Nexus Between Socio-Cultural Factors and Women's Social Mobility: A Case Study of District Rajanpur (Pakistan)

Abstract

The attitude of men toward women has a substantial impact on the social mobility of women, affecting a variety of domains, including education, employment, and political participation. Women's exploitation and discrimination are often seen as a barrier to national success. Women lack a voice, independent opinions, and the right to make life decisions. Gender prejudices are frequently perpetuated by societal norms and cultural beliefs, which severely restrict the opportunities for women to advance in both social and economic contexts. Pakistan has widespread gender inequality in all aspects of life. Pakistani society's patriarchal framework and persistent sociocultural norms limit women's mobility, employment opportunities, and inheritance rights. The primary purpose of this study was to check the women's social mobility in district Rajanpur. The study's main objective was to study the relationship between sociocultural factors affecting men's attitudes towards women's social mobility. The theoretical framework consists of the social role theory and masculinity theory. Multistage sampling technique was used to obtain348 respondents from the 3976 registered households using the structured interview schedule. Data was analyzed through the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS-26). The correlation results present a negative correlation between social factors and women's social mobility; cultural factors and women's social mobility have a negative correlation. This study suggested that social media should present the positive role of educated women and the government of Pakistan should take some serious steps for technical educational programs for women in southern Punjab to improve women's social mobility.