The effects of gender diversity on work group performance in Pakistani universities

This paper explores the effects of gender diversity on workgroup performance in Pakistani universities. The study explores the cultural context of KP in Pakistan and theorises how social constructs regulate gendering in human relationships. Qualitative methods are employed to identify, explore and explain how the concept of gender covertly contributes to shaping the professional roles of men and women within extreme patriarchal cultures. The perspectives of both men and women academics, acquired through semi-structured interviews and non-participant observations of academic meetings, are analysed in this study. The findings support Goffman’s (1954) work on performance and an argument is developed that social and cultural dynamics disempower women by affecting the way they control others' impression of them (women). The study posits a theory that segregation of men and women in Pakistani society, the attitudes and behaviours of individuals as well as social structure, all work to the advantage of men. This is based on cultural values influenced by traditional practices and different interpretations of religious beliefs. The study concludes that religious thought embedded in deep rooted historical religious traditions can be a more powerful reproducer of patriarchy than capitalist relations of production in South Asian cultures. Unlike western cultures where the influence of religious thought has been challenged and diminished over three centuries, there is no equivalent enlightenment in Pakistan that challenges the hegemony of religious thought. This being the case, the popular (activist) base from which to challenge the dominance of religiously informed patriarchy is not yet sufficiently well developed to support enforcement of legislation.