WOMEN’S HIGHER EDUCATION UNDER PAKHTUNWALI
Keywords:
Pakhtuns, Higher education, Pakistan, Pakhtunkhwa, gender, PakhtunwaliAbstract
This paper summarises some statistical findings of my doctoral study that explored factors affecting women’s low participation in higher education in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The article is based on the author’s quantitative data analysis of Initial and Audit Surveys of the original doctoral dissertation (2014) that triangulated Pakhtun women’s education under Pakhtunwali [unwritten social principles or beliefs of the Pakhtuns]. The sample women were final year BA/BSc. college students, randomly selected from Peshawar District. The study found a strong co-relation between economic class, parental education and profession that affected women’s preference to family life over higher education and career. A dominant factor coming across was women’s patriarchal social milieu of having more boys’ as offspring to ensure a secure marital life. The study recommended further research of the issue, by adding rural and urban men’s sampling, for future educational strategies to promote increased gender participation in higher education in Pakhtunkhwa
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