DOES TRADITIONAL ATTITUDE MATTER? FEMALE EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT IN RURAL PAKISTAN

Abstract

Female education plays an important role in the societal evolution and development. The literacy rate among rural females is 29% in Pakistan. In the developing societies like Pakistan, the traditional attitude towards women education is considered a major hurdle in girls' schooling. The study attempted to explore the effect of traditional attitude on the educational attainment of rural females in Pakistan. The present study was conducted in the rural areas of the province of Punjab. A sample of size 700 female children was selected using multistage random sampling technique. The final completed school grade was taken as the response variable. The analysis reveals that the girls, who belonged to households where the minds of the heads of the households were embedded in the local cultural values, had lower levels of educational attainment as compared to girls of households where the heads of the households were liberal. The study realizes the need to convince the male heads of the households for schooling of their daughters as a short-run policy. Efforts to defuse an innovative attitude towards females in the third world nations are the need of the hour. International organizations and States of the developing world should manage to propagate the importance of female education