WOMEN IN PAKISTAN- SOCIAL MOBILITY, HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND EMPOWERMENT

The word Development is devious and captivating, however, the development path is perplexed. In most cases, the governments try to attain economic, military, technological, and infrastructural development, whereas, the power centers evade investing and working on issues of Human Development. The governments of countries like Pakistan strive to shuffle the attentiveness of the world by spending a huge amount on building the roads, on bridges, and transportation and in maximization of arms and ammunition. Human development in Pakistan has always been neglected due to various reasons. A huge population of almost a 22million having as low as 154th (out of 189 countries) position in the human development index. The patriarchal system has created the social and cultural environment that is supporting persistence male domination, remains the major obstacle in the intellectual, social, and economic growth of women. This paper addresses the conceptual and methodological aspects of human development and women’s empowerment in Pakistan, it explains the challenges and trends concerning women’s empowerment throughout Pakistan’s history, specifically in key areas such as individual, education, and health, economic and political participation, and especially Women’s limited and controlled mobility.