CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2025
| Author | Mushtaq, Mashal |
|---|---|
| Title | Gender Based Barriers to Girls' Education in Rural Punjab, Pakistan: An Issue of Socio-Cultural Constructs |
| Summary | The thesis identifies the gender-based barrier to girls’ education in rural Punjab and analyzes that how these barriers are connected with the socio-cultural constructs. Despite the constitution guaranteeing equal education for all and various projects working towards improving access to education for girls, a huge proportion of girls still remain out of school due to gendered discrimination. The thesis focuses on the case study analysis of rural Punjab and how various social norms such as early marriage, mobility restrictions, dependence on male members of the household, patriarchy, gendered stereotypes, culturally fabricated gender roles which tie the identity of females with household work only, and future economic dependence on sons and not daughters, leads to imbalance in education attainment and retention. Data was gathered through semi-structured interviews of education experts and a comprehensive literature review, which provided appropriate insights on how access is an issue of socio-cultural constructs. The thesis focuses on culturally sensitive aspects of policy interventions and localized education reforms to mitigate the impacts of socio-cultural constructs, leading to improved education access for girls. |
| Supervisor | Bodenstein, Thilo |
| Department | Public Policy MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2025/mushtaq_mashal.pdf |
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