Education and Women’S Empowerment in Northern Pakistan: Tracing Accomplishments and Predicaments

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to investigate the transformatory potential of education in changing women's lives in the light of empirical data from the Chitral valley in northern Pakistan. The paper argues that where education opens up new avenues for some women, for others it creates dilemmas. The empirical findings show that the schooling of girls has gradually become a norm in Chitral, yet how it is perceived by men and women is complex. The data demonstrate that the local discourses about girls' education are not merely about access to schooling, but also about the use of education to exhibit personal change and to gain economic benefits. I posit that the process of gaining a sense of agency needs attention in terms of critical self-assessment, realization of one’s position in the society, the ability to desire change and to be able to work for it. The paper calls to move beyond a simplistic co-relation between education, gender and empowerment and the need to establish a reflexive relationship based on personal experiences of women and on contextual imperatives.

Keywords: education, empowerment, women, agency, Chitral, Pakistan