Labor policy in pakistan

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“Currently, the government of Pakistan is spending about 2 percent of the GNP on education.
This is insufficient, given the educational needs of the country. The government must commit to
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various sub-sectors of education, especially women’s education.”
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Labor Policy in Pakistan

searchwinginsafresearchwingins April 13, 2012

Author: Amna Khan

afresearchwinginsafresearchwin Committee: Socio-Political Committee

Dossier # 001

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Policy

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Committee on Socio-Political Labor Policy in Pakistan

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Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................................................... 5
IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY OF LABOR MARKET POLICY .................................................................................................. 5
PAKISTAN- AN OVERVIEW........................................................................................................................................................ 5
PROBLEM OF ACCESS AND EQUITY ......................................................................................................................................... 6
LABOR POLICY IN PAKISTAN................................................................................................................................................... 6
FEMALE LABOR PARTICIPATION .............................................................................................................................................. 7
DEFINITION OF FEMALE LABOR PARTICIPATION ................................................................................................................... 7
RANKINGS ON INTERNATIONAL INDEXES ............................................................................................................................ 7
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF WOMEN’S WORK ............................................................................................................................ 7
FACTORS THAT DETERMINE WHAT KIND OF WORK WOMEN DO ................................................................................ 8
FORMAL SECTOR ....................................................................................................................................................................... 8
WOMEN’S EMPLOYMENT ORGANIZATIONS AND TRADE UNIONS ................................................................................... 9
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GENDER ON WAGES, INDUSTRY PARTICIPATING ..................................................................... 9
ECONOMIC POLICY REFORMS ........................................................................................................................................... 9
WAGE GAPS BETWEEN GENDER ......................................................................................................................................10
VOCATIONAL TRAINING OF WOMEN .............................................................................................................................12
RECOMMENDATIONS .............................................................................................................................................................12
CHANGING SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS IS CUMBERSOME, BUT STILL POSSIBLE...................................................................12
ADDRESS THE EDUCATION NEEDS OF WOMEN .............................................................................................................13
THE GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTAN SHOULD SPEND MORE ON EDUCATION .........................................................13
THE GOVERNMENT AND THE INTERNATIONAL NGOS SHOULD COLLABORATE TO BUILD MORE SCHOOLS AND
TRAIN MORE TEACHERS ...............................................................................................................................................13
MAKE PRIMARY EDUCATION FREE AND COMPULSORY FOR BOTH MALE AND FEMALE STUDENTS ..................... 13
THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD IMPROVE ADVOCACY AND OUTREACH TO PROMOTE FEMALE EDUCATION.......13
ESTABLISH AN INDEPENDENT MONITORING AND EVALUATION MECHANISM TO OVERSEE EDUCATION DELIVERY
........................................................................................................................................................................................13
DEVELOP ENTREPRENEURIAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN ......................................................................................14
PROMOTION OF SMALL MEDIUM ENTERPRISES.........................................................................................................14
THE INTERNATIONAL DONOR AGENCIES CAN CREATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS FOR
POTENTIAL WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS........................................................................................................................14
ESTABLISHING/STRENGTHENING WOMEN’S BUSINESS FORUM ................................................................................14
THE PUBLIC BANKS IN PAKISTAN AND THE FINANCIAL NGOS SHOULD DEVELOP AND ENHANCE MICROFINANCE
INSTITUTIONS................................................................................................................................................................14
CONCLUSION .........................................................................................................................................................................14
BIBLIOGRAPHY.........................................................................................................................................................................16
ABOUT THE AUTHOR ............................................................................................................................................................16



Executive Summary

This paper examines gender discrimination at the labor market in Pakistan and how they were addressed by

the labor policy of 2010. The paper identifies labor issues related to women in Pakistan, and explain their

significance with context to the working of the economy. It also provides recommendation guidelines to the

government of Pakistan to help resolve these issues.

The main issues facing women are:

 Low enrollment in schools. The literacy rate which is 54 percent for both males and females - drops

to 35 percent for females.

 Low labor market participation. In 2009, Pakistan had 22 percent of women in the labor force

according to International Labor Organization. They also face multitude of problems at workforce in

the form of sexual harassment, low career progress and low wages.

This problem requires immediate attention and commitment of the government of Pakistan, International

Agencies such as the UN and ILO. The following recommendations will be instrumental in mitigating this

problem

 Increase women education by increasing spending on education by the federal government, building

more schools, making education compulsory for all children irrespective of gender, improving

advocacy and outreach to promote female education and establishing a monitoring and evaluation

agency to oversee education delivery

 Increase entrepreneurial opportunities for women by promoting small medium enterprise by women,

introduce entrepreneurial vocational training for women. Establishing business forums for women

entrepreneurs and lastly by expanding opportunities of microfinance.



labor is homogenous and instead focuses on labor
Labor Policy in differentials based on skill sets that labor possesses.
The theory states that increase in education or

Pakistan training increases workers productivity and
increases their income. Any spending on education
and training should, hence, be considered as an
investment decision. Any investment on education
will increase both personal and national income as
To have an adequate appreciation the skill sets of its citizens will increase. But why
should we study labor markets and labor market
of the far-reaching effects of policies? Human Capital theory rests on a key
disparities between women and assumption of well functioning labor markets. A
person’s economic wellbeing is determined by how
men, we have to recognize the basic much s/he and other family members earn for their
fact that gender inequality is not labor and by what goods, services, and cash they
one affliction, but many, with receive from the government, the community, and
others. Even with multilateral and bilateral
varying reach on the lives of women assistance, governments in developing countries
and men, and of girls and boys. lack the funds necessary to make a significant
difference in poverty rates through government
Amartya Sen spending. This means that creating more and better
earning opportunities for the poor is the only
option available to pull these people out of poverty.
It is hence even more important to create well
Introduction functioning labor markets in the developing
countries. This section elaborates on the
Labor markets are institutions where work is importance of human capital theory both as a tool
exchanged for wages. In the current economic to increase Gross Domestic Product as well as to
literature stream, studying economic labor markets reduce poverty among the citizens. Due to the
is gradually becoming more important. The importance that Human Capital Theory(HCT) has,
literature, however, focuses more on developed it should be at the core of economic development
countries. This paper will examine labor markets in planning.
the developing countries. I will use the case study
of Pakistan and look at various labor issues in I will now move on to give a brief demographic
Pakistan and how effectively they were addressed outline of Pakistan and the labor issues that the
by the labor policy of 2010. The primary aim of this country faces.
paper is to identify labor issues related to women
in Pakistan, and to explain their significance. The
secondary aim is to provide recommendation
guidelines to the government of Pakistan to help Pakistan- an overview
resolve these issues. In this paper I will stress more
Pakistan gained independence from the “British Raj”
on the gender issues in the market as I see them as
(British Empire) on 14 August, 1947. After 60 years
a market failure, which is pushing the country away
of independence, Pakistan is still ranked as a low-
from the natural equilibrium. A very basic
middle income country. The Gross Domestic
assumption of an operating labor market is that it
Product (GDP) of the country is 161 billion dollars
will function efficiently without any market failures.
(WB, dataset, 2009), and the Gross National
I feel that this assumption does not hold true for
Income per capita in 2009 was 1,020 dollars.
the case of Pakistan. The recommendations
(UNICEF, 2010). With a population of over 160
provided below will not be exhaustive but can act
million (WB, 2009), 43 million people lives below
as guidelines for the government to combat the
the poverty line of dollar a day (FCO, 2011).
labor issues related to gender.
Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the
world, with 38 percent of its total population under
15 years old (Leahy, 2007). The United Nations
Importance of the study of Labor Market estimates that Pakistan’s population will increase by
Policy another 54 million people in the next 15 years.
(UN, 2005).
The Human Capital Theory has been proposed by
Schultz(1961) and developed extensively by
Becker(1964). HCT challenges the notion that



With a steadily increasing youth population, curriculum for the first grade (Andrabi 2008). This
Pakistan faces serious challenges in ensuring is an example of how the current education system
universal primary education. Literacy rate, which is is not only inaccessible to all children but also
based on the ability to write your name, is barely greatly lacks in quality.
50 percent (FCO, 2011). This is abysmal when
compared to the literacy rate of the United States,
which is at 99 percent. It is low even when
Problem of access and equity
compared to other countries in South Asia, where
the average literacy rate among countries is 61 As explained previously, there are numerous
percent. disparities in the education system of Pakistan. The
lack of access to education across different income
Within Pakistan, there are significant differences in and gender groups further exacerbates the
education across the urban-rural, male-female and problem. The overall literacy rate among the poor
rich-poor divides. For instance, literacy rate which in Pakistan is 28 percent, while among the middle
is 54 percent on the whole, drops to 35 percent for and upper-middle classes this rate jumps to 49%.
females. Pakistan is one of five world nations with The net enrollment rate is 37 percent for the poor
the lowest literacy rates and among the twelve as opposed to 59 percent for the middle and upper
world nations that spend less than three percent of classes (World Bank 2002).
their Gross Domestic Product on education (Shah
2003; Kronstadt 2004; Farah 2007). There is a high Enrolment remains the lowest in the poorest
dropout rate even for primary school students. The quintile, and the dropout rate is highest among this
United States Agency for International group. This is a troublesome fact, especially since
Development states that of the two-thirds of 65 percent of the population of Pakistan lives below
Pakistani children (ages five to nine) who have ever $2 a day (UNESCO 2006). With commitments to
enrolled in school, only one-third manage to Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and
complete primary education (fifth grade; Kronstadt Education for All goals (EFA), extensive efforts will
2004). 70 percent of these students are male and have to be made to provide equitable education
53 percent are female. The Primary Gender Parity access to this low-income group. A lack of
Index GPI ratio1 rests at 0.78 (World Bank 2008). education would mean that this group will continue
While the literacy rate has steadily increased over to be employed in the lower wage informal sector,
the years for both subgroups of males and females, with little or no chances of career growth. This
the gap between them still remains large. This is of makes it hard for them to break the cycle of
immense significance for labor policy since lower poverty and get a fair chance to improve their lives.
education in women will lead to lower labor The importance of a better-educated population
participation rates for females. Most women will grows significantly as Pakistan moves from an
thus continue to participate in informal markets, agrarian based to a service sector based economy.
earning little income and unable to break the In 1999, 27 percent of the labor force was
continuous cycle of poverty. employed in agriculture, while 49 percent worked
in the services sector. In 2009, the number of
The quality of education provided in most areas is people employed in agriculture went down to 21.6
also low, and great disparity exists within the percent, and those employed in the service sector
provinces and the urban-rural divide. Furthermore, increased to 54.2 percent. This structural change
the primary school completion rate in rural areas means that traditional, brute force work,
for females is three times lower than that for males. agricultural work is in gradual decline in Pakistan
In urban areas this rate is twice as low (Herz and (Labor force survey, 2010).
Sperling 2004). Surveys assessing the quality of
education which were conducted between 2003
and 2007 under the Learning and Educational
Labor Policy in Pakistan
Achievement in Punjab Schools (LEAPS) show that
students were performing well below their grade The labor policy of Pakistan, 2010 addressed many
levels. By the end of the third grade, barely 50 important labor issues. The effectiveness of this
percent of students had mastered the mathematics labor policy will be discussed below. The 2010
labor policy was presented by the democratic
1 government that came to power in 2009. Most of
The Gender Parity Index (GPI) is
the features were the same as past labor policies
a socioeconomic index usually designed to measure
the relative access to education of males and but there were some notable differences. I will
females. In its simplest form, it is calculated as the discuss the salient features of this policy that
quotient of the number of females by the number of currently affect labor issues, especially women labor
males enrolled in a given stage of education.



participation, in Pakistan. The minimum wage in in the labor force tends to be less affected by such
Pakistan has increased from Rs. 6000 (around $70) issues. According to the Pakistan Integrated
to Rs. 7000 (around $80). Although this is an Household Survey, which measures work
increase in monetary wages, if we take into participation over a reference period that is longer
consideration the inflation rate of over 30 percent, than that used by the Labor Force Survey, 67
it amounts to a fall in terms of real wages. percent of males and 25 percent of females were
participating in the labor force in 2001-2002. This
The policy also emphasized that it would regularize includes both paid and unpaid (family labor) work.
the informal workers (the majority of which are Women who participate are much more likely to
women) within the “shortest time possible”. It is do so in unpaid work, while men are more likely to
interesting to notice that no time frame or actions participate in paid work. Almost 60 percent of
were promised by the government on how it plans women involved in the labor force are unpaid
to regularize such workers. workers. This is a very high rate compared to that
of men; among those who participate in the labor
Another salient feature of this labor policy was that force, only 19 percent of men are unpaid family
“Matric-Tech” schemes were introduced in worker workers.
welfare schools. Schools which receive funding
from the labor department are commonly known
as worker welfare schools. In these schools free
education is given to children of the laborers. In Rankings on International Indexes
such schools, Matric-Tech schemes promote an Pakistan is a country that does not do well on
education curriculum in which vocational training is international gender related indexes. It is ranked in
provided along with the regular high school the UNDP gender related index at 135 out of 174
curriculum. This is done to provide vocation countries. In terms of gender empowerment,
training to students, so that they may be better Pakistan is ranked at 100 out of 102 countries. The
equipped for the labor market after school. Here, it ranking in gender empowerment is primarily a
is important to recognize that women are generally function of low female education and labor
excluded from vocational training and once again participation rates.
no commitment came from the government to
address this dire issue.

It is interesting to highlight that this labor policy is The Significance of Women’s Work
merely a list of recommendations and suggestions. Research on women who perform paid work in
There is no budget attached to it, and the Pakistan reveals that they work out of economic
government and other stakeholders are under no need. They face a hostile environment of limited
obligation to implement it as emphasized in the employment options, unequal wages, bad work
labor policy. conditions, and an extra burden due to unremitting
domestic responsibilities at home. This is true
whether women perform agricultural wage labor in
Female Labor Participation the rural areas or piece-rate work in the cities.
Even those in the formal sector are not free from
Females have lesser access to education than their discrimination in the workplace and sexual
male counterparts. They also form a smaller harassment.
amount of the labor force. According to
International Labor Organization, in 2003-2004 the Pakistan is an Islamic country and many times
female labor participation rate in Pakistan was 11.2 religion is attributed as a reason for low female
percent. This section will explore in detail the labor participation. I feel, however, that the low
reasons for low female labor participation. I will labor participation among females has more to do
also be discussing various issues, both social and with cultural factors than with religion. A statistical
institutional that affect these participation rates. comparison indicates the same hypothesis.
Bangladesh, which is an Islamic country as well, has
much higher female labor participation. As
Definition of female labor participation compared to the anemic labor force participation of
11.2 percent in Pakistan in 2003-2004(Labor Force
As in most developing countries, measuring the Survey, 2004), Bangladesh had a female participation
extent of female labor force participation in rate of 57.6 percent (International Labor
Pakistan is sensitive to the definition of work used Organization, 2000)
and the duration (a week, month, or year)
considered. The measurement of male participation



Table-1 circumscribe women’s work options. The following
Pakistan: Labour Force Participation Rate constraints are most common.
• Social norms regarding suitability of particular
2001-02 2003-04 occupations in eyes of family members and
employers
Female 9.9 11.2 • Work in non-farm sectors further away and in
nearby urban centers is not acceptable as it is
Male 48 48.7 perceived to be not compatible with domestic
duties
Total 29.6 30.4
• Gendered work patterns keep women in low-
Source: Labour Force Survey 2003-04 paying, low-status activities.
• Restricted job options and low returns inhibit
parental motivation to invest in their
Table-2 education, particularly where resources are
Bangladesh: Labour Force Participation limited. (Kazi 1999: 387-88, 410)
Rate

1995 1996 2000
Formal sector
Female 67.8 57.2 57.6 The society in Pakistan is male dominated and
patriarchal. The culture is against working women
Male 88.9 89.8 89.2 who are viewed negatively by a large portion of
society. Women, who work in the formal sector,
Total 78.6 73.7 73.8 face harassment of various forms at the work place.
Harassment at the workplace is not recognized as a
Source: www.ilo.org
punishable offence in Pakistan. A bill is pending at
the legislature which will make it a punishable
offense, with jail time of up to 3 months. Lack of
The reason women are less dominant in even awareness about harassment and the fear of
formal high paying jobs is the cultural constraint retaliation from co-workers and supervisors force
that reinforces the traditional role of women as women to let many cases go unreported.
home makers. Women usually work full time in
their homes, but this is not recorded in the labor Data on the number of women affected by
market statistics. The low female labor participation harassment is hard to come by since there is no law
acts as a disincentive to invest in women’s under which cases can be registered. This means
education. Parents who lack resources prefer to that estimates are anecdotal at best. "I see about 50
invest in a male child’s education over a female’s to 70 women per year," says Ambreen Ajaib, who
education, since he can participate in the labor has been working for three years as a psychologist
market while she might not be able to. Women for victims of harassment at Bedari, a women's
who do work before marriage are sometimes rights NGO.
barred from the workplace by their husband’s
families. This adds another element of uncertainty However, even she admits that such numbers may
that discourages employees from making any not reveal the actual situation since many women
significant investments on women. The cause and are not willing to admit being targeted. "It's difficult
effect relationship between female education and to get exact figures because few women have
labor market participation is strong. Severing this access to us and because many women believe that
link will be hard for the government but it is very the fault lies with them -- that a woman normally
important to break this perpetuating cycle that lures the man and that if she is dressed a certain
discriminates against women. way she will be harassed and so on. Any woman
who reports harassment always mentions what she
was wearing." A woman’s sense of self is
determined by societal rules, which are perceived
Factors That Determine What Kind of
to endanger her family’s reputation. This reflects
Work Women Do how the culture and the society are reinforcing
There are various factors that influence a woman’s gender discrimination, reducing opportunities for
choice of occupation in Pakistan. Shahnaz women to participate in the labor market, and
Kazi(1999) researched the gender equities in placing them in precarious and vulnerable positions.
Pakistan and explains that multiple constraints



In the formal sector based in the urban areas, there improve their work conditions, 30 percent voted
is an overwhelming concentration of women in for home-based workers’ unions (40 percent voted
certain sectors. Women tend to be concentrated in for a loan facility) and 65percent said they would be
the “respectable lines of teaching and medicine”. willing to make contributions for their benefit to a
These norms emphasize on “the low social status social security organization.
of sales and secretarial jobs that involve contact
with men at a personal level.” (Kazi 1999: 391).
This means that women who do not have the Difference between gender on wages,
professional training to be a doctor or a teacher
industry participating
end up in the informal sectors in home based
earning activities (409). The table below is taken from the Pakistan Labor
Force survey of various years. It shows that
women’s share in industry has grown by 3.8
percent between 2000 and 2008. Their share in
Women’s Employment Organizations and
agriculture, however, has grown by a mere 0.1
Trade Unions percent whereas their share in the service sector
There are over seven thousand registered trade has fallen by 3.9 percent. Women’s share in the
unions in Pakistan. The total male membership of labor force is the highest in the agriculture sector.
reporting unions was around 245,400, while female
membership was no more than 2,134 in 2002.
Table-3 Federal Bureau of Statistics, Labor force
Among registered trade unions, membership above Survey, Multiple years
ten thousand is only limited to the
industries of textile/hosiery,
post/telecommunications, and
chemicals/dyes (Federal Bureau of
Statistics 2005a: 255-6).

There are currently trade unions in
major government organizations, such
as the airlines, railways, post office,
education institutions, hospitals, water
and the power development
authority. They all employ women, yet
women do not have significant
membership or decision-making
powers in these unions. At a recent
meeting with government, civil society
and labor stake-holders, one of the major
recommendations by the female labor activists was
to increase the number of women workers in the
industry. This would ultimately lead to an increased
number of women in trade unions, and to that end Economic Policy Reforms
a specific quota was proposed for women in each In Siddiqui’s (2006: 3-4) study on women workers,
industry as well as in trade unions. Another and the effects of stabilization and structural
recommendation that was made called for trade adjustment programs in Pakistan, various findings
unions to include a specific clause in their come to light:
constitutions to allow women key leadership
positions, and to provide an independent section • The country has experienced a slower
for women to discuss their issues. (Ministry of growth rate of output, declining
Labour et al 2005: 26-7). employment, and a rise in poverty.
• Expansion of female employment in the
The National Commission of Status of Women manufacturing sector is taking place
survey of home-based workers in Pakistan finds outside the regular factory workforce, and
that although the majority of women say they are is mainly in the form of temporary and
satisfied with their work conditions, the leading contract workers. This reflects the low
causes for dissatisfaction are related to low absorptive capacity of the large scale
earnings and low rates in the market. When asked industrial sector, and also indicates a
what kind of legal cover they would like to have, to deliberate policy by employers to exploit



female workers as a cheaper and more Many people argue that this gap is due to males
pliable form of labor. having more skills and education than females. The
• Female workers are concentrated in a few next figure refutes that claim. It shows the average
occupations and industrial groups, and this real wage of the employees by aggregated major
depresses their wages. They have low skills occupational groups.
and less mobility, hence they have not
increased their participation in the modern
highly productive sector of the economy. Figure-2 Federal Bureau of Statistics, Labor force
Survey, Multiple years

In rural areas, more women work than
their urban counterparts, but the work
is in agricultural lands and is often
poorly paid or paid in the form of
agricultural produce. Figure 1 is also
taken from various labor force surveys
across the years and reveals that over
time the gender gap in labor
participation is decreasing in rural and
increasing in urban areas.

The findings suggest that the sectors
which employ females are poorly paid,
temporary, or involve contract based
work with little chance of career
progression.

Figure-1 Federal Bureau of Statistics, Labor force

Figure 3 (next page) suggests that across all skill
levels, females earn substantially less than males.
The most striking comparison can be found
between highly skilled males and females. A
highly skilled female was being paid as much as a
skilled or unskilled male would earn. This
discrimination occurs across all levels of skills.

Figure 4 (next page) shows the gender gap
across various dimensions. Women have a low
labor participation rate, a low employment to
population ratio, a low share in non agricultural
employment, a low share in wage and salaried
employment, and a higher share in vulnerable
employment. Women across all these
dimensions are at a vulnerable position.

Wage gaps between gender
The discussion so far has identified various
problems women face when they enter the labor
market. This section will discuss the varying wage
gaps among genders. The following Figure 2 shows
that the wage gap between males and females
continues to increase. Women, on average, earn 38
percent less than their male counterparts.



Figure-3 Federal Bureau of Statistics, Labor force

Figure-4 International Labor Organization, 2009



According to the World Bank’s World however, is that women remain tied to these low
Development Report 2000/01, closing the gender paying jobs, relentlessly working on completing
gap in schooling would have significantly increased, product orders, often with no career mobility.
and sometimes more than doubled economic
growth in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), South Asia The sections above have explained vital labor issues
(SA), and the Middle East and North Africa related to gender. Before I move on to the
(MENA). Despite international declarations on recommendation, I would like to mention a few
gender equality, as, for example, in the Millennium encouraging facts about the status of women in
Development Goals2, only a few countries have Pakistan.
actually achieved gender equality in primary and
secondary education. The differences are even There is a steadily increasing representation of
more pronounced in higher education. In South women at the legislature. The quota for women
Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, for example, girls only seats currently stands at 33%. This will serve as a
make up a third of the number of students in platform to introduce reforms that will positively
tertiary education. affect women. There has also been a rise in women
NGOs that are actively fighting for laws against
Equally alarming are labor-market indicators, which harassment, discrimination and employment. This
clearly highlight that countries do not adequately indicates that advocacy of such issues has increased
use their available human resources, in particular substantially in Pakistan over the past few years.
those of the female population. In many developing
countries, women’s economic activities are
marginalized to the informal sector, small-scale
farming and/or domestic work. Cases in point are Recommendations
South Asia and the Middle East and North Africa: in My recommendations in this section propose
both regions, only around 20 percent of all wage institutional changes, increase in education and an
employment outside agriculture is held by women.3 increase in women entrepreneurship, if
implemented correctly, could transform labor
policy in Pakistan.
Vocational training of women
Vocational training available to women is limited in
Changing social institutions is
Pakistan4. The government does not have a large
enough budget to cover vocational training for all cumbersome, but still possible
women. Various national and international NGOs A lot of countries are committed to change the
are experimenting with various models to provide institutional frameworks that limit women’s
this training to women. Most of the NGOs teach employment and skills. These efforts are having the
skills such as embroidery, stitching, embellishment, positive results. For example in Tunisia, 30-50
etc. This model builds a centre near a rural village percent of judges, physicians and schoolteachers
and equips it with basic tools such as sewing are now women. Similarly in India, women have
machines. Women trainers then teach the local risen to the highest levels of politics and business in
women the skills required to start production. recent years. However, these are relatively rare
Those trained can then choose to work from home cases, and such changes still face dire resistance.
or from the centre. Such centers also build For example in India, still women are being
relationships with boutiques, exporters of murdered over disputes about dowries.
handicrafts and others outlets. In this way, they can
provide the local women with continuous demand In order to strengthen reforms, many development
of their product. The advantage of this model is experts have called for more funding - for instance,
that it requires low capital and is easy to replicate. to build more schools. This has to be accompanied
It is also sustainable as women soon start learning by a strong advocacy campaign to promote
from each other. The downside of this model, education and by addressing the fundamental causes
of discrimination and low incentives for education.
2
Extra spending, while badly needed, will generate
MDGs or millennium Development goals are by the real returns only if the fundamental causes of
United Nations that member countries have
discrimination are also addressed.
committed to achieve
3
http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/970
That may mean institutional and legal reforms as
well as better enforcement of existing laws. The
4
Interview with Kamilah Shahid, Khidmat harassment at work law should be introduced with
Foundation



dire penalties. This will provide women with the salaries, formalizing standard contracts for teachers,
sense of security at workplace and reduce the and guaranteeing the provision of transport and day
social disapproval of working women. care centers for female teachers. Incentives can be
offered to teachers locating to a rural school in
Many countries are willing to change, and most form of a better salary and a safe and improved
have signed the 1979 UN Convention on the environment.
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women and, more recently in 2000, the UN
millennium goal of empowering women and Make primary education free and
combating discrimination. Helping countries compulsory for both male and female
improve gender equality is therefore not only
students
important to the government for increased growth
but it is an international commitment as well. While If education were free and compulsory, more
assistance of international organizations is parents would send their girls to school. The
encouraged, lasting change has to be come from government should ensure that not only are school
within communities themselves. fees covered, but that girls from low income
families receive free text books, uniforms,
transportation and daily lunch. This strategy has
Address the Education needs of women been successful in other countries in the region.
For example, the people of Sri Lanka have been
enjoying free education for the last 50 years. As a
The Government of Pakistan 5 should result, Sri Lanka has seen remarkable advancements
spend more on education in human development, in spite of internal conflicts
Currently, the government of Pakistan is spending and political upheavals. Also, the government
about 2 percent of the GNP on education. This is should introduce flexible school timings and region-
insufficient, given the educational needs of the specific school calendars in order to cater to
country. The government must commit to allocate children who work to supplement their family
a higher percentage to the education sector, and to income. This should specifically apply to girls who
proportionally allocate this to various sub-sectors are engaged in household or farm work during
of education, especially women’s education. The typical school hours.
new National Education Policy of 2009 has made
strong commitments and policy recommendations
for such steps. Immediate implementation of these The government should improve
will help Pakistan get closer to achieving the advocacy and outreach to promote
Education For All goals and Millennium female education
Development Goals. A recent analysis of budget
and public sector expenditure on education has To win supporters, the government should conduct
revealed that spending on education has actually a campaign on television and radio to highlight the
declined during 2007-2009, which is a matter of importance of education for both girls and boys,
great concern. and should encourage parents to send their
children, especially girls, to school. Such advocacy
can help address and change the cultural norms and
the traditional mindset that many people have.
The government and the international
Under the devolution plan of 2002, citizen
NGOs should collaborate to build more community boards are formed to monitor
schools and train more teachers community progress. Such boards are elected and
The government of Pakistan needs to take can also be assigned the task to improve advocacy
pragmatic steps to ensure a sufficient number of and outreach campaign to increase women
schools for both males and females, and a sufficient participation in education.
number of trained teachers (again, both male and
female), especially in rural areas. Ensuring an
adequate number of teachers requires increasing Establish an independent monitoring
and evaluation mechanism to oversee
5
In Pakistan only the federal government has the education delivery
authority to tax its citizen hence an active role of
federal government is emphasized in all these A monitoring and evaluation mechanism should be
recommendations. In Pakistan there is no local or established for the elimination of corrupt elements
school taxes and the revenue is distributed by the and practices from the education system.The
federal government.



District Community Office (DCO) should be of successful women entrepreneurs to serve as role
assigned responsibility to monitor quality and models for the next generations.
infrastructure of schools. A separate monitoring
cell should be placed under the Ministry of
Education to periodically monitor public schools. Establishing/strengthening women’s
This will help make non-functional schools to business forum
function efficiently, particularly in remote, rural
areas of the country. The small numbers of women’s business forums
that exist in Pakistan have extremely limited
The recommendations above address both the outreach and offer few quality services. They do
demand and supply side. The supply side strategy is not exist as institutions but as personalities: they
to focus on the availability of schools and female have limited membership and confined regional
teachers, whereas the demand side considers outreach. This explains why no such business forum
various initiatives to increase demand. has emerged as a national lobby group for women
entrepreneurs. Currently there is an urgent need
to assist self-sustaining institutions, and to associate
them with the regional Chambers of Commerce
Develop Entrepreneurial Opportunities
and the Employers’ Federation of Pakistan and
for Women other national forums.

Promotion of Small Medium
Enterprises The public banks in Pakistan and the
There are a small number of federal and provincial financial NGOs should develop and
institutions working specifically for the enhance Microfinance institutions
development of SMEs. These institutions usually do Micro financing is increasingly seen as a way to
not reach out to women entrepreneurs; their empower women in developing countries by the
operations are normally targeted at businessmen, international organizations. After the success of
especially since business is generally considered a Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, many countries have
male domain in Pakistan. SMEDA or small medium experimented with the model. One such
enterprise development agency, a federal institution organization that is working in Pakistan is called
dedicated to providing enterprise development KASHF. Its goal is to empower women by providing
services, should undertake research that identifies financial assistance to them. Such organizations can
gaps and distortions in existing services that could make a great difference in the lives of women, but
be rectified in future operations. SMEDA should they need to have an effective follow-up strategy on
also be given grant money by the federal their clients, and strong accountability to ensure
government to assist women in setting up small and that the funds are used to assist businesses and
medium sized businesses. investments, rather than being used on operational
expenses. Currently, KASHF is only working in one
province of Pakistan (Punjab). This model can be
The International Donor agencies can adopted by the public banks and other financial
create Entrepreneurship development NGOs to remove the roadblock of limited finance
programs for potential women out of the way for women. The loans can have
entrepreneurs other preconditions attached to them as well. For
instance, such loans will only be given to women or
A multilateral arrangement should be formed which they must enroll their female children in schools in
includes the International Labor Organization as a order to qualify for such loans. The provision of
consultant, a donor agency such as the Asian loans can create an incentive to achieve positive
Development Bank for funding, and Pakistani social results.
government institutions as executing agencies to
introduce entrepreneurial vocational training to
women..The probability of doing business increases
significantly for Pakistani women if they have Conclusion
acquired formal education. At present, however, This paper presents the background to the gender
there are very few women entrepreneurs in the issues that are present in the Pakistani society and
labor market who possess such education. A pilot how they impact the labor market in the country.
project can be launched for a selected group of 25 Needless to say, the government of Pakistan needs
businesswomen in each of the four provinces of to end disparities and discrimination, and form a
Pakistan. This program would prepare a new group national agenda to assist women participation in the



labor market. A strong commitment is required
from the government and the international donors
to change the social structure of gender
discrimination in the labor force. The
recommendations mentioned above are not
exhaustive but they are important guidelines for the
formation of a labor policy that will end
discrimination and encourage labor participation for
women.



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