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

Molecular Diagnosis and Phylogeny of Infectious Bursal Disease Virus Ibdv in Chicken During Field Outbreaks in District Chakwal, Pakistan

Poultry diseases are a matter of serious concern and responsible for extremely large profit making crisis in poultry industry per anum. Outbreaks of infectious bursal disease (IBD) are continuously increasing despite vaccination in commercial broilers. The strains of IBDV currently circulating in Chakwal district broiler flocks are not known. Clinicopathologic analysis and reverse transcriptase PCR were used in 18 poultry farms which were situated in district Chakwal to confirm field outbreaks of IBD. The genetic analysis of the hypervariable part of the?VP2?gene was utilized to describe different features of total 6 isolates of these outbreaks. Arrangement of nucleotides, infer amino acid sequences through phylogenetic analysis of VP2 gene containing hypervariable part were used for dividing IBDV strains into two groups. According to phylogenetic analysis, 5 IBDV strains showed special signatures of amino acid in the VP2 gene as A222, I242, I256, I294, S299 and classified as vvIBDV.They showed 97%?99% identity at the nucleotide level. Furthermore, the sequencing analysis of detected field strains revealed the high similarity and close clustering with vvIBDV strains isolated from India, Pakistan, and China, suggesting geographic and temporal relationships among these strains. Interestingly, one IBDV strain clustered togather with vaccinal IBDV strains and representing 99% sequence likeness with vaccine strains which were dissipated, suggesting possible role of attenuated vaccines in the outbreaks of IBD. Our study revealed circulation of vvIBDV strains in Chakwal broiler flocks and these evidences emphasize the need of further detailed and more systemic approaches to evaluate IBDV diffusion and characterization to design effective control strategies.