LAHORE: Pakistan’s struggle for economic stability is often blamed on flawed policies, corruption, weak exports and fiscal mismanagement. But there is a deeper, systemic wound that silently bleeds the nation, the exclusion, malnutrition and economic invisibility of Pakistani women.
No country can progress when half its citizens are treated as second-class participants -- expected to serve, sacrifice and stay silent, but never allowed to shape the nation’s destiny. Pakistan’s economic wheel cannot turn on one axle. A nation that sidelines half its population cannot dream of prosperity.
Women in Pakistan carry a strange burden. They cook meals yet remain the most malnourished. They work from dawn to dusk yet remain unpaid. They study and earn degrees yet find themselves confined to a narrow circle of ‘acceptable’ professions -- teachers, nurses, receptionists, private secretaries -- rarely allowed to climb into leadership, industry, or policy roles. Their unrealised potential has become one of Pakistan’s biggest economic tragedies.
Today, Pakistan stands among the world’s lowest-ranked countries on gender equality. According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2024, the country remains in the bottom five globally in women’s economic participation, health, and political empowerment. Female labour-force participation hovers around 21 per cent, one of the lowest in Asia. This gap alone measures how far behind Pakistan has fallen.
The problem is not lack of education alone -- though female literacy remains a modest 52 per cent. Even educated women are pushed into limited roles that society finds “safe”. Banks, factories, field jobs, supply chains, transport and technology -- these spaces remain largely male territories. Families fear sending daughters to private-sector offices, citing harassment, late hours or travel difficulties. Employers quietly practice discriminatory hiring, assuming young women will marry and quit, or avoid long hours.
But the largest group of working Pakistani women are not in offices at all -- they are in homes and fields, performing unpaid labour that economists worldwide recognise as essential but invisible. In rural Pakistan, women care for cattle, clean sheds, fetch fodder, prepare seeds, store grains, pick cotton and join harvesting -- yet they do not own land, do not receive wages and do not participate in decisions.
Perhaps the darkest aspect of female inequality is nutrition. Despite preparing meals for the entire household, many Pakistani women eat last and least. Over 40 per cent of women of reproductive age are anaemic. One in three suffers from undernutrition. Maternal mortality -- 154 deaths per 100,000 births -- is far worse than in India (103), Bangladesh (123) or Sri Lanka (36). These numbers expose a painful truth: our kitchens feed the nation while starving its women.
We must invest in girls’ education and mobility. Bangladesh succeeded not by culture alone but through stipends, free transport, and relentless community engagement. Pakistan needs similar incentives, paired with safe transport, stricter implementation of anti-harassment laws, and penalties for schools that fail to keep girls enrolled.
Pakistan must also modernise the rural woman’s workload. The country cannot progress while millions of women manually cut fodder or milk animals with outdated methods. Low-cost agricultural tools, cooperatives for livestock management, and incentives for women’s land ownership can transform rural productivity.
Women’s work must be counted and valued. Countries like India have begun documenting unpaid labour to improve policy design. Pakistan still treats home-based work as a family duty, not an economic contribution. Recognizing this work in national accounting will force policymakers to address women’s needs in transport, healthcare, credit and training.
Workplaces must become safe, accessible, and welcoming. Mandatory daycare in offices, women-friendly industrial zones, tax incentives for companies that hire women in technical roles and strict enforcement of harassment policies can break barriers that hold back even educated women.
Finally, Pakistan must undergo a mental shift. National narratives, dramas, and school textbooks must challenge the idea that a woman’s place is only at home, or that her ambition is a threat to family honour. Countries that grew rapidly -- Bangladesh, Vietnam, Sri Lanka -- did so because women stepped into the economy as earners, creators, and leaders.
