GETTING HIGHER EDUCATION: IS IT REALLY A CHALLENGE FOR FEMALES IN PAKISTAN?

The present study aimed to investigate the challenges, which girls had to face to overcome the cultural obstructions to get higher education. The study focused on the multitude of cultural barriers and challenges female had to face, coping-strategies adopted by girls to overpower these barriers and consequences girls had to undergone during coping strategies and the impact of their struggle to acquire higher education on the other girls of their family and community. Qualitative research approach was adopted in order to know about subjective experience of respondents which they experienced while getting admission in university. In-depth interviews and FGD were put into practice because the research question of the present study required both breadth and depth. The findings of the study suggested that cultural barriers faced by girls were based on stereotype gender roles. These stereotype gender roles were the reflection of values of a maledominant society. The study also highlighted that girls had to face family resentment to convince their parents for getting admission in university. It also revealed most significant finding about the struggle of girls to overcome cultural barriers concomitantly brought some positive implications for other girls of their families. The efforts of a female student in a family had opened new vistas for other girls of the family to acquire higher education. In sum, there is a positive change in this direction going on. The change can be attributed to the establishment of various universities in major cities by efforts of the HEC. It is a key factor in this regard. It has provided females an opportunity to go to the university in their city or nearby city. Affordable fee, access to scholarships, easy availability of transportation and lucrative environ of the university attract a large number of female to get into it. But there is a long struggle of females behind this journey to the institutions of higher learning.