Personal Meanings and Reality of Gendered Socialization in Pakistan: An Analysis of Young Men’s Perspectives

The socialization of young men can make a difference in social change in patriarchal societies such as Pakistan. This research applies Nancy Chodorow’s (1978) Object Relations Theory to analyze the learning of gender roles for young men. Key informants comprised 30 young men aged 18–30 from mainstream society and semi-structured interviews were carried out in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan. The key research objectives were to explore young men’s ideas about socialization in Pakistani culture and how they learn the gender-specific roles. The results of this study reveal that from the age of 8 to 17, boys learn their gender roles and masculine standards. It argues that a cohesive and integrated approach is needed through community, parents, and school-based programs where young men can be socialized to contribute positively to a violence-free, risk-free, equitable society and innovative thinking is needed to socialize young men.