Perspectives Of Working Women In Pakistan
World wide despite success of feminist movement and recognition of women productive labor indispensableness for sustainable development, there is still acerbating attitude by patriarch world towards working ladies. Feminism, women studies and gender studies all fight for increasing women involvement in economic activities to ensure women empowerment. These concepts for women empowerment rise due to extreme women violence and discrimination by males all over the world. First white women start this movement and later black women contributed a lot towards this movement. Many of third world women also start contributing afterwards. With this rising trend quantity of working women start increasing and developed countries women are highly involved in productive labor. A later survey also shows the countries having women in work equally like men are less poor and more developed. In China women makeup 45% of work force, among them 38% are of all leaders of China, which is now going to be most developed country of world. Develop countries encourage women involvement in productive labor because it leads to development in human resources. Moreover it contributes to lesson poverty, deprivation and vulnerability. If women work then they become economically stable themselves on one hand and contribute to meet basic needs of family on the other hand.
In Pakistan although most of the political leaders give statements in favor of working ladies but in fact they are very conservative towards women involvement in productive work. They mostly give statements only to have public support especially women support which are now 48% percent of population of Pakistan. If these leaders fair enough with women involvement then they should recognize their needs and develop policies to ensure secure working environment along with more productive opportunities. Recently government has passed a bill for protecting women at offices from sexual harassment and abuse but it could be only for 15.8% women involved in services. Although it's a good approach towards women protection but there is a need of more laws, policies and strategies that not only secure women but also increase opportunities for women.
By all the discussion till now one can ask why women need to work. Allah specified their work as home makers and men are responsible for their all means, then why women have to work? There is no doubt on this natural fact. Allah has created women and men with their roles and responsibilities specified in Quran. Unfortunately men took that references of Quran only in their favor; they do not observe that how much Allah defined strictness if they violate women status, respect and other rights. Women are now willing to do work because of so many reasons. There are wide perspectives of working women in Pakistan.
According to state bank estimations 17% i.e. 27 million people in Pakistan live below $1/day and 73% i.e. 116 million people live below $2/day. This population is assumed to be poor whereas rising inflation in Pakistan leads to further increasing number of people in this category. Moreover in present standards of price hikes $2/day is much less to meet basic needs by even a single individual. In these rising poverty trends most of women prefer to start productive help their males to meet collective subsistence and consumption needs of family.
Social policy and development center give statistics on socio-economic indicators of gender for Pakistan. According to this report percentage share of women in employment is 17%, and only 8% of them are employed from urban Pakistan and 17% employed from rural Pakistan. By industry 67.4% women employed in agricultural whereas 15.8% involved in services. This implies the women have more opportunities in agricultural sector and that's why rural women are more economically active. Only earning money could not lead to economic progress. Earnings and expenditures should be compared statistically to know the nature of livelihoods and for more effective policy measures.
Percentage distribution of women by earnings shows that many of working ladies do not earn enough to meet their at least nutritious needs hence other basic needs are far away from their approach. Estimates by the same report shows that 52.7% women earn between Rs. (0-1500), 22.9% earn between Rs.( 1500-2500), 9.1% earn between Rs. ( 2501-4000) and 16.9% earn above Rs.4001. All the women who earn between Rs.( 0-4000) should be considered as poor because of ballooned price hikes of daily use commodities and consumption. Earning scenario of working women shows that on one hand poverty compel them to earn and on the other hand there is lacking of good earning opportunities for women in Pakistan.
Most of the males like women to work in home as home maker; many males consider working of ladies as unIslamic. Some suggest that there is no prohibition for women to become doctor and teacher. However to become a teacher one should be literate and to become a doctor one should from a financially stable family to overcome all sorts of dues to complete the qualification of MBBS. Besides minimize working ladies trends men have to respect she and society have to help poor widows and poor families. However unfortunately this not happened in our country. Whenever any person help poor it counts and boast of his favors again and again therefore poor become indebted which alternately compel women of poor families to help themselves. If of widows males took benefit of their constraints and often society pushes them to become prostitutes. Therefore now women feel better to work, but still low waged opportunities due to their illiteracy or low-literacy further make them more subordinated.
Islam ordered societies to help widows and poor but in our society everyone help at the cost of morality of others. Most of the people help widows in return of sexual abuse, and poor women also make them the target of same evil. Women also like to sit in home to manage home but our society's behavior makes it difficult for women. Men take benefit of weak women and instead of helping them they abuse them. Those Muslim scholars who condemn women work should try to solve problems faced by them. Fact sheet on women of Pakistan 2009 by UNDP gives statistics of women violence. According to that report 612 woman killed on the name of honor, 808 women are victims of sexual harassment, there were 350 rape cases recorded and 445 gang rape cases. Other then this woman face various other violence also i.e. 90% women in Pakistan have to face domestic violence in any form, 185 women have been killed due to domestic violence. Islam put forward extreme strictness on women violence if those laws followed strictly then these abuses could be minimized and people who like women to live in home as home makers could achieve their will only by ensuring full women protection, status and security. Other then this violence there are some silent violence also which includes polygamy and philandering. Women nature do not accept share of husband but most of men prefer more than one female which breaks the trust between a couple and women went out of home in search of socio-economic status independent of husband. And unfortunately most of religious priests prefer to do more marriages whereas Islam also put strictness on this matter and preserve women rights but males do not take care of those rights and develop their own Islamic meanings and marriage more and more.
Besides this violence there are various other reasons also. Many of reasons developed due to mistrust between couples. So many middle class women prefer to do job to fulfill their personal needs. Women like to wear good clothes, to be charming always and like to excursion with their husbands for relaxation. Nevertheless most of men cannot fulfill their such requirements and even most of do not give pocket money to their wives which alternately creates frustration in women and make them psychologically ill. Therefore, if women get any opportunity to earn money she does not regret to do job and immediately join to fulfill their luxurious needs.
Moreover in most of homes males do not respect their wives, they rasp with them and do not take their suggestions in family decision even most of women vulnerable to decide for family matters whereas she is original manager of home, and she know, best that what should or what should not decide. Males do not take consultation of their wives; they do not recognize the importance of their role in their lives and always abuse them. Therefore when women think that she has no importance at home, she has no respect and status, so she moves out in search of status from others. When a peon in office and other juniors in office say her "madam", she feels graceful; she got feeling of her existence being a human. If the same women got as much respect by her husband and other family members she will never think to do job.
Anyway now we have to decide to adjust with this rising new trends of males and females. We have to characterize our society in a way that we could live with this modernize global world, with full human rights preservation but all within Islamic boundaries. Islam gave solution of every problem in the Holy book Al-Quran. We have to take caring of honesty and modesty while performing any task and making any policy. In the current picture of poverty it is impossible to make women sit in homes, women compose 48% of total population; our economy could bear 48% unproductive labor. Government has to create separating women institutes and organizations besides separate transport and living facilities to ensure all sorts of security. Moreover it should make lawful to adopt Pakistani apparels to ensure Muslim's society and to minimize hatred groups. Most of groups are against working ladies due to their adaptation of other culture's dress code. In addition separated policies should be designed for married working ladies having babies. In every institute it should be made certain that they should have attached baby daycare center, separate working ladies hostel and separate women societies. Most of our women are illiterate but they are well skilled by their indigenous knowledge. Research institutes should evaluate their skills and analyze their use. They should develop policy measures and recommend project activities to create organizations or institutes by those special skills. Moreover advance technologies should be searched to make their skills more advance and competitive. Pakistan has a wide culture and owned a variety of skills in people that depend mostly on available natural resources there from centuries. By evaluating and recognizing these Pakistan could lead to solve many problems.
Once I heard from a female Professor;
"Working ladies quarrel less with their husbands as compared to housewives"
This may be because, both become busy and, hence they found no time and matters to quarrel.
In Pakistan although most of the political leaders give statements in favor of working ladies but in fact they are very conservative towards women involvement in productive work. They mostly give statements only to have public support especially women support which are now 48% percent of population of Pakistan. If these leaders fair enough with women involvement then they should recognize their needs and develop policies to ensure secure working environment along with more productive opportunities. Recently government has passed a bill for protecting women at offices from sexual harassment and abuse but it could be only for 15.8% women involved in services. Although it's a good approach towards women protection but there is a need of more laws, policies and strategies that not only secure women but also increase opportunities for women.
By all the discussion till now one can ask why women need to work. Allah specified their work as home makers and men are responsible for their all means, then why women have to work? There is no doubt on this natural fact. Allah has created women and men with their roles and responsibilities specified in Quran. Unfortunately men took that references of Quran only in their favor; they do not observe that how much Allah defined strictness if they violate women status, respect and other rights. Women are now willing to do work because of so many reasons. There are wide perspectives of working women in Pakistan.
According to state bank estimations 17% i.e. 27 million people in Pakistan live below $1/day and 73% i.e. 116 million people live below $2/day. This population is assumed to be poor whereas rising inflation in Pakistan leads to further increasing number of people in this category. Moreover in present standards of price hikes $2/day is much less to meet basic needs by even a single individual. In these rising poverty trends most of women prefer to start productive help their males to meet collective subsistence and consumption needs of family.
Social policy and development center give statistics on socio-economic indicators of gender for Pakistan. According to this report percentage share of women in employment is 17%, and only 8% of them are employed from urban Pakistan and 17% employed from rural Pakistan. By industry 67.4% women employed in agricultural whereas 15.8% involved in services. This implies the women have more opportunities in agricultural sector and that's why rural women are more economically active. Only earning money could not lead to economic progress. Earnings and expenditures should be compared statistically to know the nature of livelihoods and for more effective policy measures.
Percentage distribution of women by earnings shows that many of working ladies do not earn enough to meet their at least nutritious needs hence other basic needs are far away from their approach. Estimates by the same report shows that 52.7% women earn between Rs. (0-1500), 22.9% earn between Rs.( 1500-2500), 9.1% earn between Rs. ( 2501-4000) and 16.9% earn above Rs.4001. All the women who earn between Rs.( 0-4000) should be considered as poor because of ballooned price hikes of daily use commodities and consumption. Earning scenario of working women shows that on one hand poverty compel them to earn and on the other hand there is lacking of good earning opportunities for women in Pakistan.
Most of the males like women to work in home as home maker; many males consider working of ladies as unIslamic. Some suggest that there is no prohibition for women to become doctor and teacher. However to become a teacher one should be literate and to become a doctor one should from a financially stable family to overcome all sorts of dues to complete the qualification of MBBS. Besides minimize working ladies trends men have to respect she and society have to help poor widows and poor families. However unfortunately this not happened in our country. Whenever any person help poor it counts and boast of his favors again and again therefore poor become indebted which alternately compel women of poor families to help themselves. If of widows males took benefit of their constraints and often society pushes them to become prostitutes. Therefore now women feel better to work, but still low waged opportunities due to their illiteracy or low-literacy further make them more subordinated.
Islam ordered societies to help widows and poor but in our society everyone help at the cost of morality of others. Most of the people help widows in return of sexual abuse, and poor women also make them the target of same evil. Women also like to sit in home to manage home but our society's behavior makes it difficult for women. Men take benefit of weak women and instead of helping them they abuse them. Those Muslim scholars who condemn women work should try to solve problems faced by them. Fact sheet on women of Pakistan 2009 by UNDP gives statistics of women violence. According to that report 612 woman killed on the name of honor, 808 women are victims of sexual harassment, there were 350 rape cases recorded and 445 gang rape cases. Other then this woman face various other violence also i.e. 90% women in Pakistan have to face domestic violence in any form, 185 women have been killed due to domestic violence. Islam put forward extreme strictness on women violence if those laws followed strictly then these abuses could be minimized and people who like women to live in home as home makers could achieve their will only by ensuring full women protection, status and security. Other then this violence there are some silent violence also which includes polygamy and philandering. Women nature do not accept share of husband but most of men prefer more than one female which breaks the trust between a couple and women went out of home in search of socio-economic status independent of husband. And unfortunately most of religious priests prefer to do more marriages whereas Islam also put strictness on this matter and preserve women rights but males do not take care of those rights and develop their own Islamic meanings and marriage more and more.
Besides this violence there are various other reasons also. Many of reasons developed due to mistrust between couples. So many middle class women prefer to do job to fulfill their personal needs. Women like to wear good clothes, to be charming always and like to excursion with their husbands for relaxation. Nevertheless most of men cannot fulfill their such requirements and even most of do not give pocket money to their wives which alternately creates frustration in women and make them psychologically ill. Therefore, if women get any opportunity to earn money she does not regret to do job and immediately join to fulfill their luxurious needs.
Moreover in most of homes males do not respect their wives, they rasp with them and do not take their suggestions in family decision even most of women vulnerable to decide for family matters whereas she is original manager of home, and she know, best that what should or what should not decide. Males do not take consultation of their wives; they do not recognize the importance of their role in their lives and always abuse them. Therefore when women think that she has no importance at home, she has no respect and status, so she moves out in search of status from others. When a peon in office and other juniors in office say her "madam", she feels graceful; she got feeling of her existence being a human. If the same women got as much respect by her husband and other family members she will never think to do job.
Anyway now we have to decide to adjust with this rising new trends of males and females. We have to characterize our society in a way that we could live with this modernize global world, with full human rights preservation but all within Islamic boundaries. Islam gave solution of every problem in the Holy book Al-Quran. We have to take caring of honesty and modesty while performing any task and making any policy. In the current picture of poverty it is impossible to make women sit in homes, women compose 48% of total population; our economy could bear 48% unproductive labor. Government has to create separating women institutes and organizations besides separate transport and living facilities to ensure all sorts of security. Moreover it should make lawful to adopt Pakistani apparels to ensure Muslim's society and to minimize hatred groups. Most of groups are against working ladies due to their adaptation of other culture's dress code. In addition separated policies should be designed for married working ladies having babies. In every institute it should be made certain that they should have attached baby daycare center, separate working ladies hostel and separate women societies. Most of our women are illiterate but they are well skilled by their indigenous knowledge. Research institutes should evaluate their skills and analyze their use. They should develop policy measures and recommend project activities to create organizations or institutes by those special skills. Moreover advance technologies should be searched to make their skills more advance and competitive. Pakistan has a wide culture and owned a variety of skills in people that depend mostly on available natural resources there from centuries. By evaluating and recognizing these Pakistan could lead to solve many problems.
Once I heard from a female Professor;
"Working ladies quarrel less with their husbands as compared to housewives"
This may be because, both become busy and, hence they found no time and matters to quarrel.
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