Relationship between Legal Awareness and Attitude towards Gender Based Violence among Educated Women Living in Punjab, Pakistan

Abstract

The Global Gender Gap Index places Pakistan 142nd out of 146 in terms of providing equal opportunities to both genders in 2022. Pakistani women and girls are more vulnerable to various forms of gender-based violence (GBV) as compared to other developing and developed countries. The federal government of Pakistan and the provincial governments have passed various pro-women laws to provide legal protection to GBV victims and their families. Thus, there is an urgent need to educate women and girls about their legal rights as a proactive measure to counter GBV in Pakistani society. This study aims to examine the relationship between legal awareness and attitudes toward GBV among educated women living in Punjab, Pakistan. This study was quantitative in nature. The researcher used a cross-sectional survey method to collect the data from the respondents. The researcher collected data from 785 young, educated women living in Lahore. Respondents were female students and young married working women. Legal awareness was measured using a six-item Likert scale. The researcher measured attitudes towards GBV using two constructs: attitudes towards domestic violence and attitudes towards other forms of GBV. Findings indicate that the scales used for legal awareness and attitudes towards GBV were reliable and valid. Legal awareness played a significant role in predicting attitudes toward domestic violence (β = .61, R = .37, p < .05) and also explained attitudes toward other forms of GBV (β = .39, R = .15, p < .05). This study concluded that educated women with an understanding of their legal rights demonstrate increased agency in contesting societal norms that sustain violence. Therefore, there is urgent need to improve legal literacy among women, especially in settings where gender-based violence is more prevalent.