Published: 06:36 PM, 26 August 2026
Pakistan’s missing millions
Pakistan's low female labour force participation rate is frequently cited as evidence that Pakistani women do not work.
The reality, however, tells a different story. Millions of women are already engaged in work every day -- often from dawn well into the night and their working hours are nearly comparable to those of men. The pertinent question, therefore, is not why Pakistani women do not work, but rather where their work takes place.
For years, Pakistan's debate on women's employment has revolved around a familiar question: Why don't more women join the labour force? Policymakers have responded by expanding education, promoting skills development and encouraging entrepreneurship. Over the last 25 years, female education has improved significantly at every level, especially in higher education, where more women are now enrolled in universities than men. However, this education is not translated into productive jobs for women.
Most South Asian countries, like Pakistan, have successfully increased women's economic participation. The female labour force participation rate is 40 per cent in Bangladesh, 54 per cent in Indonesia, 56 per cent in Malaysia and 33 per cent in Sri Lanka. Yet despite various efforts, out of 88 million working-age women in Pakistan, only 23 per cent are part of economic activity, while 68 million remain outside the labour force. The 2024/25 Labour Force Survey (LFS) shows no significant change over the last 25 years: participation grew only a few percentage points, from 14 per cent in 2001 to 22 per cent in 2024.
Unlike its neighbours, Pakistan's industrial base is not expanding, and so it is not opening doors for women. Bangladesh transformed itself through textiles, where women became the backbone of the industry
The women who do work are confined to a few occupations and industries. Nearly two-thirds work in agriculture, and half of working women are unpaid family workers. In other words, they work without receiving a proper wage. The wholesale, retail, transport and communication sectors contribute close to a third of GDP, yet barely 2-3 per cent of women work in them.
We often say that culture is the major barrier, but when we see that women are getting education at university level even in remote areas of Pakistan, perhaps then culture is not the main barrier.
If families are willing to send daughters to university, the barrier is clearly not some immovable cultural wall. The real barrier is the absence of an ecosystem in which women can work and perform in economic activity.
First, unlike its neighbours, Pakistan's industrial base is not expanding, and so it is not opening doors for women. Bangladesh transformed itself through textiles, where women became the backbone of the industry, making up two of every three workers on the factory floor. Malaysia's vibrant manufacturing and services sectors similarly absorb women in large numbers. Pakistan built no such engine.
Second, mobility quietly decides everything. Safe, reliable and affordable public transport expands the geographic radius within which a woman can look for work. Most Pakistani cities offer no such thing, forcing women to turn down distant jobs or shrink their options to informal work near home -- and too often to endure harassment at bus stops and in public spaces along the way.
Third, women here also lack the incentives that elsewhere tip the balance. On a recent visit to Nepal, I watched women running shops and businesses across Kathmandu, standing shoulder to shoulder with men. This journey has been encouraged by a 50 per cent income-tax reduction for women-registered businesses. The government of Nepal backs them further through a consolidated Women Entrepreneurship Fund, subsidised and collateral-free SME loans, startup enterprise loans, free or discounted micro-business registration and intellectual property registration.
Yet the biggest barrier of all sits inside every home: the enormous burden of unpaid domestic work that claims a woman's hours long before she can even reach the labour market. Estimates from the 2024 LFS show that 84 per cent of working-age women bear the domestic work burden, and their weekly working hours are almost double those of men (26 hours for women and 13 hours for men). This fact rewrites the narrative that millions of women in Pakistan are ‘doing nothing’.
Let’s think about what it would actually cost to hire services at home to keep the home running smoothly -- cleaning, cooking, running the household, caring for children and older family members, fetching water and a dozen other jobs. And yet women in Pakistan do all of these activities in every home.
The Labour Force Survey also tells us why so many women stay out. Among women not working in the labour market, 56 per cent cite domestic responsibilities as the main reason. Ask the same question of men and only one per cent say the same.
The unpaid domestic work has economic value when someone else has to be paid to do it. Yet the System of National Accounts excludes the economic evaluation of domestic activities that are non-economic but have opportunity cost. So we end up with a distorted, gendered picture of who works, how hard, and what that work is worth.
The Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) has tried to estimate the value of unpaid domestic work, which is worth Rs23,494 billion (24 per cent of GDP) per annum. Women account for Rs15,348 billion of that, men for Rs8,146 billion. Rural women alone contribute Rs9,602 billion, nearly 63 per cent of the female total.
The lesson is hard to miss. Creating jobs, teaching skills, backing women entrepreneurs, all of it is necessary. But none of it will help women join paid jobs if they have domestic work responsibilities.
Various efforts on promoting education and skills would not succeed if millions of potential women workers stay tied to domestic responsibilities. The policy implications follow naturally.
First, the country can create millions of jobs in care work by training all citizens to manage domestic work and freeing women to work in the market like men in other countries. Affordable childcare, elder care and after-school programmes would lift some of the load and let more women take paid work.
Second, public investment and technological measures should focus on services that consume women's substantial hours at home: clean water, reliable energy, public transport, etc. In rural areas especially, these save time that women currently spend just keeping a household going. Flexible working hours and daycare facilities in the community and at workplaces will help women shift their time from domestic work to market work.
Written by: Nabila Kunwal & Shujaat Farooq (Shujaat Farooq is dean of research at the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, PIDE and Nabila Kunwal is a research economist at PIDE.)
>> Source: The News Pakistan
The reality, however, tells a different story. Millions of women are already engaged in work every day -- often from dawn well into the night and their working hours are nearly comparable to those of men. The pertinent question, therefore, is not why Pakistani women do not work, but rather where their work takes place.
For years, Pakistan's debate on women's employment has revolved around a familiar question: Why don't more women join the labour force? Policymakers have responded by expanding education, promoting skills development and encouraging entrepreneurship. Over the last 25 years, female education has improved significantly at every level, especially in higher education, where more women are now enrolled in universities than men. However, this education is not translated into productive jobs for women.
Most South Asian countries, like Pakistan, have successfully increased women's economic participation. The female labour force participation rate is 40 per cent in Bangladesh, 54 per cent in Indonesia, 56 per cent in Malaysia and 33 per cent in Sri Lanka. Yet despite various efforts, out of 88 million working-age women in Pakistan, only 23 per cent are part of economic activity, while 68 million remain outside the labour force. The 2024/25 Labour Force Survey (LFS) shows no significant change over the last 25 years: participation grew only a few percentage points, from 14 per cent in 2001 to 22 per cent in 2024.
Unlike its neighbours, Pakistan's industrial base is not expanding, and so it is not opening doors for women. Bangladesh transformed itself through textiles, where women became the backbone of the industry
The women who do work are confined to a few occupations and industries. Nearly two-thirds work in agriculture, and half of working women are unpaid family workers. In other words, they work without receiving a proper wage. The wholesale, retail, transport and communication sectors contribute close to a third of GDP, yet barely 2-3 per cent of women work in them.
We often say that culture is the major barrier, but when we see that women are getting education at university level even in remote areas of Pakistan, perhaps then culture is not the main barrier.
If families are willing to send daughters to university, the barrier is clearly not some immovable cultural wall. The real barrier is the absence of an ecosystem in which women can work and perform in economic activity.
First, unlike its neighbours, Pakistan's industrial base is not expanding, and so it is not opening doors for women. Bangladesh transformed itself through textiles, where women became the backbone of the industry, making up two of every three workers on the factory floor. Malaysia's vibrant manufacturing and services sectors similarly absorb women in large numbers. Pakistan built no such engine.
Second, mobility quietly decides everything. Safe, reliable and affordable public transport expands the geographic radius within which a woman can look for work. Most Pakistani cities offer no such thing, forcing women to turn down distant jobs or shrink their options to informal work near home -- and too often to endure harassment at bus stops and in public spaces along the way.
Third, women here also lack the incentives that elsewhere tip the balance. On a recent visit to Nepal, I watched women running shops and businesses across Kathmandu, standing shoulder to shoulder with men. This journey has been encouraged by a 50 per cent income-tax reduction for women-registered businesses. The government of Nepal backs them further through a consolidated Women Entrepreneurship Fund, subsidised and collateral-free SME loans, startup enterprise loans, free or discounted micro-business registration and intellectual property registration.
Yet the biggest barrier of all sits inside every home: the enormous burden of unpaid domestic work that claims a woman's hours long before she can even reach the labour market. Estimates from the 2024 LFS show that 84 per cent of working-age women bear the domestic work burden, and their weekly working hours are almost double those of men (26 hours for women and 13 hours for men). This fact rewrites the narrative that millions of women in Pakistan are ‘doing nothing’.
Let’s think about what it would actually cost to hire services at home to keep the home running smoothly -- cleaning, cooking, running the household, caring for children and older family members, fetching water and a dozen other jobs. And yet women in Pakistan do all of these activities in every home.
The Labour Force Survey also tells us why so many women stay out. Among women not working in the labour market, 56 per cent cite domestic responsibilities as the main reason. Ask the same question of men and only one per cent say the same.
The unpaid domestic work has economic value when someone else has to be paid to do it. Yet the System of National Accounts excludes the economic evaluation of domestic activities that are non-economic but have opportunity cost. So we end up with a distorted, gendered picture of who works, how hard, and what that work is worth.
The Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) has tried to estimate the value of unpaid domestic work, which is worth Rs23,494 billion (24 per cent of GDP) per annum. Women account for Rs15,348 billion of that, men for Rs8,146 billion. Rural women alone contribute Rs9,602 billion, nearly 63 per cent of the female total.
The lesson is hard to miss. Creating jobs, teaching skills, backing women entrepreneurs, all of it is necessary. But none of it will help women join paid jobs if they have domestic work responsibilities.
Various efforts on promoting education and skills would not succeed if millions of potential women workers stay tied to domestic responsibilities. The policy implications follow naturally.
First, the country can create millions of jobs in care work by training all citizens to manage domestic work and freeing women to work in the market like men in other countries. Affordable childcare, elder care and after-school programmes would lift some of the load and let more women take paid work.
Second, public investment and technological measures should focus on services that consume women's substantial hours at home: clean water, reliable energy, public transport, etc. In rural areas especially, these save time that women currently spend just keeping a household going. Flexible working hours and daycare facilities in the community and at workplaces will help women shift their time from domestic work to market work.
Written by: Nabila Kunwal & Shujaat Farooq (Shujaat Farooq is dean of research at the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, PIDE and Nabila Kunwal is a research economist at PIDE.)
>> Source: The News Pakistan
