Female Labor Force Participation in Pakistan

Introduction
Women in Pakistan face a wide variety of problems with regards to education and employment.
These issues stem from various social, religious, political, and legal sources, and has resulted in a
very abysmal situation with regards to the educational and employment opportunities a woman
has, in comparison to a man. The female labor force participation in 2017 was 24.93%, and the
figure for males was 82.7%. This in itself represents a serious problem with social and political
landscape of Pakistan. Furthermore only 22.39% of the labor force is made up of women,
whereas in the US, this figure goes up to 45.82%. Additionally, only 25% of women who attain
higher education work outside the home. This is another aspect that is often overshadowed; the
fact that a majority of women in Pakistan are restricted to working within their homes. This not
only restricts women, but also robs the country of almost half of the potential labor force. A
country simply cannot progress if half of the employable population is restricted to either
working at home, or to a very small niche of the jobs available in Pakistan.

Childhood and Society

In Pakistan’s case, females are directed towards a ‘socially and morally right’ path that is
supposed to prepare them for adult life. This path involves informing young girls that they are
the homemakers of the family, and the environment they grow up in molds them towards a
mindset that views getting married and having children as the ultimate goal of their lives. A
prevailing concept in Pakistan is that of the ‘good woman’, which is used to describe a woman
who stays home and takes care of the house and her children. She does not want to socialize
outside the family, is complacent and religious, and defers to her husband absolutely. This is the
ideal woman in Pakistan. If at any point, this woman attempts to change her behavior, she not
only risks her own ‘honor’, but also that of her family, and thus is reprimanded for her actions.
This is complimented by the socialization that young boys also go through, in which they are
taught to be strong and independent, and that they are solely responsible for their family’s
welfare. Men are thus excused from domestic work, and the result of this socialization has
resulted in a society that views domestic work as a lower set of tasks, and not fit for a man. This
view not only restricts women to the domestic sphere, but simultaneously berates them because
they are in that fold. Both girls and boys are expected to fulfill their traditional roles in society,
and both are often criticized if they deviate from these norms. A man who does not work and
instead relies on his wife for financial support is seen as not ‘manly’ and weak. Women in turn
are expected to reproduce their subordinate position in their daughters, and this is legitimized by
religion and social norms, and often enforced by the extended family as well. Primary research in
upper class families has also shown that educating young girls is not deemed as important as the
education of boys. This is a direct result of the view that a girl will only grow up to be a
homemaker, while it is the boy who has to provide. Girls are socialized by the toys they are
bought, such as tea sets, dolls, and dollhouses, while boys can have their pick of any toy they
want, except of course the toys designated for girls. Social gatherings are a nexus of such
behavior, since it is almost always girls and women who are serving and organizing the event,
and they are often relegated to eat after the men have done so. Families are focused towards
finding a ‘good’ match for the girl, which usually entails that the man is employed and can
provide for his family. This level of socialization results in girls and boys growing up in
completely different environments, where the outside world is reserved for men, and girls are
relegated to the home. This also does not take into account the fact that while women are seen as
the primary caregivers for children, no thought is given to educating the person who is supposed
to raise the child in the best possible manner.
These issues however cannot be changed simply by changing the law. This is a view that is
embedded in Pakistani society, and it will take considerable time and effort to even begin to
challenge societal norms.

Child Marriages
Following from the above discussion, women face numerous challenges if they wish to suitably
educate themselves and find employment. A major factor that affects female labor force
participation is early marriage, child marriages in particular. In Pakistan, the legal age for
marriage for women in 16, and 18 for men. This in itself creates a difference in how soon
pressure for marriage starts building up on the woman. It is reported that 50% to 70% of girls are
married before the age of 18. In 2007, a study reported that 50% of women who were married
before 18, and were between the ages of 20 and 24 at the time, faced spousal violence and
controlling behavior. UN reports have stated that there will be 140 million child brides between
2011 and 2020. Child brides are one of the most vulnerable segments in Pakistan’s population.
Not only are they still developing mentally, they are burdened with considerable housework and
often become pregnant soon after they are married. These two occurrences, coupled with the lack
of power in the household, effectively restricts the girl to staying home for a considerable portion
of her life, often all of it. Child marriages also rob the girl of valuable time that could be spent
getting quality education. More often than not, the newly wedded wife is not allowed to work or
continue her education, and is instead relegated to household work as soon as possible. The
biggest tragedy of this situation is that this girl does not aspire to be anything more either, since
she has been socialized in a manner that ingrains the view that the woman belongs at home, and
that she is supposed to be subservient to the husband. Child marriages additionally compromise
the health of the girl, as pregnancies between the ages of 10 and 14 are 6 times more likely to
result in death during childbirth. These brides are also blamed for any complications during and
after childbirth, and are utterly dependent on their husbands, which leads to complete
subservience. Child marriages are often justified by using religious rhetoric such as claiming that
Muhammad (PBUH) had young brides. Such arguments are especially difficult to refute, and a
counter narrative stemming from religion must be formed. The legal age should also be raised,
along with increasing the punishment of forcing a child into early marriage. Poverty is also a
major reason for child marriages, since female children are often seen as burdens on the family
as they do not bring in income, and the gifts received by the girl’s family are often used to justify
marrying the girl off. State intervention and coordinated community participation is extremely
important to combat this issue. Society needs to be made aware of the dangers of child marriages
and the subsequent health risks. Government agencies should offer financial help to low income
families who invest in their children’s education, so as to provide incentives for sending their
children to school. Other initiatives that can be launched include including men in gender
discourses, developing gender sensitive curriculum, reducing barriers to entry in education for
women. The government should also focus on including the objectives of the Millennium
Development Goals set by the UN in their policies.
There are five recommendations by the World Bank that focus on improving the level of
education and job prospects for women. They are based on the Skills toward Employment and
Productivity (STEP) framework developed by the World Bank.
1. Early Childhood Development programs that focus on female education should be
developed at implemented.
2. Basic education should be made the first target, since a large number of girls in Pakistan
are unable to achieve even that level. This can be achieved using a combination of
policies that focus on incentivizing female education.
3. Job Relevant Skills Workshops should be conducted.
4. A safe environment for girls that encourages creativity and entrepreneurship should be
developed.
5. Flexible, secure, and efficient labor markets need to be developed. This not only includes
creating quotas for women, but also ensuring workplace safety and increasing awareness
about employment opportunities for women.
An Asian Development Bank study found that only 25% of women who have higher education
work outside the home. It further goes on to claim that a study conducted in the year 2000 found
that children’s overall share of household earnings were only slightly less than that of women’s.
This is due to social and religious constraints on women, and so Pakistani society relies more on
child labor. This is another factor that should factor in the importance of focusing of educating
women and empowering them to become active participants in the labor force. In the study
conducted, 40% of women claimed that the reason they don’t work outside the home is that their
male family members do not permit it. It also reiterates the issue discussed earlier; that women
who go outside the home to work are not considered “respectable” in many social contexts
(World Bank 2006). This leads to stigmatization that is very discouraging for women who are
working or those who want to work. Figures cited by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics report
titled: Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement Survey 2005–06 National/Provincial
claims that around 80% of the time other household members decide whether a woman is
allowed to work or not. These factors also contribute to the dependency that women have on
their male family members. Considering that even now there are social taboos on women
travelling alone, or on a motorbike or bicycle, they are forced to rely on male family members to
transport them to and from work. Public transport is many cases is unsafe for women travelling
alone, and there have been countless reports of sexual harassment on public transportation,
which is in turn another factor that discourages women from travelling for work. An example of
the limitations on female mobility is presented by a 2013 survey of women in Karachi who travel
regularly. The survey concluded that 85% of working women said they had been harassed on
public transport in the past year.
However, the way this issue is handled by many families is to simply prohibit the woman from
travelling outside. This is a less serious example of the Rape Culture that is prevalent in
Pakistani society, where the woman is blamed for incidents such as sexual harassment. The
solution offered to such issues is to restrict women to the home, instead of developing and
implementing laws that safeguard women from such threats.

Work Environment and Wage Gap

A study conducted in 2012 by found that a large percentage of firms do not hire women at all.
Primary research has shown that a significant number of law firms do not employ women. These
firms typically do not have a policy regarding this issue, and just implement this in practice.
Women are also frequently passed over for promotions an executive appointments. This is a
phenomenon that is globally found, even in firms that liberally employ women. A survey of the
labor force by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics found that women earn consistently less than
men, about 0.4 to 0.7 respectively on the dollar. Pakistan Labor Force Surveys from 1997 to
2010 found that around 35% of women are only available for work within the household. The
percentage for men in this bracket is 0. More than 20% of men relocate within the country for
their job, while the women can only do the same about 2% of the time a job becomes available.
96% of the female respondents in a study of 10 private and 10 public institutions (Karachi)
reported that either they or their colleagues had faced sexual harassment in the workplace
(Sadruddin 2013). In 2010, Pakistan passed a new law against sexual harassment in the
workplace. Sadruddin’s study showed that only 2% of respondents were aware of this law.
Public listings also indicate that very few workplaces, whether public and private, have so far
complied with these two basic requirements of the law—discussing the policy in a management
meeting, and posting information about the law in the workplace. 300 women survey found that
when harassed at the workplace, 61% said their employers did not coerce them to keep quiet, but
a significant 35% were told to remain silent by their colleagues and bosses. Only 17%
approached their organization’s internal committee. The low number is due to a lack of faith in
the process. Many women lawmakers also suffer through inappropriate language directed
towards them that is intended to publicly demean them. In June 2016, then Defence minister
Khawaja Asif called PTI’s Shireen Mazari a ‘tractor trolley’; in April 2017, PPP’s Khurshid
Shah remarked that women would ‘fall ill’ if prevented from ‘chattering’; in Nov 2014, JUI-F’s
Fazl ur Rehman claimed PTI’s female supporters were of ‘bad character’. Another survey
conducted by Dawn News found that of the women surveyed, more than half said they would
leave their jobs if harassed. For 12%, reactions of workplaces and families would determine
whether they stayed. One lawyer talked of misbehavior in her profession: “My [former] boss, an
influential former Senator and lawyer-politician, made unwanted sexual advances, told me that at
the civil courts women lawyers are sold for Rs500, and that he had slept with many ‘pretty
women parliamentarians’. Once he tried to hug me, and when I told him specifically that this was
not okay, he said his last employee was a tomboy and never hesitated to hug him. I left that law
chamber.” Law is an especially trying profession for women. This is only compounded by
misogynistic actions such as the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Saqib Nisar, comparing the length of a
speech to the length of a woman’s skirt. Another nail in the coffin of gender equity in the
workplace, especially in legal circles, comes from the office of the Punjab Bar Council; an
institution that included the following quote in their official diary. The quote can be roughly
translated as: “Nations that allot more than an adequate freedom to women end up regretting it at
some point.”
A Dawn News Report by Reema Omer, a Legal Advisor for the International Commission of
Jurists, titled, Gender Imbalance in Law, also throws a lot of light onto the plight of women in
the workplace. Maulana Sherani, the chairperson of the Council of Islamic Ideology, said in
2015 that only women over the age of 40 could become judges as that is when “women no longer
remain attractive or marriageable”. Similarly, in a private conversation, a retired judge of the
Supreme Court said that because of their “caring and sensitive nature”, women lawyers were
unsuitable for “hard legal matters” and if they are to practice, they should focus their practice on
“softer” areas of the profession, such as family law. Pakistan is the only country in South Asia to
have never had a woman Supreme Court judge (India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have all
had women serve in their highest courts), and only seven out of Pakistan’s 120 high court judges,
which amounts to 5.8%, are women.

Women in Public Office

As far as holding public office is concerned, the National Assembly of Pakistan has 60 reserved
seats for women, which translates to 17% of the entire composition. Currently, only 8 additional
women were elected to office, apart from the 60 on the reserved seats. Although setting quotas is
a good step towards a more progressive nation, a 17% quota seems woefully inadequate to
represent the issues faced by half of the population of the country. Out of the 15 Federal
Ministers of the current government, only 3 are women, and none of the 5 advisers are female.
Furthermore, the Economic Council specially formulated by the ruling party also has no female
members. This is another example of the lack of female representation in the public sector. This
harkens back to the same societal norm that dictates how a house should be run, i.e. by the male
members of the family. A male dominated state machinery cannot hope to understand the
numerous issues being faced by women in this society. Even now, issues of female literacy,
education, health, and safety are widely misunderstood and people are ignorant of the problems
women are facing. This can only change if women get a chance to be represented by other
women in public office.
Women in the Police and Armed Forces
Women make up less than 1% of the Police Force in Pakistan. There is a quota of 10% that is
reserved for them, which again seems too low to maintain a fair level of equality. However,
women already face countless other challenges, and simply getting the opportunity to apply to
the force is a huge accomplishment. As per the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative Report
(2015), the Pakistan police force comprises of 425,000 officers, of which 0.94%, or just over
4000, are women. Currently, this number is even lower, standing at 0.89%, as stated by the
previous Inspector General of Islamabad Police. All the provinces except excluding the capital
territory police have figures that are below 1%. Only the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)
barely meets the quota set for women, with around 9.68% female employees. A local report has
reasoned that the reasons for the extremely low numbers is the patriarchal society that is
Pakistan, and a significant disconnect between policies that are developed, and their
implementation on ground. According to the report, 46% of male police officers would
recommend a female relative to join the force, and 25% of those surveyed expressed serious
reservations about working alongside, or having women in the police force. Surveys conducted
in 2013 showed that 17% of the women surveyed had been harassed, out of which half did not
have the courage to complain. Out of those who complained, only 29% were addressed by the
administration. The reason for not complaining included a fear of reprisal, a lack of a complaint
structure, and noncooperation of superiors. There are also very few women promoted to higher
positions, with the first female SHO being appointed in 2014 in Sindh.
Women have historically been a part of the armed forces of different countries. However, for the
longest time, they had been prohibited from ground combat roles. On December 2, 2015, Ash
Carter, the then US Secretary of Defence, announced that all combat jobs in every branch of the
military would be open to women. Now, there are female infantry platoon commanders in the
United States Marine Corps. The UK also had a ban on women entering ground close combat
roles, but this was lifted by Prime Minister David Cameron in 2016. In 2018, further restrictions
were abolished, and women are now allowed to apply for all military positions available,
including frontline infantry units, the Royal Marines, and specialist units such as the SAS as
well. This is testament to the fact that given the proper education and training, women are able to
compete with men in all aspects. In the case of Pakistan, women are predominantly relegated to
administrative and medical positions. Only the Pakistan Air Force has females in combat roles as
fighter pilots, although they too are just a token number. The Pakistan Navy prohibits women
from serving in combat missions, especially on submarine force command. In the Army, women
are predominantly employed in medical positions, as nurses or combat doctors, in engineering,
signals, and the Inter Services Public Relations division. (Cannot find very accurate information.
Will update.)
Potential Examples
In Japan, women between the ages have been steadily increasing their labor force participation
rate over the last 20 years. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is using the phenomenon of
‘Womenomics’ to try and boost Japan’s labor force. It involves making workplaces more
accommodating towards mothers and establishing more daycare centres. Multiple surveys have
shown that many in Japan expect women to stay at home and act as the primary caregivers for
their children. This is something that is very prevalent in Pakistan as well, and women are often
unable to find suitable work, or return to their previous jobs, once they have children.
Formulating and implementing policies that accommodate mothers can go a long way to
encourage the female population to enter the labor force. The average age to marry also rose
from 27 to 30, which led to a minor increase in the labor force participation rate. Despite this
being a small change, increasing the minimum age to marry in Pakistan will have a significant
impact. Currently, child marriage is very common, and it often ends up with the girl
discontinuing her education, and thus being completely dependent on the husband. This takes
away the possible decision making power she would have if she were to earn for herself. Raising
the minimum age at which marriage is legal will not only allow women to go farther in obtaining
quality education, but will make female candidates more competitive with regards to the males.
Additionally, Japanese labor laws have also been liberalized, allowing women to enter a larger
range of industries, and this along with more flexible working hours and better government
funded childcare has worked well to increase female labor force participation.
Studies have also revealed that maternity and paternity leave have a role to play in female labor
force participation. Maternity leave has been shown to increase female labor force participation.
However, maternity leave may discourage employers from hiring women as well, since they will
be legally required to give them leave. This can be offset by also offering paternity leave, and it
has been shown that countries which offer both paternity and maternity leave often have higher
female labor force participation. This can be linked to how the labor force participation for
Spanish women increased by almost double (42.2 to 78.3%) between the years 1994 and 2008.
Part of this change is attributed to the different in the composition of married couples,
specifically, the increase in the level of education for married women. Apart from this factor,
Spain focused on reconciling the work and family spheres by improving their fiscal treatment of
families, working on better managing childcare costs, and wage profiles. Changes in average
fertility, which dropped from 3.3 to 2 children, also plays a role in improving female labor force
participation.
Research on the factors affecting female labor force participation in North East India found that
the female workforce participation in India in 2011 was 25.5%. It was also found that low
income distress driven work is not a good driver of female workforce participation. This can be
applied to Pakistan as well, since a large percentage of women from the middle and lower class
population are driven to find menial work in order to help support their families. However, this is
primarily Home based, and is usually very low income due to the lack of useful skills. The study
found that government based education programs in rural areas, along with a reduction in wage
discrimination on the basis of sex had the most impact on workforce participation of women. A
comparative studying on female labor force participation in Egypt and Germany also revealed
that better education invariably led to increased workforce participation. It was also found that
factors such as age and number of children had an effect on participation, age having a positive
effect, and number of children a negative effect.
The world has no shortage of progressive and equitable policies that have been invented by
different countries to allow women to get a stronger foothold in today’s economy. Austria has an
Equal Treatment Law that allows companies to positively discriminate towards women in order
to improve the working conditions for women. Netherlands has an Emancipation Policy that
aims to achieve equality in salaries, employment, and education. 37% of the country’s parliament
is also made up of women. New Zealand has the lowest gender wage gap at 5.6%. This alone has
contributed significantly towards motivating women to seek employment. 40% of senior
managerial positions are also occupied by women. Norway has laws in place that require 40% of
all public limited company board members to be women. Finland has the highest share of women
in higher education, and sits comfortably at the top with a female labor force participation rate of
83%. This is partially attributed to the level of education that is attained by women, along with
the country’s generous public childcare system, which also provides children access to free
school meals. Most of these factors point directly to the political and social norms of society.
However, these norms are particularly entrenched in Pakistan, and a consistent and considerable
effort from state and non-governmental organizations is required to challenge the existing
narrative of women being seen as simply the homemakers. Better implementation of the Child
Marriages and Sexual Harassment law will also go a long way in increasing female labor force
participation. The struggle for equal pay however still exists in developed countries as well, but a
law detailing such a requirement would encourage more women to seek employment. A
consistent and coordinated effort by state and nongovernmental organizations is required to
combat the social norms that have historically kept women out of the public sphere. A restructure
of the budget is also required at the state level, with a focus on educating women with the
intention of having them join the workforce. Policies that discriminate positively towards
married women with children would also motivate women to find employment. Practices such as
daycare services, maintaining a safe work environment, and flexible working hours may also
positively influence the view of women’s families, since most of the times, issues such as
workplace safety and childcare are major challenges that women face when trying to find work.
Despite the seemingly endless list of obstacles that women face in Pakistan, we now know that if
women are provided with the same education, training, and opportunities as men, they can
contribute just as much to the country, and the world.