An Analysis of Sociocultural Barriers on Social Empowerment of Women in Sahiwal Division

The paper sets out to discuss impact of socio-cultural barriers on social empowerment of rural women in term of decision making related to their personal as well as social life in Sahiwal division. Pakistan is a patriarchal society characterized by patri-local residence and exclusion of women from the right of inheritance and succession, which pave ways for male-headed society. In addition, socio-cultural factors strongly favour male-dominance and an inferior status of females in all walks of life. A quantitative approach was adopted for carrying out current study. A survey instrument was designed and employed for data collection from 384 respondents from rural areas of Sahiwal division. The findings of the study revealed that less than one third (31.25%) of the respondents were consulted in decision-making about domestic matters. Likewise, more than half (51.8%) of the respondents were not independent in moving out of home for meeting any social need. Similarly, more than one third (41.4%) of the respondents were not free to visit their friends in the neighborhood. The study concludes that women in the rural areas are less empowered and still suffering socially, economically and psychologically in their day to day life. The study provides an insight for professional social workers, policy makers and stakeholders in public and private sectors for influencing policy-making and planning for revisiting and redesigning existing policies and plans intended for empowerment of rural women in Pakistan

Factors Affecting Transition Time Among Capability Maturity Model Integration Levels in Software Development Organizations: An Empirical Study Based on Pakistan Perspective

In the recent past, the Government of Pakistan has invested significantly in the development of software industry in Pakistan. Most of the initiatives have been made by the federal as well provincial governments to steer the local software industry towards becoming a regional hub for Information Technology (IT) services and software development and manufacturing. Keeping in view the current efforts made at government level and the local software industry, there is a need to establish and practice the internationally recognized standards in order to ensure the gain of competitive edge as well the global recognition of software development firms of the country. In this context, Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) is well recognized, established and practiced framework that encompasses five levels of process maturity areas. To achieve a desired level of recognition and competitive edge amongst the software firms, the organization has to score high in CMMI maturity levels. However, the awareness and adoption of CMMI framework is extremely low in software development industry of Pakistan and only handful of firms has adopted and being practiced it. Furthermore, the CMMI framework is not a soundly documented area in Pakistan and this merits further research in the domain of CMMI ? in order to support and appreciate the adoption and adaptation of CMMI in Pakistan. The objective of this research work is the identification of the factors that have the potential to affect and delays a transition time between different levels of CMMI in software industry of Pakistan as well as to propose a Reference Model. The research objectives are aimed to achieve through adopting Hybrid-Method Methodology ? secondary research in the form of literature review to enable us to develop a questionnaire for carrying out the primary research while conducting face-to-face interview sessions with high profile software development professionals.