Should a women work? This has been a topic of discourse ever since our society has evolved to become more secular and moderate in its approach toward gender equality. Though the issue has yet to gain even the required support and backing from the secular and moderate elements of the society, leave alone the conservative, who have been hurling negativity against women’s contribution in GDP development, the size of women participation in economic development has been negligible. Recent report by World Bank titled Women, Business and the Law 2012: Removing Barriers to Economic Inclusion has reopened the wound of gender inequality amidst all the propagation favouring women participation and contribution in developing economy. Gender bias has been an issue ever since the world became a habitat of competitive bidding for power, status, talent and opportunities. Men being powerful physically have taken it his natural right to claim authority. As far as religion is concerned the demarcation of spheres of women and men is delineated clearly, with the former looking after the home and the latter earning to make that home a safer, better and a more comfortable place to live in. This does not mean a negation of work to women; it only means to create a harmony between allocation of responsibility between women and men, considering family an organization that requires management and hierarchical positions to survive.
Discourse over women plight has helped little
Talking about the situation on hand; Pakistan is facing multiple problems and has become a source of discomfort for many professional groups in carrying out their duties and responsibilities in a normal and assiduous way. With Islamic fanaticism and misconception about Islam on the hike among the seculars there is a growing concern among the civil society to understand and later disinfest women from the hazards inflicting their mental and professional instinct in a closed, unnatural and chauvinistic environment called Pakistan society. Many western NGOs have been lending financial hands to the local NGOs to give women a stable working environment. Only recently I attended a seminar held by Homenet Pakistan in a local hotel where a majority of people representing home based workers and trade union organization representatives, MNAs, MPAs, lawyers and academic wizards, had got together to discuss the plight of women working from home but not given the due right and status leave alone compensation for their work by the forces controlling and managing this outwork forces. The discourse went on from the hardships these women face to the cruelty that government has troubled them with, by not giving them the identification of formal worker. Having done all that, the conclusion drawn, before a lavish lunch awaiting the participants, echoed almost the same tone, tenor and massage, that has been in the air since this whole exercise to emancipate women financially has gained currency; make women independent in her thought, desire and living by mean of self development and legal shields. But the reality is that even today, though no official figures are available about the exact number of home based workers, according to NGO estimate there are around 8.5 million HBW in Pakistan. According to a World Bank study, over 10 million women in Pakistan are engaged in home-based work in sectors like garment, bangle-making, shoe-stitching, embroidery, carpet weaving, dry fruit picking, jewellery, leather products, steel scissors, mobile covers and prawn shelling. Though their contribution to economy is 60 per cent, still they are the most unprivileged among the society. Their incomes ranged between Rs10 to Rs50 (less than one dollar a day) despite the fact that they work for 12 to 16 hours. The impression is that this figure reflects a surface reality, scratching a little future would reveal a wider pool smitten by harsh economic facts.
Removing the barriers to economic inclusion of women at the first place require the identification of all those women who are participating from unknown, unseen and at times undesirable work places, into the GDP of this country. Way back in 2009 Mutahida Labour Federation, a national level federation, working for both formal and informal workers, conducted a research on women workers especially on HBW in different districts of Punjab and found out that these women workers have no right to form a union, they have no facility of social security ,EOBI and other worker welfare schemes. Woman workers related with different sectors are exploited by the employers and the Government as well. There is a need to form a union of these woman workers to fight for their legal & labour rights. Hence, “Women Workers Union” was formed in June 2009 & was formally announced in July 2009. The union was announced in a convention named “Women Workers Convention”. The convention was chaired by Ms Sherry Rehman. About the concerns; there have been voices loud and clear over the need to make women a part of the society through legal orders. Again the reality is that all this hue and cry has given little respite to these poor souls in term of equality of gender and economic emancipation. In essence what we are talking about is that all these discourses have done little to elevate the status of women both in formal and informal sector.
Women less diverse in choosing business options
Through meeting Lahore Chamber of Commerce Vice President Ms Saeeda Nazar Hussain another picture emerged of women in business. While talking to her on the lack of ease of doing business for women in Pakistan and the barriers hindering her economic inclusion, she totally disagreed. “There is no hindrance at all for any women to enter business in Pakistan. In fact my observation and firsthand experience says that women are too conventional, culture bound, averse to change and idea specific in dealing business opportunities. They are not ready for new ideas or taking risks. These are the main hindrances in their way to doing business. I tell women to try business ventures other than fashion designing, dress making, beauty parlour, or interior decoration, very few have the guts to tread the less frequent paths, (as far as women are concerned) such as IT, spare parts or steel making etc.” Another area over which Ms. Saeeda blamed women was their inability to understand the importance of research. “We as a nation don’t spend time in finding the facts, the importance, the viability, and the needfulness of any business before taking up the course. We simply dive into the water, and not knowing how to swim, we sink before any rough wave could even come our way to strike us. This trend is though prevalent in both men and women, women are more prone to neglecting research based business ventures. Feasibility report makes lot of sense; it deals with the nitty-gritty of doing business, from idea and capital assessment to its future sustainability.” Having identified a lack of diversity and failure to conduct research on the feasibility of doing business Ms Saeeda went on to lament yet another behavioural issue that has contributed to business failures among women in general; the propensity to overspend. “It has been seen that as soon as profit begins to show, people start spending that profit without understanding the need to reinvest or save for the rainy days. Similarly we are not used to documenting our business; women especially are not inclined to do that. The price that they pay for avoiding documentation comes in the form of exclusion from business forums, inability to get loans, non-representation in sector unions etc. So there is a need to educate women in how to conduct and carry businesses, simply starting a business makes little sense, it is how things are carried out and what the future holds for them that matters in the long run.”
Behavioural change in men also necessary
In a nut shell, though Pakistan gives an indecisive picture regarding women identification in economic development, a singular phenomenon about transforming the mind set of women engaged in doing businesses is yet to find its voice in the gender equity programmes run by a host of NGOs. For this, women should be made a part of the fight for their rights, initiated by all these forums. We talk hoarse about the participation of stakeholders but a majority of women, directly related to the issue of women economic emancipation, are rarely seen in the convention programs. The major barrier to the inclusion of women in the economic affairs of a country comes from the behavioural pattern. Looking into the cultural arrangements of our society, for a change to strike in the situation of women, a decisive change is required in the behaviour of men. So the task carries a dual responsibility; educating women about their responsibilities and training men to shed their pseudo protectionism flanks to liberate her for a better and secure future. “Competitiveness and productivity have much to do with the efficient allocation of resources, including human resources,” said Augusto Lopez-Claros, Director, Global Indicators and Analysis, World Bank Group. “The economy suffers when half of the world’s population is prevented from fully participating. It is certainly no surprise that the world’s most competitive economies are those where the opportunity gap between women and men is the narrowest.”
