Women’s Empowerment in Punjab: An Analysis of Socio-Cultural Challenges

Purpose: Women empowerment is a rapidly growing theme that inspires women to feel courageous and do what they feel they cannot do. Women seem far behind compared to men when it comes to participation in different sectors, particularly the economy and politics. Punjab is the largest province of Pakistan in terms of population. Here, women are more in number than men and constitute 51.8% of the province’s total population. Despite being outnumbered, women lag far behind in terms of availability and access to resources and opportunities. A notable disparity can be observed in economic, political, and social sectors. The research intends to explore the key socio-cultural challenges that hinder the way of women towards empowerment in the province of Punjab. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study adopts a qualitative research design to explore the selected phenomenon. Under the particular paradigm, the case study method is selected by the researcher. Findings: The socio-cultural conditions are progressive and favorable for women in Punjab, compared to the rest of the provinces still, women do not feel empowered. The primary challenges to empowerment include Patriarchy, a less supportive family system, domestic violence and abuses, and misinterpretation of the religious teachings. Implications/Originality/Value: Transformation in traditional socio-cultural patterns, Redefining the gender roles and responsibilities, means of communications, support of men, and women themselves can act as agents of re-shaping the power structures.