Gender Disparity in Pakistan

Multicultural Education Volume 11, Issue 11, 2025 _______________________________________________________________________________________ 42 Gender Disparity in Pakistan Muhammad Kamran Article Info Abstract Article History Received: August 05 ,2025 Every country has two important factors for their development which may socioeconomic development and educational development. Regarding general education, the women education is on the 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.This study was about the examination of the socio-economic and demographic conditions of women in rural and urban areas of district Faisalabad, Punjab, throwing light on the knowledge, attitude and practices of women about their educational rights. This study has also found the factors (i.e., socio economic and cultural) that influence the women’s right in rural and urban areas of district Faisalabad, Punjab. 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 in Pakistan the rural areas were extremely neglectedas compared the urban areas by proving that women’s vocational and technical educational institutes were rare to be found. 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 06 ,2025 Keywords : Education, Decision Making, Empowerment, Women Rights DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17544922 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 a 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 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.In developing countries, the girl’s education is generally neglected in spite of the constitutional provision that education is compulsory for all up to the age of 5-16 yearsin Pakistan. The 43 percentage of girl’s enrollment in school varies from state to state. Indirectly, the right to education is related to violence against women (UNESCO, 2006). It has been observed that education contributes a lot the women’s lives i.e., it makes the women aware about their rights such as decision making, right to earn, right to demand their liberty and security. According to research, in family planning there is a direct relationship between education of women and adoption of family norms (Khan, 2006). On the other hand, two third of the women in the whole population of the Pakistan are illiterate (UNESCO, 2006). If given education in Islamic ideology 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 uncovers how the literate females’ lives were formed by a critical gendered chain of command that encouraged literate women to go up 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 study 1. To know the married women’s distribution according to their educational qualification in rural and urban areas of district Faisalabad, Punjab 2. To know the married women’s distribution according to their awareness about the right to education 3. To examine the socio-economic and demographic conditions of women in rural and urban areas of district Faisalabad, Punjab. 4. To check the knowledge, attitude and practices of women about their educational rightsin rural and urban areas of district Faisalabad, Punjab. 5. To find the factors (i.e., socio-economic and cultural) that influencesthe women’s right in rural and urban areas of district Faisalabad, Punjab. Research Questions of the Study 1. What is the married women’s distribution according to their educational qualificationin rural and urban areas of district Faisalabad, Punjab? 2. What is the married women’s distribution according to their awareness about the right to educationin rural and urban areas of district Faisalabad, Punjab? 3. What are the socio-economic and demographic conditions of women in rural and urban areas of district Faisalabad, Punjab? 4. What is the level of knowledge, attitude and practices of women about their educational rights in rural and urban areas of district Faisalabad, Punjab? 5. What are the factors (i.e., socio-economic and cultural) that influences the women’s right in rural and urban areas of district Faisalabad, Punjab? 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 44 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 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 Results and Discussion Table 2: Distribution of the respondents according to their education Table 2 depicts that 20.5 percent of the respondents were illiterate, while 25.5 percent of the respondents had primary-middle level education. 30.5 percent of them were matriculated. 23.5 percent of the respondents had above matric level education.Alam (2017) the perception of education for women within the families is astonishing in which the barrier is the parent’s concepts, social norms and teacher’s attitude too that depicts the low rate of female education. The role of society is directly connected with the perception of female’s education. Table 3: Distribution of the respondents according to their awareness about the right to education 020 40 60 80 100 120 Illiterate Primary-Middle Matric Above Matric Total Chart Title Percentage 45 Table 3 represents the respondents’ awareness about their right to education. Above table3 reflects that all respondents i.e., 100% had thinking that married women have the right to get education. 89% of the respondents reported that the women should go for the higher education, while only the least i.e., 11% of them were not in favor of women’s higher education. Susilastuti (2003) also stated that getting education is basic right of women; it empowers women and increases their awareness about their rights. Similarly, avast majority i.e., 90% of the respondents had thinking that education empowers the women, while only 2 % of them did not agree with this opinion and 8% of them had no knowledge that whether education empowers women or not. Further, a large majority i.e., 88.5% of the respondents had thinking that the education enables a woman to recognize her rights, while 11.5 & of them hadno knowledge about this issue. In addition, a huge majority i.e., 92% of the respondents reported that the educated woman can assist her parents / husband financially, while 4% of them did not agree with this statement and 4 % of them had no knowledge about this statement. More than a half i.e., 54% of the respondents had thinking that the education gives them confidence to be involved in decision making with in family, while 42 % of them did not agree with this statement and 4 % of them had no knowledge about this thinking. Khan (2006) reported that in developing countries girl’s education is generally neglected in spite of the constitutional provision for up to the age of 14 years education is compulsory for all. The percentage of girl’s enrollment in school varies from state to state. It has been observed that education contributes to make women’s aware about other rights such as decision making, right to earn, right to demand their liberty and security. Table 4: knowledge about right to Education regarding nuclear and joint family systems Awareness about right to education was measured through nuclear and joint family systems. Table 4 shows that regarding “the women had right to get education” was different in nuclear and joint family systems. Therefore, joint family systemswomen had more awareness about right to education as compared to nuclear family systemswomen. Family structure of the women will be associated with the awareness level about their rights 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 Chart Title 46 Table 4 represents the family structure of the respondents and their awareness about rights to education. It means joint families’ respondents had more awareness about their rights to education as compared to nuclear families’ respondents. Above table 4 also shows that most of the joint families’ respondents i.e., 50% had high level of awareness about right to education, while most of the nuclear families’ respondents i.e. 38% had low level awareness about right to education. Islam (2017) despite the increasing rate of women in labor force and educational institutions in the modern world still the women are marginalized and depressed and behind the curtains not only socially but within families too. Females are having lack of access to their basic needs and always dependent on male members. Khurshid (2017) through utilizing ethnographic information gathered with female educators from rustic and low-salary groups in Pakistan, the analysis show 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. Heaton et al; 2005, who concluded that educated female have more access 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. Education 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. Higher education of women makes them confident in decision-making, control over economic resources and social mobility. References Ahmmed, M., & Chakraborty, N. (2012). Women’s status and early childhood mortality in bangladesh. http://maternalhealthtaskforce.org/component/docman/doc_view/1333-women-s-status-andearlychildhood-mortality-in-bangladesh?Itemid=220 2012 Alam, S. (2017). 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