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Exploring Women’s Multi-Level Career Prospects in Pakistan: Barriers, Interventions, and Outcomes

Utilizing the relational framework of diversity management and social role theory, this exploratory study illuminates the career prospects of women working in the patriarchal society of Pakistan. With the help of Nvivo 12 Plus, themes were generated based on 27 in depth, semi-structured interviews....

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Sarwar, Ambreen, Imran, Muhammad Kashif
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6593055/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31275202
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01376
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author Sarwar, Ambreen
Imran, Muhammad Kashif
author_facet Sarwar, Ambreen
Imran, Muhammad Kashif
author_sort Sarwar, Ambreen
collection PubMed
description Utilizing the relational framework of diversity management and social role theory, this exploratory study illuminates the career prospects of women working in the patriarchal society of Pakistan. With the help of Nvivo 12 Plus, themes were generated based on 27 in depth, semi-structured interviews. The findings showed an interrelated web of factors interacting at three levels; macro, meso, and micro; that were explained on the premises of the social role theory. Major impediments to women’s career progress were religious interpretations, socio-cultural factors and Sifarish (i.e., favoritism/nepotism) at the macro-level. At the meso-level, the barriers involved segregation, discrimination, harassment, and lack of work-family balance initiatives at the workplace. The micro-level obstacles involved personal values and needs, queen bee syndrome and a lack of awareness. The experiences of Pakistani women varied based on socio-economic status, marriage, religion and various aspects of individual identity, that intersected with gender and accordingly affected their career outcomes either positively or negatively. Therefore, the study also contributes to the emergent area of intersectional studies which posits that individuals experience various facets of identity concurrently and that these factors do not operate separately but are interrelated and interact. Moreover, the study also highlights the interventions for creating gender parity like clarification of Islamic guidelines, strict accountability of workplace policies, and the provision of work-family balance support. The outcomes highlighted by the respondents included happiness, confidence, agency, and improved quality of life. The paper concludes with implications for theory and practice, limitations, and future research avenues.
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spelling pubmed-65930552019-07-03 Exploring Women’s Multi-Level Career Prospects in Pakistan: Barriers, Interventions, and Outcomes Sarwar, Ambreen Imran, Muhammad Kashif Front Psychol Psychology Utilizing the relational framework of diversity management and social role theory, this exploratory study illuminates the career prospects of women working in the patriarchal society of Pakistan. With the help of Nvivo 12 Plus, themes were generated based on 27 in depth, semi-structured interviews. The findings showed an interrelated web of factors interacting at three levels; macro, meso, and micro; that were explained on the premises of the social role theory. Major impediments to women’s career progress were religious interpretations, socio-cultural factors and Sifarish (i.e., favoritism/nepotism) at the macro-level. At the meso-level, the barriers involved segregation, discrimination, harassment, and lack of work-family balance initiatives at the workplace. The micro-level obstacles involved personal values and needs, queen bee syndrome and a lack of awareness. The experiences of Pakistani women varied based on socio-economic status, marriage, religion and various aspects of individual identity, that intersected with gender and accordingly affected their career outcomes either positively or negatively. Therefore, the study also contributes to the emergent area of intersectional studies which posits that individuals experience various facets of identity concurrently and that these factors do not operate separately but are interrelated and interact. Moreover, the study also highlights the interventions for creating gender parity like clarification of Islamic guidelines, strict accountability of workplace policies, and the provision of work-family balance support. The outcomes highlighted by the respondents included happiness, confidence, agency, and improved quality of life. The paper concludes with implications for theory and practice, limitations, and future research avenues. Frontiers Media S.A. 2019-06-19 /pmc/articles/PMC6593055/ /pubmed/31275202 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01376 Text en Copyright © 2019 Sarwar and Imran. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Sarwar, Ambreen
Imran, Muhammad Kashif
Exploring Women’s Multi-Level Career Prospects in Pakistan: Barriers, Interventions, and Outcomes
title Exploring Women’s Multi-Level Career Prospects in Pakistan: Barriers, Interventions, and Outcomes
title_full Exploring Women’s Multi-Level Career Prospects in Pakistan: Barriers, Interventions, and Outcomes
title_fullStr Exploring Women’s Multi-Level Career Prospects in Pakistan: Barriers, Interventions, and Outcomes
title_full_unstemmed Exploring Women’s Multi-Level Career Prospects in Pakistan: Barriers, Interventions, and Outcomes
title_short Exploring Women’s Multi-Level Career Prospects in Pakistan: Barriers, Interventions, and Outcomes
title_sort exploring women’s multi-level career prospects in pakistan: barriers, interventions, and outcomes
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6593055/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31275202
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01376
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