SACRED MEANINGS AND SILENT STRUGGLES: RELIGIOUS COPING BY WOMEN IN DISSATISFIED MARRIAGES.

Abstract

Pakistani women frequently experience marital dissatisfaction as a result of sociocultural constraints, unequal relationship labor, and emotional neglect. Religion may become the dominant coping mechanism in these situations, but how women interpret religious coping in unhappy marriages is unexplored. Twelve religiously devout married women (aged 25–40; married for at least two years) who self-reported persistent marital conflict participated in semi-structured interviews using an Interpretative Phenomenological Methodology. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to analyze the data. The results reveal a painful discrepancy between Islamic marriage ideals and experienced reality, as well as ongoing emotional loneliness. Religion served as a dual coping mechanism: while negative coping increased guilt, self-silencing, and prolonged endurance through constrictive interpretations of sabr (patience) and gendered expectations, positive coping (such as prayer, dhikr, and meaning-making) offered solace and emotional control. The study expands upon Pargament's Religious Coping Theory (1997), emphasises how joint-family pressures, socially mediated religious messages, and the role of religious leaders influence coping outcomes, which can either support women's rights or reinforce silence.