Problems of Married Women at Higher Education in Pakistan: Academic, Social and Cultural Context

The major focus of the study was to explore the social, cultural, financial and academic problems of married women at higher education, and also to sensitize, orientate relevant stakeholders to address them. It was descriptive research following qualitative approach to collect data with the semi-structured interview. Population of the study were married female students enrolled in private Universities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, and 20 participants were selected through snowball sampling technique to collect the data. It is concluded that education is basic necessity for every human beings whether male or female, however, certain families in Pakistan do not allow women in general and married women in particular for higher education because of social, cultural, religious, economic and educational factors. Support for the education of married women depends upon family attitude, educational status, financial stability and husband viewpoint. Most of the conservative families think that higher education environment will bring moral deprivation, grant unrestricted freedom, and delay in marriage for their daughters. It is recommended that seminars and focused programs are required to be designed to change the perceptions of the society about female education, and universities as well as HEC increase the number of scholarships for female education. Non-formal education system may target to female who are not allowed to go out of their cities for education. It is also recommended that higher education institutions design flexible working hours for married women so that they will be able to cope with the domestic work and academic workload without stress and tension