The Lived Experiences of Economic Empowerment among Working Women in Punjab, Pakistan: A Phenomenological Study

Abstract

The economic empowerment of women is a complex notion, and it depends greatly on the social and professional status of a person. This is a qualitative semester project that examines the subjective definitions of empowerment among three different groups of people in Punjab, Pakistan including working women, housewives, and students. The study is based on the phenomenological approach, which explores the way in which the sense of agency of a woman is created by financial autonomy, household decision-making, and future aspirations. Using semi-structured interviews, the study brings out the lived experience of the empowerment beyond the income level, looking at the emotional and socio-cultural aspects of independence. Early evidence indicates that, although working women find empowerment in their financial self-sufficiency, housewives and students find their way through empowerment in the household and education, respectively, all of that going through the thick of highly ingrained patriarchal conventions.