China-Pakistan economic corridor and its impact on rural development and human life sustainability. Observations from rural women

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has become a “game-changer” not only for policymakers but also for common citizens of China and Pakistan because of its potential benefits in the economic prosperity and sustainable development in the lives of individuals. Recently, scholars have shown a great interest in researching the eminence of CPEC. Despite prodigious efforts of scholars, the question “how CPEC would influence living standards of rural women and what they perceive?” has been remained unanswered. The present study is the first attempt to unearth the perceptions of rural areas’ women towards CPEC. We collected empirical evidence through a structured questionnaire from 302 educated rural women and interviewing 32 uneducated rural women. The following major conclusions are drawn through structural equation modeling via AMOS 21: the rural women significantly directly perceive new opportunities through CPEC; however, they perceive that the CPEC would not directly influence their quality of life and self-enhancement, but through the development of these rural areas. Rural development partially mediates the relationship between CPEC development and perceived opportunities while it fully mediates the relationships between CPEC development and quality of life as well as between CPEC development and self-enhancement. Policymakers need to emphasize on development of rural areas that would improve living standards of poor communities. The government needs to meet the expectations of poor communities and rural women to ensure their sustainable development.