Beyond the possible : Punjabi, Pashtun and Bangladeshi parents’ possible selves for their daughter’s education and careers

Hanif, Mahwish and Budd, Richard (2025) Beyond the possible : Punjabi, Pashtun and Bangladeshi parents’ possible selves for their daughter’s education and careers. PhD thesis, Lancaster University.

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Abstract

Possible selves are the ideal selves that we would very much like to become. They are also the selves we could become, and the selves we are afraid of becoming. (Markus and Nurius, 1986, p. 954) The importance of significant others in possible selves’ research has been well documented however there has not been an attempt to directly understand the hopes, expectations and fears of significant others. This thesis argues that when considering South Asian groups’ education and career choices the narrative is incomplete without focusing on parents’ hopes, expectations and fears. The focus on this particular group is because the literature shows how community/family norms can be particularly strong in comparison with some other groups. Therefore, this thesis explores the possible selves that Punjabi, Pashtun and Bangladeshi parents have for their daughters to become and the ones they are afraid of their daughters becoming. Furthermore, the thesis aimed to understand how parents influence their daughters’ possible selves. Daughters are significant within literature on identity, education and employment within the South Asian Muslim context; particularly in how they negotiate their gender identities as they navigate their social contexts (Knott and Khoker, 1993; Basit, 1997; Haw, 1998; Mohammad, 2005; Dwyer, 2000; Kay, 2007; Brown, 2006; Afshar, 2008; Bowlby and Lloyd-Evans, 2009; Phillips, 2009). Previous research (Haw, 1998; Basit, 1997; Bhatti, 1999; Parker-Jenkins et al., 1997; Shain, 2003) conducted on British South Asians in terms of careers and education has been largely treated this group as homogenous. This thesis separated the broad label of Pakistani into Punjabi and Pashtun as well as looking at Bangladeshi groups to understand whether these distinct groups hold heterogeneous views on careers and education for their daughters in terms of their hopes, expectations and fears. The research was situated in two northern mill towns in the north west of England; which have a large south Asian Muslim population. The data involved in-depth online focus group interviews with parents of daughters in secondary school. The overall findings suggest that Punjabi. Pashtun and Bangladeshi parents hold diverse views about their daughters’ possible selves in terms of education and careers. This said there are some evident patterns within each group, as well as some similarities between them. They suggest differing degrees of freedom of choice in the three ethnic groups based on socio economic, gender, religious and cultural factors. The findings further suggest that the relationship between the hoped-for possible selves of the three ethnic groups and the role of agency is much more nuanced than current research suggests. There is a complex understanding of the decision making process across all three ethnic groups with a clear structural approach to decision making within the Pashtun and Bengali groups and although this was much looser in the Punjabi focus groups there was a clear belief across all three groups that parents had a right to shape the decision making process with their daughters within their cultural context. The findings also suggest a clear intersectional aspect to the differences which exist between the influences that parents from these three groups have on their daughters hoped for and feared possible selves.