Originally published here.

Genderis a socially constructed phenomenon that focuses on males' andfemales' domestic, education, and professional responsibilities. Gender also refers toour expectations regarding behaviours and specific characteristics of males andfemales. Their different roles attribute to gender inequality in society (Chaudhry &Rahman, 2009). According to Kataeva and DeYoung (2017), most authoritariancountries shifted their authoritative approach towards democracy and focused ongender equality in the modern world. This shift was painful for military conflict, high employment, and corruption. Kataeva and DeYoung (2017) further stated that genderissues had become a challenge for many countries.

The statistical data presented byUNECE (2012) explored that women in Tajikistan have been suffering from genderinequalities and facing low status at the professional level since 1991. Moreover,women have an insignificant place in society, and they face domestic violence. As aresult, they secure limited positions in the public and private sectors.Gender issues are of different types all over the world. Afzali (2017)mentioned that the majority of the universities and colleges administration considersgender inequalities between work and family responsibilities as major trauma.

The reason is that majority of women face inequality because of part-time jobs and tenuretrack systems (Reddy, Zondi& Mkhize,2020). Similarly, Pedro (2009) described thatwomen are perceived to be is less professional than men. Jung and Choi (2017)analyzed that females' wages are lesser than males and this difference is based on thenature of the selection of self-employment by males and females. It is also due to anindividual's choice of self-employment to expect lifetime benefits.

Hence, women'sself-employment selection differs from males' productivity due to females' otherfamily responsibilities (Jung & Choi, 2017).Kataeva and DeYoung's (2017) mentioned that many countries haverecognized the value of gender equality and are working to expand women'sparticipation in higher education. Moreover, they conducted a study focused on thedeleterious effects of changes in higher education which negatively affected thefemale faculty members working in Tajik universities during the post-Soviet era.Thestudy also revealed that women were kept deprived of different developmentopportunities at social, educational, and economic levels during the Soviet era.

The position of women in Pakistan is considered not much different fromwestern society. The controversial but strong gender inequalities exist in Pakistan atthe educational, social, and professional levels (Shaukat & Pell 2016). According toShaukat, Siddiquah and Pell (2014), gender inequalities exist in the education systemin all developing countries, and Pakistan is one of them. Pakistan is a multiculturalcountry. In Pakistan, gender inequalities are still present in different fields of lifeincluding education.

Stereotype gender difference still prevails in urban and ruralareas of Pakistan. Pakistan is a patriarchal society where women are considered lessworthwhile in every field of life compared to men (Chaudhry & Rahman, 2009).The universities provide opportunities to students of MBA and BSIT tocomplete their internship at the workplace.

As a result of gained experiences at theworkplace, university students develop an insight into gender inequality anddiscrimination at the workplace. Moreover, the internship improves the professionalapproaches of the students in the future to meet the challenges in the educationalfield at the national and international levels because students need to become professional administrators and educators as per the designed policy of HECPakistan. Therefore, the present study was designed to explore the perception ofstudents studying in the final year of MBA and BSIT programs who had anexperience of internship at the workplace.

Moreover, the focus of the study was alsoto compare the perception of male and female students about gender discriminationwith them, others, and its impact on their career.The rationale of the study is manyfold. Firstly, it has a different populationregarding gender discrimination, i.e., university students. Previous studiesinvestigated professionals' perceptions, but this study is an attempt to investigate theperceptions of university students of MBA and BSIT who completed their internshipsfrom different organizations.

The results suggested and have established arguments that postgraduatestudents feel that gender discrimination exists at the workplace. The results alsosuggestedthat female students perceive the negative impact of gender discriminationon themselves and their careers that ultimately can reduce their confidence, jobsatisfaction, and organizational commitment.

Gender discrimination is a worldwidereality, and students must be trained to avoid gender discrimination in professionallife. In the light of the findings, the conclusion drawn from this study is that institutesmust value the existence of gender discrimination at the workplace. The educationalinstitutionsmight play an important role by having a close collaboration with thecommunity to raise awareness and educate them about equal rights of males andfemales.

Moreover, male students might be educated to give respect to women’ rightsso the element of discrimination might be reduced. The steps to remove genderdiscrimination might be taken by conducting workshops and seminars, bringingchange in curriculum, coaching classes, and with the help of human resource experts (Masinga., Nzimande, & Khumalo 2020).

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