Higher Education, Career and Marriage: Gender Ideology in Peer Conversations at an Only-Women University in Pakistan

• In Event: Sociology of Education Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 29. Gender, Schooling, and Society pt. 1

Abstract

Author: Umeed Fatima

The paper is a qualitative study of how peer discourse in a Pakistani women-exclusive university constructs and negotiates gender ideologies between higher education, career and marriage. It conducts the analysis of semi-structured interviews and focus groups with female undergraduates using the language-and-ideology framework, which was developed by Deborah Cameron. Thematic and interpretive discourse analysis indicates that there are three repetitive orientations, (1) education as path to independence and security, marriage is deferred but seldom rejected; (2) education as symbolic capital enhancing marriage prospects and respectability; and (3) reflexive negotiation where students explain their ambition by parents approval, economic necessity or religious constraints. Throughout orientations, marriage and career are structured as incompatible timescales and peer talk facilitates solidarity as well as regulates acceptable femininity by aligning, creating humor, and telling warning tales. The results indicate that increased female enrolment concerning the redefinition of aspirations without necessarily challenging patriarchal norms.

Author

• Umeed Fatima, International Islamic university Islamabad