Gender roles and the ‘moral economy of kin’ among Pakistani women in West Yorkshire

This paper is concerned with the structure of female authority within Pakistani households in West Yorkshire. It is based on a three‐generational study discussing the life experiences and social and economic aspirations and opportunities of women who have lived and brought up daughters and granddaughters in Britain. It is argued that despite their access to better educational facilities, the youngest generation of women have not necessarily fared better than their grandmothers. On the whole the cultural ties and the moral economy of kin have proved remarkably firm and succeeded in maintaining a degree of familial control despite the relative wealth and economic independence of the younger generation.