akistan has ratified 36 International Labour Organisation conventions, including eight core ones. Three crucial conventions that directly pertain to the care economy remain unratified. These are:

•  C156 – Workers with Family Responsibilities
•  C183 – Maternity Protection
•  C189 – Decent Work for Domestic Workers

Despite this, some principles of these conventions have found partial expression in federal and provincial laws. Paid maternity and paternity leave provisions exist and the Punjab pioneered a Domestic Workers Policy in 2015. Formal laws were later passed in the Punjab, Balochistan and at the federal level; Sindh is in the final stages of legislating its own domestic workers’ law.

Women in Pakistan shoulder a disproportionate share of unpaid care work within households, extended families and communities. They are mostly unpaid and undervalued. These women are silent contributors to the national GDP. According to UN Women (2023):

• Women spend 19.8 percent of a 24-hour day on unpaid care and domestic work.
• Men spend 2.3 percent.

This imbalance is not only stark but economically significant, yet largely invisible in national data and public policy.

Domestic care workers, many of whom provide vital services in childcare, eldercare and disability support, operate in highly precarious and informal environments. Most are low- or semi-literate women from marginalised socioeconomic backgrounds. Their work, though physically and emotionally demanding, remains undervalued and unprotected.

Data from the field presents a clear picture of conditions of care work. The reports and case studies reveal persistent challenges including the following:

•  Long working hours with no defined rest periods
•  No contracts or legal protections
•  Lack of access to social protection, minimum wages or grievance redress
• Exposure to verbal, physical and sexual abuse
•  In case of some live-in workers, a complete erosion of personal boundaries

Despite legislative advances for domestic care work (domestic workers), enforcement remains weak due to lack of inspections, registration systems and implementation mechanisms.

The care economy is a multi-sectoral issue demanding coordinated action. This silent and invisible sector of the economy intersects multiple policy domains: labour, human rights, social protection, planning and local governance. Effective reform demands collaboration across:

•  Line departments (Labour, Planning, Social Welfare, Women Development)
•  Human rights commissions and statutory bodies
•  Local governments investing in care infrastructure such as childcare centers and eldercare homes
•  Civil society, trade unions and grassroots women’s organisations
•  Academia (for research and evidence protection)
•  Development partners like the ILO and UN Women (for frameworks and technical support)

Pakistan lacks institutional mechanisms to measure care work. Time-use surveys are neither standardised nor institutionalised. Delay in the labour force surveys and timely editions of emerging indicators is crucial for data collection authorities in order to fill in the missing numbers from Pakistan care economy. The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics and provincial bureaus must be engaged in developing gender-sensitive care indicators within national household surveys.

There are alarming gaps in the care economy policies. The ILO’s Global Care Policy Portal (2021) highlights major shortfalls in Pakistan’s care policy framework. These include:

Maternity Leave:

•  Legally set at 12 weeks (except in Sindh where it is 16 weeks)
•  No provisions for adoptive mothers or self-employed women
•  No return-to-work guarantees or job protection
•  Weak dismissal protections
•  No data on coverage for domestic workers

Paternity and Parental Leave:

•  Non-existent; no legal entitlement, protections or benefits
•  Reinforces traditional gender norms

Childcare Leave:

•  Available only to mothers (similar to maternity leave)
•  No shared caregiving provisions for fathers or other caregivers

Eldercare and Emergency Leave:

•  No formal system for residential, community or home-based eldercare
•  Emergency leave exists but excludes self-employed workers

Workplace Protections for Pregnant and Nursing Women:

•  No safety guidelines against hazardous work
•  No mandated breastfeeding breaks or prenatal checkup leave
• No statutory rights for job alternatives or breastfeeding facilities

The cumulative result is a glaring care gap; a systemic failure to support caregivers across the lifecycle. This undermines gender equality and economic participation. Despite some good initiatives, Pakistan still lacks a cohesive approach to correlate its exiting numbers with care economy indicators and present a satisfactory state. The missing links in the existing policy frameworks and legislation present another challenge in reporting and ensuring inclusion and protection of care givers.

In order to close the gender care gap it’s important to ratify key ILO conventions C183 (Maternity), C156 (Family Responsibilities) and C189 (Domestic Workers). Ratifying ILO conventions is not just about compliance, it’s about dignity, rights and the future of decent work. Paid paternity leave and parental leave with job security, wage protection, and inclusivity are similarly important.

Social protection needs to be expended to include informal and self-employed workers, including domestic and adoptive caregivers. There is a need to strengthen maternity protections by ensuring safe work environments, job continuity and breastfeeding facilities.

It’s crucial to establish national childcare and eldercare ecosystems through public funded initiatives, integrated into communities and workplaces through local government.

Care work is skilled work. Yet it is often underpaid, unprotected and overwhelmingly invisible.

In order to catalyse change, awareness is key. Raising awareness about the care economy must go hand-in-hand with policy reform. Key suggested actions include:

•  Community campaigns led by women’s groups and unions
• Advocacy for fair wage and wage cards for care workers
• Accreditation and training programmes for professional care providers
• Parliamentary committees to champion care policy reform
• Legal amendments to include care workers in social dialogue platforms
• Alliances for unpaid caregivers’ recognition and support

Pakistan’s care economy is vastly underdeveloped, perpetuating gender inequalities and excluding millions of women from the formal labour force. Addressing this gap is not just a gender issue; it is an economic, social and developmental imperative. With political will, inclusive policy design and sustained investment, care work can become recognised, valued and protected as a public good. Care is not charity; it is labour, deserving public investment and policy protection.

The writer can be reached at lailazharali@gmail.com