Growing up in Pakistan: The separate experiences of males and females

Abstract

This paper examines gender differences in transitions to adulthood in Pakistan. The analysis is based on data from the 2001–02 Adolescent and Youth Survey of Pakistan (AYSP) a nationally representative survey of young people aged 15–24 undertaken by the Population Council’s Islamabad office. The survey covers key aspects of adolescents’ lives including the timing of several adult transitions and a detailed accounting of time use over the previous 24 hours. The results of the analysis confirm the fundamental importance of schooling to transitions to adulthood. Those without any schooling which still include 15 percent of young men and 46 percent of young women assume the work burdens of adults prematurely and are deprived of the opportunity for learning in an institutional setting outside the family. Those who do attend school eventually take up gender-stereotyped roles; however they do so with some delay allowing them to experience a longer transition to adulthood. For both males and females there appears to be a large lag in years between the assumption of adult work roles whether in the domestic setting or in the labor market and the assumption of adult family roles as marked by the timing of first marriage. Recent further delays in the timing of first marriage for young women have been accompanied by a rise in the percent working for pay during the later adolescent years; a similar trend is not apparent for young men. A multivariate analysis of some of the factors associated with variations in daily work hours among young people demonstrates the potential for change created by opportunities for higher levels of schooling vocational training and formal-sector jobs. The nature of current opportunities available to young people however appears to reinforce traditional gender role stereotypes. (authors)