Higher Education for Women in Peshawar: Barriers and Issues

Higher education for women is one of the major issues in Pakistan especially in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Most of the girls quit their education at higher secondary or intermediate level, which is a negative sign both for productivity and financial system of our society. Higher education not only increases critical and rational thinking, general knowledge, ways of living, financial status of a family but also common sense. The need of higher education is more for women as they are responsible for the bringing-up of a family; unfortunately, the ratio of the higher education among women in Peshawar is decreasing, which is the point of discussion in this study. This research made an attempt to consider the possible reasons behind the issues related to the women’s higher education in Peshawar. Data was collected through Questionnaire and further analyzed by employing ANOVA. The results revealed that there are different social and cultural issues due to which higher education of women in Peshawar is not promoted; however, the increase in the enrolment of the female students has witnessed an increase. Government may make extra efforts to promote the education of women as it directly affects families in particular and societies in general.