Abstract
Higher education signifies the social and economic development of states. Higher education helps society excel in various professions and technical sectors. The progress and prosperity of a society primarily depend on education. Women's education holds prominence in the modern world. No society can develop or can sustain its development without educating its women. They make about 50% of the world’s population and their education connotes the development and progress of a society. Chitral is the least populated district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Due to its exceptional and unique social and ethnic diversity the area has an interesting position on the map of the world. The literacy rate in Chitral is higher among women as compared to other parts of KPK but still receiving higher education is very challenging for girls because of social, economic, infrastructural, and administrative inefficiencies. Social taboos and cultural norms have restricted women of different communities inside their homes and engaged them in household chores. Women in Chitral face many obstacles and challenges in receiving higher education. Social misconception about women's education, religious misapprehensions, and cultural taboos, negative perception of co-education, financial constraints, and lack of proper educational institutions are the significant factors that affect women's higher education. The University of Chitral is the only higher education institution established in 2017. There were no other higher educational institutions before the University of Chitral. The university is still not well developed to meet the demands of higher education especially women's education. This paper intends to highlight the status of higher education in Chitral, socio-cultural factors affecting higher education of women, the significance of higher education for women in Chitral, and concludes with recommendations and suggestions for a preferable way forward. The researchers had conducted a field survey in Chitral and the data collected has been used in this paper.
Highlights
The United Nations stresses the elimination of gender discrimination against women and fundamental human rights by focusing on women's rights as human rights
This shows the majority of women in Chitral believe that parents allocate more resources to boys than girls for higher education. This reflects the general perception of giving priority to boys over girls in Chitral. It can be deduced from the literature review that “ In Pakistan mostly parents give preference to their son over their daughters as they believe that investing on their son's education have more prospects and benefits as compared to boys (The Nation, 2015), the results show that the stigma of giving preferences to male members of the family is prevalent in Chitral
AND DISCUSSION The study reveals that socio-cultural factors affect women higher education in the following ways; 3.1: Gender Discrimination in Provision of Educational Resources Gender equality enhances the social development of a society
Summary
The United Nations stresses the elimination of gender discrimination against women and fundamental human rights by focusing on women's rights as human rights. Higher education is perceived to be an important investment and has remarkable significance for the socio-economic progress of a society. The progress and prosperity of a society depend on its education. The social development and progress of a nation depend on its education system; the better the education system of a country, the more the society will develop. Within the time of enhanced globalization, and social awareness across the globe, several issues are being discussed related to different walks of life. Among these issues’ women's education is of paramount significance. Women make about 50% of the world population Their inclusion in the development process is very important for every state. A society can develop and nourish through a system of proper education where the different segments of society inclusively take part in the education process
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