Impact of Women Empowerment on Fertility Preferences in Pakistan

Reproduction is an important aspect of a women's life, unfortunately in Pakistan fertility rates are quite high in comparison to other developing countries as well as in comparison to the other South Asian countries. Different studies have suggested that women empowerment can help reduce fertility rates. The present study has attempted to analyze the role of women empowerment along with other socioeconomic indicators on three different dimensions of the fertility behavior i.e. Number of children born (current fertility status), ideal number of children and birth intervals (future fertility status. Data of Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS) 2012-13 has been used. The analysis consists of two levels, at level one a descriptive analysis is carried out. As three different aspects of fertility are the count data. Therefore at the next stage models will be estimated by using poison regression technique and Incidence Rate Ratios (IRR) are reported. It has been found that women’s being empowered in financial matters, seeking health care and in household decision making are helpful in reducing fertility. Furthermore, participation in job by women, living in urban areas, having secondary or higher education, access to awareness created by the media, married at higher age are also significant factors in reducing fertility. However, women facing incidence of miscarriage or death of a child tends to increase the fertility. Study had found that wealth of the household, education of husband and having sons have very limited role on the fertility behavior.

Element of Hopelessness and Meaninglessness in Absurdist Drama

Element of Hopelessness and Meaninglessness in Absurdist Drama Absurdism is a very deep philosophy which focuses on a totally distorted and nihilistic vision of life. This movement got momentum after the devastations of the Second World War when a heavy loss of precious lives threw Europe into the pits of utter dejection and disillusionment. The writers, poets and the philosophers of that era who were the representatives of their society gave vent to their pent up feelings and emotions and wrote extensively about the anguished state of their nation. This dejection which was the outcome of the turmoil created by the Second World War is specially focused on in this thesis. The aim of this research is to highlight the element of the absurd in man’s life which is inevitable. This absurdity in life gives birth to hopelessness and disillusionment. Dejection is a very natural feeling and it leaves a drastic effect on the lives of the human beings. A dejected person totally negates life and develops a negative attitude towards the world. The Absurdist playwrights have made this meaninglessness and despair the core issue of their work. This vision changed the whole scenario of life for them and we find an air of gloominess and dejection prevailing everything in their plays. Keeping in view the approach of these dramatists the researcher wants to probe deeper into the philosophy of life and prove whether the absurd situations in life which create despair and anguish be avoided by thinking rationally and facing life in a real perspective or whether a nihilistic approach like that of the Absurdists’ is the ultimate outcome. It is a very vast and complex issue and for such an issue quantitative approach cannot be followed so the researcher has adopted the qualitative approach. The research is text- based and different libraries have been consulted for collecting the material. The electronic media also helped in making it an authentic piece of writing. As this research is text-based so the researcher has tried her best to make it more descriptive in the light of the material available. Different Absurdist playwrights have been studied for conducting the research but the two eminent dramatists Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter have been specifically focused on for analyzing the theme of Hopelessness and Meaninglessness. They belong to ‘The Theatre of the Absurd’ and the streak of absurdity evident in their plays displays a total bleak picture of life. In this research work an attempt is being made to let the readers visualize life in a more realistic perspective. The researcher wants the readers to analyze that life has to be accepted with all its colors no matter how dull or bright they are. The research concludes with a very rational approach towards life that it is a precious gift from God and we can make it worth living by a possible return to religion and by having a firm faith.