Pakistan has successfully climbed three steps to now rank 142 out of 146 countries in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report 2023.
In 2022, Pakistan ranked 145 out of 146, with the report highlighting that increasing women’s economic participation and achieving gender parity in leadership are two key levers for addressing broader gender gaps in households, societies, and economies.
Collaborative, concerted, and audacious endeavors by leaders in both the private and public domains will proffer inestimable assistance in expediting progress toward gender parity and galvanizing growth and enhanced resilience.
According to the World Bank, Pakistan has a population of 49.51% of women in the country yet the workforce is only 20 percent of the total workforce making it one of the lowest both in South Asia. Achieving gender equality lies at the heart of the UN Sustainable Development Goals that all UN member states agreed to achieve by 2030. That target remains a long way off.
“There are plenty of meaningful local initiatives in place that are set to improve the economic participation of women,” Babar Khan Javed, director of public affairs at Z2C Limited, told ProPakistani.
“These cover financial inclusion, workplace inclusion, and empathic policies. We need an end to patriarchal violence while providing safe access to women for economic opportunities, and others,” he added.
Financial Literacy and Inclusion
Muhammad Aurangzeb, president & CEO of HBL, has pledged to expand the female customer base to over four million while contributing to the communities by supporting healthcare, education, arts, and social development initiatives.
Of the SDGs, the bank is committed to the financial inclusion of women, serving over five million women beneficiaries through its Cash Emergency Support Program through over a thousand female Konnect agents across the country, working in Konnect retail shops, or as brand ambassadors in colleges, universities, and commercial centers.
In July 2023, Arif Habib Limited is launching Pakistan’s first AAA-rated gender bond, issued by Kashf Foundation. The proceeds will be utilized for providing micro-infrastructure finance loans to women-led businesses, home improvements, and rehabilitation of flood-affected homes and businesses. All loans are mandated to go toward women.
Through a guarantee cover provided by InfraZamin Pakistan, the bond has a credit rating of AAA and shall enable Kashf to tap into a diverse pool of investors through capital markets. Mutual fund investors will benefit as they are not taking a risk on Kashf but InfraZamin instead, which is an AAA-rated entity.
The gender bond is expected to help enhance financial inclusion for women from low-income households, encourage them to build their own businesses, and abandon the cycle of poverty. This will be overseen through InfraZamin’s involvement in mobilizing this funding for Kashf.
Approx. 30,000 new micro-loans for women from low-income households are expected to create between 30,000-50,000 jobs. We expect this to enhance financial inclusion for women, encouraging them to build their own businesses and abandon the cycle of poverty.
Workplace Equity and Inclusion
The marginalization of women in the workforce, in terms of their underutilization in terms of skill and productivity, results in a significant loss at both the individual and macroeconomic levels. Ameliorating the gender divide in managerial positions and empowering women to reach their full potential in the workforce would augment productivity and promote economic advancement across the globe.
“We have less than 20 percent of women represented in the entire labor force,” said Maheen Rehman, CEO of Infra Zamin Pakistan at a conference of the Marketing Association of Pakistan last year. “So how on earth are 40 to 50 million productive enough to raise the welfare of 220 million people? It’s not possible, so not only does our labor need to be more productive, there needs to be more of it, which means we need to add more women”.
Women in Pakistan are underrepresented in the workforce, in contrast to the global average of 48.5 percent. limiting the number of women in the workforce has significant implications for the country’s economic potential, as it restricts the pool of skilled and talented individuals available to contribute to the nation’s growth and development.
On the premise of a rudimentary back-of-the-envelope calculation, the closing of the gender gap in labor force participation and addressing the gender inequality in managerial roles in OECD countries can further result in a seven percent increase in global economic activity, amounting to roughly $7 trillion in present-day currency, according to an analysis by Moodys. Bridging the divides in colossal emerging economies, India included, would raise the global potential even further.
This upsurge in economic activity would ensue from an augmentation in the number of individuals employed, with a higher number of women entering the labor force, and an increase in productivity attributable to a greater proportion of women occupying more productive managerial and professional roles.
According to a report by the International Labor Organization, nearly 75% of women in Pakistan work in the informal economy. Women’s lack of access to formal jobs often makes them the first to be let go during economic downturns. In addition, women in Pakistan face discrimination in the workplace.
“It is an unfortunate fact that once we women become mothers we are sometimes seen as a liability for the company,” Aysha Faseeh, a creative manager at Social Champ, told ProPakistani.
She added, “I was the first pregnancy case and subsequent working mom at Social Champ and to this day I can confidently say I have not felt any difference or bias from either the management or fellow coworkers”.
Faseeh shared that the company offers a generous three-month paid maternity leave, enabling women to balance their personal and professional commitments seamlessly. Additionally, the company has implemented a progressive maternity allowance program this year, further demonstrating its dedication to supporting and uplifting female employees.
Workplace Safety & Security
A study by the Aurat Foundation, a women’s rights organization in Pakistan, found that over 70% of women in the country have experienced some form of gender-based violence in their lifetime. These factors all contribute to the economic marginalization of women in Pakistan and make it difficult for them to achieve financial independence.
Pakistan has a lot of potential in terms of women’s employment. If a fair chance is given to women in the workforce, they can perform as well as the men and even outperform them in some areas, which can help Pakistan be in the top countries not just as the most populated country but as the country has potential and can contribute more to the world’s economy.
“The top 10 countries in the world in terms of population are contributing almost 60 percent of world GDP, while we are at 0.4 percent,” said Maheen Rahman. “We need to add more women. We need to add individuals who can be of a certain caliber and at a certain stage of their lives where they can engage in productive businesses, so here’s our challenge, and here’s what I encourage you to imagine: what would happen if we were able to move that 0.4% to just 0.8% and just double our capacity”.
She postulates that doing so means that Pakistan will double its GDP from 350 billion dollars to 700 billion dollars while increasing the middle class from 20 to 25 million people to almost 50 million people.
“It will overall raise our understanding, our integration, our ability to relate to the world in a new way,” she said. “So you know let’s take this as our imaginable goal and say how are we going to just use this God-given strength – being number five in terms of the population metric – and say how can we double our ability by investing in our own people and I think that’s the thought I would like to leave you here with”.
