Gender Equality but Never-Ending Inequity in FATA, Pakistan

Abstract

Purpose: Conventional wisdom in women development generally supports the link between acceptance of unequal gender norms, which is reflective of their work participation rate, and income gaps. While this link is intuitive in the literature, the presumed impact beyond merely women empowerment, including women's socio-economic development, while lacking sufficient evidence for the case of FATA (Pakistan). This inhand study devolves on the factors which may have promising impact towards women empowerment, consisting upon a sample data of 962 female from secondary data sources i.e. PDHS 2017-18.
 Design/Methodology/Approach: Survey based data of PDHS 2017-18 was used in this study. Moreover, Binomial Logistic Regression is applied as an econometric technique.
 Findings: The disaggregated results confirm that women in FATA are less benefited as compared to men, particularly when it comes to financial status; affecting their household decision making and adding miseries to their socio-economic conditions. Not only that, the persistent gender gap in this region also shares a prominent link with their age, education, exposure to media, fertility preference and employment status.
 Implications/Originality/Value: Lastly, the study scientifically concludes that access to education and employment is the only enabling factor to women's empowerment and achievement towards their socio-economic goals. On the same hand, above much depends on the attitude of the people towards gender equality, which may require intensive social reforms to change their behaviors.