Barriers and enablers of women’s academic careers in Pakistan

ABSTRACT

This qualitative study explores women academics’ perspectives and experiences working in a Pakistani university regarding their careers and how these progress. This is located in a northern city in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Rich narrative accounts were sought from ten women academics, combining semi-structured and informant-style interviewing. Their accounts focused on their academic, professional and family lives. Thematic analysis of these revealed a range of experiences pertaining to their academic and career progression and included factors that enabled them to work and others that served as barriers. The former included sustained family support received from parents, siblings and spouses, while the latter included inequality of opportunities in a male-dominated work environment, balancing home and work responsibilities, and lack of workplace facilities. Most of these women found it challenging to maintain balance between their home and workplace responsibilities. Nevertheless, our informants reportedly refused to be overwhelmed by the challenges they faced; instead, they displayed a great deal of resilience and displayed a spirit of defiance, optimism and efficacy to deal with challenges at the workplace and in their homes.

ABSTRACT IN URDU

یہ کوالیٹیٹو تحقیق ایک پاکستانی یونیودسٹی کی خواتین اساتذہ کے کیریرسے متعلق اظہار رائےپر مشتمل ہے-یہ یونیورسٹی صوبہ خیبر پختونخوا کے ایک شمالی ضلع میں واقع ہے۔ دس خواتین یونیودسٹی معلمات سے انٹرویوز کےذریعے ان کے تجربات کے بارے میں معلومات لی گئ۔ ان کے بیانات کا موضوع ان کی تعلیمی، پیشہ ورانہ اور گھریلو زندگیاں تھیں ۔ ان کے بیانات کے تجزیے سے کئ عوامل سامنے آ ئے ۔جو ان کے کیرئر میں مددگار تھے اور کئ رکاوٹیں سامنے آئیں۔ مددگار عوامل میں خاندان کے افراد کی مدد سب سے اہم نقطہ تھا جو کہ سامنے آیا۔ جبکہ رکاوٹوں میں مردوں کا کام کی جگہ میں غلبہ، گھر اور دفتری کاموں میں توازن رکھنے میں مشکلات اور کام کی جگہ پر سہولیا ت کی کمی شامل تھی۔ تاہم اس تحقیق سے یہ بات سامنے آئی کہ یہ خواتین یونیورسٹی اساتزہ ان مسائل کے باوجود پر عزم اور پرامید تھیں اور ان مسائل پر قابو پا کر اپنی ذمہ داریاں گھر اور کام کی جگہوں پر احسن طریقے سے نبھانا چاہتی تھیں ۔

KEYWORDS:

• Women academics
• career progression
• barriers and enablers
• work life balance
• Pakistan

KEYWORDS:

• خواتین اساتذہ ، کیرئیر میں ترقی، رکاوٹیں، مختیارات، کام اور گھریلو زندگی میں توازن

Notes on contributors

Shawana FAZAL is an Assistant Professor in Department of Education, Hazara University Mansehra Pakistan. Dr Fazal earned her PhD in Education with specialization in English Language Teaching. Her teaching and research interests focus on Teaching of English as a Second Language, teacher education, internationalization of Education and Gender. Her publications center on language pedagogy, motivation, gender equity and ICT in Education. She presented at a number of national and international conferences in Australia, USA and UK. She has also worked on various research projects in Pakistan and Australia. Emails: [email protected], [email protected]

Sadaf NAZ has been teaching at the Department of Education, Hazara University, since 2006. She did her PhD in Education at the Hazara University, Pakistan in 2015. Dr. Naz has published a number of articles on students’ belief about the nature of intelligence, Motivation, self-efficacy, Emotional intelligence, role of parents in the child development and other issues in the national and international publications. Dr. Naz has also presented a number of research papers in educational conferences in Pakistan, Malaysia and the UK. Email: [email protected]

Muhammad Ilyas KHAN completed his PhD in Education at the University of Leicester, UK in 2012. He is currently serving as an Assistant Professor of Education at the Department of Education, Hazara University, Pakistan. Dr. Khan’s teaching and research interests include teacher education, reflective practice, philosophy of education, curriculum development, gender studies, life-long learning, education leadership, school education, education policy and Teaching of English as a Foreign/Second language. He has published research in journals of good repute and has presented papers in national and international research conferences. Email: [email protected].

David PEDDER is Academic Dean and Professor of Education at Emirates College for Advanced Education, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. His teaching and research interests focus on improvement and innovation in teaching and learning in classrooms, schools and networks. He has lead and participated in a wide range of research studies including the Schools and CPD State of the Nation Study in England, Learning How to Learn, and Consulting Pupils. His publications center on qualitative and quantitative investigations into pedagogic innovation, teachers’ professional learning, educational leadership and school improvement. Email: [email protected]

Notes

1. The name of the university and the city in which it is located cannot be divulged as we need to maintain its anonymity and especially that of our research informants.