Consequences of Gossiping on Women Empowerment

Abstract Gossip is prevalent and is widespread in human society. Gossip has been denigrated as ‘idle talk’, mostly among women based on ‘trifling or groundless rumour’. The nature and intensity of gossiping victimise women in society. Consequently, women bear serious threat to their well standardized lives. The study aims to understand the women’s experiences with gossiping as a barrier to empowerment. This is a qualitative study with inductive approach. Men and Women are selected as a informants for this study. The data were congregated through in-depth interviews. The results indicate that gossiping or fear of being gossiped is a strong social control in the social setup of Balochistan. This prevents women from being empowered. This paper is intended to be a contribution to exploiting the ideas of women about gossiping as an essential social control or barrier for empowering women.