Gender Differentials In Educated People’s Perceptions Regarding Anti Women Social Practices In Pakistan

This research aims to explore gender differentials in perceptions regarding several social and cultural practices causing harm to the status of women in Pakistan. The six social practices focused in this research include Dowry, Watta Satta, Walwar, Swara, Vani and Marriage with Quran. The research is designed as exploratory cross sectional quantitative research. The data has been collected through survey of a randomly selected sample of 347 educated men and women in Sindh with the help of a six items, five point Likert scale, to explore people’s perceptions regarding different socio-cultural practices. The scale has two sub scales, each including three items, to assess perceptions regarding social practices perceived as crime and their potential for causing victimization of women in Pakistan. It is inferred from the t-test results that there is statistically significant difference exists between educated men and women’s mean scores acquired on one main scale and two sub scales used to assess perception regarding social practices, their criminal nature, and potential for victimization of women in Pakistan.