive issue in the public and social domain, but unfortunately this issue
has never been appropriately addressed by the government.
In 2015, White Ribbon Pakistan gave statistics regarding violence against women in all
the provinces of Pakistan. In 2015, VAW cases were reported in Punjab were as follows:
2,720 rape cases, 173 honor killing cases, 22 acid throwing cases, 35 burning cases and
588 wife battering cases. Similarly, the VAW cases reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in
2015 are 20 attempted to rape cases, 32 gang rape cases, 987 honor killing cases, whereas,
violence cases in different cities of KPK are as follows: 104 in Peshawar, 35 in Mardan,
14 in Kohat and 11 violence cases in Mansehra. Almost same figures are seen in Sindh
province, for example 344 rape and gang rape cases, 860 honor killing cases, 90 acid
throwing cases, 72 burning cases and 535 cases of domestic violence. Like other
provinces Balochistan also show high trends in VAW, for instance 939 cases of rape,
gang rape, stripping and harassment, 143 cases of burning acid throwing and 279 cases of
domestic violence were reported (White Ribbon Pakistan, 2015).
HRCP revealed that 2,300 women were killed in Pakistan in the name of honor killing in
past few years i.e. from 2014 – 2016. It added that now the government has taken some
serious measures towards violence issues, but instead of decrease in these cases, trends
show that this social evil is constantly increasing. According to the HRCP, it seems that
all the efforts of the government are in vain. Human rights commission of Pakistan shows
an overview of violence cases from 2004 - 2016, for instance 4,734 cases of sexual
violence, 15,222 cases of honor killing, 1,535 cases of burning, 1,843 cases of domestic
violence, 35,935 cases of suicide and 5,508 cases of kidnapping (HRCP, 2016). Pakistani
women are somewhat trapped in socio-cultural norms and violence is used against them
as a tool to maintain patriarchy. Agha in his study claimed that as per gender inequality
index Pakistan ranks 143 out of 144 countries (Agha, 2017).
Types of Violence
VAW is unbridled globally, especially in the developing countries. Violence in all forms
deprives women of their rights. Violence victims feel helpless, because they cannot seek
help from any forum. Many laws have been made and implemented, but no fruitful
results are obtained. There are uncountable factors causing the prevalence of violence and
violence can be categorized in many ways.
Acid Burning and Dowry Death
Women’s position is suppressive in all spheres of life; especially married women face
many issues due to the intervention of in-laws in her life and relationship with her
husband. If a woman disobeys any command of her in-laws or husband then she becomes
the victim of their revenge: acid is thrown on her face or body or she is burned to death.
Similarly, if the bride’s parents are unable to give the demanded dowry then in such cases
usually the in-laws punishes her by violence and sometimes she is beaten to death
(Khatun, 2012).
Different statistics show that acid throwing cases have increased in Pakistan and the
majority of victims are females. Almost 150 acid burning cases are reported every year,
which is a result of revenge against women, who refuses the marriage proposals and due
to some other reasons. Domestic violence is also increasing due to illiteracy, poverty and
some socio-cultural issues. Women are not even safe in their homes, instead of having
peaceful life they live a miserable life in pain and fear. Domestic violence can occur due
to many factors like early marriage, dowry and etc. Dowry deaths are very high in India,
Bangladesh and Pakistan. India has the highest rate of dowry death and in Pakistan 2,000
dowry deaths are reported each year. It has been observed that unjust societal attitude and
gender inequality are the main causes of women issue (Feroz, 2017).
Honor Killing
Women are considered as the pride of the family or the custodian of the family’s name.
Therefore, if they are found involved in any immoral activity, for example, having illicit
relationship, then they have to face worst form of violence by their husband, father or
brother. Even innocent women are accused for such immoral activities, the reason behind
this accusation is to gain benefit for the family by sacrificing daughters (Naved, 2013).
In March 2015, the Anti-Honor Killing Laws (Criminal Amendment Bill) 2015 and the
Anti-Rape Laws (Criminal Amendment Bill) 2015 were finally passed by the joint sitting
of both houses of parliament; these bills were presented by Sughra Imam (PPP legislator)
which were pending for a long time. Though these bills were passed by the parliament,
but were not implemented properly. After a massive increase in violence incidents
against women like Nazia Hameed in Kasur, Ambreen in Abbottabad, Maria Sadaqat in
Murree and the murder of Qandeel Baloch by her brother, the government took initiative
and some serious measures to control these issues (Zaidi, 2016).
Domestic Violence
It is the violation of human rights, i.e. depriving women from accessing their rights and
resources. It is the ultimate responsibility of government to protect women from domestic
violence and when the state fails to do so it means that the state becomes ineffective in
fulfilling their moral obligation (Khan and Aeron, 2006).
In 2015, the government of Punjab initiated a Punjab Protection of Women Against

Violence Bill 2015, which faced massive opposition but was ultimately passed by the
Punjab Assembly. This bill is a very comprehensive regarding the protection of women
against all forms of violence and criminal activities like domestic abuse, emotional and
psychological abuse, feminization of poverty cyber crime and stalking and etc. this bill
aimed to curtail violence against women and provide them justice in order to empower
them (Hanif, 2016).
Violations of Human Rights
Cultural norms, values are strictly imposed to maintain sexuality. The community along
with all its pillars like, religion, family, culture and media control women and punish
them if they do not follow the rules and regulations set by the society (Naved, 2013).
HRCP in its annual report 2016 highlighted the ratio and percentage of violence cases
against women. Asma Jahangir, the spokesperson of HRCP claimed that violence against
women is the clear violation of human rights. She added that in Gilgit, Baltistan, KPK,
Balochistan, Sindh and Punjab the rate of honor killing is constantly increasing. Besides
the legislation the cases of violence against women are not declining, because women are
dependent on men; they do not have the economic independence and a high percentage of
women is involved in low wage work, where they are exploited by the employer. More
than 30% women are employed in the industrial sector. Similarly, they lack in the
education field as compared to males. HRCP claimed that 2,500 women became the
victims of various forms of violence in 2016 (HRCP, 2016).
Immediate Causes of Violence
Gender violence shows the attitude and behaviour of humans and they are deep rooted.
The main reason of VAW appears to be the low economic and social status of women,
which brings dire consequences of violence, because they cannot seek any help from
any societal sector. Women face violence of many forms within the family also which
includes: incest, forced marriage, abuse by an intimate partner, control over their body
and decisions and etc. the worst thing is, the violence women face within the family is
considered as a form of protection of women (Yasmin, 2000). Basically, this social
attitude is adopted to have control of women’s lives and it is the denial of their basic
human rights, which deprives them from taking advantage of the designated rights.
Acid Assault
Acid assault cases involve the male ego and lack of understanding in acceptance towards
the rights and choices of women as humans. Usually women become victim of acid
throwing due to refusing love, marriage proposal and sometimes family problems.
According to the studies, in most of the acid throwing cases reasons were unknown and
majority of the cases were related to sterility, family disputes, refusing forced sexual
relationship, dowry and women’s disagreement to husband’s second marriage (Begum
and Shiplu, 2013).
Community Violence
Community violence has many reasons based on societal roles and attitudes. Religious
beliefs also play a very important role in it, because people depict meanings of their
choice and desire from the religious rulings. Women who are willing to marry by their
choice also face community violence, because society bounds women to live according to
the social code of conduct, which have been designed to have complete control over their
lives (Agarwal, 1988).
Intermediary Causes of Violence
Dowry: Though legislation to prohibit dowry transaction exits, but still it is greatly
prevailing in our society. Demand of dowry has become a legitimate element of finalizing
marriage through parley. Begum (2013) argues that dowry is not a simple issue; it starts
from discussion then turns to verbal abuse, battering, violence and agony which in most
of the cases finally lead to the death of a victim (bride).
Lack of Education: Illiteracy makes women more susceptible to social evil practices,
through findings of various researches it has been identified that education can reduce the
prevalence of violence, however, there is no clue how violence can be reduced through
education (Hadi, 2010). Education provides awareness to women regarding their rights
and privileges, thus making them less prone to violence and other anti-human activities.
Unlike Hadi, Khan and Aeron (2006) identified that education definitely impact women’s
life, though it may not change the traditional roles within the household setup. But it
definitely makes women less dependent on males by providing them self-esteem, and
decision making power. It might not affect their lives directly, but plays a vital role in
overcoming the patriarchy through women’s autonomy and power.
Lack of Security: Women face lack of security in all spheres of life, especially those
women who are engaged in productive or academic activities. Majority of these women
use public transport for travelling and they face security issues along with harassment,
therefore, lack of security can be linked to travelling somehow. Women who travel
through public transport casually for household routines or travel from the workplace,
needs to have the facility of safe travelling, especially when travelling at night. But
unfortunately working women are usually not provided any transport facility at official
level, which makes them suffer from travel hazards and they face violence and
harassment while travelling back home at late hours (Khan and Aeron, 2006).
Underlying Causes
Poverty: Poverty is considered as the main root cause of many social evils. Economic
instability of a household increases the tension, which could lead to violence (Jahan, 1994).
Similarly, Kabeer (1998) states that violence may be practiced in a systematic or random
manner, is related to poverty thus, leading to powerlessness. Lack of basic necessities and
resources in poor families enhances the intensity of violence due to extreme frustration.
Child Marriage: Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1983 is implemented to control the issue,
but still child marriage is observed. Girls are considered as a burden for the family,
therefore, parents marry them off as soon as possible, and some girls get married even
before their puberty age. Parents marry off their young girls, because they think they might
bring shame to the family name if they get involved with someone (Azim, et al., 2002).
Early child marriage also enhances violence in marital life; whereas, a mature woman is a
bit protective, because the huge age gap between spouses develops an unequal relationship.
Thus, creating mistrust between them and leads to disharmony marital relationship.
Religious Obstinacy: The religious rigidity is a result of community based violence is

committed against an individual of the same community. Beating, torturing or
humiliating women is prohibited is Islam, it is the influential element of society (the so
called religious leaders) who provokes people to act violently against women to keep
them submissive and to control their self-determination, bodies and sexuality in order to
maintain their patriarchy. If a man and woman, both are found involved in an illicit
relationship, then woman and her family are punished severely than man and his family
or he can get away with it by paying off some penalty. Such extreme cases complicate the
situation and women become more powerless and submissive (IWRAW, 2005).
Islam has given clear rulings regarding the roles, rights and responsibilities of both men
and women. Allah has clearly mentioned in Quran that men and women both are equal in
their humanity and good deeds. In the Quran the first verse of Surah Al-Nisa, Allay says:
“O mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and
created from it its mate and dispersed from both of them many men and
women. And fear Allah, through whom you ask one another, and the
wombs. Indeed Allah is ever, over you, an Observer”. (4:1)
In Surah Al-Nisa, verse: 34, the term “Qawwam” is used, which means to support, protect
and supervise. In Islam men have more responsibilities regarding socio-economic obligations.
The prime responsibility of man is the maintenance of women, according to the Islamic Law.
Women have no liability to support their families in economic terms; they are free from such
social, economic and political responsibilities. Islam has given more freedom to women as
compared to men, for instance regarding economic liabilities Quran says:
“Men will have a share of what they earn, and women will have a share
of what they earn” (4:32).
The Quran refers men superior in terms of their role as “Qawwam” by fulfilling their
responsibility of providing maintenance, protection and supervision. Men are superior to
women only in terms of responsibilities. In Islam the family system is based on societal
and social structure and in order to maintain the natural discipline every man and woman
has to play their role according to Islam. In the Quran, Allah says:
“Men are guardians and managers over women” (4:34).
Subordination of Women: On religious and cultural grounds our society considers

women as subordinates of men; therefore, men can treat them according to their desire.
The violence shows an unequal hierarchy between the victim and the perpetrator, which
enables men to dominate women. Through violence women are forced to adopt
submissive nature to satisfy man’s ego. It is a critical social mechanism which makes
men superior over women (Jahan, 1994).
Many researchers and authors have proposed theories to elucidate the VAW
phenomenon. Violence against women exists in many forms and women abuse has
multiple features; therefore, a single theory cannot cover the issue completely
(Dasgupta, 2001). Edleson has quoted the concepts of Brofenbrenner regarding
violence against women from his widely read books, which were published in late 70’s
and 80’s (Edleson, 2000). Similarly, Belsky has also used the Brofenbrenner’s concepts
like many authors to explain the details of many social evils Belsky (1980), for example
child abuse, domestic violence etc. (Heise, 1998). It is further elaborated as a
framework which shapes the behaviour through social interaction between individuals.
This interaction leads to development in terms of different stages of social organization
(Dutton, 1994). This framework offers five stages, individualism, meso-system and
exo-system, micro-system and macro-system (Edleson, 1992). Individualism provides
personal and biological aspects, which triggers the behaviour of an individual, and the
micro-system encircles the workplace issues and family (Carison, 1984). The link
between a person’s micro-systems is provided by the meso-system stage of the
framework. Whereas, the relation between the social system and structure regarding the
person’s social living is explained by exo-system. Lastly, the role of cultural
background on wider level is encompassed by the macro-system.
Since feminism advocates the women’s rights; therefore, feminist theories view social
issues as consequences of patriarchal societies. Feminists argue that woman abuse is due
to the existing patriarchal setup, which keeps women in servile state. According to the
feminist standpoint through social change things can be changed, i.e. when women start
raising their voice against violence (Gondold and Fisher, 1988). Bandura believes that
social learning theory is an arrangement of perpetration and acceptance principle and the
level of psychological and physical abuse is examined through aggressive actions against
the target (Campbell and Humphreys, 1993). Another theory, i.e. exchange theory
appears to be the alternate of learning theory and it suggests that the assaulters hit people,
because they have power or authority to do such actions. For the perpetrators, violence is
a way to have control on other people (Galles and Cornell, 1985).
Framework for Establishing Perception about VAW

In the world health report typology of violence is presented in three broader categories to
highlight how violent acts are committed: a) self-directed, b) interpersonal and c) collective
violence (WHO, 2002). Along with that, it also highlights the nature and intensity of
violent acts, i.e. sexual, physical, and psychological, etc. this report has overviewed the
nature of violence faced by both men and women of different ages. Interpersonal violence
is mainly considered most common type of violence faced by women globally and it can be
imposed by an individual or group of people. Therefore, interpersonal violence is further
divided into two subdivisions, i.e. by family or by community, within or outside the home.
Usually girls in their childhood and adolescence period or mature women face
interpersonal violence and this type of violence is imposed to control their lives. Violence
against women is outlined and indicated in the figure below:
Source: Flow chart of VAW typology, altered on the basis of WHOs world report on
violence and health (WHO, 2002).
The Nature of the Violent acts
Violent Aimportant to note that whether violence is self-directed, interpersonal or

collective, it involves sexual, physical and psychological abuse. The situation becomes
more complex and intense when these forms interrelate to each other and as a result
complex behaviour pattern is shown, i.e. physical or sexual abuse might combine with
psychological violence under some specific circumstances. According to Coker, women
who face both sexual and physical violence suffer from severe health issues than women
who face physical violence only. He concluded that sexual violence might cause severe
violence impact on women and can also escalate violence acts (Coker, 2000).
Physical violence: It is basically exercising physical aggressiveness through aggressive

acts like strangling, kicking, hitting, beating or slapping. Injuries caused due to such
aggressive acts are disguised as accidents. These injuries can cause serious health issues
and can even cause death (Ellsberg, 1999). Various studies show that between 10% - 60%
women are beaten or face physical abuse by their intimate partners (Heise, 2002).
Domestic violence by an intimate partner is prevailing in the society, because the effected
female hesitate to share, therefore it is not possible to find out accurate figures.
Psychological, mental, or emotional violence: This type of violence indicates the

humiliation and frustration women face through restrictions like preventing them from
seeing friends and family, economic dependency, threatening and sharing healthy
conversations with the persons they like. This type of violence cannot be easily
characterized on the basis of countries or cultures, because it varies from place to place
and culture to culture (Maxwell & Blair, 2015). For example, a husband may force his
wife to spend time with other males Jewkes (2002), or confining her within the home and
not letting her to meet other people is considered as an emotional violence (Watts, 2002).
Sexual violence: In sexual violence, physical force is used against the victim for sexual
assault or exploitation, which can transmit sexually transmitted diseases, because such
perpetrators do not use safe methods for forced sex. Family members or strangers can
exercise sexual violence in any settings of their choice. Its worst form is rape, that can be
committed by a single male or group of males (gang rape) and the victim can be of any
age, i.e. a young girl, adolescent or grown up woman. Sexual violence can be termed
differently for instance, sexual assault, rape, sexual abuse. But these terms can be used
according to the situations differently or interchangeably (WHO, 2003).
Review Literature
Women have always been considered as the property of men, therefore women have
always faced violence and oppression. Their low status in the society allows men to use
violence against them. Status of women varies in different parts of the world due to
various factors (Pakeeza, 2015). According to World Health Organization (WHO), one
out of three women face physical and sexual abuse and majority of the cases remain
unreported (Qaisarani et al., 2016). The UN claims that violence against women starts
even before their birth, i.e. on sex identification a baby girl is even aborted and making
Female infanticide very common. Women face discrimination and violence from their
childhood to old age, which is a violation of fundamental human rights and causes them
physical, psychological and sexual abuse. Marital life of a woman intensifies her
problems. It is commonly observed in western and eastern societies. Patriarchal social
structure, customs, traditions and gender discrimination leads to a society, where
inequalities against women are continuously increasing (Pakeeza, 2015).
Babar argues that Pakistani culture is also male dominated and violence against women is
caused due to various factors, which involves socio-cultural setup, customs and traditions,
norms and values, because they are deep rooted in our society (Babar, 2007). Patriarchy is
tracked down from the era of Indo-Pak Sub-continent and is still prevailing in Pakistani
socio-cultural setup. Male dominance is more visible in rural communities, since they are
deprived of getting access to resources and basic fundamental rights (Pakeeza, 2015).
Many substantial efforts have been made regarding health and violence, but still we lack in
having accurate knowledge, facts and figures regarding the subject. For instance, it is very
obvious that women face violence, but the intensity of violence and women’s exposure to
various types of violence throughout their life remains unacknowledged, which definitely
results in extreme health issues and even causes death (Guruge and Khanlou, 2004).
Violence against Women in Historical Context
Discrimination against women is present in all human societies, which deprives them
from attainment of their rights. History also reveals that women always had limited
choices and had no control over their body and had no rights on her children, property,
income and belongings, i.e. they were not given the right of decision making. Since they
have no control of their life decisions, therefore, they are bound to accept what is decided
for them by the males of their family. This male authority had led to violence and denial
of their legal and social rights. In Indo-Pak Subcontinent, Muslim societies used to prefer
traditions and customs over the religious laws, which had a negative impact. Due to mix
cultural living in this region, people of different religions adopted customs and traditions
of other cultural groups gradually. Status of women in Hinduism gradually impacted the
Muslim societies, thus lowering the status of Muslim women as well. Denial of women’s
rights made them submissive in nature (Joseph, 2005). Socially constructed gender roles
are basically the root cause of gender discrimination in Muslim Communities. Different
socio-cultural factors play their role in designing social status of women (Federal
Research Division, Library of Congress, 2005). When some social practices became
common or legalized, due to social acceptance than it is not an easy task to eradicate it
and in such male dominated societies, violence is not considered as the violation of
women’s rights. Thus, violence becomes the acceptable behaviour of the society society
due to social setup (Galtung, 1990).
Violence against Women in Pakistan
Pakistan being a Muslim ideological state has the constitution and laws based on the
Quran and Sunnah (Brass & Vanaik, 2002). But, it is not pre-dominantly Islamic, because
the cultural influence by other cultures and religions due to mix cultural living is very
dominant. In Pakistan, cultural setup deviate us from Islamic teachings to a certain extent
and adopting such social practices, which can clearly be called as evil practices for
example, honor killing etc. (Warner, 2012). Visible male domination can be seen in all
aspects of life for example, legal matters, family matters, religious aspects, politics,
socio-cultural practices and economic matters (Kugelmass, 2004). In household setup,
especially in a rural setup domestic violence is considered as a family matter, which
cannot be intervened by any authority and reporting of domestic violence cases is also not
a common practice in Pakistan (Fikree and Bhatti, 1999). Low social status of women
enables men to treat them unfairly; these social and cultural norms are so engrossed in
our society that we are unable to identify its limit and extent (Bettencourt, 2000).
Violence against women in all its worst forms has negative impact on Pakistani society;
women are given no importance as human. Thus, the social structure is also deteriorating;
especially the rural women suffer the most. Many social customs are practiced in
Pakistan like, honor killing, Wani, Sawara, Wattasatta, etc., these customs are capturing
and harming women’s entire being (Kugelmass, 2004). The cultural influence from other
religions has overshadowed the rights and status of women in Muslim societies instead of
having dominated Islamic ideological society. In Pakistan, male dominance is promoted
to a collective level through procedures and functioning of existing laws, customary laws
and norms, self assumed religious interpretations and representing the false image of
society.
Distinguishing between Violence and Disciplinary Act
Violence against women is misquoted by depicting wrong interpretation of verse 34 of

Surah Nisa. It is misinterpreted by saying that in Quran, Allah has permitted to beat
women if they disobey. There is a very fine line between understanding this verse
correctly, i.e. there is a difference in admonishment and beating a wife on her actions.
Verse 34 clearly states that there are certain steps which should be followed in case of
disciplining a disloyal wife on her misconduct. This verse cannot be used to support the
male domination or to give him authority to treat women as they want. Such false
interpretation will be considered as misinterpreting the Holy Quran (Hendricks, 1988). In
Holy Quran specific word for beating is used in Arabic as “daraba”, which means
separating or departing and in the Holy Quran, out of 16 times it is used in 9 places
(Hathout, 2014). Besides this specific word, in the Holy Quran, in several verses, Allah
says to respect and love your spouses and treat them well without harming them. Al-
Habri (2000) asserts to treat women nicely and husband should resolve the issues
regarding disciplinary actions by using his authority, but only in extreme cases. But even
in such cases, women should not be mistreated, things should be sorted out in proper
manner in a civilized way (Al-Bukhari, vol. 8: Hadith 68). The Quran has pronounced
very clearly regarding the issue, because it is mandatory for men to provide maintenance
to their wives and to protect them. On the other hand it is obligatory for women to
maintain their chastity even in their husband’s absence they should remain a righteous
wife. If a wife disobeys then husband can use his authority, but that too according to the
shariyah, because beating a wife is always discouraged in Islam (MacFarquhar, 2007).
Culture of any region is usually influenced by other religions and their cultures. Similarly,
Pakistan being an Islamic state has Islamic principles and laws, but culturally we see that
Pakistani society is also influenced and is not purely Islamic, in a way that people
practice social practices which are not Islamic at all and it is a total violation of human
rights for example tribal-culture, which is definitely pre-Islamic and some other customs
like Wattasatta, Wani, Sawara, etc. (Pakeeza, 2015). Muslim and non-Muslim both
societies portray almost same characteristics regarding women’s low status. The picture
of women’s status is almost the same throughout the world; therefore, at international
level various steps were taken to uplift their status and to control the violent and
discriminatory acts against them.
CEDAW is one among such efforts to tackle the issue of violence, hence, in 1991,
CEDAW recognized VAW as a global issue due to the pressure from women’s groups,
and in 1993, declaration was passed UN regarding Elimination of Violence against
Women (Azhar et al., 2012). The issue of violence against women is growing in those
societies where male dominance is a social norm and women are considered as a property
of men (Babur, 2007). In the present age, violation of human rights prevails in its worst
form in every country, class, race, ethnicity, culture and age (Azhar et al., 2012). When
male dominance combines with social differences, it becomes the worst form of VAW
(Bunch, 1990). This situation can occur anywhere, i.e. within the domestic domain,
workplace, public places and even in prison. WHO has exposed that VAW exists in all
societies, in all countries. It has also reported that VAW is lower in western and
European countries because of high GDP and GNP growth (WHO, 2013). In the fourth
world conference on women in 1995, the secretary general of the UN declared that
gender equality is a very defining development, but still a lot is needed to be done,
especially a legal response of the international human rights system to curtail violence
against women (Edwards, 2011).
Violence can be sub-divided into three categories as direct violence when women are
killed in the name of honor killing by a relative, and it is structural violence when many
other men are also involved in killing act, whereas it is societal violence when
communities become least bothered on such acts of violence. According to Babar,
Pakistani society reflects the image of cultural violence. In Pakistan dowry appears to be
another form of violence against women in the form of humiliation, because girls are
chosen by their in laws on the weightage of dowry (Babar, 2007). Dowry custom is
common not only in urban areas, but also in rural areas and this custom persists due to
typical mindset. Demanding dowry is due to many reasons like groom’s family thinks
that this way they can earn again what they have invested on their son or to impress their
community by showing off the dowry. Whereas, in Islam it is otherwise, i.e. dowry is the
right of a bride and groom is responsible to give dower as a gift to his bride in cash or
kind or property etc. (Babur, 2007).
Methodology
This study examines the level of violence, exploitation and it also attempts to provide a
clear understanding of the qualitative exploration of violence against women regarding
social and cultural trends among women in Pakistan; therefore, to acquire in-depth study
qualitative research method and descriptive survey method has been used by interviewing
victims directly or their relatives to establish clear understanding regarding the topic to
reproduce material from reliable sources and references to understand and decipher
existing material. For this purpose case studies research methods is used to analyze
specific issues within the boundaries of a specific environment and situation, because
case study research method is explanatory, descriptive and exploratory in nature. In this
study five case studies are incorporated to access the history and current scenario
regarding violence against women in Pakistan by using unstructured interview schedule.
Two private and government hospitals in Karachi, i.e. Patel Hospital and Civil Hospital
were selected as a universe of the study, and the respondents were purposively selected
for conducting interviews in detail. Descriptive method is used to get the insight and
exact situation about the violence and exploitation faced by women from all walks of life
to highlight the social and cultural aspects, which affects them physically, mentally,
socially, culturally and psychologically. Since VAW is a burning issue therefore, it was
quite a challenge to interview victims and directly or their relatives from all provinces.
This study aimed to find out the overall scenario in Pakistan regarding violence against
women. In Pakistan very few hospitals provide the facility to deal violence victims,
especially burn victims, thus, these two hospitals (Patel Hospital and Civil Hospital) were
chosen as universe to interview the violence victims, because they offer complete care for
violence victims and patients from all over Pakistan are treated here. Hence the purpose
of the study to interview respondents from all provinces was served.
Study Purpose
The goal of this study is the qualitative exploration of violence against women (VAW)
regarding social and cultural trends among women in Pakistan. The study aims to
highlight the trends of violence throughout the life of women and to explore the causes
which remain invisible.
Case Studies
Research based on case studies creates a clear understanding about complicated issues
and entities, and it also strengthens the knowledge and experience, which is gained
already from previous researches. Case studies are subjected to provide detailed analysis
of an individual person, group of people, event(s), community/communities and
relationships. This research method is used in a variety of disciplines to obtain in-depth
knowledge. Social scientists use qualitative research method to analyse real-life
conditions in order to understand the issue more closely. Case study is an empirical
investigation technique to explore the phenomenon with unclear evidences. Case study
method is used to gain in-depth knowledge of events or situations based on:
• Complete understanding of the event(s)

• Detailed description of the event(s)
• Analyzing event(s) holistically within the context
In case studies a variety of data tools are used, for example, interviews, survey method,
research questionnaire, data analysis, observation and document reviews. Following the
research ethics respondents and their families were assured that their real names and
details will be kept secret and this information will not be handed over to print or
electronic media (Yin, 2012). Case study method is purposively chosen to acquire each
and every minute detail of violence victims in order to find out the root causes regarding
the subject. Since the aim of this study was to cover the violence scenario all over
Pakistan; therefore, respondents of different ethnicity were interviewed by visiting
different wards of selected government and private hospitals. Some respondents were in a
condition to give interview themselves and some interviews were conducted from the
victim’s relatives. The researcher maintained contact with the respondents even after
getting discharge from the hospital through phone, social websites, Skype and emails, in
order to seek answers of queries if needed. The respondents belong to different ethnic
regions of Pakistan, but only few hospitals have special wards to treat burn or acid
victims.
Case Study 1: Domestic Violence: Karachi
Violence against women has become a global issue, which is caused by a series of factors,
among which poverty, social injustice, gender inequality and a typical mindset of
patriarchal societies are the key factors. Domestic violence is very common, but it is
considered as a private issue or a family affair; therefore, it is not taken as a threat to
women’s life. These social attitudes help in the expansion of such social evils. Many
women become the victim of domestic violence by their intimate partners, and our
society remains silent for considering it as a private matter. Saira is one among such
victims who faced violence by her husband. She got married at the age of 20 years; in
early days of marriage her husband seemed to be a kind and loving person, but just after
one year of marriage he lost the job and his frustration initiated arguments between them,
which lead to violence later. First she thought to leave him, but her parents refuse to
support her in case of divorce. After six years of marriage and abuse by her husband,
Saira finally decided to seek help from a welfare centre or shelter home, because now she
had a daughter with her, whom she wants to provide a safe environment. With the help of
her neighbor, Saira moved to a shelter home and the incharge took her to a doctor to Civil
Hospital Karachi for physical and psychological treatment. After few sessions she felt
better and came out of that trauma and is now recovering. With the doctor’s permission
the researcher took her interview. During the interview session she told that sometimes
her husband used to beat her even on petty things even after promising to behave
properly. The staff of the shelter home provided her food, shelter and clothing. After
gaining her confidence again she filed a divorce case against her husband and started a
job to take care of her child. Saira told that sometimes her husband becomes so violent
that he even used to beat his own four years old daughter. She advises women, do not let
anyone hurt or exploit you; she wants women to be brave and to take steps to protect
themselves. Besides that, she emphasized on awareness, because most of the women are
unaware about the escape routes from such situations. These cases show that violence
against women and children distorts not only their physical but psychological health as
well; therefore, there should be a community-based support system to protect women
from being victimized by their male counterparts and other family and community
members.
Case Study 2: Burn Victim: Sindh
Violence against women has increased due to the legacy of institutionalized

discrimination; therefore, now the government officials and policy makers have started to
take serious measures to eradicate ethnical and gender discrimination, these policies will
result only if they are implicated effectively. It is the responsibility of state to provide
protection to women and should attempt to abolish gender inequalities and all other
factors which are causing it. Efforts have been made on national and international level to
control violence against women. CEDAW and Beijing Platform of Action and policies
and legislation at national level can eradicate VAW by taking appropriate measures.
Along with laws implementation, punishments should also be given, because punishment
and penalty can control the issue to certain extent. Women face all types of violence due
to the absence of effective policies and check and balance system. In Pakistan women
face domestic violence either by their intimate partner or by in-laws. During this study a
thirty years old woman named Perveen was interviewed in Civil Hospital Karachi, where
she was brought for treatment from Sukhar, Sindh. She was victimized by her in-laws
they attempted to burn her alive. She belongs to a middle class family and is the only
child of her parents; she got married to Aqil just after completing her matriculation.
Initially her in-laws used to treat her well. But after two years their attitude towards her
started to change, because she could not bear a child due to medical complications. Her
sister in-laws forced Aqil to marry again for a child, but he refused. This situation left no
choice for her in-laws; they started to plan to get rid of her. Initially they accused her of
bad character, but still her husband had faith in her and became angry on such cheap
tactics of his sisters. Perveen’s in-laws then decided to burn her alive and pretend it to be
an accident. One day they trapped Perveen in the kitchen and set her on fire. That day
Aqil by chance came home early and seeing the situation he tried to save his wife, but in
the process he too got severe burns and could not survive, whereas, Perveen survived.
Her face and both arms till shoulders were burnt, she had first degree burns; therefore,
she remained out of danger. Thought she is alive, but her whole life is devastated now.
Case Study 3: Acid Throwing: Punjab
Violence cases against women are becoming very common. According to studies acid
throwing cases are a result of refusal of love or marriage proposal from women, which
shows that patriarchal society do not allow women to make decisions of their own.
Maryam a nineteen years old girl became the victim of acid throwing and was brought to
Patel Hospital Karachi from Lahore by her parents; she belonged to a very well off
family and she happened to be a very pretty girl. She was living a very happy and content
life and was busy in completing her O’ Levels. It was an intentional act of acid burning
and she had third degree burns. The culprit (Amjad) was the van driver who used to pick
and drop her to the college. He started to develop a liking for her, but in a lust full
manner, she ignored him and tried to avoid. She once told her mother about this, but her
mother did not pay much attention as she has no idea that this could become so serious.
But one day he told her clearly about his liking and Maryam refused him and stopped
going in his van and told her parents about it. Then her father took the responsibility to
pick and drop her to the college. One day she was standing at the college gate waiting for
her father, suddenly that van driver appeared and asked her once again, she refused, then
he flared up and threatened her, she was so afraid and just few days after this argument he
threw acid on her face and body while she was waiting for her father at the college gate.
She got severe burns and died after three weeks of the incident. Her father files a case
against Amjad but police failed to arrest him. Acid throwing seems to be the easiest way
of punishing women for the crimes and mistakes, which were never committed by them.
Case Study 4: Honor Killing: Peshawar
Patriarchal society does not allow women to live life based on their choices and decisions,
but on the other hand when it comes to family’s name and pride (khandaan ki izzat),
women are considered as its custodian. Therefore, women have to face great burden not
to bring any shame to the family, whereas a son has no such obligation. The term honor
killing is referred as to punish a person who spoils family’s name and pride, which seems
to be the responsibility of women only. Farhana has been just another teenage girl,
becoming the victim of our so called social customs, honor killing (ghairat ke naam per
qatal). This interview was conducted from her mother after her death through Skype,
because this case was referred by a doctor of Civil Hospital Karachi. Farhana’s mother
agreed to give interview, because she was very guilty for not been able to save her
daughter. After the death of her father, her elder brother became the head of the
household. Farhana and her mother being dependent on Ali (brother) could not decide
anything on their own. After completing the graduation, she wanted to do the job. Her
brother permitted but unwillingly, because he was not in favour of women to work. One
of Farhana’s colleagues (Asim) was interested in her; therefore, he perused her mother
and brother for marriage proposal. Instead of marrying off her sister in a good manner,
Ali flared up and doubted her of immoral character. The things started becoming
complicated and one day Ali killed her own sister by burning her alive, because
according to him she was bringing bad name to the family. The worst thing was that even
her mother was unable to save her. She feels very guilty now, but has no strength to file a
case against her own son. Honor killing is not controlled yet even after legislation by the
assemblies at national level.
Case Study 5: Rape Victim: Balochistan
Violence against women is not an issue of one community, region or country. Even after
legislations to control VAW, we see continuous increase of violence cases at national and
global level. Sexual assault and rape cases have become the news headlines on daily basis.
A sexual assault case of unmarried twenty four years old girl Sara Baloch was referred by
Civil Hospital Karachi. Doctor convinced her father for an interview in order to raise
voice on all possible forums. Sara was a daughter of a retired JCO (junior commissioned
officer in Pakistan army), their native city is Quetta. She was raped by a man (Naseer) to
take revenge for refusing his proposal. Naseer was a criminal and was even sent to jail
twice therefore, her father refused to accept his proposal. After refusing his proposal Sara
and her family thought that he will not harm them. But he was not that kind of person; he
took the refusal as his insult and wanted to take revenge. He was only waiting for the
right moment, and a week later he kidnapped Sara and raped her, and he also burned her
entire body brutally with cigarette. She was physically mentally tormented. She is not
only mentally upset but she also fear men and does not want to marry anyone now. Her
parents and siblings support her fully and want to see her to lead a normal life again.
These cases happen because culprit gets away even after committing such brutal crimes.
Though Sara has survived, but the question arises that, the trauma Sara and her family
has faced, can it be erased from their memories? And when the police will become
efficient enough to arrest such culprits?
Results and Discussion
Creating understanding and awareness about VAW is more complex than it seems.
Examining the literature shows that all of its explanations have contextual and
cultural background. The violence phenomenon in the Pakistani context is evident
from the theoretical perspective as well. This study has focused to cover intrinsic and
extrinsic factors through social, economic, political and cultural setup in Pakistan.
The majority of the women face violence by their intimate partners, or as a result of
love or proposal refusal, including honor killing, bride burning and rape, etc. Along
with that major contributor are the customs like Karo-Kari, Wani, Sawara, Wattasatta,
etc. Violence of any form is a clear violation of fundamental human rights, which
causes women social and economic issues along with physical and psychological
problems.
In Pakistan, on public and private sector level no such efforts are done to establish a
balanced society possessing balanced relationship; therefore, instead of improvement,
social deterioration is becoming more common. It is an urgent need of the time to
conduct enough researches to explore all known and unknown aspects of the problem.
Eradication of social evils is possible only when serious efforts with appropriate
policies will be practiced. There are extrinsic and intrinsic factors involved in
violence against women. Extrinsic factors include male’s authority within the family,
economic dependency on males and verbal conflicts, etc. Patriarchy seems to be the
main determinant of violence against women, because women do not have decision
making power or control over their bodies and lives. In patriarchal societies like
Pakistan, males are considered head of the household and women have no authority at
all, they cannot even decide anything for their children. At this point women consider
themselves socially isolated, helpless, powerless, insecure and incomplete and
bungling without men. This social scenario makes women a very easy victim for the
perpetrators. Domestic violence within the marital relationship gives men full
authority to treat women as they want. Women are deprived and disgraced by their
own intimate partners. Women are considered as men’s property and a commodity,
whose role is submissive and has to sacrifice her life for her family. Before marriage,
she has to maintain her family’s pride and after marriage, she became the property of
her husband. Only in few families dignity of woman is maintained, but then the other
men become the perpetrator. As in case studies different scenarios are observed that
females are mistreated by her brother or husband and if the family is supporting then
in that case strangers become the perpetrator. Women’s life is restricted either by
extrinsic or intrinsic factors, either they face domestic violence from their husbands or
in-laws or they become the victim of people with whom they have no relationship.
This research analyzes that, man-made values, code of conduct and ethics are fulfilled
at the cost of women’s life.
Conclusions
Violence against women is a growing problem globally. Women from all cultural
backgrounds, ethnicity, races, classes and region are affected due to violence and
injustice within the society. Majority of the times violence cases have become life
threatening for women, which is represented in this study through case studies. Practice
of traditions and customs also causes violation of human rights, thus women being
vulnerable part of the society are easily victimized. Violence not only disturbs their life,
but also affects their health physically and psychologically. Violence against women has
many dismaying forms, which includes: domestic violence, sexual abuse, rape, girl child
marriage, female circumcision, acid throwing, burning to death and wife battering, which
is a clear violation of fundamental human rights.
This study has been carried out to identify and evaluate the issues faced by the
women due to social and cultural factors qualitatively. The study reveals that in the
presence of legal cover and laws, women are exploited and face abusive behaviour
from males within and outside the home. Which clearly indicates that implementing
laws only is not enough to bring social change, for that purpose, we need to work on
changing mindsets as well. Another reason of increase in the level of violence against
women and exploitation is lack of awareness of rights among women in Pakistan.
Their ignorance becomes the reason of their victimization, and due to lack of
awareness they only seek rescue rather than complaining against the abusive
behaviour of people around them. This study alone cannot cover all the aspects of
VAW; therefore, further in-depth studies are required to explore all the root causes on
the subject. These issues should be dealt on emergency bases in order to protect
women from violence of all kinds, otherwise cases like Zainab of Qusoor and such
other incidents will take place repeatedly and women and girls will become more
vulnerable against these social evils.
Limitation and Delimitations
Since the aim of this study was to find out the overall scenario regarding violence against
women in Pakistan, therefore it was quite a challenge to interview respondents from all
the provinces because in Pakistan such cases are not reported. Somehow, it became
possible to interview respondents belonging to different ethnicity, by visiting different
wards of government and private hospitals and by interviewing the relatives of victimized
women directly or by using social websites, Skype and emails. Violence against women
is a deep rooted social and cultural aspect, therefore reaching respondents and
interviewing them was not an easy task. By using personal links and assistance,
interviewing became possible. Respondents and their families were assured that their real
names and details will be kept secret and this information will not be handed over to print
or electronic media.
Recommendations
To combat violence against women some serious efforts are needed, which should be
systematic, well-coordinated and sustainable.
• Existing laws regarding human rights and violence against women should be
amended to enhance the promotion and protection of women in Pakistan.
• International laws and agreements should be implemented strictly to assure the
protection of women.
• Budget allocation in a substantive amount is needed to help out the women who
are victimized, to provide urgent help in economic and medical urgency.
• According to the constitution of Pakistan liberty, protection and legal aid should
be provided urgently to deal the matter as quickly as possible in order to maintain
social justice.
• It is the obligation of government to provide legal aid to every citizen to protect
their lives, which is their fundamental right.
• Laws regarding violence against women and their protection should be adequately
implemented.
• Free and one window legal aid system should be introduced at district level.
• Government and private sector should make collaborative efforts to curtail
violence against women.
• Awareness campaigns and seminars should be conducted at local level, to raise
the level of awareness regarding rights among women.
• Education and awareness programmes can help in changing the mindset of

people, because violence against women is deeply rooted in our society and
culture.
• Social injustice, discrimination and gender biases can only be overhauled by
appropriate interventions at all levels.
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____________________
Seema Manzoor is Lecturer in the Centre of Excellence for Women’s Studies,

Dua-e-Rehma is Lecturer in the Centre of Excellence for Women’s Studies, University

of Karachi.
Prof. Dr. Naheed Abrar is Chairperson in the Department of Social Work, Federal Urdu
University, Karachi.
Vol. 16, 2018, pp. 201-216, ISSN: 2072-0394
Prevalence Of Sexual Harassment Among Sportswomen In

Pakistan
Shagufta Jahangir
&
Asma Manzoor
Women Studies
Abstract
Sexual harassment (SH) in sports is present in all over the world due to socially
constructed values, myths and norms. Harassment is faced by large number of women
in sports and it is present in all individual and team sports. The ratio is less in South
Asian region as compared to western countries and it is also present in Pakistan. The
objective of the research is to explore the social behaviors with the victimized sports
women of SH in the Pakistani society. The researcher has used non-probability method
in which purposive sampling method is used to collect data through interview schedule
from 210 sports women residing in different places of Pakistan. Findings of the study
highlights that sport women face SH. According to sports women they are harassed or
abused by their male counterparts, i.e. which are their trainers, coaches and lower staff
even during travelling for their sports seasons. The results of SH showed that women
left sports due to the social norms of the society. Women hide such incidents due to the
sake of self-respect, self-esteem and family honor. It is observed that women who faced
SH usually attempt suicide to protect their honor. As a result, these women fear and hate
men and they face psychological issues. This article aims to describe that SH is present
in sports in Pakistan like other countries and females are aware about it, because usually
in Pakistani society such cases are kept hidden. The importance of this study is to aware
women about SH so that they can safeguard themselves.
Keywords: Sexual Harassment, Abuse, Sport, Oppression, Discrimination, Socially

Constructed Values.
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Introduction
Sexual harassment prevails at work place and at educational institutions (Stockdale,

1996), and extensive research has shown that in the last three decades it is observed in
sports also (Fasting et al., 2004). Harassment persists in sports field also but very few
researches have been conducted on sexual harassment on sports women before 1980s
(Toftegaard Nielsen, J. 2001). During the mid-1980’s, it became an alarming issue for
trainers and sports persons (Brackenridge C, 2001). The first research article regarding
SH with sports women was published in late 1980’s (Crosset, 1986 & Brackenridge,
1987). In 1980s exploitation and sexual harassment against sports women became very
common (Fasting et al., 2002).
The prevalence rate of sexual harassment is between 2 to 50 percent globally and it varies
country to country based on their culture and values (Vanden Auweele et al., 2008).
About 90 % of victims suffer from emotional stress (Garlick, 1994), the effects of sexual
harassment are very long term and lifelong. In the sports arena men are considered as
dominant while women still have the subordinate position; therefore, the chances of
sexual harassment automatically increases (Quina, 1991). Globally the trend is seen that
women are considered as an entity and men show sexist attitude (Curry, 1991).
Journal of Sexual Aggression (JSA) organized a symposium on sexual harassment in

Sports, which was held at the Xth Congress of the International Society of Sports
Psychology, Greece from 28th to 2nd June 2001. The main purpose of that symposium was
to find out the causes of sexual harassment in sports and increase the awareness of sexual
abuse against women and children. About more than 60 committees are working to
protect teenagers, young people and females in sport across the globe. In America, sports
women face more sexual harassment (Volkwein, 1997). Whereas, in Canada, even
Olympian coaches, were found involved in sexual harassment with sports women, as per
observations six times more than others (Kirby, & Greaves, 1996), and almost 1.5 percent
sports women face the abuse and sexual harassment (Annmarie Pinarski, 2000). In
Australia the elite sports players face sexual harassment and abuse, where no action is
taken against these cases (Leahy et al., 2002).
Shagufta Jahangir, Asma Manzoor 203
Sports organizations are responsible to create a code of morals and behavior for trainers
to promote an atmosphere where the cases of sexual harassment and exploitation can be
dealt in an appropriate manner. These organizations are also responsible to develop self-
sufficiency among sports women by introducing trainer teaching programs through the
integration of the subjects of sexual harassment, violence and abuse. They also suggested
that there must be certain criteria for the selection of every employee. The researches on
sexual harassment in sport have inclined to take an extra organizational tactic, because
only few people are acknowledged about the characteristics, reasons, consequences and
manifestation of sexual harassment in sports to raise the awareness level. Sports
organizations and sports science describe that the presence of sexual harassment in sports
is due to gender ratio; sexualized atmospheres and organizational power.
Sports field is considered as an unsafe environment for sports women due to sexual
harassment and abuse, it is being reported that authorities are involved in such activities
(Fasting K et al, 2003). Every government is responsible to provide protection and rights
to avoid gender discrimination, religious barriers, ethnicity issues and class difference
(Moghadam, 2002).
The basic barriers for women to participate in sports are involved religion, socially
constructed values, male domination, dress code, gender discrimination, patriarchy and
limited resources (Dagkas et al., 2010). After 2012, besides all social problems a revolution
has begun internationally for the sake of sports women. 2012 was declared as the women’s
year, because all the nations accepted two nations (South Sudan and Vatican) sent their
women to contribute in Olympics games (polgeonow, 2012). The trend shows that still
sports women have to face barriers like gender discrimination, ethnicity, traditions, norms,
civilization, culture, race, nationality, political views, and religion. To bring everything in
order it is very important to increase the participation of women in sports, and for all the
nations should stand together to liberate women in all fields.
Usually the perpetrators of SH are dominant positions and have power to keep sports
women are victimized and keep silence (Marks, 2016). Sports women do not reported
the cases to the concerned authorities due to the fear of drop out from the team, even
colleagues do not believed about the harassment incidence and feel embarrassed in front
of coach or team (Fasting, 2014). Carroll (1993) pointed out that men show their
dominancy through the act of violence. It is essential to increase the women’s
participation in sports for eradicating the male dominancy and SH (Brackenridge, 2001).
Sports women can protect her from SH as they have empowerment, self- confidence and
sagacity of physical proficiency (Bart, 1981). According to Fasting (2014) perpetrators of
SH do not get punishment of their sin due to the victims fear. In Pakistan many cases are
highlighted but due to the strong relationship of perpetrators with the enforcement
agencies and no charges dueled on them (Sameyah Said, 2017; Dunya News channel,
Abtak News TV, Samaa TV. 2017; Shamsi, Rahim Amber, 2014).
Indian sports women are also victimized of SH. A famous Indian cricketer of 1981- 1986
and a very well known hockey player pointed out that SH is present in Indian Women
Cricket team. According to each player that the dreadful thing about India is that authentic
brilliant and meticulous players do not welcome and get penalized for not giving sexual
favor (Verma et al., 2015). In Pakistan a hockey player had claimed the sexual harassment
to the coach and her colleagues provided eye witness against the coach but due to unfair
investigation of both the players were suspended for life time from the Pakistan Hockey
Federation (PHF) (Sameyah Said, 2017, Dunya News channel, Abtak News TV, Samaa TV,
2017). According to (Shamsi, Rahim Amber, 2014) that harassment and abuse attitude of
coach, injustices stance and wrong allegations compelled a cricketer in 2014 for suicide.
Coaches are enjoying and players lost their careers as well as their dignity in the society so
these live examples prohibited women from sports in Pakistan because society not supports
to the women to move over men (Sameyah Said, 2017; Shamsi, Rahim Amber, 2014). SH
is present in Pakistan in all sports but social behaviors preventing women to report it
because victims never punished in Pakistan. Timmermann (1999) and Whelehan, (1995)
observes that this issue is more complicated in other countries as compared to Pakistan.
According to Jamshed Kazi (Representative of UN Women Pakistan, 2016) explored that
the key challenged for Pakistani sports women is a safe public place where they play
without facing any kind of harassment (Esapzai, 2014). Men are occupied administrative
and coaching positions in the women sports federation’s even men on authority of decision
making on sports women issues. Women are powerless regarding her own issues so men
get benefits from this weakness and just pass the orders without taking favor for women so
SH in sports is increasing day by day in Pakistan.
Objectives
Discussion on the SH is taboo in the Pakistani society especially with the reference of
women. The main theme of the study is to showing the social behavior with the
victimizers and exposed the perpetrator for saving the future of youths from SH.
• To analyze the social behaviors with the victimized sportswomen of SH during
their professional career.
• To find out that the rate of prevalence of SH with sports women in the Pakistani
society.
• To explore that usually in Pakistan the victimized sport women are face more SH
during the struggle of justice and the perpetrators escapes from allegations.
Review Literature
Sports are physical activities in which players get involved in many games including
cricket, tennis polo and so on. As SH and abuse is present in all sports (Fasting et al.,
2004). It is nearby at all levels (Brackenridge, 1994). Fasting (2014) also pointed out that
the prevalence rate of sexual harassment is ranging 2 to 50% globally and it varies
country to country based on their culture and values. At present very limited
investigations there are available about SH in sports (Marks S, 2016). According to
United Nations (2007) report that the rate of SH in sports in Canada (40 - 50%), Australia
(31%), Norway (28%), Denmark (25%) and in Czech Republic is (45%). This report
clearly shows that the prevalence rate of SH is present in almost countries with
fluctuating rate. According to Fasting (2014) the study on sports students of USA shows
19% SH, 21% United Kingdom club athletes faces SH, in Turkey a study shows that 200
sports women out of 365 are victimized of SH, it means that the prevalence rate of SH is
65%, Danish sports sciences students offending 25% SH, even a study (1200 sports
women) of SH in Canada pointed out that very high profile (22%) sports women of
Olympics accepted that they had sexual relations with authority persons while 9%
accepted that they had sexual relations. Fasting (2014) also point out that a study of 2118
sports women of Australia showed that 31% of women were victimized of SH and 41%
abused through sports surroundings. The First World Conference held in 1996 at
Lausanne (Switzerland) in which participant countries agreed to solve the sports women
issues including sexual harassment. In the second world conference in 2000 at Paris
(France), where finalized they to give equal opportunities without gender discrimination
among men and women to handle their issues without involvement of men.
Figure-1: Social effects of Sexual Harassment on Sports Women
headaches Physical harassment

sexual problem
depression sports
sleep disturbances women
metrological reactions
shock
weight fluctuations
gastrointestinal distress
anxiety
self-blame Mental harassment Sexual harassment social issue

anger
denial
nightmares
panic reaction
guilt
panic reaction
low self-esteem
isolation
phobias
fear Psychological harassment

frustration
irritability
insecurity
powerless feelings
feeling of betrayal confusion
shame
self- consciousness
lethargy
embarrassment
206 Prevalence of Sexual Harassment among Sportswomen inn Pakistan
Victims of SH are physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and psychologically very

upset (Hillberg T, 2011; Garli
Garlick, 1994). According to (Koss, 1991) point out that 21 - 81%
females are mentally, physically and emotionally disturbed regarding sex. Physically victims
of SH have weak in general health, reproductive health, cardiopulmonary health and
gastrointestinal in any stage of her/his life (Irish et al.,, 2010) even according to (Waldron .,
et al 2011) some time victims die. Fasting (2014) described that victims face anxiety, feel
helplessness, fear of rape, poor performance, depression, less confidence, feel guilt and
disturbed family life.
With the reference of Pakistan, very limited literature available on SH regarding women
in sports due to the reason, it is impossible to investigate thoroughly. Social myths, norms,
customs and traditions of Pakistan strictly prohibited sports women to show the real
picture of SH in front of public because
because the social values, victims are responsible for
every wrong and have no support from anywhere even of her family. Victimized woman /
girl have become sensitive. It is too much difficult for the researcher to find out from any
sports women. According to (Shamsi Rahim and Esapzai, 2014) that a female cricketer in
2014 attempt suicide due to the SH so whenever asked about SH to sports women
especially to those who are the victims of these brutal acts of SH then they keep silence.
Some sports women highlighted
highlighted that their name must be kept secret or do not disclosed in
public, while they were sharing harassment incidence with researcher. In Pakistan cases
of SH with sports women are reported and media is also highlighted but the powerful
perpetrator use their power and victims back out from their cases due to fear. Influential
and non-serious
serious attitude of the society is also a main contributing factor to hide this
serious issue.
Figure-2: Shows the prevalence of SH in different

ent sports in Pakistan
12
Sexual Harassment %
10
Sports
Source: Researcher.
According to (Henriette Bjoerge and Faria Salaman, 2016) that in Pakistan, it is the key
challenge for women and girls in sports is the lack of safe public space making it difficult
to find places to play sports activities without facing harassment or abused. It means that
SH is increase day by day in the society. It is a major impediment in bringing the best
players to the fore. It is noted that incompetent players are exploited sexually either by
will or by force in the wake of achieving favors and influential positions.
Methodology
The researcher has used non-probability method in which purposive sampling method is
used to collect data through interview schedule from 210 sports women residing in
different places of Pakistan with review of global literature. They are all in the age
bracket of between 11 to 41 years. All of the participants belong to different individual
and team sports. Almost all the interviews conducted at respondents practice place, home,
universities, federations, clubs or cafeteria. Approximately 109 interviews were
conducted through direct communication. 41, were done after sending letters to the
different sports federations while 23, were conducted by telephonic communication. 19,
questionnaires are filled through the federations and were sent back to the researcher via
mailing address like mountain climber. 18 interviews were done through other sources
(personal relations). An interview completed approximately 40 to 50 minutes. The
interview of the Scuba diver (Rosheen Khan) done through a telephone call. Almost
interviews of swimmers were being taken at the Karachi Gym khana during 16th National
Women Junior Age Group Swimming Championship April 9 & 10, 2016 and 29th & 30th
October 2016. The women have been engaged in cricket (n=35), hockey (n=27), football
(n=23), martial art (n=15), table tennis (n=10), badminton (n=13), squash (n=03), chess
(n=05), athletes (n=29), Swimmer (n=26), Tennis (n=05), Golf (n=02), Mountain climber
(n=02), Power lifter (n=03), Scuba diving (n=02) and Boxing (n=10). The participants are
playing in national and international competitions and Olympics. Some participants are the
iconic and explore the name of Pakistan internationally. Minichiello et al., (1997) argue
that through semi-structured interview researcher observed the daily routine of a
respondent.
Results & Discussions
There are 67 sportswomen out of 210 reported of incidents of practice of SH from their
coaches’ managers, team selector and other profession related males. Victims are in
between the age of 15 to 36. Almost victims are leaved their sports activities due to
sexual harassment, threatened and intimidated. The finding shows that only 31.9%
sportswomen accepted that they face this issue. Presented data shows that sports women
described that some males need unwanted sexual attachment and discussing about her
bodies. A sports girl (cricketer) told that a coach told me that if I sit with him very closely
then he promoted me nationally and internationally. My place is conformed in the team

constantly. Loose talk, dirty comments, discussing about the sexual parts of the women
body, unwanted sexual hints, requests for sexual favors, unwelcome sexual advances,
laughing, pinching, fondling, jokes, looks, comments, touching are quite common from
the coaches and managers. Coaches are playing the vital role in an athlete’s sports life
because they decided the position of player, playing time, grants, scholarship amount and
opportunities of playing in the team. Coaches have the power to up or down the status of
player even they involved the sports attire, food, rest hours and even membership in an
organization or fraternity. Furthermore; coaches and players frequently attach in physical
contact for learning the techniques and tactics of playing. Sometime player’s dependent
too much to the coaches and this is also a reason of SH with sports women.
Table: 1
Distribution of respondents according to attitudes of male coaches during training
Attitudes of male coaches during training Frequency Percentage
Good 03 1.428%
Harassment 93 44.285%
Normal 24 11.428%
Professional 90 42.857%
Total 210 100%
Data indicated that 44.285% respondents reported that the coaches harass player’s
especially young and inexperienced girls whereas 42.857% respondents said that the
attitude of coaches to the sports women is purely professional, whereas respondents said
that during training 11.428% respondents described that the attitude of coaches are
normal during training, while 1.428% respondents reported that the attitudes of male
coaches are very good (Table: 1).
Table: 2
Distribution of respondents according to attitude of staff during trainings/
competitions
Attitude of male staff, during trainings / competitions Frequency Percentage
Normal 133 63.332%
Good 35 16.666%
Professional 28 13.332%
Total 210 100%
Data indicated that 63.333% respondents reported that the attitude of staff (other than
coaches) during training and competitions is usually normal. 16.666% reported that they
are extremely very good. 13.333% said that it is professional, 5.238% said that it has
been unexpected. While 1.428% reported that the attitude of staff during training /
competitions has harassed them a lot (Table: 2).
Table: 3
Distribution of respondents according to the attitude of common man
Attitude of common man Frequency Percentage
Insulting behavior 37 17.619%
Misbehavior 21 10.00%
Offering friendship 85 40.476%
Total 210 100%
The data identifies that 40.476% of the respondents reported that males usually offer
friendship just for the sake of fun, whereas 31.904% male harass and abuse players while
17.619 % respondents reported that males of the society have shown insulting behavior
towards them and 10.00% said that males misbehaved with them (Table: 3).
Table: 4
Distribution of respondents according to the myths and norms regarding women sports
Myths and norms regarding women sports Frequency Percentage
Society prohibited 87 41.428%
Religion prohibited 70 33.333%
Revolt 09 4.285%
Become independent 05 2.380%
Girls do not listen to their parents 39 18.571%
Total 210 100%
In this table 41.428 % respondent’s said that the society strictly prohibited women from
participating in sports activities due to its strong patriarchal setup, according to the views
of 33.333% religion prohibited them to participate in sports and 18.571% respondents
have described that society supposed that sports women / girls do not listen to their
parents while 4.285% respondents have a very strong point of view that those who
participated in sports activities usually revolt from their norms and values and disobey
their parents and they do not follow the socially constructed values and enter in sports,
whereas, 2.382% reported that they become more independent and make their own
decisions in life (Table: 4).
Table: 5
Distribution of respondents according to sports women accepted in the society
Sports women accepted in the society Frequency Percentages
Yes 07 3.333%
No 143 68.095%
Depend on girls status (socio-economic) 17 8.095%
Currently accepted 43 20.476%
Total 210 100%
Data in the above table shows that 68.095% respondent’s said that sports women are not
being accepted by the society, whereas 20.476% respondents said that currently sports
women’s are easily accepted in Pakistani society while 8.095% said that the socio-
economic status of women / girls plays an important role in their participation in sports
activities, whereas only 3.33% sports women have been easily accepted by the society as
an sports women (Table: 5).
Sports women/girl highlighted the consequences that some coaches and managers
appearance all pure Islamic such as dress code, piousness, piety are asserting and pretending
to be pious but they do practiced harassment with the sports women. A girl told that:
“A coach gives open offer to girls for sexual favor then them putting them
on the regional and international teams”.
Another sports girl described that:

“When I entered in this field then some elder players told me the name of
some people and harshly advised me to reserves from those particular
persons and leave specific distance with them physically”.
Few elder and experienced sports women reported that just for the sake of their position
some ladies give opportunity to coaches, managers and selector to used young girls.
Sexual harassment is also depends on sports women economic and social status. A
reported case of suicide by a female cricketer was due to SH. The financial status of this
victimized girl was very weak and her relatives were not able to fight legally against the
perpetrator (coach) and exposed true picture of the case of SH and in last girl player
attempt suicide. It means that if player belong to low socio economic status then she is
probably has more chances of SH rather the strong socio-economic status
Some sports women pointed out that SH also depend on the sports, like cricket, football,
and hockey have more chances of SH rather swimming, chess and gulf. Other sportswomen
told that touching is strictly prohibited according to International Law but some coaches try
to touch women players and taking advantage. Sometime other female’s colleague
pressures new comers to give sexual favor to their coaches and managers.
It is very hard for Pakistani women to play sports as women due to social values. It is
really a huge accomplishment for women in Pakistan to achieve the higher level of status
in sports. From the birth of Pakistan, it has been representing many iconic sportswomen.
In Pakistan sports for women changed gradually even there is lack of support for women
in sports. Women play sports just for fun without chosen as profession. Social issues,
cultural barriers, poverty, lack of access to education are hindering women from sports
and they are unable to fulfill their dreams but according to available literature sports
women family play vital role for exposure of women in any sports. Some have even
travelled alone by using public transportation. The main finding of the data is that SH is
present in all sports but due to the social behaviors, Pakistani sportswomen hide it and
leave the sports even in some cases they attempt suicide and finished their lives.
Conclusions
The prevalence of SH is present in sports of Pakistan in all individual and team sports.
The socially constructed values, patriarchal society, Socio - economic status, Gender
discrimination and male dominancy are restricted women’s to open their lips on this
crucial issue. The ratio of SH is more than the consequences. Due to the perpetrators
position and socio-economic status very bold and talented sports women’s are also
neglecting to talk about this brutal issue and some sports women talk about it but with
very fear.
Recommendations
1. It is recommended to provide awareness in the society about the basic social,

human and religious rights of women.
2. Remove the gender stereotyping of women from the society.
3. Develop the women friendly environment of management and executive
infrastructure in which women are responsible for all activities.
4. Leadership and key posts of the sports federations occupied by men and women
are hesitating to share their problems (harassment issues) to men so leadership is
given to the women.
5. Sports Minister allocates a person (female) who should responsible to directly
taking care of girl’s during sports activities and if any event (abuse or sexual
harassment) is occur then women / girls reported it without any dread of adverse
penalty.
6. Secure women from religious extremist and terrorist due to the issue of terrorism
in Pakistan.
7. Try to provide female coaches to sportswomen but if male coaches are provide ,it
be sure that they are be aware about the relationship between women and coaches
because almost sexual issues are comes from the coaches.
8. Media (T.V, newspaper, magazines) should give positive coverage to women

sports and live telecast should exist during national and international competitions
without enhancing the only sexual parts of women.
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___________________________
Shagufta Jahangir is a Ph.D Scholar in the Centre of Excellence for Women’s Studies,
Dr. Asma Manzoor is an Assistant Professor in the Centre of Excellence for Women’s
Studies, University of Karachi.
Vol. 16, 2018, pp. 217-228, ISSN: 2072-0394
Enhancement of Communication Skills of International

Language at University Level: Teachers' Side
Tayyaba Zarif
Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University
Aziz-u-Nisa
Abdul Nabi
Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University
Abstract
The primary objective of current research was to study the status of Enhancement of
Communication Skills of International Language at University Level it focused on the
exploration of problems & hurdles faced by teachers during teaching & enhancement
of International Language communication skills at. The current study was descriptive
in nature and quantitative by method. All those universities of Shaheed Benazirabad
which offering International language as Functional and Communicative in the
version of applied linguistics as content course to their students in different
disciplines were the population of the study. From each University sixty percent of
the teachers who were facilitating the course of International Language
communication were selected with the help of purposive random sampling.
Questionnaire with five point Likert scale was used for collection of data. Data was
analyzed in frequencies, percent and mean scores. The study results showed that
teachers faced different kinds of problems while facilitating in enhancement of
International language communication skills at University level.
Keywords: International Language, Communication Skills Enhancement, Learning

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Introduction
In Pakistan English is used as a co-official language of the state and is used officially in
both forms, the written form and the spoken form on national and international occasions
(Kachru, 1985;Kachru Y. C., 2006 and Mahmood, 2009)
In Pakistani educational system, the researchers found that the teachers use grammar
translation method in the class room. The examination system in education compels the
teachers to make students to follow those norms and the ways by which they would be
examined. So that the teachers as well as the students can not deviate from those
prescribed ways of answering papers in examination resulting the least practice of the
English language in the sphere of society (Kjellmer, 1992; Crystal, 1997; Kress, 2000;
Milroy, 2002 and Mahmood, 2009).
English in Pakistan is used as official language in civil, bureaucratic and legal bodies run
by the government . Consequently the communicative competence of the upcoming
generation is very important from primary schools to the university level, for the purpose
future demands of International language learning communication competency at
university level is very important.
Pakistan is a developing country, faces problems especially in education from primary to

its top most level (Tahir, 2012). The universities in Pakistan are granted with financial
assistance from Higher Education Commission and collect fees from the students would
have sufficient space and conducive environment for better learning out comes. The
universities of remote areas (Rural Sindh) face problems in making availability of skilled
teachers, students’ level of International language learning competence, in and out of
class room interaction environment and facilities and consistency by the students in their
discipline of studies to work hard. Number of studies point out least teaching and
learning outcomes in prevailing international language teaching system where in teacher,
taught and administration are equally responsible (Mansoor, 2004;Rahman , 2005;
Siddique, 2007)This research is aimed to measure the magnitude of existence of
Tayyaba Zarif, Aziz-u-Nisa, Abdul Nabi 219
problems in four areas such as, the problems faced by the teachers in teaching of
International language communication skills due to lack of teaching facilities, due to
students level of learning, Pedagogical problems in teaching of International language
communication skills and lack of teachers continuous professional development at
university level.
Objectives of the Research Study
1. To study the problems faced by the teachers in teaching of International language

communication skills and status of teaching facilities.
2. To study the problems faced by the teachers in teaching of International language
communication skills due to students level of learning
3. To study problems faced by the teachers during execution of teaching strategies
in teaching process of International language communication skills.
4. To find out the problems faced by the teachers in teaching of International
language communication skills & status of teachers' continuous professional
development.
Justifications/ Significance and Importance of Research Work
The problems faced by the international language teachers while teaching English
communication skills are immense and has been vastarea for researchers. Number of
studies can be read in research journals. This study focusses on existence and magnitude
of problems faced by university teachers of Shaheed Benazirabad Division, Province
Sindh. This research and its conclusions will help to either solve or minimize those
problems. This study will specially be helpful and beneficial for stakeholders of higher
education , Universities and their international language teaching faculty.
Literature Review
According to the Aitchison, (1981) all over the world, with the passage of time the
changes in language can be found on permanent basis. Some languages lose their
acceptance and some languages get acceptance as an international language (Higgins,
2003). The same is with English language as well. Norrish, (1997) is of the openion that
the English language got acceptance from a tribal language to an International language.
It is also being sought that there might be a common global language and most probably
that might be English language. It is very clear that the English language has more non-
native speakers than of the native speakers, which indicates that the world is to some
extent near to have a common language in the form of English and its global acceptance
are accompanied all along to the current era and even for future. That is why the English
Teachers' Side
is being spoken and accepted as second language in number of countries and Pakistan is
one of them.
Teaching of any language specially English is not an easy job in Pakistan, because it
needs to consider number of things, although teaching concerns like students’
“background, interest and most appropriate methods of teachings”. Though the teachers
should provide learning environment for all children like warming up their minds,
supportive and comfortable atmosphere and appropriate teaching material for students as
can with no trouble understand the topic (Burner, 2015). Burner, (2015)further remarked
that “learning setting, the practice and organization of the classroom, the daily plan and
practices, and the passionate and social atmosphere, should meet learners’ development
requirements. It enables learners to feel safe and relaxed. As a result, they are assisted to
become liberated and self-reliant students.” The management of classroom is prime basis
of strain and problematic for both newly and expert teachers. At the same time lack of
concentration, others disturbance and dis-obedience are the common behavioral problems
of classroom (Farooq, 2015). Farooq, (2015) stated that indifferent attitude can be “any
attitude that clearly affects the learners’ own learning and other children’s learning or
responses, or the teacher’s ability to operate effectively” as well. Teachers consider it to
spend unequal time in dealing with indifferent attitudinal problems as compare with time
which spent on teaching of academic activities (Cains, 1996). A common observation is
available that students of Asia convey with cultural varieties, methods and technique of
learning so are incompletely prepared for critical and analytical thinking in western
universities (Kachru Y., 1985) The most important criticism of Asian students is that they
don’t try to understand the substance and they use rote learning method. They think that
teacher or content is only perfect source of knowledge. They don’t criticize and also not
able to reference correctly due to this they are guilty of plagiarism (Kember, 1991).
Chalmers (1997) described that one common misconception about students of South East
Asia is that they don’t join and work with local students.
Milton (1972) argued that “teachers have little time, to make the students familiar with its
specialized language items, or the inclination to avail themselves of the literature.
Gradually universities are developing and implementing training programs to get ready
Teacher Assistants for their classroom responsibilities. Some intensive training programs
are organized. Various international teaching assistants are educated in different cultural
atmosphere and they don’t know about particulars of educational settings and interactive
teaching approaches employed in classroom (Allen, 1999).
Finally, many ITAs deal with two major hindrances associated with undergraduate
education i.e. lack of oral English abilities and differences in cultural expectation(Davis,
1991). It observed that international teaching assistants (ITAs) identify and understand
more difficulties associated with classroom management. In the light of studies which
show that difference of culture had great impact on ITAs instructions (Davis,
1991).Boggs, (1994)noted that “Student gender affected faculty – student interactions.” It
was noted by Boggs, (1994)that gender has positive impact on pattern of classroom
communication. Treichler and Kramarae (1983) noted that female instructors encouraged
more students as compare to male instructors and male instructors tended toward more
direct in contribution criticism to students. Statham, Richardson (1991) found that female
assistant teachers tended to grip management problems by ignoring, indirectly upcoming
and reassuring discussions while male teaching assistants were likely more talking to
disturb students directly and also use public humiliation as a negative sanction. More
teaching experience represented higher levels of self-efficiency toward teaching (Cains,
1996). Shannon (1998) divided teaching experience into three types. 1) Previous TA
practice, 2) College teaching practice and 3) K-12 teaching practice. Results showed that
teaching assistants with K-12 or college teaching experience were rated more valuable
than those who have no such experience. The current researches have highlighted
disciplinary dissimilarities in teaching and learning in higher education (Austin, 1996;
Stark, 1998). A study conducted by Burner (2015) on EFL Oral Communication
Teaching Practices in Serbia, identified four problems, according to them the teachers
and the students suffer because of those problems, according to them, a big problem was
students with mixed ability in one classroom, overcrowded classes, excessive group
works and irrelevant role-play activities. The results of the study of Farooq (2015)
suggest that in implementing CLT the teachers face multiple problems according to him
the most problematic areas for the teachers are overcrowded classes, least availability of
AV aids, low level of learning competency of the learners, and the timing constraints
restrict to the teachers to yield better students’ learning out comes. A study conducted by
Abdulghani (2013) on the necessity for professional development training programs to
enhance teaching skills of the faculty members at upper level the results of the study
suggest that for institutions to yield better learning out comes, high quality professional
training programs for their teaching faculty are mandatory to enhance their capability to
compete future world challenge. They further concluded that such professional faculty
training programs should focus along with other areas on pedagogical aspects of teaching
and learning so that the teacher be equipped to meet current as well as future challenges.
Research Questions
1. To what extent the problems are faced by the teachers in teaching of International
language communication skills due to teaching facilities.
2. Which type of problems are faced by the teachers in teaching of International
language communication skills due students’ level of learning.
3. What specific problems are faced by the teachers during execution of teaching
strategies in teaching of International language communication skills.
Teachers' Side
4. How teachers continuous professional development relate with

problems which are faced by the teachers in teaching of International language
communication skills.
Methodology
This study is quantitative by method and descriptive by purpose. In this study it was
intended to measure the existence and magnitude of problems faced by university
teachers in teaching of international language communication skills to the students in the
class room. The population of the study was all teachers (permanent and contractual) of
public sector universities of Shaheed Benazirabad who are facilitating the teaching of
English language & communication Skills oriented courses . The sample was sixty
percent of the population selected by purposive random sampling . For the purpose a self-
developed questionnaire with five point Likert scale containing seventeen items was used
to collect quantitative data. Expert opinion for validity and reliability of the tool was
discussed with two international language teaching experts. To collect the required data,
researchers in person visited and administered the tool as per plan, which resulted 85 %
return and responses from the sample. The data were analyzed in frequencies, percent and
mean scores and descriptively interpreted.
Data analysis
Section: 1
Individual analysis of each variable
S. No Variable/Areas Statistics SDA DA UD A SA Mean
1 Provision of an Frequency N=0 N=2 2 N=4 N=9 4.17
operation of speakers & Percent 0% 12% 12% 23% 53%
microphones
2 Provision of smart Frequency N=1 N=7 N=3 N=6 N=0 2.82
white boards in the Percent 6% 41% 18% 35% 0%
classroom
3 Appropriateness of Frequency N=0 N=0 N=3 N=9 N=5 4.11
course outlines provided Percent 0% 0% 18% 53% 29%
by university
4 Use of Library books for Frequency N=7 N=5 N=1 N=4 N=0 2.11
improvement of English Percent 41% 29% 6% 24% 0%
5 Confidence level of Frequency N=0 N=1 N=4 N=8 N=4 3.88
students to stand in front Percent 0% 6% 23% 47% 24%
of the classmates.
6 Students’ sufficient Frequency N=0 N=1 N=2 N=9 N=5 4.05
vocabulary. Percent 0% 6% 12% 53% 29%
7 Fear of criticism on Frequency N=1 N=5 N=5 N=5 N=1 3.00

making mistakes in front percent 6% 29% 29% 29% 6%
of class by classmates
8 Fear of criticism on Frequency N=1 N=5 N=5 N=5 N=1 3.00
making mistakes by percent 6% 29% 29% 29% 6%
teachers
9 Students’ classroom Frequency N=0 N=2 N=3 N=7 N=5 3.88
interaction Percent 0% 12% 18% 41% 29%
10 Word pronunciation Frequency N=3 N=7 N=2 N=4 N=1 2.58
activities Percent 18% 41% 12% 24% 6%
11 The students’ instable Frequency N=0 N=3 N=2 N=10 N=2 3.64
memory Percent 0% 18% 12% 59% 12%
12 Expectations of teachers Frequency N=1 N=2 N=3 N=7 N=4 3.64
from the students during Percent 6% 12% 18% 41% 24%
usage of teaching
strategies .
13 Absenteeism of students. Frequency N=0 N= 1 N= 3 N=10 N=3 3.88
Percent 0% 6% 18% 59% 18%
14 Planning of Frequency N=2 N=3 N=1 N=8 N=3 3.41
communication based Percent 12% 18% 6% 47% 18%
activities.
15 Training courses for Frequency N=0 N=2 N=4 N=8 N=3 3.70
effective language Percent 0% 12% 24% 47% 18%
teaching
16 Essence of refresher Frequency N=0 N=1 N=2 N=8 N=6 4.11
courses for teachers Percent 0% 6% 12% 47% 35%
17 Need of training/ Frequency N=0 N=0 N=2 N=6 N=9 4.41
refresher. Percent 0% 0% 12% 35% 53%
Section 2
Analysis of research question
S. No Area Statistics SDA DA UD A SA Mean
1 Lack of teaching facilities. Frequency N=8 N=14 N=9 N=23 N=14 3.75
(item No: 1 to 4) Percent 12% 21% 13% 34% 21%
2 Students’ level of learning. Frequency N=2 N=12 N=16 N=27 N=11 3.21
(item No: 5 to 8) Percent 3% 27% 24% 41% 16%
3 To what extent the Frequency N= 6 N= 18 N=14 N=46 N=18 3.50
problems related to usage Percent 6% 18% 14% 46% 18%
of teaching strategies
(item No: 9 to 14)
4 Professional development Frequency N= 0 N= 3 N= 8 N= 22 N=18 4.07
of teachers. Percent 0% 6% 16%% 43% 35%
(item No: 15 to 17)
Teachers' Side
Section three
Consolidated results
S. All variables / Statistics SDA DA UD A SA Mean
No: Areas
1 Consolidated Frequency N=16 N=46 N= 45 N= N=61 3.57
results of all items Percent 2% 16% 16%% 121 21%
42%
Findings
The findings of the study show that university teachers face numerous problems while
teaching international language communication skills in the class room. The existence
and magnitude of the problem in the areas such as; non arrangement of trainings/
refresher courses for international language teaching faculty, lack of confidence in
students to stand in front of their classmates, insufficient vocabulary of the students, fear
of criticism in the students on making mistakes while speaking in international language
communication enhancing class rooms are very high where in the mean score is in
between 4.41 to 4.05. The existence and magnitude of the problem in the areas of
students’ least interaction in communication enhancing classes, least interest in reading of
related books in the library of university, absenteeism of students, the students’ instability
of memory, students take more time than the expectations of the teachers to understand
and demonstrate international language items, planning of communication based
activities, and the inappropriate course outlines for communication enhancing skills
prescribed by university to enhance international language communication skills are
either high or moderate, where in the mean score is in between 3.88 to 3.00. The
existence and magnitude of the problem in the areas such as improving students word
pronunciation, provision and operation of speakers and microphones and non-availability
of advanced smart boards (Electronic and movable) and non-permanent marker pens to
teach communication enhancing classes are better as compared to the other areas where
in the mean score is in between 2.82 to 2.1. Finding revealed that mostly teaching
facilities, level & back ground of associates are effecting the understating level of
communication skills of associates at the university level.
Conclusions
The study was conducted to measure the existence and magnitude of problems faced by
the university teachers while teaching international language communication enhancing
classes for the purpose a self-developed questionnaire with five point Likert scale
containing seventeen items to cover four areas such as, first Status of facilities, second
students level of learning , third the problems faced by the university teachers while
teaching international language communication enhancing classes by using different
teaching strategies and fourth continuous professional development for teaching of
international language. The results of all items, research question and consolidated results
have diversity and show existence of problem & status in each area of teaching of
international language communication skills enhancing classes in all universities under
study. Mainly teaching facilities, level & back ground of associates are effecting the level
of communication skills of associates Teachers are also trying to execute different
teaching strategies for enhancement of communication skills of international language
since continuous professional development is one of key factor to manipulate the unusual
situation in the class room dealing with the individual differences of the associate.
Recommendations
It is recommended in the light of above findings of the study that students should be
encouraged to build up their confidence to stand in front of their classmates, so that there
should be no criticism on making mistakes while speaking English by the students,
students should be given vocabulary enhancing activities, assignments and an
environment to interact with their teachers and class mates. Likely the training/ refresher
courses for faculty teachers be arranged with the passage of time. To make the students
habitual of reading books in library some book reading assignments be given to the
students. The most important is the mentorship of administration, the university should
create conducive and learning environment for both teacher and taught providing
advanced AV aids etc. for better teaching and learning out comes in the area of
international language communication competency.
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Higher Education, vol.69:4, pp.353–383.
Statham, A. R. (1991). Gender and University Teaching: A Negotiated Difference.

Albany: State University of New York.
Tahir, A. Q. (2012). Challanges of Classroom Management to Effective Teacher

Socialization: A Study of English Teachers. Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences,
vol.32:1.
Thompson, R. (1986). Behavioral Problems in Children with Developmental and

Learning Disabilities. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Treichler, P. A. (1983). Women’s Talk in the Ivory Tower. Communication Quarterly,

vol.31:2, pp.118–132.
______________________
Prof. Dr. Tayyaba Zarif is Chairperson in the Department of Education, Shaheed

Benazir Bhutto University, Shaheed Benazirabad.
Dr. Aziz-u-Nisa is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Education, University of

Karachi.
Abdul Nabi is Research Associate in the Department of Education, Shaheed Benazir

Bhutto University, Shaheed Benazirabad.
Call for Papers
Publication of the Centre of Excellence for Women's Studies
Pakistan Journal of Gender Studies is launched under the patronage of Prof. Dr. Muhammad Ajmal Khan, Vice
Chancellor University of Karachi by the Centre of Excellence for Women's Studies, University of Karachi. Main
objective of the Journal is to generate and disseminate knowledge regarding gender issues nationally and
internationally with a critical perspective. Its aim is to promote consciousness and awareness about gender equity
and balance in human interaction including academic work. In this regard, the journal explores what is meant by
gender needs and gender perspective and how these can be best met. This publication in currently published only in
English language however, in view of our national needs, the abstract is translated in urdu as well. Pakistan Journal
of Gender Studies is indexed in EBSCO. It is recognized by Higher Education Commission (HEC) in ‘Y’ category.
The Journal Would Publish
 Interdisciplinary research in the field of Gender Studies.
 Research on curricula, course outline, reading list and teaching strategies related to Gender Studies.
 Review of books, film and theatrical performances.
 Reports on National and International conferences, symposia and workshops etc. on Gender Studies.
Guidelines for Submissions
 Submissions are invited in English language.
 Two copies of the manuscripts, single-spaced, and printed on one side only should be submitted on A4 size
paper.
 A soft copy of the paper on CD or through e-mail should also be sent.
 Title page of the paper should be typed separately and should include the author’s name, full mailing
address, phone number and email address.
 The length of the paper should be between3500 to 5000 in words.
 Introduction should be at least two pages and review of literature of minimum 3 pages.
 Paper must have at least 32 to 35 references of books and research papers published in journals.
 Conclusions and Recommendations must be mention in separate headings.
 An abstract of the paper no more than 200 words must be submitted along with the paper. The abstract
should be followed by key words. An Urdu translation of the abstract and keywords is also required.
 The papers should include references (endnotes) and bibliography.
 Authors are responsible for creating graphs, tables, and charts, if required in their paper.
 Authors are required to submit a signed covering letter stating that the paper has not been published earlier
or has not been submitted for the purpose of publication to any other journal or volume. Authors are solely
responsible for the factual accuracy for their contributions.
Citations and References
Notes and references should follow APA style for citation. Some examples are as follows:
 Koggel, C. M. (2003). Globalization and Women's Paid Work: Expanding Freedom. Feminist Economics,
9(2-3), 163-183.
 Adams, B.N. (1985). The Family: A Sociological Interpretation, Chicago, Rand McNally.
 Chow, E., &Lyter, D. (2002). Studying Development With A Gender Perspective: From Main stream
Theories to Alternative Frame Works. In E. Chow (Ed.), Transforming Gender and Development in East
Asia (pp. 25-30). New York: Routledge
Web page:
 Irfan, M. (2008). Pakistan's Wage Structure, During 1990/91 - 2006/07. Retrieved on March 13, 2011,
from PIDE: http://www.pide.org.pk/pdf/pws.pdf
 http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/ib/2008/053008.htmRetrieved on August 18, 2010
Contact address:
Professor Dr. Nasreen Aslam Shah
Director, Centre of Excellence for Women's Studies &
Editor, Pakistan Journal of Gender Studies
Phone: 92-21-99261654
E-mail: cewsku@yahoo.com
Last date for submission: 31st May, 2018
Publications of
the Centre of Excellence for Women’s Studies
Year Title of the publication Name of the author Publisher
2016 Sufi Khwateen Prof. Dr. Nasreen Aslam Shah, Centre of Excellence for Women’s
Dr. Asma Manzoor, Seema Studies, University of Karachi &
Manzoor Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Niswan
2015 The Ageing Home-Based Prof. Dr. Nasreen Aslam Shah Higher Education Commission,
Women-Workers in Karachi Centre of Excellence for Women’s
Studies, Department of Social
Work University of Karachi, &
Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Niswan
2012 Women Issues: Analytical Prof. Dr.Nasreen Aslam Shah Centre of Excellence for Women’s
Researches Studies, University of Karachi
2011 Karachi Kay Nu Umar Prof. Dr. Nasreen Aslam Shah Centre of Excellence for Women’s
Mehnatkash Bachchey Aur Studies, Higher Education
Bachchiyan: Ek Jaiza. Commission, Anjuman Taraqqi-e-
Niswan and University of Karachi.
2011 Bridging the Gaps: Research Prof. Dr. Nasreen Aslam Shah Centre of Excellence for Women’s
at the Centre of Excellence (compiled and edited) Studies,
for Women’s Studies, Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Niswan and
University of Karachi. University of Karachi.
2011 Directory of Alumni of the Prof. Dr. Nasreen Aslam Shah Centre of Excellence for Women’s
Department of Social Work (compiled and edited) Studies,
and the Centre of Dept. of Social Work, Anjuman
Excellence for Women’s Taraqqi-e-Niswan and University
Studies, University of of Karachi.
Karachi.
2010 Pakistan Mein Self- Prof. Dr. Nasreen Aslam Shah Centre of Excellence for Women’s
Employed Women: Ek (edited) Studies,
Jaiza. Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Niswan and
2010 Directory of Self-Employed Prof. Dr. Nasreen Aslam Shah Centre of Excellence for Women’s
Women of Karachi. (compiled and edited) Studies,
Assisted by: Dept. of Social Work, Anjuman
Muhammad Nadeemullah and Taraqqi-e-Niswan and University
Muhammad Faisal Zia of Karachi.
2008 Pakistan Journal of Gender Patron: Centre of Excellence for Women’s
Studies Prof. Dr. Muhammad Ajmal Studies, University of Karachi.
Volume: 1 – 15 Khan, Vice Chancellor,
8 March, 2008 onwards University of Karachi
Editor:
Prof. Dr. Nasreen Aslam Shah
2004 Karachi ki Gadagar Prof. Dr. Nasreen Aslam Shah Centre of Excellence for Women’s
Larkiyan: EkJaiza (edited) Studies, University of Karachi and
Higher Education Commission.
2003 Female Home-Based Prof. Dr. Khalida Ghaus ILO and Centre of Excellence for
Workers: The Silent (edited) Women’s Studies, University of
Workforce. Karachi.
1998 Directory of Experts and Prof. Dr. Tahera Aftab (edited) Centre of Excellence for Women’s
Resource Persons in Studies,
Women and Development University of Karachi.
in Pakistan
1995 Literacy for the Girl of Prof. Dr. Tahera Aftab (edited) Centre of Excellence for Women’s
Today, the Woman of Studies,
Tomorrow. University of Karachi.

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Pakistan Journal of Gender Studies: Annual

PATRON Amara Soonthorndhara

ADVISORY BOARD Rafia Taj

Prof. Dr. Profulla C. Sarker Rita Afsar

Prof. Dr. Parveen Shah Rukhsana Hassan

Muhammad Ahmed Qadri Tahera Aftab

Kamala Liyanage FORMATED BY

Kristi Poerwandari PUBLISHING, ADVERTISING & SUBSCRIPTION OFFICE

ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION Surface Mail Air mail

Nasreen Aslam Shah

Centre of Excellence for Women’s Studies

Volume-16 March, 2018

Anoosh W. Khan Pakhtun Women and the Creative Expression: A Means of 1

Pakhtun Women And The Creative Expression: A Means Of

Key words: Pakhtun women, Pashto Tappa, Ideology, Interpellation, Agency.

Literature Review: Establishing the Premise, Elaborating the Genre, and

Methodology: Method, Field Site, and Respondents

Tappa: The Gendered Voice

Te da akhtar pa sahar rasha

Zama chargul ke sa guna wa

Seena palang leche balakhth de

Da beganae ajaba shpa va

De khazay marg ta haajat neeshta

Da ser ao maal khatra pakay wee

The second poet said,

I will only come when

What is the ratio of hatred

1. Pakhtuns/Pukhtuns/Pukhtoons and Pashtuns are orthographic and linguistic variants

2. By “West” I primarily mean countries in North America, Europe, and other

Abu-Lughod, Lila. (1990). The Romance of Resistance: Tracing Transformations of

Briggs, Charles. (1985). The Pragmatics of Proverb Performance in New Mexican

Geertz, Clifford. (2003).A Strange Romance: Anthropology and Literature. Professional,

Hennessy, Rosemary. (1993). Women’s Lives/Feminist Knowledge: Feminist Standpoint

Hilsdon, Anne-Marie. (2007). Introduction. Reconsidering Agency—Feminist

Karp, Ivan. (1988). Laughter at Marriage: Subversion in Performance. Journal of

Khan, Anoosh. (2012a). Contesting Subjectivities, Negotiating Agency, and Re-defining

Khan, Anoosh. (2012b). Anthropology, Feminism, and Literature: Blurring Boundaries.

Kolenda, Pauline. (1984). Woman as Tribute, Woman as Flower: Images of “Woman” in

Mohmand, Arbab Hidayatullah. (2010). Solitaires: Tappé: Songs Forever. Peshawar:

Pêcheux, Michel. (1982). The Subject-Form of Discourse in the Subjective Appropriation

Shah, Rahmat. (N.d.). Tappa. Accessed November 28, 2011. http://www.khyber.org/

Female Entrepreneurship And Economic Growth: An

Keywords: Female Entrepreneurship; Economic Growth; National Competitiveness;

Active participation of women in economic activities is necessary for development of any

An over whelming amount of literature concurs that entrepreneurship boasts economic

among firms operating in a country; third, by asserting the importance of female

The role of entrepreneurs in boasting economic performance of a country can be assess

The greatest proponent of role of entrepreneurs in fostering competition is Schumpeter.

Based on above discussion, our first hypothesis is given below:

Opportunity driven female entrepreneurship intensifies national competitiveness.

Moderating Role of Business Environment on the Relation between Female

Similarly, business environment has significant influence on national competitiveness.

The relationship between opportunity driven female entrepreneurship and national

Female Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth

Social scientists have paid considerable attention in studying how entrepreneurial

Opportunity driven entrepreneurship among women is positively associated with

Mediating Role of National Competitiveness Level in the Relation between Female

To conclude this discussion, female entrepreneurship can lead to creation of businesses,

Competitiveness of business markets meditates the Opportunity driven entrepreneurship

National Competitiveness Level

Correlation between variables was checked using Pearson’s correlation. Table No 2

On the introduction of business environment as a moderate in the regression model, the

Figure 2: Moderating role of business environment on the relationship between