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The percentage of female population in our country is more than fifty percent, and the main cause of suppression against women is the joint family system in which the head of the family is the father of the husband instead of husband himself. Our society is dominated by men, and due to this a huge majority of the women in Pakistan are not able to take their own decisions, even to decide their own marriages. In this research paper we will look at the cultural barriers against women empowerment in our country. The sample data for this research paper has been taken from married women of District Jamshoro and the method used is purposive sampling. In this research we will explain the number of different factors for example environment of the family, family background, cultural norms, and approaches towards such norms, moderate attitude, and the dissatisfaction with the society. These factors have been the main causes of the dominance of the male in our society and culture. We also discuss the attitude towards women and subordinate treatment of the females in our society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of microfinance to empower women and review some of the studies relevant to the role of microfinance in empowering the women. Microfinance is the organization that provides financial services to the poor to generate their own business. According to HDI Report (1995) 1.3 billion women who earn less than $1 dollar a day are poor. Microfinance organizations enable women to have a control over the resources to generate their own income generating activities. It has been observed that recently increasing number of NGO are involved in the field of micro credit in Pakistan, SAWFCO is one of them, which is working for the poverty alleviation and socio-economic empowerment of vulnerable communities. It is concluded that microcredit scheme of these organizations is a better tool for empowering women and improving living condition of women. This research paper concludes that there has been a positive change in terms of increase in income of women, their contributing role in decision making and significance change in expenditure pattern which includes spending on their children's education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]