page_title: Women in Pakistan
section_title: Education
hierarchical_section_title: Women in Pakistan / Education and economic development / Education
caption_attribution_description: The UK government is committed to getting two million more girls into school in Pakistan by 2015. UK aid has already helped more than 590,000 girls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa stay in school over the last few years by giving them small cash stipends. Each girl receives 200 rupees (about £1.50) a month, and a set of free textbooks each year to help them get an education. With an average family size of up to seven or eight and a third of the population living on less than $1 a day, these small stipends and free text books can make the difference between daughters being sent to school or having to drop out. To find out more, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/case-studies/helping-girls-get-an-education Photo: Vicki Francis/Department for International Development
context_page_description: Women in Pakistan make up 48.76% of the population according to the 2017 census of Pakistan. Women in Pakistan have played an important role throughout Pakistan's history and they are allowed to vote in elections since 1956. In Pakistan, women have held high offices including that of the Prime Minister, Speaker of the National Assembly, Leader of the Opposition, as well as federal ministers, judges, and serving commissioned posts in the armed forces. Major General Shahida Malik, attaining the highest military post for a woman.
  The status of women in Pakistan differ considerably across classes, regions and the rural/urban divide due to the uneven socioeconomic development and the impact of tribal and feudal social formations on lives of women in Pakistan. Gender Concerns International reports that the overall women's rights in Pakistan has improved with increasing number of women are educated and literate.
  However, women in Pakistan face discrimination as result of patriarchal society of Pakistan. Some of the problem faced by women in Pakistan are domestic violence, honour killing, rape and abduction, marital rape, forced marriages, and induced abortions.
context_section_description: Despite the improvement in Pakistan's literacy rate since its independence, the educational status of Pakistani women is among the lowest in the world. The literacy rate for urban women is more than five times the rate for rural women. The literacy rate is still lower for women compared to men: the literacy rate is 45.8% for females, while for males it is 69.5% (aged 15 or older, data from 2015).
  At the end of the 20th century, the school drop-out rate among girls was very high (almost 50 percent), even though the educational achievements of female students were higher than male students at different levels of education. Since then, education for women has improved rapidly. In Lahore there are 46 public colleges out of which 26 are female colleges and some of the others are co-educational. Similarly the public universities of Pakistan have female enrollment than male.
  UNESCO and the Orascom subsidiary of Pakistan telco, Mobilink have been using mobile phones to educate women and improve their literacy skills since 4 July 2010. The local BUNYAD Foundation of Lahore and the UN's work via the Dakar Framework of Action for EFA are also helping with this issue.
  As of 2010, the literacy rate of females in Pakistan was at 39.6 percent compared to that of males at 67.7 percent.  More recent statistics provided by the UNICEF - shows that female education amongst 15-24 year olds has increased substantially to 61.5% - an increase of 45%. Male education is at a steady rate of 71.2%.
  The objectives of education policies in Pakistan aim to achieve equality in education between girls and boys and to reduce the gender gap in the educational system.  However, the policy also encourages girls, mainly in rural areas of Pakistan, to acquire basic home management skills, which are preferred over full-scale primary education.  The attitudes towards women in Pakistani culture make the fight for educational equality more difficult.  The lack of democracy and feudal practices of Pakistan also contribute to the gender gap in the educational system. 
  Girls of rural areas are facing many problems regarding their studies. There are several issues and causes of education problems for girls in rural areas of Pakistan.
  Inaccessibility of education in Pakistan, especially in backward areas is a result of distance, child labor, scarcity of teachers, local leaders, frequent policy changes and fear of losing power. In KPK and Balochistan women are severely bound by cultural constraints and prejudices. They are involved in reproductive and productive and community work for 14 to 18 hours. Women, which are 51% on the country's population, have been forced to just bear children for their husband and remain within their houses. In Balochistan, female literacy rate stands between 15 and 25%.
  In backward areas, girls schools are far away from their homes, many families cannot afford traveling expenses for their children. Separate schools for girls are not available. Girls live in fear due to extremist policy. In KPK militant groups have blasted thousands of schools because they are against women education, they have given threats to several governments and private girls school for stopping girls education.
  This feudal system leaves the underpowered, women in particular, in a very vulnerable position.  The long-lived socio-cultural belief that women play a reproductive role within the confines of the home leads to the belief that educating women holds no value. Although the government declared that all children of the ages 5–16 can go to school, there are 7.261 million children out of school at the primary level in Pakistan, and 58% are female (UNESCO, Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2011). Although girls have the right to get an education legally, in many rural regions of Pakistan girls are strongly discouraged from going to school and discriminated against, as there are violent acts such as acid throwing which many girls fall victim to for attending school.
caption: Pakistani school girls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
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