Examination of the Married Women's Rights in Pakistani Society: A Aase Study of the Demographical Variables of Married Women in Urban and Rural areas of Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan

Multicultural Education Volume 11, Issue 11, 2025 _______________________________________________________________________________________ 58 Examination of the Married Women’s Rights in Pakistani Society: A Aase Study of the Demographical Variables of Married Women in Urban and Rural areas of Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan Muhammad Kamran Article Info Abstract Article History Received: August 17,2025 Every country has two important factors for their development which may be socioeconomic or educational development. Regarding general education, the women education is on top of the list because if a woman is educated then it means the whole home will be educated and vice versa. Education empowers women and gives confidence to women to be involved in various factors like decision-making, control over the economic resources and social mobility.The current study was conducted about the examination of the married women’s rights in Pakistani society which further analyzed the demographical variables of married women in urban and rural areas of Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan. For sampling of the study, the researchers recruited 200 married women (100 urban & 100 rural) of age 15-49 years through multi-stage sampling technique from urban and rural areas of district Faisalabad, Punjab excluding the widowed and separated women. Both urban and rural areas were further divided into sub-areas i.e., tehsils and villages.The results of the study indicated that when the married women were distributed regarding their educational qualification then the greater percentage of respondents i.e., 30.5% were only matriculated. It means that still the girls’ education is not up to the peak.This study also showed that although the women were fully aware of their educational rights but those rights were not fully practiced by the society. It was further found that practice of rights among educated women was greater than less educated or illiterate women. The current study suggests that if we the Pakistani society increase the literacy rate then the women may practice their rights through their knowledge and awareness. Accepted: November 19,2025 Keywords : Education, Decision Making, Empowerment, Women Rights DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17663322 Introduction Education is the most important factor for socioeconomic development of any society because it is a social institution through which society provides knowledge, cultural norms and values including basic facts and job skills to its members. Education is very important for everyone especially for women because itgives confidence to women to avail other opportunities. Women’s education has greater influence on family, society and the whole nation. In Pakistan, women’s awareness about their rights and freedom is increasing due to their education. As women’s education level is increasing therefore their level of awareness about domestic, social, economic, political, employment and religious rights is also increasing. An educated woman can involve herself in decision making within family and can have control over economic resources as wellat domestic level (Macionis, 2006 and Shoaib et al., 2012). In the traditional setting, if the normal situations prevailed and people accepted the modifications and new technologies that has emerged then the modernity process will be smooth but if the people belong to a society which have a turbulent history, can break out lots of obstacles then that type of society will not grow towards the modernity. The most problematic cause behind unawareness and illiteracy and not welcoming the modern education, in these tribal areas, is their cultural and religious constraints. The most dominant priests and people who are part of judiciary systems in these places impose their thoughts and aimless teaching into habitant’s mind and manipulate them towards the negativity of education and not only the farmer families but the females are also kept aside from the educational institutions (Rauf, 2017). Education should be the prior purpose for the development of the country. Not only should the rural but urban areas also be taken under consideration for the education and development. The education and empowerment of females are interconnected with each other. Many problems which our country is facing now-a-days such as, overpopulation, illiteracy, poverty, miseries, darkness and traditional barriers can be taken away from the current scenario. The foresightedness and creativeness are the basis of education (Jali, 2017) which brings the society towards the modernity.Although according to article 25-A, education is free for the children whose age 59 is from 5-16 years but still it is neglected in the rural areas in Pakistan. Further, the girls’ enrollment is really very different from area to area and if the women ask for education then it is considered as domestic violence. Besides this, if education is given to women then it makes them aware of their rights like they make them empower in making of their decisions, earning their livelihood and etc. (Khan, 2006; UNESCO, 2006). On the other hand, two third of the women in the whole population of the Pakistan are illiterate (UNESCO, 2006). If education is given, then women are considered to be allowed for taking their responsibilities. As they are oppressed by the cultural and materialnorms so by educating them, they will be able to face the challenges and empower themselves in the families and communities. The past studies uncover how the literate females’ lives were formed by a critical gendered chain of command that encouraged literate women to go against roles while at the same time expecting them to keep up agreeable associations with family and group members (Khurshid, 2017). Female anatomy and decision-making is absolutely related with education, employment, age and number of children. Due to less education, rural woman is excluded from decision making process (Ahmmed and Chakraborty, 2012). In developing and under developed countries, women are kept away from higher education to help them weak and subordinate. Higher education develops skills and capacitatesthe women with managerial decision making techniques, help to build up confidence to hold leadership positions (Houra, 2014). Federal Bureau of statistics Pakistan conducted a survey on education, it was reported that boys enrollment in elementary school was 21,333,000 as compared to 9, 082, 00 girls (Beauru of Statistics, 2005). On basis of the above studied literature, the researchers made the following objectives of the study. Objectives of the Study Based on the demographic variables of the married women in the areas of Faisalabad, the researchers made the following objectives of the study. 1. To examine the married women’s distribution against their educational qualification 2. To examine the married women’s distribution against the claiming that they do for the right of their education 3. To examine the married women’s distribution against their knowledge about right to education regarding nuclear and joint family systems Research Questions of the Study The researchers made the following research questions to achieve the objectives of the study. 1. What is the married women’s distribution against their educational qualification? 2. What is the married women’s distribution against the claiming that they do for the right of their education? 3. What is the married women’s distribution against their knowledge about right to education regarding nuclear and joint family systems? Material and Methods The current study was conducted in urban and rural areas of District Faisalabad by recruiting 200 married women of age 15-49years through multi-stage sampling technique. The study did not include the widow and separated women.Among 200 women, the 100 women were from urban area and 100 women were from rural areas of Faisalabad. In the 1st stage, in the multistage sampling technique, the researchers selected the five urban areas (i.e., Peoples Colony, Gulestan Colony, Ayub Colony, Jinah Colony and Kheyaban Colony) of district Faisalabad for their convenience. From each colony 20 married women were taken through simple random sampling technique. Similarly, from four tehsils of Faisalabad, two tehsils i.e., Samundri and Tandlianwala were selected through random sampling technique. From union councils of Tehsil Samundri, two union councils i.e., UC112 and UC130 were selected randomly. Three villages i.e., 218/G.B, 475/G.B and 217/G.B of UC112 were selected randomly. Similarly from UC 130 two villages i.e., 442/G.B and 444/G.B were selected. It means that total five villages (218/G.B, 475/G.B, 217/G.B, 442/G.B and 444/G.B) were selected. Further, only ten respondents from each village were selected through systematic random sampling technique which makes total of 50 respondents from tehsil Samundri. Just like Samundri, the same process was repeated for the selection of respondents from tehsil Tandlianwala. UC86 and UC87 were randomly selected from tehsil Tandlianwala. Three villages i.e., 449/G.B, 400/G.B and 451/G.B were selected randomly from UC86. Similarly, two villages i.e., 612/G.B and 615/G.B were selected randomly from UC87. Ten respondents from each village of tehsil Tandlianwala were selected through systematic random sampling which makes total of 50 respondents. Thus total of 200 married women from Faisalabad (100 rural & 100 urban) made the complete sample distribution of the study which is shown by the following table1. Table1 Sample Distribution of the Respondents Faisalabad Locality Division of Sub-areas No of respondents 60 Urban Area Peoples Colony 20 Married Women Gulestan Colony 20 Married Women Ayub Colony 20 Married Women Jinah Colony 20 Married Women Kheyaban Colony 20 Married Women Rural Area Samundri UC112 218/G.B, 475/G.B 217/G.B 30 Married Women UC130 442/G.B, 444/G.B 20 Married Women Tandlianwala UC86 449/G.B, 400/G.B, 451/G.B 30 Married Women UC87 612/G.B, 615/G.B 20 Married Women Total 200 Married Women Findings and its Discussion The 1st objective of this study is depicted by the following chart 1 in which the percentage of the respondents against their educational qualification has been displayed. Chart1. Respondents Against Their Educational Qualification Chart 1 above clearly depicted that the percentage of married women who were illiterate were 20.5% while those married women whose educational level was up to primary-middle level were 25.5 %. Similarly, the married women whose education was up to matric level were 30.5% and those who have above matric level of education were 23.5%. the perception of education for women within the families is astonishing in which the barrier is the parents’ concepts, social norms and teachers’ attitude too that depicts the low rate of female education. The role of society is directly connected with the perception of female’s education (Alam, 2017). The 2nd objective of this study is depicted by the following chart 2 in which percentage of the respondents against claiming of their right to education has been displayed. Chart2. Respondents AgainstClaiming of Their Right to Education 020 40 60 80 100 120 Illiterate Primary-Middle Matric Above Matric Total Chart Title Percentage 61 Chart 2 above clearly depicted that regarding the right to education all the married women i.e., 100% were agreed that right of education should be given to all the women. While the statement that women should go for higher education was agreed by only 89% of women. 11% of the women were not agreed which meant that they did not like that the women should go for higher education. Basic education is the right of each child whether male or female and this was also mentioned in the constitution of Pakistan according to the article 25-A. Further, through education the women can empower themselves and can ask for their rights (Susilastuti, 2003). Education brings awareness among the women (Susilastuti, 2003). Opinions of married women regarding the statement that whether the education empowers the women or not was taken for which 90% of the married women gave their agreement that education is the agent that empowers the women while only 2% of women give the opposite opinions and did not agree with the statement. It meant that they had not obvious idea about the education. Besides, 8% of the women had no knowledge about this statement. Further, the larger number of married women i.e., 88.5 % of the women was in favor of this statement that education is the agent that enables the women to recognize their rights while the least percentage i.e., 11.5% of married women were unaware of the fact that whether education can make the women able to recognize their rights or not. Another fact that revealed through this study was that a large number of married women i.e., 92 % were in agreement with the statement that educated women assist mostly their parents/husbands in financial matters of the family while only least number of married women i.e., 4% were disagree with this statement and the remaining 4 % had stated that they had no knowledge about this statement. Further, regarding the decision making 54% of the married women revealed this fact that due to education they can influence their families with their decisions while the 42% of the married women were of the opinion that they are disagree with this statement and 4% of the women showed no knowledge about this statement. Although it is the right of each child whether male or female to get basic education according to the constitution of Pakistan but still the girls’ education in various areas is neglected. The ratio of girls’ enrollment is varying from area to area depending on the various factors. Due to the education, the women can ask for their rights in society such basic education, and decision making etc. (Khan, 2006). The 3rd objective of this study is depicted by the following chart 3 in which the percentage of the respondents against nuclear family and joint family has been displayed.Awareness about right to education was shown through nuclear and joint family systems. Chart 3 shows that regarding “the women had right to get education” was different in nuclear and joint family systems. Therefore,it was revealed from chart 3 that joint family system had stronger conviction as compared to the nuclear family in terms of the awareness about their rights. Chart3. Respondents AgainstJoint and Nuclear Family System Regarding Awareness About Their Rights 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 Chart Title 62 Chart 3 Shows that married women who were attached to the joint family system had revealed greater awareness about their rights as compared to the married women who were attached to the nuclear family system. 50% of the joint family system women had showed their agreement with statement while the nuclear family system’s women agreement level was only 38 %. The reaming percentage of the women had no knowledge about this statement. Jali&Islam (2017) stated that despite the increasing rate of women in labor force and educational institutions in the modern world, still the women are marginalized, depressed and behind the curtains not only in society but within families too. Females are having lack of access to their basic needs and always dependent on male members. Through utilizing ethnographic information gathered with female educators from rustic and low-salary groups in Pakistan, the analysis ofKhurshid (2017) shows that how parhi likhi (instructed) women's access to important open doors in broad daylight spaces is dependent upon them getting to be noticeably subject to new controls, particularly in regards to their gender. This gendered process of controlled strengthening challenges the converse of women's training as generally engaging and features the unpredictable and multidimensional effect of instruction in various sociocultural contexts. Perveen (2005) concluded that education is a tool to improve socio economic status of women. Education empowers women to demand their rights. It was also discussed by Heaton et al., (2005) that if education is given to women then they get more opportunities to knowledge, paid jobs and other facilities. Conclusion Education is a vital factor and back bone for socio-economic development of a country. It’s concluded that a huge majority of women recognize their rights but their rights are not practiced at large scale. Educational level of women is strongly associated with the awareness and practices about their rights. Urban women are more educated than rural women because there are less educational institutes for girls in rural areas. Technical and vocational institutes for girls should be established in both rural and urban areas to capacitate women with skills and modern education. Education is most important factor to empower women at individual and societal level. 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