Women’s social standing shapes out of age, offsprings

[Naveed Yaseen]

In Pakistan, married women are comparatively regarded more important than single women while the married ones with sons are more privileged than those without children or with daughters only.

These interesting findings make part of the final report of Pakistan’s Gender Profile Study for 2007-08. In its analysis of social context, the report further says that older women (generally those who are past the child bearing age) experience more relaxations on social control, and enjoy more respect and higher status in the family and community than younger women. “Yet, younger women generally have a higher ratio of education than older women,” it points out.

The report also reveals that women, who have independent income and earnings, carry more decision-making power than those, who do not earn monetarily, and those, who earn by working from home for pay, seem to be worse off than those, who work outside the home for pay.

Pointing towards another social trend, it mentions that poor women’s higher unaccompanied mobility is associated with loss of prestige and susceptibility to sexual violence whereas among richer women, such movement does not constitute a legitimate target for male exploitation nor does it lead to loss of status on part of their families.

It says that while being in the household, daughters-in-law work systematically harder than daughters of comparable age and education.

It further mentions that women, who live in their ‘own’ areas, have more mobility, access and power than women, who get dislocated due to displacement and migration, as their traditional roles and importance gets diminished in the changed alien context.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=186015