Women’s Struggles in Healthcare and Justice: Overcoming Structural Barriers in Pakistan

Abstract

The study investigates obstacles that confront women when trying to obtain mental health care together with medical treatment as well as criminal justice system contact in rural and urban settings. For this purpose,121 women participated in nine focus groups distributed across three rural counties (n = 64; each group held twice) and three urban groups (n = 57 women) which led to the identification of main obstacles within the service system categories of availability, affordability, acceptability, and accessibility. The study findings indicate rural female patients encounter stronger obstacles stemming from scarce medical facilities in addition to transport issues together with a shortage of appropriate healthcare providers. Furthermore, rural women encounter delays and inefficiencies from bureaucratic processes although they possess better availability of health services. Women face multiple barriers to help-seeking when they need it due to societal rules and negative social reactions and sexism that make them avoid assistance especially in domestic violence situations. Also, women experience procedural challenges in the criminal justice system since they must wait too long for police response and fear risks and protective orders receive inadequate enforcement. This research demonstrates the critical requirement for government reforms which involve better healthcare access and stronger protections and action against gender-related institutional bias. Further research needs to analyse how community-supported interventions along with digital healthcare systems and legal changes would help reduce these barriers.