It’s Complicated: Sociocultural factors and the Disclosure Decision of Transgender Individuals in Pakistan

The literature on the disclosure decision of transsexual individuals is sparse, and that which does exist either uses empirical quantitative methods or aggregates transsexuals with other non-heterosexual individuals. The current study focuses this underresearched group and examines the disclosure decision of transsexual people in Pakistan, a developing Muslim country with a unique amalgam of social, cultural, and religious ground realities. Drawing on thematic analysis technique using in-depth interviews with 16 transsexuals, we show how sociocultural factors that are inherently embedded in the environment influence the disclosure decision in work and non-work settings. In particular, our respondents illustrate that their disclosure decision, which ranges from total disclosure on one end to nondisclosure on the other end, is influenced by the complexities of family honor, tightly integrated family network, social obligation to get married, and prevalent religious beliefs in the society. This study advances understanding of identity and disclosure decision of transsexual individuals by explicating the ways in which sociocultural factors are intricate part of their decision of coming out.     

Children’s perception of social boundaries: The intersectionality of age and social group affiliation in rural Pakistan

This study explores how children perceive social boundaries in rural Pakistan. It discusses that children develop and navigate their social relationships through their perception of social boundaries, which are shaped by kinship and sociospatial organisation in rural areas. Children's perception of social boundaries is also mediated through the intersectionality of their age and social group affiliation. An ethnographic case study of a village in Southern Punjab, Pakistan, is presented here. It uses a quantifiable photo-elicitation technique and social mapping to analyse children's everyday mobilities and intersectionality in the cultural context of rural Pakistan to illustrate their perception of social boundaries.     

Comparisons of decision tree methods using water data

This article demonstrates the application of classification trees (decision trees), logistic regression (LR), and linear discriminant function (LDR) to classify data of water quality (i.e., whether the water is fit for drinking on not fit for drinking). The data on water quality were obtained from Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) for two cities of Pakistan—one representing industrial environment (Sialkot) and the other one representing non-industrial environment (Narowal). To classify data on water quality, three statistical tools were employed—the Decision Tree methodology using Gini Index, LR, and LDA—using R software library. The results obtained by the said three techniques were compared using misclassification rates (a model with minimum value of misclassification rate is better). It was witnessed that LR performed well than the other two techniques while the Decision trees and LDA performed equally well. But for illustration purposes decision trees technique is comparatively easy to draw and interpret.     

Urban growth management-the Saudi experience

Saudi Arabia experienced a high rate of urbanization during the period 1970–1986 resulting in accelerated annual growth rates for Saudi cities averaging more than 6.4%. Higher than usual growth rates created demand for the opening up of huge areas to meet housing, commercial, industrial and other land uses. Government's land grant policy and liberal interest free loans resulted in massive expansion of cities and towns all over the country with major cities of Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam having the biggest share. Lack of planning frameworks and weak city institutions could not direct the growth properly leading to sprawl and lop-sided development. This meant rapid extension of road network and utilities with high financial outlays. The slow-down in the economy and ever-increasing demand for infrastructure provision forced the government to initiate growth boundaries to tackle these problems in 1986. The paper discusses the methodology adopted and the process of devising urban limits and evaluates their impact on urban structures of Saudi cities. The paper draws some conclusions in the realization of objectives of the exercise with respect to, (a) control urban sprawl by encouraging infill development where utilities were generally available; (b) reduce cost of provision of infrastructure through better coordination tied to commonly agreed phasing; (c) maintain natural environment around the cities.     

Perturbed nuptiality,delayed fertility: childbirth effects of Covid19

Journal of Population Research - An aspect of the Covid-19 pandemic that merits attention is its effects on marriage and childbirth. Although the direct fertility effects of people getting the...