Education Commons^™

Adolescent Girls' Voices On Enhancing Their Own Productivity In Pakistan, Iram Kamran, Tahira Parveen, Maqsood Sadiq, Rehan M. Niazi

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This study was conducted in the Punjab province of Pakistan to examine the lives, aspirations, and perspectives of the largely invisible and marginalized group of older adolescent girls (ages 15–19 years) who are “not in education, employment for pay or profit, nor in marriage” (“NEEM”). The study seeks to identify the reasons for the exclusion of the NEEM girls from education and participation in paid work; explore opportunities and avenues for changing these girls’ existing opportunity structures; and probe the gender norms and behaviors underlying their marginalization to obtain insights into what it would take to change their situation.