Religion and Gender Roles: A Quantitative Study of Women Political Participation in District Charsadda, Pakistan

Abstract

Religion is one of the basic institutions of a society. The study aims to find the religious hindrances faced by women in participating in active politics at district Charsadda, Pakistan. The nature of the study is quantitative, and the questionnaire/interview schedule used is as a tool of data collection for collecting information from the sample size of 130 respondents through simple random sampling. The primary data has analysed in univariate analyses through descriptive statistics to find the frequency and percentages of the data when. The bivariate data has been analysed by applying the Chi-square test in inferential statistics to find the association between dependent and independent the variables. The findings show that in a patriarchal society, the strong religious followers restrict women to household activities only (P=0.003). The misinterpretation of religion is another factor which keeps women outside politics (P=0.001). The study recommends that all the institutions should take necessary steps along with the leaders of religious school for building a consensus on women role in politics. They should take the initiative to create awareness about women’s participation in politics and their leadership role. It would help improve women’s status with a dynamic role in all spheres of life.