Issues of Information Literacy in South Punjab, Pakistan: An Analysis of Women’s Inheritance Deprivation Through the Theory of Manufactured Consent

Inheritance plays a pivotal role in women’s economic empowerment. Following 2011′s criminal law amendment that sought to curb the denial of women’s inheritance rights in Pakistan, a trend of wilful surrender in favor of male kin, especially in south Punjab, is now becoming apparent. The study explores this trend by conceptualizing the social engineering of women’s inheritance choices through Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman’s theory of manufactured consent. The study explores the patriarchal forces which make women’s surrender an inevitable and, in many cases, an honorable choice. Through purposive sampling technique, 20 women were recruited as participants from Bahawalpur and were then interviewed following Heideggerian phenomenology. Thematic analysis was conducted to draw the findings. The findings of the study reveal that family, religion, folktales, traditional songs, school curriculum, and mainstream media play a crucial role in women’s lives and are highly influential in shaping their choices. All these variables guide women to opt for surrender as an honorable choice. The study recommends that women’s economic empowerment is needed at the grassroots level, for which the role of agents of socialization needs to be restructured rather than only law-making and awareness creation in isolation.