SOCIAL MOBILIZATION AND ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN

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SOCIAL MOBILIZATION AND ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN
A STUDY IN SELECTED AREAS OF AJK

Written by Abid Ghafoor Chaudhry
* Lecturer, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Arid Agriculture, Rawalpindi.

ABSTRACT

The Pakistan society is male dominated and all matters concerning outside home are usually dealt with by the male members. The women remain busy in household chores and other domestic assignments. However, the women in the rural areas perform a number of functions out of household such as participation in agricultural operations including harvesting, threshing and looking after the farm animals. Although the female participation in such activities is very significant, it has never been accounted for in terms of economic benefits. The Government of Pakistan has launched a number of initiatives for social mobilization of populations, the women in particular with special emphasis on their economic empowerment. The study aims at examining one such program being carried out in the AJK with the UN sponsored Neelum Jhelum Valley Community Development programme. The study has tried to identify the impact of economic empowerment on female education, decision making, health, etc. and also the importance of social mobilization concerning economic empowerment is discussed.

Key Words: Economic empowerment, Social Mobilization, Participation, Health, Education