Cultural shift must to bring women in economic mainstream

LAHORE: Pakistan needs a major cultural shift to include women constituting 49 percent of its population into the economic mainstream, which will substantially push growth and improve the human development indicators that are lowest in the region.

We have seen South Asian subcontinent beaming with growth all around except Pakistan. Among other factors, the exclusion of women from mainstream economic activities is a major cause of its economic stress.

Sri Lanka can proudly claim that it has almost an equal number of women in its workforce as men. It has the highest per capita income as well which is more than double that of India.

Women emancipation in Bangladesh began in the 90s through Grameen Bank. Today, apart from the microfinance financed women entrepreneurs, the manufacturing workforce in that country is predominantly comprised of women.

In 1990s its per capita income was 1/3rd of Pakistan; currently it is much higher than our country.

India is on a sustained growth path but participation of women in workforce is relatively lower than Sri Lanka and Bangladesh which according

to World Bank is impacting

its growth potential substantially.

Besides bringing prosperity, the other impacts of women empowerment are better nutrition for the children, better education lower fertility rates and better health outcomes.

The annual birth rate in Sri Lanka is 1 percent and in Bangladesh it is 1.2 percent and decreasing.

India has higher birth rate of 1.8-1.9 percent while it is 2.4 percent in Pakistan. Life expectancy is highest in Sri Lanka followed by Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Pakistan has the highest percentage of stunted children followed by India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

The other three South Asian countries have come to terms with reality and men now realise that women have to be treated fairly. They have sacrificed their masculinity.

Masculinity actually represents the range of men’s flawed beliefs about manhood and men’s need to exert influence and control in their lives, especially in their intimate partner relationships, and how much power women should have vis a vis men.

Highly rigid masculinity reinforces the belief that women need to be bounded by the more traditional and accepted norms around gender relations. This is the reason that in Pakistan as well as in several other countries of Asia, son preference has been pervasive for centuries.

Son preference is deeply rooted in patriarchal cultural and religious beliefs that uphold the essential value of having a son in a family.

Men traditionally view themselves as providers for their families.

Facing economic stress of some form could easily affect the way a man perceives his successes and failures in providing for his family.

If men’s employment was not stable or they felt stressed or depressed at not having enough work or income, they were more likely to be rigidly masculine.

It is testing time for our male workers that are finding it hard to make both ends meet because of rising costs.

There are no laws in Pakistan mandating non-discrimination in hiring practices on the basis of gender. It is not illegal to ask a prospective employee about marital status during a job interview.

Employees with minor children do not have any additional rights to flexible or part time work schedule. Even the payments made by working mothers for childcare are not tax free.

There is not only a need for legislations to remove barriers to women’s entry in business but there is dire need to change the attitude of the society towards women as well.

The law provides equal access to credit to both genders, but somehow the fair gender generally is denied credit. The lower education level of women is in fact the main hindrance in this regard.

World Bank Country Gender Profile of Pakistan deplores the fact that the status of women in Pakistan is among the lowest in the world.

UNDP describes the strong “inside/outside” dichotomy in Pakistan, where women are restricted to the “inside” space of home and household, embodied in the tradition of veiling.

Moreover, majority of informal work that represents tremendous degree of abuse of working class is done by women. These workers are exploited economically as well as socially.

Even before they enter labour market women are perceived as inferior labour than men. Structural bias ensures that women get fewer resources for education, training and access to capital.

Women workers employed particularly in informal sectors do not have any legal or social protection. It includes agricultural workers, rag-pickers, construction workers, home-based workers, domestic workers or helps, street vendors or sellers and part-time workers.