<p>The socialization framework has become the most frequently adopted theoretical perspective on doctoral students’ experiences; however, the corresponding evidence has focused on Western countries, making it feasible to design strategies to foster the benefits of doctoral education in that context only. This study extends the literature by exploring doctoral students’ socialization process for research, which influences their professional identity development, in terms of how this process differs across genders and disciplinary cultures in the context of two research-intensive public universities in Pakistan. Thus, the study involved semistructured interviews of 24 doctoral students, i.e., 12 from each university. The findings suggest that students face a challenging and desperate learning environment that does not facilitate a successful socialization process. The study confirms that the sociocultural context of the country in question determines the orientation of students’ socialization process based on the complementary impacts of being a woman and working in the <i>soft sciences</i> on the double-edged sword effect observed among women with regard to social and academic sharing and disciplinary segregation. Consequently, feasible implications for practice, policy, and future research are addressed.</p>