Pakistan’s economic crisis is driving women into the workforce

Amina Sohail swerves through heavy traffic to pick up her next passenger — the sight of a woman riding a motorcycle stares across Karachi.

The 28-year-old is the first woman in her family to enter the workforce, a pattern seen in urban households under increasing economic pressure in Pakistan.

“I don’t focus on people, I don’t talk to anyone or answer shouts, I do my job,” said Sohail, who joined a local ride-hailing service at the beginning of the year, ferrying women through the city’s dusty back streets.

“We used to go hungry, now we eat at least two to three meals a day,” he added.

The South Asian nation has been locked in a cycle of political and economic crises, dependent on IMF bailouts and loans from friendly countries to service its debt.

Prolonged inflation has driven up the price of grocery staples like tomatoes by 100%. Electricity and gas bills have risen by 300% compared to last July, according to official figures.

Sohail used to help her mother in cooking, cleaning and taking care of her younger siblings, until her father, the family’s sole breadwinner, fell ill.

“The atmosphere at home was stressful,” she said, with the family dependent on other relatives for money. “Then I thought I should work.” “My vision has changed. I will work openly like any man, regardless of what anyone thinks.”

“marry her”

Pakistan was the first Muslim nation to be led by a female prime minister in the 1980s, female CEOs thanks to power lists in Forbes magazine, and now form the ranks of the police and army.

However, much of Pakistani society operates under a traditional code that requires women to have permission from their families to work outside the home.

According to the United Nations, only 21% of women participate in Pakistan’s workforce, most of them in the informal sector and almost half in rural areas working in the fields.

“I am the first girl in the family to work, both on my father’s and mother’s side,” said Hina Saleem, a 24-year-old operator at a leather factory in Korangi, Karachi.

The move, supported by her mother after her father’s death, was met with resistance from her extended family.

Her younger brother was warned that the work could lead to socially unacceptable behavior, such as finding a husband of her choice.

“My uncles said ‘marry her,'” he said AFP. “There was a lot of pressure on my mother.”

At shift change outside the leather factory, workers arrive in painted buses decorated with bells, with a handful of women stepping out among the crowd of men.

Nineteen-year-old Anum Shahzadi, who works in the same factory doing data entry, was encouraged by her parents to enter the workforce after finishing high school, unlike generations before her.

“What’s the point of education if a girl can’t be independent,” said Shahzadi, who now contributes to the household along with her brother.

Bushra Khaliq, executive director of Women In Struggle for Empowerment (WISE) which advocates for women’s political and economic rights, said Pakistan is “witnessing a shift” among urban middle-class women.

“Up until this point, society had told them that taking care of their homes and getting married was the ultimate goal,” he said. AFP.

“But an economic crisis and any social and economic crisis bring with them many opportunities.”

“We are partners”

Farzana Augustine, who belongs to the Christian community, earned her first salary last year at the age of 43 after her husband lost his job during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“My wife had to take over,” explained Augustine Saddique AFP. “But it’s not sad, we’re mates and we run our house together.”

Nineteen-year-old Zahra Afzal moved to Karachi to live with her uncle four years ago after her parents died, leaving her small village in central-eastern Pakistan to work as a childminder.

“If Zahra was taken by other relatives, they would have married her by now,” said her uncle Kamran Aziz. AFPfrom their typical one-room house where the sheets are folded in the morning and cooking is done on the balcony.

“My wife and I decided to go against the grain and raise our girls to survive in the world before we settled in.”

Afzal says she is now an example for her sister and cousin: “My mind has become fresh.”