Daily Times

According to the World Bank statistics, labour force participation for women over the age of 15 in Pakistan was only 25.12 percent in 2018. As an urban woman, I am aware of some challenges that urban women face when they enter the labour force; there are also many trials for rural women. It is worth revisiting this debate. We refer to some literature (Pakistan National Human Development Report UNDP 2017, Cheema 2014, Punjab Skills Development Sector Plan 2015, World Bank 2012) in this article to illustrate the discussion.

Even among young women, access to quality employment is a real issue. The majority of women who work are employed in low-quality sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, fishing and retail stores. Most work is in the agriculture sector: women constitute more than 7 out of 10 workers in this sector. It is marked by low paid seasonal variations and hazardous conditions of work.

In both urban and rural areas, there are relatively high transaction costs that women encounter when they want to access employment. Pakistan needs to formulate policies that will provide better infrastructure and facilities to women. It will help to improve women’s access to employment, as well as the quality of work they do and bring down the associated transaction costs.

Women face mobility issues. Research has shown that there are extremely low levels of mobility for women in high poverty districts. As a result of this, around 85 percent work within their locality of households. This low mobility is a constraint in terms of women’s access to markets when they are self-employed or seeking quality work outside. One of the factors behind constrained job opportunities for women is the low quality of employment. Another factor that holds back women’s employment is that employers in Pakistan are very reluctant to offer jobs to women in sectors other than traditional education and health fields.

Considerations such as the availability of feasible transportation and distance to work often determine women’s decision to join the labour force. Generally, women-friendly transportation is lacking in Pakistan

Considerations such as the availability of feasible transportation and distance to work often determine women’s decision to join the labour force. Generally, women-friendly transportation is lacking in Pakistan. There are also social class divisions in terms of women’s usage of public transportation, in addition to cultural constraints. When comfortable commute is available to women, their willingness to join the labour force increases. Those firms or organisations that provide pick and drop services for their women employees are able to retain a higher percentage of women workers. There has been some gradual improvement in the urban transportation infrastructure. It is leading to an increase in women’s mobility. In addition to expanding women-friendly transportation, there is also a need to push for policies that curb the negative perceptions linked with women’s usage of public transport.

There has been an immense increase in women’s ability to acquire educational qualifications in the past 25 years. Yet, labour force participation even for young educated women has been stagnant in urban areas despite them having completed high school. Weak linkages with the market, poor social mobility and prevalence of low demand for women employees are some of the factors behind this low work participation. It shows that there is a need for more active policy intervention to promote women’s labour force participation to overcome the constraints that bind women’s ability to work. Providing education and forming human capital alone is not enough.

For self-employed women, a combination of skills training, provision of finance, micro-franchising, and availability of advisory services can be effective in supporting human capital and institutional allocation of resources.

There are also other societal factors that can be positively used to further the policy on women’s labour force participation. Despite high population growth, there is evidence that the fertility rate is declining in Pakistan. It is part of a continuing demographic transition. In addition to an increase in women’s educational levels, this relative decline in the fertility rate is providing a conducive societal environment that can be used to promote women’s ability to work. It would contribute to both social uplift as well as economic development in the country.

Other women-friendly measures such as provision of paid maternity and paternity leave, childcare through establishing day-care centres in factories and offices, and flexible working arrangements will help to bring and retain more women in the workforce. There has been some improvement but there is still a long way to go. According to Women’s Economic and Social Wellbeing Survey in Punjab 2017-18, only 26.6 percent of paid women employees have access to separate washrooms and 17.7 percent avail flexible working timings in their places of work. However, the availability of day-care facilities and pick and drop services is very low. Only 4.5 percent of women have access to day-care centres and 3.3 percent avail dedicated pick and drop service in Punjab.

Research has shown that women respond quite positively to work opportunities that are local and allow them to look after their household duties as well. Therefore, flexible and local job provision will help to increase women’s labour force participation. This can be further enhanced by policy measures that can lead to a further decline in fertility rate.

There is a need for further policy intervention to increase women’s labour force participation in Pakistan that is lowest in South Asia. Innovative thinking, evidence-based policy intervention and institutional involvement and revitalizing of government machinery such as the provincial women development departments and nation-wide commissions on the status for women will be helpful.

The writer is an Islamabad-based social scientist

Published in Daily Times, March 12^th 2019.