Girls' educational exclusion in rural Pakistan: intersections of push–pull dynamics and gender inequality

Purpose This paper aims to examine push and pull factors that affect elementary school dropout among girls in rural northern Sindh, Pakistan. The objective of producing contextualized insights to be used in shaping gender-sensitive educational policy and practice. The study views dropout with a mixed theoretical approach of push–pull theory and the gender inequality theory in order to gain a more theoretical insight to the structural and gendered problem of educational exclusion and discontinuation. Design/methodology/approach The qualitative case study design was utilized and 10 out-of-school girls in one of the government elementary schools in northern Sindh were interviewed using semi-structured interviews and analyzed in detail. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze data based on push–pull conceptual categories and perspectives regarding gender inequality in order to define school-based, household and sociocultural factors that influenced dropout experience. Findings The results indicate that the dropout of girls is the result of the compounding effect of the push factors at school(s) and the pull factors at home and in the community further increased by gender inequality. Some of the driving forces of female exclusion from schools are harsh behavior of teachers, poor quality of instruction and ineffective gender inclusive pedagogy, recurrent academic failure and withdrawal and emotional disengagement of students with schooling and education. The key pull factors include household socioeconomic status or poverty, long distance and safety issues, gendered household labor and caregiving, environmental shocks and disaster induced disruption and early marriage and transition into marital roles. Gendered social expectations exacerbate vulnerability in both fields and create a pattern of structural exclusion in education instead of a personal choice. Research limitations/implications The study has a small qualitative sample with a single rural context; hence, it is hard to generalize the results. Nevertheless, it provides strong contextual insight into processes that contribute to girls' dropout and how theory-based qualitative research can be useful in the study of gendered educational inequality. It is suggested to use larger mixed-method and longitudinal designs in the future. Practical implications The results indicate that multi-sectoral interventions such as gender-sensitive teacher training, remedial school-based support and safe transportation, disaster-resilient schooling, financial support of families in need and community-based interventions related to early marriage and gender-based domestic roles should be implemented. A combination of efforts in the education and social protection sectors as well as gender equity is essential to curb dropouts. Originality/value This study contributes contextualized qualitative evidence from rural Sindh, a region with limited in-depth research on girls' educational exclusion and discontinuation. By integrating push–pull theory with gender inequality theory, it advances understanding of dropout as a gendered structural process, offering insights for policy and comparative education research in marginalized settings.