MEDIA, SUSTAINABILITY, AND FEMALE EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN: A SUSTAINABLE COMMUNICATION FRAMEWORK FOR SOUTH PUNJAB

Abstract

Sustainability in all its forms is a major concern within the global development platforms especially in the countries like Pakistan. Equal opportunities of education for females is an issue that aligns with two of the seventeen ‘Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)’ of ‘The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’ adopted by all United Nations (UN) Member States in 2015. In countries like Pakistan the female education is a pertinent issue to look at from various angles. One of the key aspects is to explore and argue on the role and effectiveness of the media in the country. Sustainable educational outcomes for females in Pakistan in general and in South Punjab (one of the far-flung yet highly populated areas of the country) in particular is a multifaceted problem. Despite various efforts at government and non-government (NGO) levels, limited media involvement, weak communication strategies, and cultural conservatism hinder the sustainable educational outcomes for the girls in the region. Drawing on the theoretical perspectives of political economy of media and communication for development, this paper attempts to explain why media is failed to meaningfully transform female education outcomes in South Punjab despite strong development rhetoric. In this paper we argue that political economy of media in this region limits its transformative capacity. Media disseminates education and sustainability discourses but at the same time it reinforces gendered digital exclusion, class privilege, and patriarchal hierarchies which ultimately restrict its developmental impact. By examining the historical gender-based education inequality in a structurally marginalised South Punjab and by analysing the media landscape in the region, we have proposed a sustainable communication framework for the region.