Mobility also is an important factor which hinders women’s accessibility to education, as ever since primary school to university, families are reluctant to allow their daughters to travel from one place to another.

Najma Sadeque, Director, Green Economics Initiative, Shirkat Gah, explains mobility as an impediment to women’s education: “It also depends on the nature of a woman’s social status. Whether a woman is unlettered and possesses only housework skills, or she has education and better potential, it is of no help if her menfolk forbid her from going out to work, so that in hard times when she could help out, she’s not allowed to, which renders her poorer.”

“If there are ‘geographical’ limits to how far and where she can travel to and for whom she may work, her opportunities and terms are immediately severely restricted. Often, even educated women may have little control over their income and have to hand it over to the family head who could even be a woman!”