Published: 11:49 AM, 09 August 2025
Pakistan’s gender pay gap one of South Asia’s worst: ILO report highlights stark labour inequities
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A recent report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has laid bare Pakistan’s entrenched gender pay gap, ranking the country among the worst in South Asia in terms of wage disparities between men and women. The findings have added fresh urgency to long-standing concerns about structural discrimination in the Pakistani labour market, where women continue to face significant obstacles in terms of access, compensation, and career advancement.
According to the ILO’s latest “Global Wage Report,” released in July 2025, women in Pakistan earn an average of 34% less than their male counterparts—a pay gap significantly wider than the global average and worse than nearly every other country in the region, including India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. While some countries have shown gradual improvement in narrowing the divide, Pakistan’s progress remains largely stagnant, with deeply embedded socio-economic, cultural, and institutional factors continuing to drive the disparity.
Alarming disparities in a dual economy
Pakistan’s labour market is marked by stark segmentation, with a significant portion of female employment concentrated in the informal economy. From agricultural labour to domestic work and home-based manufacturing, a large percentage of women are employed in low-wage, unregulated sectors with limited protections and virtually no access to formal contracts or benefits. Even within the formal sector, where protections theoretically exist, wage gaps persist. The ILO report found that women with comparable educational qualifications and job experience still earn less than men across most industries, including healthcare, education, finance, and manufacturing.
The gap widens further at higher professional levels, suggesting a pervasive glass ceiling that limits women’s upward mobility. This dual economy not only skews income distribution but also distorts broader economic development, as half the population is systematically undervalued and underutilised. The report cautions that such disparities, if left unaddressed, risk entrenching poverty, weakening social cohesion, and impeding national productivity.
Cultural and institutional roadblocks
The roots of Pakistan’s gender pay gap are not merely economic—they are deeply cultural and institutional. Traditional gender norms continue to dictate the division of labour both within households and in the workplace, limiting women’s participation in full-time, remunerative employment. Social expectations around marriage, childcare, and domestic responsibilities often push women into part-time or low-flexibility jobs.
In many rural and conservative areas, mobility restrictions and security concerns further constrain women’s access to employment opportunities. These cultural limitations are reinforced by an education system that often fails to equip women with the skills required for higher-paying, tech-driven jobs in urban centres. Moreover, institutional biases in recruitment, promotion, and performance evaluation continue to disadvantage women in both the public and private sectors.
Discriminatory practices, including offering lower starting salaries to women or sidelining them for leadership roles, are seldom challenged due to weak enforcement of labour laws and the limited presence of women in trade unions and professional associations.
Policy commitments, little impact
Successive Pakistani governments have made policy commitments to promote gender equity in the workforce, but the impact on the ground remains marginal. From constitutional protections to commitments under international conventions like CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women), the legal framework exists but suffers from poor implementation.
The ILO report notes that Pakistan has introduced some gender-sensitive policies over the years, including maternity leave provisions, anti-harassment laws, and quotas for women in public sector employment. However, the lack of robust enforcement mechanisms, coupled with the informal nature of most female employment, has rendered these protections largely symbolic for a majority of working women.
Moreover, the pandemic years of 2020–2022 dealt a disproportionate blow to female workers, many of whom were the first to lose jobs and the last to be rehired during the recovery phase. The ILO report underscores that COVID-19 widened the existing pay and opportunity gaps, and that post-pandemic recovery efforts have not adequately addressed the gendered impact of the crisis.
A bleak regional comparison
While South Asia as a whole struggles with gender inequality, Pakistan’s standing is particularly dismal. According to the ILO and corroborated by independent think tanks like the World Economic Forum and UNDP, Pakistan consistently ranks near the bottom of global gender parity indexes. For instance, the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Global Gender Gap Report placed Pakistan at 151st out of 156 countries, ahead of only a handful of nations in terms of economic participation and opportunity for women.
In contrast, countries like Bangladesh—despite sharing similar socio-economic challenges—have made visible strides in improving female labour force participation and narrowing the pay gap. This comparative lag raises serious questions about Pakistan’s institutional willingness and capacity to tackle gender inequality as a national priority. The ILO report warns that unless concrete structural reforms are initiated, Pakistan risks falling further behind its regional peers—not just in terms of equity but also in overall economic competitiveness.
The price of inequality
The implications of the gender pay gap go beyond fairness and equity—they have tangible economic costs. Numerous global studies, including those by McKinsey and the IMF, have shown that gender parity in the workforce can significantly boost GDP growth and innovation.
In Pakistan’s case, the underrepresentation of women in the formal economy and their persistent underpayment mean the country is failing to capitalise on its full labour potential. The ILO report estimates that reducing the gender pay gap by just 10% could raise Pakistan’s GDP by over 3%, create millions of jobs, and enhance household resilience, especially in lower-income communities. Yet, these benefits remain largely theoretical in a context where female labour force participation is barely 21%, one of the lowest in the world, and wage discrimination continues unchecked.
A mirror to broader inequality
Ultimately, the gender pay gap is not an isolated issue—it is a reflection of Pakistan’s broader inequality landscape. It intersects with rural-urban divides, class hierarchies, education disparities, and access to healthcare. Women from marginalised communities—especially those in remote tribal areas or urban slums—face multiple layers of exclusion that reinforce each other.
What the ILO report makes unambiguously clear is that Pakistan’s gender wage disparity is not just a women’s issue—it is a national crisis. The persistence of such inequality, even in the face of public commitments to reform, reveals a structural inertia that remains unchallenged both at policy levels and in public discourse. As the country looks to address its economic challenges and attract global investment, the report serves as a sobering reminder: no development strategy can be truly sustainable or inclusive if it continues to sideline half the population.
Written by: Sojib Biswas, Journalist (Views are personal)
