Psychosocial Boundaries Leading Towards Women Low Economic Participation

Abstract

Females are less in numbers when it comes to professional life, females are far behind in economic independence; male gender is the one which is ruling in labour market. The ratio of working women is very low as compared to men; especially in developing nations like Pakistan, this ratio is very depressed due to many social constraints. Women are surrounded by religious, cultural and traditional pressures and gate ways which they need to pass through. All hindrances make it difficult for women to get their piece of cake without any snag. To confirm these facts, middle class women aged 20 to 50 years were interviewed. Sadaf Stress Scale (SSS) was utilized to evaluate the level of emotional and mental stress in both groups. Respondents were selected using purposive sampling. Majority women in both groups expressed marriage and children’s socialization as a main hurdle in their professionalism; majority believed that it was not women’s responsibility to earn. Majority unmarried working females were ready to quit their jobs if their financial problems are solved in future. The proportion of women with high level stress was found in women of non-working group, who were of opinion that careers would have been good for them but would disturb their family lives. Level of stress was low in women whose religious level was high and they were against the concept of women empowerment. Rigid and orthodox interpretation of religious and society’s cultural values were found one of the important factors that held back women from economic participation.