Do Male Attitudes Obstruct Female Participation? The Case of Education and Labour Force Participation in District Lahore, Pakistan

The Paper explores the attitudes of men on girl’s education and female labour force participation in district Lahore, Pakistan. The main emphasis is to explore whether the male attitudes obstruct or facilitate the female participation in these fields. The special feature of this paper is that it follows the unusual line of enquiry and studies the attitudes of men and does not limit itself to the patriarchal issues. The likes and dislikes of the women about paid work and education and their feelings on men’s attitudes have also been taken into consideration. The paper also explores whether the attitudes of men differ in rural and urban context and the migration influences the attitudes of men or otherwise. The paper argues that ‘gender regimes’ operate in both public and private domains in Pakistani society which happens to be highly male dominant society. Conceptually the men favour the education of girls but find it difficult to educate the girls because of the socio-cultural issues which include security concerns, customs and traditions, negative attitudes of men-folk and poverty. The paper argues that the labour market is not only gendered but also sexualized as the women folk do no feel safe while on work. The son preference is a dominant norm in the Pakistani society and first priority is son’s education and employment. The girls are thought to be other’s property and hence emphasis is laid on their marriages and dowry. The paper also postulates that the attitudes of men are changing because of multiple factors including economic, social and temporal ones. The current research is relevant to the development studies in three ways. First, it explores the male attitudes on female participation in the areas where the female participation not only (pre)determines their human and social development, but also paves the way for their emancipation and empowerment. Secondly, it explores the dynamics of change; what shapes the attitudes and what are the factors which ignite the change in men’s attitudes, and hence falls within its realm. Thirdly, it is not the women who need development, but the development also needs women. So, the research explores the attitudes of men viz-a viz the views of women on the same.