Developing a contextual understanding of empowerment through education: narratives from highly educated women in Pakistan

ABSTRACT

Current international discourse foregrounds gender parity in education as a means of empowering women in societies with strong adherence to traditional gender norms, such as Pakistan. This discourse contends that women’s access to higher education and subsequent employment enables them to identify and reject traditional cultural values and norms. However, some scholars criticise the gender parity approach as portraying a simplistic narrative that fails to recognise the social, cultural, and family contexts within which women are embedded. Drawing on an ecological approach, this article examines how education and empowerment are experienced by highly educated women in Pakistan with a particular focus on these contexts. Our findings demonstrate that education and employment are often experienced as disempowering due to their reinforcement of traditional gender roles and values. However, we also found that women move iteratively between acquiescing to traditional gender norms and pushing the boundaries of acceptable practice through this acquiescence. Our findings demonstrate that for the women in our study, empowerment was experienced through their ability to strike a delicate balance between compliance with traditional customs and the pursuit of opportunities that opened because of this compliance.

KEYWORDS:

• Women
• education
• empowerment
• traditional gender norms

Introduction

In many societies, traditional gender roles operate as a mechanism of power, perpetuating systems of inequality and subordination that favour men over women (Levant and Richmond 2016). These gender norms sustain a hierarchy of power and privilege, that dictates the behaviours and opportunities available to individuals based on their gender (Ahmed and Hyndman-Rizk 2020). Consequently, women find themselves disadvantaged, facing limitations on their opportunities and autonomy in different life domains. This power dynamic is deeply embedded within institutions and cultural practices, shaping the very fabric of society (Agha 2022). Thus, traditional gender roles not only reflect existing power structures but also serve to perpetuate and reinforce them, maintaining the status quo of inequality and subjugation of women (Heise et al. 2019; Kabeer 2016; Tahir 2016).

Prominent political and social discourse foregrounds education as a core means of empowering women to overcome the gendered oppression that permeates societies structured around traditional gender roles (Kristof 2010, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) 2019). Such empowerment is positioned as a natural consequence of women learning about their rights through education, and exercising those rights by taking advantage of the increased employment and social participation opportunities that are seen to follow education (Gee 2015; Khurshid 2017). Indeed, in its recent Strategy for Gender Equality In and Through Education, UNESCO (2019, 4) emphasises the ‘power of education to tackle the unequal power relations, social norms, discriminatory practices and belief systems that underpin gender inequality and exclusion in society.’

Although there are many possible approaches to empowering women through education, international policies – including the aforementioned UNESCO strategies, as well as initiatives such as Education for All (EFA), Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – predominantly draw on a gender parity approach (Cin 2017; Psaki, McCarthy, and Mensch 2018; UNESCO 2019). Such an approach views gender disparities as a question of access, thus focusing on empowering women by increasing their access to education and employment. Although the parity approach has achieved demonstrable success in increasing the participation of women and girls in education (Chisamya et al. 2012), scholars criticise the approach as portraying a simplistic and linear narrative that fails to recognise the social, cultural, and historical contexts in which family and community institutions can be both empowering and restricting (Adely 2009; Guinée 2014; Khoja-Moolji 2018; Khurshid and Saba 2018).

Over the last two decades, women’s education in Pakistan has attracted unprecedented investment from Western states and international development agencies such as the World Bank and United Nations. This has resulted in the gender parity approach gaining traction in Pakistan (Khurshid 2017). Drawing on existing international critiques of the parity approach to empowering women through education, this article focuses specifically on Pakistani women’s experience of education and empowerment in relation to the social structures and systems in which they live and learn. Using the ecological systems approach (Bronfenbrenner 1976), we present evidence from the lived experience of 35 highly educated Pakistani women (i.e. women with university-level education). In doing so, we critique the individualistic parity approaches towards women, education, and empowerment by highlighting the broader contextual factors – including educational contexts, family duties, and societal expectations – that constrain and enable women’s empowerment.

Literature review: problematising the gender parity approach

Gender parity as empowerment

The gender parity approach views gender disparities as a question of access and focuses on empowering women by increasing their access to schooling and employment. Within this approach, women in countries that strongly value traditional gender roles are seen as both victims and agents of change in society. Women have thus become a central focus of international projects that seek to redefine the roles and rights of women in traditional societies such as Pakistan. Empowerment of women is seen as developing their ability to realise their self-worth and individual interests and in turn challenge the existing traditional cultural values and social norms (Kandiyoti 2007; Abu-Lughod 2009; 2013; Khurshid and Saba 2018).

Increasing gender parity in education to help women achieve such empowerment is currently a global commitment, as seen in programs such as the Education for All (EFA) initiatives, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Sustainable Developments Goals (SDGs), which focus on educating children, especially girls (Cin 2017; Psaki, McCarthy, and Mensch 2018; UNESCO 2019). Following these initiatives, multilateral organisations and educational policies have focused on increasing the number of girls in schools, particularly in countries where girls have historically missed out on education. There are several arguments for why achieving gender parity in education is important for facilitating women’s empowerment. For example, some argue that eliminating gender imbalance in education can lead to reducing poverty by improving women’s access to paid employment. Others suggest that educating girls brings peace and stability in and between countries, as it enables women to exercise their voice and take part in democratic processes and civil society and, through this participation, transform their lives and the societies within which they live (Monkman 2018). These arguments suggest that women’s empowerment through education will enable them to engage in development processes at the individual and societal level.

Although the policy language of multilateral organisations links women’s education to empowerment and, in turn, positive social change, existing research across the education, policy, and development fields foregrounds a lack of consideration of how empowerment is achieved through education in practice (Monkman 2011; Monkman and Hoffman 2013; Shah 2016; Monkman 2018; Diem, Young, and Sampson 2019). Indeed, policies that foreground gender parity in education have been critiqued for taking an ‘add women and stir’ approach, which assumes that simply including women will automatically empower them and lead them to achieve the same outcomes as men (Monkman and Hoffman 2013, 71). This overlooks important contextual factors such as traditional cultural values and social norms that oppress women and prevent them from achieving the same outcomes as men.

It is important to clarify that our intent here is not to diminish the significance of enhancing girls’ access to education. Rather, our focus is on advocating for a comprehensive approach that integrates contextual understanding into research concerning women's experiences and decisions. We do not posit that organisations promoting gender parity overlook the contextual hurdles or fail to recognise the substantial challenges arising when gender equality clashes with entrenched cultural norms or accepted gender roles. Instead, we contend that while gender parity initiatives are important, they represent only a singular facet of a multifaceted issue. To gain a comprehensive understanding, it is imperative to engage in dialogue about the broader societal constraints that limit women's choices and opportunities. Our argument emphasises the necessity of complementing efforts to enhance educational access for girls with research that delves into the complexities of women's lives within their specific cultural and societal contexts. This holistic approach is essential for devising effective strategies that address the various factors constraining women's agency and choices.

Limitations of the gender parity approach

Existing research highlights several key areas in which highly relevant contextual factors are unable to be accounted for within the gender parity approach. One key area is the educational environment and curriculum. Many studies show how, particularly in societies that value traditional gender roles, schools serve as places of oppression and stereotyping for girls, thus perpetuating the cultural values and gender hierarchies of the wider context in which the school is embedded (Tikly and Barrett 2011; Chisamya et al. 2012). For example, Durrani and Halai (2018) and Islam and Asadullah (2018) explain how Pakistani textbooks are used to maintain, reproduce, and reinforce gender hierarchies by excluding women visually and reinforcing gender-based stereotypes through visual representation. These studies question the empowering capability of education when education itself serves as a disempowering structure that reinforces gender inequalities propagated by traditional cultural values and social norms.

Another key set of contextual factors often overlooked by the parity approach is those related to family duties and the domestic expectations of women. As explained above, the parity approach often assumes that women’s access to education will lead to employment, which in turn will help to transform traditional gender roles within the household. However, evidence suggests that even when women do go on to participate in the labour market after receiving a good education, this does not necessarily translate to more equal gender roles within the home (Guinée 2014; Dyson 2019). Indeed, in many instances, access to employment often meant that women took on dual roles and additional responsibilities (Göktürk and Tülübaş 2021). These contradictions can be attributed to gendered norms and structures that persist in societies even when women’s access to education and employment is increased.

As well as overlooking educational and family contexts, the parity approach also fails to account for the broader gendered societal norms surrounding expected behaviour, particularly in relation to marriage and honour. For example, in traditional societies where women are expected to marry, women’s participation in education and employment can be a barrier to finding an appropriate match (Guinée 2014; Dyson 2019; Dyson and Jeffrey 2022). This has largely been attributed to the perception that women who are educated or employed are too old for marriage, defiant of cultural expectations, and ‘headstrong’ (Guinée 2014; Dyson 2019). The women in these studies had to work hard to counter these perceptions, all while navigating strict gendered expectations surrounding dress, sexuality, and upholding family honour (Adely 2009; Abu-Rabia-Queder 2014; Khurshid 2017; Shah and Khurshid 2019). Far from being empowering, such experiences can lead women to accept unsuitable or unwanted marriages to uphold their honour and avoid being ostracised by society for their unwed status. These findings foreground the narrowness of the parity approach that assumes women’s access to higher education gives them power to escape traditional cultural values and social norms.

Moving beyond a gender parity approach

Taking this literature as our starting point, in this article we present an analysis of the contextual factors that facilitated and hindered highly educated women’s experiences of education and empowerment in Pakistan. Pakistan is a highly traditional country in which women’s decisions and agency are strongly constrained both by society as a whole and by the male members of their families (Agha 2022). While the existing studies discussed above address how empowerment through education is experienced – or, in most cases, not experienced – by women in a range of countries, only a small number of studies focus on the Pakistani context specifically (see for example: Oppenheim 2016; Tahir 2016; Khurshid 2017). Analysing the contextual factors that facilitate or hinder women's empowerment in Pakistan can provide valuable insights into addressing the challenges faced by women in such a challenging environment.

Strategy and method

This paper is a component of a larger project examining different contextual factors that impact women’s access to education, employment, and their experiences of empowerment in Pakistan. The project employed a mixed-methods approach combining surveys with in-depth interviews. The interview participants come from the larger sample (N = 1031) of survey respondents who expressed interest in participating in a follow up interview. The survey was open to all women of varying levels of education and employment status, aged 25 or above. For the purpose of this research, all individuals who identified as women were considered to be eligible. The survey was advertised broadly through social media using platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and WhatsApp groups. Potential participants could access the survey link directly through these channels. To guarantee equitable access to the survey for a broad range of participants, we made conscious efforts to disseminate the survey among a diverse range of groups. These groups encompassed general women groups that had both employed and unemployed women. This approach aimed to facilitate equal opportunity for participation and elicit a varied representation of perspectives. When selecting interview participants from the broad pool of survey respondents, specific criteria encompassing educational backgrounds, employment status, geographical locations, age groups, and survey responses were employed to ensure diverse representation of women in the study. This paper specifically reports on the findings of the interviews related to women’s experiences of education and empowerment.

Using a topic guide, 35 semi-structured interviews explored the issues and challenges pertaining to women’s experience of education and empowerment, particularly regarding what empowerment means to Pakistani women in the private and public domains (Khurshid 2017; Guinée 2014; Dyson 2019; Khoja-Moolji 2018; Stromquist 2015). All interviews were conducted via telephone or videoconferencing software and lasted 25-120 minutes. The interviews were predominantly conducted in the Urdu language. Following recording, the interviews were translated into English and transcribed. To protect participant anonymity, the names of the participants have been replaced by Pseudonyms. Prior to its commencement, this research received approval from the human research ethics committee of [University of Queensland].

The data from the interviews was analysed through an inductive thematic analysis approach guided by the ecological systems approach, as outlined by Bronfenbrenner (1976). Our theoretical approach provides an effective lens through which to critically examine the complex power dynamics perpetuating traditional gender norms and values within society. It further allows us to uncover the nuanced strategies deployed by women as they negotiate and, at times, challenge traditional expectations. This nuanced analysis reveals the intricate interplay between power, agency, and resistance within gendered contexts, where women strategically exercise their agency and navigate the complexities of traditional gendered structures. The central focus of the ecological systems approach resides in the individual and the impact that the interactions between the individual and various systems within their contextual milieu exert on their development and decision-making processes. Together, analysing the interviews to identify these contextual levels provided a comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted factors influencing women’s experiences and understanding of empowerment in the Pakistani context, thus highlighting the relevance and significance of this theoretical approach in addressing the research objectives for our study.

It is important to acknowledge here that Author [AZ’s] personal history of growing up and working in Pakistan significantly influenced her research methodology, participant engagement, and data interpretation. Her familiarity with Pakistani culture afforded her the ability to establish rapport and engage in profound dialogues with her study participants, thereby enriching her comprehension of their narratives. However, she was cognisant of the potential power imbalances emanating from her dual role as both a researcher and a Pakistani woman endowed with the privileges of international education and career choice. This contrast in life experiences could potentially induce apprehension among participants, leading to modifications in their narratives. To counteract any possible bias that may emerge [author initial’s] emphasised the value of participants’ unique perspectives in her interviews and closely reviewed interview recordings to check for any biases in her responses. In her interviews, she consciously restrained her personal opinions and monitored her non-verbal cues to maintain objectivity and avoid influencing participant responses.

Findings

Women’s experiences of education

Women’s experiences of school curriculum

Women’s experiences of school curriculum as highly gendered and traditional was a core theme throughout the interviews. Indeed, reflecting on their educational experience, participants spoke about how women were portrayed as mothers and caretakers and rarely as professionals, thus strengthening traditional gender role attitudes. For example, Suhaela shared how the curriculum stories were always about the girls being obedient and shy and the boys being outgoing and conquering the world. She went on to share:

Even today that is the narrative we teach our children. And then we expect education to bring social change in society. That is very naïve thinking. (Masters, employed, married)

Similarly, Ghazala shared:

The only reason I am an engineer is because I have forward-thinking parents. If it were up to my schooling, I would have probably followed a more traditional path. The textbooks were very traditional, the boy flying a plane, and the girl is either shown as cooking … I cannot recall any image from my schooling years where a girl was breaking traditional roles. (Masters, employed, married)

These examples reflect a consensus among participants that the school curriculum served to perpetuate – rather than challenge – traditional cultural expectations of men and women. Rather than being educated about their rights and encouraged to break away from traditional gender norms, women felt their oppression was further entrenched through the school curriculum. This consensus resonates with the findings of Durrani and Halai (2018) and Qazi and Javid (2021), who concluded that efforts to reform the curriculum have met with limited support in Pakistan owing to the broader traditional culture within which the education system operates. This suggests that a gender parity approach focusing on increasing the participation of girls in school is, on its own, unlikely to lead to greater opportunities for women to deviate from traditional gender norms and more fully participate in society if curriculum continues to reinforce traditional norms and values. Efforts must be made to revise curriculum, so it fosters awareness of the social realities and practices that inform gender issues in society. To accomplish this, the focus needs to be on having a curriculum free of gender discrimination – a point we return to in the discussion.

Women’s experience with their teachers

As well as the constraining nature of the curriculum, participants spoke about how their teachers propagated traditional gendered norms and beliefs. Participants recalled how teachers would tell the girls to be submissive in nature and obedient towards societal expectations of them, instead of teaching girls to be confident and assertive. In some instances, male teachers explicitly encouraged women to focus on being housewives. Speaking on this topic Khalida shared:

I remember during my university time there was a male teacher who asked the female students in our class how many of us planned to pursue a job after completing our studies. A few of us raised our hands. Then, he turned to the male students and asked how many of them would allow their future wives to work. Surprisingly, only two boys raised their hands. Shockingly, the teacher expressed support for these boys and stated that women should not work outside of the home. (Bachelors, employed, never married)

The participants also spoke about how their teachers undermined their potential in Math and Science related subjects and told them to pick easier subjects that would suit women. Reflecting on this, Fatima spoke about her experience with her math teacher:

In grade 11 and 12 there were hardly any girls in the engineering section. I would probably say 10% of us were girls and the rest were boys. And often teachers would tell us girls that engineering is a male’s profession. I clearly remember that when I would ask a question, they would look at me funny and brush it off saying that you will not understand the concept. It was utterly frustrating. (Masters, employed, never married)

The gendered practices that the participants experienced can lead to reinforcing gender assumptions, ‘thus influencing girls’ identity by suggesting that certain courses are not culturally appropriate or that girls should remain in the background’ (Cin 2017, 135). Critically, Raheema – who worked in Pakistan’s education department for over a decade – elaborated on how the people in charge of designing the curriculum adhere to traditional ideology themselves:

The main reason the curriculum doesn't change is that individuals responsible for making the curriculum adhere to traditional ideologies themselves and hence that traditional ideology is found in textbooks. (Masters, employed, never married)

These findings resonate with recent studies carried out in Pakistan that have found that efforts to reform the traditional curriculum and introduce sensitivity training for teachers have received minimal support in Pakistan owing to the dominance of men in leadership positions in the education sector (Durrani and Halai 2018; Qazi and Javid 2021). Hence, even though increasing girls’ participation in education may carry the possibility of contributing towards transforming societies, the social context in which such schooling takes place may limit its potential to achieve this. Our findings clearly indicate the persistence of prevailing masculine norms and structures within educational institutions, thereby limiting women's ability to fully realise their desired aspirations and identities.

Women’s experiences of ‘empowerment’

‘Empowerment’ and domestic expectations

Although participants recognised the role of education in enabling them to access employment opportunities, they also spoke at length about how societal and family expectations of their role in the home acted as barriers that prevented them from taking full advantage of these opportunities. Importantly, for participants who were working or had previously worked, employment did not mean that there was a shift within the norms of domestic responsibilities. The married women in our study shared how they were expected to complete the house chores and take care of the children, despite having full-time jobs. These women elaborated on the emotional and mental toll that continuing to work once married had on them. For example, Ruqqiya shared:

I sometimes feel I am working double shifts. One is my job and the second that starts after I get home after five. Once I enter the home, I am expected to cook dinner and make sure that it is ready by 8 for serving. My husband, whose working hours are less than mine, does not have to face any domestic pressures like this. He comes home at his time of convenience and expects me to have everything perfect and ready. My mother-in-law has the same expectations of me. (Masters, employed, married)

Similarly, Suhaela shared:

To maintain my job, I had to make sure that I met all the needs of my family members and my home. I had to work extra hard in my home so that there was no room for criticism that since I am working, I cannot maintain a home and fulfill the needs of my family. I compromised on my rest and my own personal needs to remain independent. If I had not taken extra care of the needs of my family, I would not have been able to maintain my career. (Masters, employed, married)

Women’s narratives demonstrate how marriage led to the expansion of their responsibilities that now included more domestic expectations for them. For some women, the double burden of work and domestic responsibilities led to them leaving the workforce. As Amira explained:

Balancing a full-time job, childcare, and housework became incredibly challenging. Even with the assistance of household help, ensuring everything ran smoothly and on schedule added to the stress of an already demanding job. The responsibilities of taking care of the kids, handling their activities, waking up during the night, and lacking support from my husband felt overwhelming. It eventually became unmanageable, leading me to make the difficult decision to quit my job. (Masters, not employed, married)

The family structure and domestic expectations of women thus served to restrict women’s ability to take advantage of the employment opportunities their education afforded them and undermined their feelings of empowerment. These findings show how, even with an increase in women’s educational attainment and the opportunity to participate in employment, persistent traditional norms around the role of women in the household are still prevalent barriers that need to be addressed before women will be empowered to fully participate in employment and society more broadly.

The present findings correlate closely with previous studies (Göktürk and Tülübaş 2021, Mukherjee 2015), that demonstrate the negative impact of double burden on women’s participation in the labour market. Even when women are employed, women remain primarily responsible for domestic and caregiving studies, particularly within conservative societal societies (Khurshid 2017). These findings highlight the necessity for a transformative shift in cultural models that perpetuate traditional gender roles within the Pakistani context. By shedding light on the enduring challenges faced by women in balancing their professional and domestic responsibilities, this research contributes to a growing body of literature advocating for systemic changes aimed at fostering gender equity and empowering women within the Pakistani workforce.

‘Empowerment’ and marital expectations

Just as the women in our study experienced strong pressures to conform to traditional gender roles in the home, so too did they experience strong pressure to conform to social expectations regarding marriage. Saba shared that even if a woman is educated and can financially sustain herself, her social worth is attached to her marital status in Pakistan. She went on to share:

There was a lot of pressure on me and my family for my marriage … A married woman in the Pakistani society is more respected than an unmarried woman. That is just a fact in the Pakistani society. It was interesting how the behaviour of people changed when I got married. Now that I have a husband the people around me have become more accepting of me leaving my home and having a job. (Masters, employed, married)

Similarly, Taskeen shared:

Marriage is so ingrained in the society. I am told that my education is not of value because I do not have a husband. (Masters, employed, never married)

Conforming to the institution of marriage to escape judgement around singlehood emerged as a necessary yet highly disempowering factor for the women in the study. For the married participants it was important to have a successful marriage, even if it meant compromising their needs and choices, especially for those women who were the first in their families and communities to receive an education and enter employment. Speaking on this topic, Saleema shared:

For me, it was very important to have a successful marriage even if it meant sacrificing my happiness. Otherwise, my parents would get a backlash for getting me educated and letting me have a job. People would make snarking comments that your daughter got educated and worked but she could not maintain her home. (Masters, employed, married)

Women’s narratives here demonstrate that even with high levels of education and employment they felt the societal pressure of getting married due to society’s negative views of unmarried and educated or employed women.

‘Empowerment’ and honour expectations

Despite the barriers to empowerment discussed so far, education did introduce new opportunities in the lives of women in our study. They were able to gain access to new spheres of life such as employment. However, access to new spheres was dependent upon them conforming strictly to codes of conduct and behaviour to uphold their family’s izzat (family honour). The women in the study made a conscious effort to ensure that their families did not receive any complaints about their behaviour and dressing by community members, which would be a source of dishonour for the family. So even though the participants gained access to the public sphere, this access was under strict surveillance of the family and other community members. This highlights how women are strategically leveraging their agency in manners that may initially seem to conform to conventional power dynamics. However, upon closer examination, these actions enable them to transcend certain traditional gender limitations. For example, Saleema was one of the first women in her family to pursue education and employment. She shared:

I was the first female to be allowed to get an education and pursue employment. I had to make sure that my dressing, manners, and conduct in public spaces remained within expected societal norms. I remember leaving the house with a big chadar (a large piece of cloth), covering my body from head to toe. At the bus stop, I had to wait at times. During those five minutes, I would be scared. Men were not used to seeing women in the public. Their stares and comments would make me very conscious and annoyed. At times I felt like telling them off. But I did not because engaging with the men in public would have brought dishonour to the family, even if I was in the right. My mother would get really upset with all this. See, you have to understand the minute I left my parents’ house to either go study or work, I am carrying that family honour with me. Even the slightest mistake could have brought dishonour to the family even if the mistake wasn’t mine because once a female’s reputation is lost, it can never be regained. (Masters, employed, married)

Similarly, Saba shared:

Even today I make sure that I am dressed in a manner that is acceptable by the society. Even when I go abroad for a conference or an event, I make sure that I am dressed in a shalwar kameez (traditional Pakistani dress) and have a dupatta (large piece of cloth) covering my head. Sometimes I feel like deviating from the dress code. But following the accepted dress code makes me more acceptable by the society and especially the men of the society. You see many times in life you have to sacrifice things you want to do for gaining your aims. I may not be able to dress in a way that I want or behave in the public in the manner that pleases me but by conforming to these domains I was able to gain access to education, have a job and travel the world. (Masters, employed, married)

A similar narrative was found across the interviews where participants conformed to societal expectations of dressing and conduct in public. The participants shared that by conforming to socially acceptable norms of dressing and behaviour for women in Pakistan, they were able to gain access to opportunities that were previously available only to men in their families and communities.

The participants revealed that it was important for them to maintain their family honour owing to the immense support they received from their parents in achieving their educational and employment goals. The participants further shared that by conforming to norms of modest behaviour and dressing, they became role models for their extended families. By this the participants meant that because they were not seen as going against acceptable gendered norms of honour and modesty, male members of their extended families started allowing women to pursue education and employment. This was seen as a great achievement by women in whose families the concept of a woman’s education and employment was previously unthinkable. Speaking on this topic Suhaela shared:

If you want to bring change in the society, you cannot do so by challenging everything around you. You have to take the people with you. My parents went against family and community to make sure that I got a proper education. They supported me when I decided to get a job. And knowing the amount of courage it took them to stand with me I made sure that my conduct in public areas did not bring dishonour to them, as maintaining their honour was my responsibility. I kept the honour of my family intact and became a role model for other females in my family. Girls in my family are now going to school and college. Conforming to my parent’s and societal expectations opened doors for me. And now my example is opening doors for others in my family. (Masters, employed, married)

Participants further shared that conforming to a modest code of dressing gave them a sense of safety and ease of mobility in public spaces that are dominated by males. For example, speaking on this topic Bushra shared:

My family has never forced me to cover myself with a big chadar (cloth). When I go to school for teaching, I do not wear a headscarf because I feel that place to be safe from snarky comments and disturbing gaze. But when I got to the market, I cover myself with a big chadar. It gives me a sense of safety. I see men passing demeaning comments on females who are not modestly dressed. I never want to face such harassment, so I cover myself when I got to the market or other public places dominated by men. (Masters, employed, married)

Adopting a modest way of dressing thus had a twofold advantage for the participants. Firstly, it maintained their parents’ and society’s expectation of honour and modesty, and secondly it became a safety mechanism protecting them from issues such as harassment in public spaces. These findings show that women adhered to strict codes of dressing and behaviour due to societal expectations. Rather than outright challenging these expectations, women developed their own strategies for using these to their advantage to enable them to gain freedom in areas such as employment, education, and travel that were not available to them earlier. Moreover, by upholding family honour the examples of these women opened new spaces for other women in their families. This also foregrounds how women are strategically exercising their agency in ways that on the surface appear to play into traditional power structures, yet upon deeper inspection enable them to move beyond traditional gendered constraints.

The conservative nature of dressing is seen by human rights campaigns as rendering women as lacking agency and a voice of their own. Within the international perspective, women who ‘cover themselves are assumed to be coerced or capitulating to male pressure’, thereby experiencing disempowerment (Abu-Lughod 2009, 21). However, our findings contradict this perspective by showing that to these women, conforming to notions of modesty and appropriate conduct in public spaces was not a sign of oppression. The conservative way of dressing may appear to an outsider as oppressive but to these women it gave them the feeling of empowerment, safety, and liberation of movement when they were in public spaces.

Discussion

The ecological systems approach provided an effective lens for our research to examine Pakistani women’s experiences of education and empowerment. The selected approach offered us a valuable analytical framework for investigating entrenched power dynamics that uphold traditional gender norms and values within society. Additionally, it illuminates the nuanced strategies employed by women to navigate and, in some instances, challenge patriarchal constraints. This nuanced understanding highlights the complex negotiation of power and resistance within gendered contexts, shedding light on the multifaceted strategies employed by women in their efforts to assert agency and navigate patriarchal frameworks. Furthermore, this approach facilitated in contesting the linear relationship between women, education, and empowerment by emphasising the contextual nature of empowerment.

Our findings first demonstrated the limited role of education as a transformative tool when education itself propagates the traditional gender structures within which the education system is embedded (Chisamya et al. 2012; Stromquist 2015). Given that teachers and curriculum designers themselves have been raised, educated, and are living within these contexts, and given that the majority of decision-makers in the education system are men (Agha, Syed, and Mirani 2018), it is unlikely that the Pakistan education system will become more progressive without concerted and systematic efforts to change cultural values in conjunction with improving parity of education. More inclusive curriculums and gender sensitivity training for teachers are of critical importance for increasing the transformative potential of schools. Importantly, these must be developed drawing on progressive and gender-equal values that challenge the unequal relations of power currently existing in a Pakistani society, which proclaims men to have superiority over women. This recommendation is supported by existing research. For example, Blumberg (2007) and Herz, Herz, and Sperling (2004) found that having a teaching guide to accompany existing textbooks can help teachers and students critically assess gender representation. Such instructional supplements may offer a valuable prospect for teachers to delve into gender-related subjects with students, utilising existing texts to bring forth existing biases, and subsequently deliberating on possible strategies to mitigate these biases within the Pakistani milieu.

00Our findings also demonstrate how our sample of highly educated Pakistani women experienced empowerment in complex ways that did not align with the gender parity approach’s linear view of education as leading to empowerment by enabling women to understand and claim their human rights and increase their participation in society. In particular, we found that highly gendered expectations and norms regarding women’s role in the home were highly burdensome for women who wished to work, as they were expected to manage all of the domestic and child-raising responsibilities on top of their participation in the labour market. Many women felt strong pressure to uphold their domestic duties to the highest standards to avoid judgement and ensure their husbands continue to allow them to work. For these women, access to education and employment thus intensified their subjugation to existing gender norms.

The women in our sample similarly faced considerable pressure from their families and society more broadly to find a man to marry. The women in our study also took great care to modify their behaviours to ensure they uphold their family’s izzat (honour). In Pakistan, women are more strictly associated with this concept compared to men and experience stricter familial and social demands. This leads to women having less access to public places, and in instances where they do have access they are subjected to strict surveillance by their families and communities (Bhatti and Jeffery 2012; Bhatti 2013). By subjecting women to strict surveillance, traditional gendered systems reinforce the idea that women's presence in public spaces is conditional and must be monitored to ensure adherence to societal norms. This surveillance not only limits women's freedom of movement but also perpetuates their marginalised status within the community. It underscores the unequal power relations between men and women, with men typically holding the authority to dictate and enforce these surveillance measures. Thus, surveillance in public spaces in traditional societies serves as a mechanism through which power structures are upheld and maintained, further entrenching the subjugation of women.

Our findings show how women in the study oscillate between submitting to traditional gender norms and simultaneously pushing the boundaries of acceptable behaviour and roles in Pakistani culture. In the participants’ accounts, we can see an illustration of this where women worked to uphold the expected ideals of modesty and family honour, ultimately paving the way for them and other women in their families to pursue education and employment. These findings challenge the notions of empowerment within gender parity frameworks, where women are seen as empowered when they overtly challenge traditional cultural values and social norms after receiving an education. Instead, the participants in our study can be seen as practicing what Dyson and Jeffrey (2022) terms as reformist agency. Reformist agency is defined as persistent forms of action ‘that nevertheless occur largely within the terms of current dominant discourses and practices but which, over the long term, serve to reshape those dominant practices in incremental ways’ (Dyson and Jeffrey 2022, 6). Reformist agency directs our attention towards how working within existing norms carries the potential for changing oppressive structures in the long run. This indicates that efficacious action may not necessarily entail overt resistance against existing structures, which may result in harsh social sanctions for women that further restrict their agency and force them to adhere more strictly to traditional gender roles (Laidlaw 2013).

Conclusion

The results demonstrate that the international rhetoric on women, education, and development fails to capture the social dimensions of constraints along with the cultural limitation of choices available to women. Current international discourse views women’s empowerment as women taking power and breaking traditional norms and customs. This mainstream narrative ignores the relationships and expectations that make up women’s lives and instead focusses on the individualistic nature of empowerment. The results of this study indicate that women’s lives cannot be investigated by subtracting them from their relational webs that make up their social and cultural environment (Kabeer 2011; Cornwall 2016; Cornwall 2018; Khurshid 2017).

Our study in particular reveals the complexity of women’s empowerment as at times operating within, rather than in opposition to, the mechanisms of gendered regulation. This analysis challenges the narrative of women’s education as universally empowering and instead shows it as a site of contestation and negotiation. Given the multidimensional nature of empowerment, assuming education can eradicate oppressive structures in society is a positive yet unrealistic approach. In contrast, the findings in this article show the need to understand the complex nature of empowerment by examining, and changing, the relationships and the structures in which women live.

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course (Project ID CE200100025).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by University of Queenland's Research and Training Scholarship; and This research was also supported by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course [Project ID CE200100025].

Notes on contributors

Asma Zulfiqar

Asma Zulfiqar is a Senior Research Assistant at the Institute for Social Sciences Research, University of Queensland.

Ella Kuskoff

Ella Kuskoff is a Research Fellow in the School of Social Science, at The University of Queensland.