Girls’ education and the cultural capital of Pakistan’s urban middle class

Abstract

This qualitative study employs a Bourdieusian framework to explore how urban middle-class parents in Pakistan support their daughters’ education while transmitting cultural capital. Parents emphasize talim-o-tarbiyat, referring to education and nurturing. I argue that, owing to the availability of educational resources and the recognition of the cultural capital conferred by Western qualifications, middle-class, educated urban parents choose Western education as talim. Additionally, Tarbiyat motivates their aspirations for their daughter’s education with specific cognitive references, notably Ashraaf values. Through boundary work and concerted cultivation, they reproduce cultural capital, influencing career choices and networks. Nevertheless, educated working women, experiencing a transformation of their habitus, foster new cognitive and social structures for themselves and their daughters. The study identifies desirable cultural capital, suggesting future research on exploring the conversion strategies of educated women’s capital by considering diverse sociocultural factors that intersect with gender dynamics within both private and public spheres.