Paper short abstract

Inequalities in income and education levels of working women affects societal values. Which ultimately determines the state of modernization, equality, religiosity, and politics in a society. This paper investigate these complex relationships in the context of working women in Pakistan.

Paper long abstract

Unequal levels of income and education of working women affect societal values and norms thus determine the degree of modernization, equality, religiosity, and political values in a society. This paper investigate this phenomenon in the context of working women in Pakistan. To this extent, three hundred and six working-women are being interviewed in urban vicinity of Lahore city. By employing Multinomial logit model, our results suggest that socio-economic status of working-women plays a significant role in transforming their social values. Both income and education levels of working-women tend to display similar association to values, although differences persist in some important dimensions. Women's higher education and rising income hold more liberal/self-expressive values that leads to more bargaining power in household decision-making, transmitting gender equality at the household, and participation in political activities. However, increased income levels and education has led to a decline in importance of religion in working women belonged to upper class (higher income and education levels) , whereas, women from lower class give more importance to religious values. We conclude that the process of modernization proxied by increase in working women's socio-economic status has led to a shift from survival to self-expressive values when it comes to religion, politics and family.

Paper Download (336 KB)