This paper aims to highlight women’s existing condition in
Pakistan and a link between their educa tion and empowerment. It
is organized into two major sections. First, it portrays the
conditions of women in Pakistan. With the help of national level
existing statistics taken from secondary sources, it brings forth the
positive effects of women’s education on different indicators
related to women’s poor socio-economic and legal status in the
country. Second, it focuses on women’s literacy and
empowerment initiative taken in rural Sindh to establish this link
between the two phenomenons. It is based on ethnographic data
collected by the researchers during their participation as field team
members of the initiative for more than two years (2000-2002).
Giving an insider’s view of the experiences, evidences and
learning from the initiative, it provides detailed description of
program design, strategy, implementation, case studies and
details of the field work to benefit future social workers, policy
makers and practitioners striving for women’s empowerment in
Pakistan.