Role of State Feminism in Reducing Gender Lag: A Study of Pakistan

State is considered to be the custodian of rights of vulnerable segments like women. Neo liberal ideology advocates women's participation in the economic arena, yet it resists state role in the economic sphere for protection of the "second" gender. State role for protection of women is equally intolerable for the custodians of tradition. Ideology of state feminism believes that interest articulation for the protection of women must be done on the system/state level. The paper aims to reflect on the state's role in eliminating the prevalent gender lag in the context of cultural and economic lag between regions and classes? The qualitative methodology of "gap analysis" is employed. The study is based on data analysis of Pakistan's performance on Sustainable Development Goals and Global Gender Gap index2021. The core finding of the study is that though the equality/equity between genders is still an imagined reality yet state initiatives are the first steps from baseline.

Effectively Dealing with Bullying in Elite Schools: Principals' Perceptions and Practices

The purpose of this study was to explore principals' perceptions and practices to deal with students who show disruptive and aggressive behavior in schools by using qualitative research methods. The conceptual framework of the study was based on six different approaches to effectively deal with bullying in educational institutions. A basic qualitative research design was used, and twelve elite school principals were selected through the purposive sampling technique. The framework analysis of the interview data revealed that principals' understanding of what could be done to address bullying was not limited. They were well acquainted with the alternatives or options to deal with a problematic situation, and they creatively mixed different approaches according to their own perceptions and the nature of the problem. However, most of the participants dealt with students while strengthening their confidence and making them independent through counselling techniques.

Female Authenticity in the Holy Woman by Qaisra Shahraz

The purpose of this study is to discover a new identity for women. This study aims to examine a specific text permeated by a consciousness of the general cultural suppression and exploitation in societies and cultures where patriarchy subordinates' women prescribing images and roles for them and the consequent resistance and regeneration on the part of women. The researcher selected Qaisra Shahraz's The Holy Woman, which shows the subjugation of women in twenty-first-century Pakistan. This qualitative study makes an analysis of the female protagonist in the light of existentialism's concept of authenticity and records how she resists, fights, and challenges exploitation and social prescription of her identity with the result that she re-emerges spiritually and establishes her existential rights as a free and independent human being. As exemplified through this text, the resistance and mobilization against these dominant patriarchal ideologies endow the female protagonist with regeneration and spiritual uplift. Through the discussion of the exploited but spiritually heightened character, the study concludes with a new image and identity for women, exploring possibilities to break away from social prescription.

Prevalence of Familial Support among Older Persons of Sohan, Islamabad

Background: It is a matter of the fact that the ageing population is in serious need of public and private attention for their wellbeing in their everyday lives. Medical advancements able them to live longer, or medical science has enhanced the longevity of life, but it has led to certain socio-cultural implications which remain unaddressed. The present study focused on describing the prevalence of familial support for older persons of Sohan village, Islamabad. Methodology: A sample of 97 older persons having age 60 years and above were interviewed. Results: 73% OPs getting familial support: with 27.8% "strong support", 26.8% "moderate support" and 18.6% "low support". A significant relationship exists between age and familial support. The health profile of OPs compared with familial support shows most OPs with disease profiles attaining their family support. Conclusion: familial support will be increased for OPs with every passing year, or you may say with the high prevalence of familial support, chances to live longer can be increased.

Understanding Academic Motivation of High Achieving Students with Hearing Impairment in Higher Education: A Qualitative Study

This study explored the factors that motivate students with hearing impairment (HI) to excel academically at the university level. The study incorporated a qualitative research design. Purposive sampling was used to select ten students with HI from a private university in Lahore. All the participants were engaged in face-to-face in-depth interviews with the help of a sign language interpreter to gather the information. The findings of the study showed almost all the participants of the study were externally motivated, aiming at achieving contingent rewards. They seemed more interested in receiving external rewards (external regulation), or the influence from their families or universities have made them internalized the significance of their academic pursuits (introjected regulation), or they had chosen to identify with the value of education provided to them by family, teachers or others (identified regulation). Intrinsic motivation leads to creativity and high-quality learning; universities must spark intrinsic motivation among their students, and students with HI are no exception to that.

Attitude of People towards Non-Government Organizations Intervention with Reference to Health Awareness: A Post Crisis Analysis in Swat-Pakistan

This study conducted with the objective to measure the pre and post NGOs intervention regarding health awareness and people level of satisfaction. The sample size for this study was selected 230 from the total population of 450. The study concluded that NGOs intervention significantly lunching campaign against tobacco control, HIV/AIDS, immunization awareness, dengue virus awareness. In addition, there was an increase in health hygiene and nutrition education, training of traditional birth attendants and health worker trainings with new technologies. The government and NGOs extend their projects that are focusing on communicable diseases that ultimately lead to the control of various lives threatening disease. Preventive health efforts must be initiated by both public and private agencies at the community level. Health and hygiene-related material must be included in the textbooks of private and public school at all level.

Oppression and Female Body: A Feminist Critique of the Novel 'Half the Sky'

The female body is more than often used as a site to perpetuate violence and oppress women in patriarchal societies. The current study aims to explore how patriarchal oppression targets the female body and how it enforces women to become subalterns having no voice in the selected fictional work, Half the Sky by Kristoff and WuDunn. For this purpose, Simone De Beauvoir's The Second Sex (1949) and Bryan Turner's The Body theory (1984) are used as theoretical frameworks to explore the selected novel. The research is descriptive qualitative, and placed within the interpretive paradigm. The data for the present study is in the form of textual paragraphs, which is taken from the selected novel and is collected through the purposive sampling technique. The study argues on women's oppression and violence. The findings of the study revealed that the dominancy of male counterpart in every field of life is the basic reason for women oppression which leads to the women being subalterns.

An Analysis of Risk Factors Associated with Methamphetamine/ICE use in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

The present study aims to analyze the causative factors which are responsible for the use of a stimulant drug methamphetamine which is commonly known as ice. For this purpose, data were collected from the two districts, i.e. Peshawar and Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. A conceptual framework consists of Independent variable (ice use frequency) and dependent variables (risk factors). Data was collected through a structured questionnaire from a sample of 180 ice users by a snowball sampling technique. A Chi-square test was applied to examine the association between independent and dependent variables. The results reveal that a significant (p=0.05) association was found between various risk factors, i.e. easy availability, friends insistence, try out new experiences/curiosity, and use of ice for exam preparation with frequent use of ice. The study recommends that awareness may be created through educational, religious institution and media for the prevention and rehabilitation of ice addiction.

Relationship of Workplace Stressors and Organizational Commitment: A Study in the Education Sector

This study investigates the relationship between organizational commitment and workplace stressors, such as role ambiguity, role conflict, work-family conflict, and organizational injustice. A data of 150 respondents have been collected from the educational sector from university teachers of Faisalabad and analyzed through (SEM), using the least-squares method. The study included Pearson chi-square, correlation, and regression to verify determine how well theoretical distributions fit the empirical distributions. The study findings show the relationship between work-family conflict with organizational commitment, and the work-family conflict has a significant negative relationship with organizational commitment. The lack of commitment of teachers is due to their family responsibilities. The second purpose was to check the association between role ambiguity conflict and organizational commitment. Ambiguity/role conflict and organizational commitment have significant relations. Conflicts and ambiguity in the roles make them struggle to clear their role and prove themselves to the organization, which shows significant relation.

Gender Equality in Europe; Developments with reference to Gender Pay Gap and Violence

The European Union has kept the agenda of gender equality at the front line of legislation and policy development. The research examined the policies and the efficacy of the European Union in endorsing gender equality and determines where the Union’s system has proved to be less effective. Despite the efforts by the European Union in addressing gender-related issues, a slow improvement has been indicated in achieving gender parity. Inequality persists in many domains of gender equality, including the gender pay gap and gender-based violence. Our research suggests that adequate attention in terms of relevance, effective implementation and funding must be given to all domains of gender equality.