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.

Voting Behaviour in Pakistan: A Case Study of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2008 General Elections

The core objective of this study is to provide a detailed analysis of the voting behaviour in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with reference to 2008 general elections along with its comparison with 2002 and 2013 general elections. It focuses on the application of theory of party identification, issue voting, clientelism, religious voting and ethnic voting in the electoral politics of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Regarding the application of these theories, the study argues that party identification theory is applicable to limited extent (35.36%); issue voting (80.87%) and clientelism (73.01%) are applicable to a great extent; and religious voting (54.07%) and ethnic voting (52.2%) are applicable to some extent in the electoral politics of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The scope of the study is confined to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Data collection is based on both secondary and primary sources. The secondary data in the form of books and journals, cover the theoretical frameworks including party identification, issue voting, clientelism, religious voting and ethnic voting. The primary data in the form of questionnaire is the original contribution of this study which explores the extent of the application of the aforementioned theories of voting behaviour in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The research is based on the quantitative, analytical and comparative approaches. This research work is the answer to the main research question i.e. to determine the extent of application of theory of party identification, issue voting, clientelism, religious voting and ethnic voting? The study is based on a number of hypotheses. It has been hypothesized that issue voting and clientelism are relatively more important determinants while party identification, religious and ethnic voting are relatively less important determinants of voting behaviour in the electoral politics of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The quantitative data answers the research questions as well as tests the hypotheses related to the electoral politics of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The general elections of 2002, 2008 and 2013 have a unique significance in the electoral history of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, because all these elections introduced a major electoral change. For example in 2002 elections, religious parties stood victorious with a heavy xxiimandate. But, in 2008, a Pakhtun ethnic party succeeded in winning majority of the seats, thereby wiping out religious political parties from the political scene. Similarly, in 2013 elections a new political party emerged on the political arena of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. All these electoral changes are of great importance and need to be analysed.