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Despite being an agrarian economy, food insecurity is pervasive in Pakistan. This study examines the impact of multiple dimensions of household vulnerability and socio-economic resilience on food insecurity. The results of ordinary least squares and Logistic regression based on data from Pakistan Standard and Living Measurement Survey (2018–2019) and Food Insecurity Experience Scale showed that vulnerabilities like age and employment dependency, household size, and gender composition play a significant role in food insecurity. The key policy interventions that can prevent households from experiencing food insecurity would be investments in human capital, empowering women, and reduction in rural–urban disparity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microfinance has generally been linked to women's economic empowerment. Research findings on empowerment thesis are mixed and vary in their conclusions. This study looks at the relationship between various forms of rural financing and gendered social exchanges, with a particular focus on women. Despite the associated risks, women often experience emotional benefits from their involvement in rural financing. Women in Pakistan are closely involved in major life events like childbirth, marriage, and death. To meet the needs in these situations, they obtain funds through microfinance and rotating savings and credit associations. This article endeavors to examine the influence of rural financing on women's empowerment through the lens of feminist frameworks. Descriptive ethnography was employed as a research design and data was gathered through conducting interviews with the 50 borrowers in Nara Mughlan village of District Chakwal. Findings showed that only a few women were able to employ the money by managing small-scale businesses like sewing and stitching, grocery stores, poultry and livestock management. However, they make various psychological and emotional gains by giving up their turn to other women in case of rotating savings and credit associations and proxy lending in microfinance. This perceived risk is not seen as a loss, as it brings happiness and fulfilment through social exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Direct and indirect exposure to terrorist attacks can have a significant impact on major life decisions, including the choice of whether to have a child. This study aims to investigate how terrorist attacks affect fertility. By pooling data from three years of cross-sectional surveys conducted between 2010 and 2015 by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, our findings reveal a positive correlation between terrorist attacks and fertility among women of childbearing age in Pakistan. Specifically, the probability of giving birth two years following a terrorist attack in one's home district, all else equal, is 64 percent, compared to the probability of a woman not giving birth two years following a terrorist attack, which is 36 percent. Furthermore, our analysis demonstrates that persistent terrorist attacks, that is, domestic and non-suicide incidents, result in higher probabilities of giving birth during a particular year. Conversely, less common and more prominent terrorist attacks - transnational and suicide incidents - result in lower probabilities of giving birth during a particular year. Additionally, we find that women from above-averageincome households, those with higher education levels, older mothers, and those residing in rural areas are more likely to adjust their fertility upwards in response to terrorist attacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There exists comprehensive literature on women's empowerment; however, studies on the measurement of empowerment in the agricultural context are scarce, particularly in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Pakistan. In this paper, we used the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI), which includes five domains, i.e. resources, production, income, leadership, and time, to measure women's empowerment in the agriculture sector. A survey of 600 rural women and 18 focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted by using multi-stage sampling. The results show that about 72% of the women are disempowered, and attribute to low socio-economic conditions, i.e. they have limited access to resources and little leadership skills as rural women in AJK are not free to speak in public. The results further reveal that women are also disempowered in some other indicators, such as autonomy in production, income, and leisure time. So, based on the current findings, it is proposed that government should strengthen these areas through effective policies to improve the status of women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women's empowerment is considered to play a crucial role in food and nutrition security. We aimed to explore the relationship between women's empowerment and food and nutrition security, in rural Pakistan. Methods: To estimate women's empowerment, we developed a Rural Women Composite Empowerment Index incorporating nine domains. For indicators of food and nutritional data we used data of 1879 rural households from Pakistan Rural Household Panel Survey (PRHPS). Food insecurity was measured through a caloric intake approach; nutrition insecurity was measured through recommended nutrient intake (RNI). Using the Rural Women's Composite Empowerment Index (RWCEI), we employed multi-level mixed-effect regression analysis. Results: The domains of traveling safely (21%), time allocated to tasks (20%), and (lack of) domestic violence (19%) were the most significant domains in defining empowerment of rural woman. The prevalence of food and nutrition insecurity were 33% and 50% respectively. Regression analysis found a positive and significant relationship between women's empowerment and food and nutrition security–the proportion of household who were food and nutritionally secure in empowered households was 70% and 98% respectively. Conclusions: Developing programmes and policies to improve the range of domains of women's empowerment requires a focussed policy agenda, bringing together policy makers from a number of different sectors including education, economy, communications, technology and agriculture. Women's empowerment has the potential to make positive changes not only in food and nutrition security, but in all aspects of family health and wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empowering women living in the rural economies of the developing world is important to reduce the vulnerability of agricultural households to food insecurity. Despite the existing literature on food insecurity, only a few studies have investigated household vulnerability to food insecurity - important for devising policies and strategies to eradicate food insecurity. This study aims to evaluate the impact of rural women’s empowerment in reducing household’s vulnerability to food insecurity using a household vulnerability to food insecurity index (HVFII) and a rural women composite empowerment index (RWCEI) which has multiple domains. Data from the Pakistan rural household panel survey data of 1868 farming households was analysed using a multi-level mixed effects ordered logistic approach. Descriptive statistics indicate that 33% and 14% of households face severe to mild vulnerability to food insecurity respectively. Of all the domains, rural women are particularly disempowered in economic autonomy and education. Multi-level modelling demonstrated that women’s empowerment overall has positive and significant impact in mitigating the risks related to household food insecurity. Other factors included age of the head of household, and accessing a safety net program, and community infrastructure. The study suggests that those responsible for mitigating household vulnerability to food insecurity in rural Pakistan should specifically focus on empowering women, particularly helping them to be economically autonomous, and providing more information on health and food. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a significant and inaugural project of the "Belt and Road" initiative which is considered as structure and manifesto for panoramic and fundamental collaboration between China and Pakistan. The CPEC project was initiated to develop economic growth and facilitate free trade between both countries. However, it has generated immense employment opportunities, education facilities, and improved quality of life for local citizens, specifically women, as well as international overreach. This study investigates and examines the benefits of CPEC project and its influence on women empowerment. Based on the background of the CPEC, this study has been carried out by applying a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods to fill the gap. Data was aggregated with the help of a survey questionnaire and interviews from the residents of the Thar region of Pakistan, which comes under CPEC route. In total, 306 samples were acquired and analysed using different statistical tools such as SPSS (Statistical package for social sciences) and PLS (Partial least squares) to formulate the study results. The findings revealed that the development of CPEC has remarkably improved the quality of life for women by providing enormous employment opportunities, education facilities, skills enhancement programs, and training facilities. The analyzed results will guide government policymakers and officials to promote operational activities in the region, develop new educational institutions, and create employment opportunities for the local community and women to obtain further development of CPEC projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aims to examine the women empowerment in rural areas of Punjab, Pakistan. The current paper contributes to the literature by presenting the empirical evidence of women empowerment in agriculture. Women empowerment in agriculture index (WEAI) was used for measuring women empowerment of the 300 rural households. Primary data were collected from three (3) districts of the Punjab province. The quantitative data analyzed by using appropriate statistical techniques. The results of the study showed disempowerment of women in agriculture with varying degree in all three selected regions of Punjab. The WEAI results for the Central Punjab (Jhang) is 0.034. It is the average weighted score of the five empowerment domains (5DE) value of sub-index is 0.689 and the Gender parity index (GPI) sub-index value of 0.686. Results for South Punjab (D.G.Khan) is 0.578. The weighted score of the sub-index value of 5DE is 0.498 and the sub-index value of GPI is 0.782, and for North Punjab (Chakwal) is 0.784 and the average weighted score of the sub-index value of 5DE is 0.745 and the sub-index value of GPI is 0.598. The empowerment gap between men and women in the same household is relatively momentous at 26.9 and 36.9% in Central and South Punjab but less significant in North Punjab at 53.8%. A strong correlation between age of the household, education and empowerment was found. Lack of control over income and lack of control over resources are found as the domains that contribute most to women disempowerment. Lack of leadership in community and lack of availability of time domains that contribute most to men disempowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since early years of the 20th century, feminism has built a body of theory and in recent decades' women empowerment has been suggested as a mechanism to improve the quality of women's work as well as their personal lives. The empowerment of women is an essential precondition for the elimination of world poverty and the upholding of human rights. Women are about half of the population of Pakistan, they are active participants in every walk of life. But women participation as extension workers was discouraged in agriculture sector, extension wing due to field work nature of this job as it was considered as male oriented job only. Later on, during the last years of the first decade of this century the hiring of female extension workers by the Department of Agriculture (Extension and Adaptive Research) Government of the Punjab, Pakistan become a possibility. The study was conducted at Institute of Agri. Extension and Rural Development, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan during 2018-19. All the female agriculture officials working in agriculture extension, livestock and poultry sectors were the population of the study. In first step through proportionate stratified sampling technique 49 respondents from agriculture extension, 64 from livestock and 17 respondents from poultry sector were taken forming a sample size of 130 respondents. In second step, the respondents were randomly selected from each stratum. The data were collected from selected respondents through pretested interview schedule. The quantitative data and qualitative data were analyzed, and the data revealed that most of the respondents belonged to middle age group having master's degree and 1-3-year experience, half of the respondents were married with non-farming background. The major social constraints faced by the respondents in the field were identified as: male dominance, non-acceptance (unrecognition) as working lady, family responsibilities and harassment issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the gendered component of vulnerability to climate change in Pakistan, a highly vulnerable country. Through interviews conducted in different provinces and regions, the research explores how gender influences climate change sensitivity, impacts on women, and the effectiveness of adaptation measures. The results show significant health disparities between men and women, with women suffering more from heatwaves, cold snaps, and droughts. Livestock sectors face challenges such as water and pasture scarcity, affecting rural women's livelihoods. In agriculture, women encounter economic hardships, limited resources, and social barriers, amplifying climate change's adverse effects on their livelihoods. Food and water scarcity pose critical concerns, leading to malnutrition and health risks for women. In rural areas, energy crises force women to rely on harmful fuel sources, impacting their respiratory health, while urban settings restrict women's access to essential services. The study emphasizes the need for gender-responsive policies and women's participation in climate decision-making processes to build resilient communities. Policy implications include adaptation measures, women's inclusion, investment in rural livelihood support, disaster management, and promoting gender equality in climate governance. Raising awareness and education about climate change's gendered impacts is crucial for fostering resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]