Women comprise only 14 per cent of the total workforce. If self-employed and unpaid family workers are taken into account, this ratio jumps to 40 per cent.

No doubt, the rate of growth of female labour force is showing a positive trend, rising from four per cent in 1999 to six per cent in 2002. But the share of women in total labour force in Pakistan is lowest even among South Asian countries.

The Global Gender Gap Report 2008 issued by the World Economic Forum, women involvement in economic activities in Pakistan is at 128th among the 130 countries surveyed. The vast majority of women workers are in the informal sector, though they are not often recognised as gainfully employed.

They are either unpaid for their contribution to family work or are own account workers as they are not wage/salary earners. No doubt, their percentage has reduced from 56.1 to 51.7 per cent since 1997, but present international economic turmoil is adding to already worrisome economic situation.

Poverty claimed to have fallen to 25 per cent of the population--those living on dollar a day, now exceeds 40 per cent. Hence affected families, including females would drift to vulnerable jobs for their livelihood.

According to a recent ILO report, globally, the number of women employed grew by 18.4 per cent over the past decade and by the end of 2007 has crossed the figure of 1.2 billion, but at the same time, the number of unemployed women also increased from 70.2 million to 81.6 million.

More than half of all working women are deployed in informal sector or in vulnerable and low value jobs, low salary and low product quality/standard, if self-employed.

In spite of some progress made to empower women, lessen gender disparities coupled with the fall in contributing family workers and rise in account workers in South Asia including Pakistan, this shift between employment sector has not reduced the proportion of women in the region in so-called vulnerable employment. In Pakistan alone, eight out of 10 women are deployed in the informal sector.

While women play a major role in the household economy, providing for their families, they suffer from perpetual lack of access to economic opportunities.

Poor women living in rural and semi-urban areas of the country possess varying skills relating to farming and non-farming jobs, which if appropriately harnessed, can enhance women deployment in formal sector.

For commercialising the skills of this disadvantaged class of women, their direct access to higher value markets, knowledge about the mechanism and intricacies of marketing and most importantly, consent and support of male family members are the prerequisites for addressing the many socio-economic constraints these women normally face while managing their small businesses.

Gender based discrimination is so rampant in rural culture that women working on farms are given most laborious and monotonous work to do. Cotton picking and rice seedling task being highly energy consuming are performed by women farmers. They are given hard jobs involving less skill. Women’s contribution to agriculture and economic growth is not visible in official sources of data/statistics.

The lack of assets ownership is another factor impeding women to achieve economic empowerment through participation in any formal sector/regulated economic pursuit. In this regard, the government of Sindh’s initiative to earmark sizable cultivable land for women farmers, if implemented in letter and spirit, will help in economic and social empowerment of rural women.

Urban based female workforce deployed in vulnerable jobs are either home based workers ---home based micro businesses or piece rate workers-- who get work from outside both from registered and non-registered manufacturing/ business houses.

They work for longer hours, get low remuneration and are totally deprived of job security available under prevailing labour laws to regular employees.

In order to divert women workforce from vulnerable informal to formal sector, issues like availability of institutional credit, training facilities for development and updating their business and marketing skills and personal and business security are to be addressed.

Apart from providing credit, the microfinance banks need to arrange for skill development training programmes particularly for village and semi- urban based small business owners. There is growing demand for Pakistani crafts, bangles, jewellery, embellish/designer garments, khadi/hand-woven cotton and woollen products and leather goods, etc., both in the national and international markets.

Women chambers of commerce and industry operating independently at least in Karachi and Lahore can facilitate marketing of women entrepreneur products both at domestic and international level. Similarly, Pakistan Trade Development Authority must take initiative to promote marketing of products of this deprived class of business women.