UNDERSTANDING THE NARRATIVES OF MARRIAGE AND EMPOWERMENT AMONG SINGLE PAKISTANI WOMEN

Abstract

Marriage has consistently held a major position in the lives of women in Pakistan. Remaining unmarried is not only socially unacceptable but also seen as a violation of the cultural dominance of the institution of marriage (Sultana et al., 2021). Current study delves into how societal expectations regarding marriage influence the perceptions of empowerment in single women. Using semi-structured interviews with 5 single women recruited from Islamabad, Wah Cantt, Hassanabdal, Haripur, Mianwali and Rawalpindi. For the present study qualitative approach was used. For this, participants (N=5) were selected through purposive sampling. Using reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2019), codes, sub themes and major themes, were extracted from the transcripts. Six major sub themes were reported i.e. personal empowerment, the difficulties in getting married, how families influence this, psychological challenges, struggles in society, societal norms, and how women deal with all of these. The results reported that traditional cultural norms exert a lot of pressure on women to get married, often thinking that being married means being accepted by others and being happy with your own life (Sultana et al., 2021). It further reported that empowering single women in Pakistan is a multifaceted process that often involves navigating cultural norms. Current study has implications for policy makers and provides a strong base for future studies.