Women Dilemmas in Cultural Context

Abstract

Logically it is assumed that society is man-made. Practically men have been considered as one of the dominant force in developing and shaping social institutions as well public life whereby women dominate in shaping family life. In the context of Pakistan which still have traces of world’s oldest cultural society, men are assumed as wage earners whereas women are assumed as family care takers. Thus in this cultural context the current study intends to explore which sort of pressures a married working women face and what sort of coping mechanism has been adopted by them to deal with these pressures. The current study utilized qualitative approach as it best serve the purpose of study which was intended to explore challenges as well experiences faced by married working women.
In order to understand the subjective explanations, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) rooted in phenomenological philosophy was carried out. This method allows understanding the lived experiences of the participants from their (participants) perspective. The target of the study was married working women thus the study employed purposive sampling technique to select out study participants. The sample consisted of 118 participants holding prominent positions who were interviewed (semi-structured) to generate their responses regarding challenges faced by them while performing multiple roles. The findings of current study can be concluded that despite facing external as well as internal family pressures, women in Pakistan wear a mask to comply with family and work requirements. In current social system, they sought numerous middle grounds to smoothen family as well work life.