Evaluating Economic Rights of Women in Azad Jammu and Kashmir: Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

The idea of socio-economic empowerment of women is not a new concept, advocates of women’s right have decades long struggle behind this, still women are categorized as “vulnerable class of individuals” across the globe. Developing countries that are already battling with falling living standards, scant resources and fragile social protection systems are suffering grave challenges with respect to women’s rights. In this context the situation of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJ&K) is no different where women are facing various kinds of vulnerabilities, discriminations, and violence. The Constitution of AJ&K vows for protecting fundamental rights of its citizens without any discrimination, in addition to this government has adopted various special laws and provisions to protect women’s right and has initiated several programs for their empowerment. Still the situation of women in AJ&K is anything but satisfactory. The study assesses that weak implementation of laws, orthodox cultural practices, misconceptions regarding religious principles, lack of awareness and knowledge among people and poor planning and execution strategies can be cited as main reasons behind this. Present article aims at analyzing dilemmas of women, it specifically highlights the challenges faced by them in exercise of their economic rights. It investigates the reasons behind these issues and analyses the policies adopted by government to curb the persisting problems. The study also explores the strategies that may help in overcoming these challenges.