Women need to lean in

In most societies of the world, particularly in developing countries, household is the world of women, and the public and politics is the world of men. Similarly, it is perceived that the Pakistani economy is a men’s club while women enjoy the throne at home. The country remains a cultural bounded nation where women’s participation in paid labour is still very low.

The results the annual Global Gender Gap Index for 2022 report released by the World Economic Forum is neither surprising, nor pleasant. Pakistan continues to be at the bottom of the list when it concerns women’s economic participation and prospects, with only Iran and Afghanistan ranked below us. According to the 2016 UN Women’s Status Report on Women’s Economic Participation and Empowerment in Pakistan, women account for 65 percent of the PKR 400 billion (USD 2.8 billion) that Home Based Workers (HBWs) contribute to Pakistan’s economy. The men have more decision-making power than the women, whether it is in the household, the corporate sector, or the country at large. The persistent gap of socioeconomic status between men and women tends to increase because of low literacy rate, lack of educational facilities and awareness, poor economic condition, lack of skills and insecure environment of the society for working women.

In this necessity of being politically correct at all times, with peripheral brittle male egos at play, I got into a heated argument with my husband where he opined that the economic crisis cannot be framed as a ‘male-female issue’. However, I beg to differ. Our banks and parks would be more go-able for women if men were told to renounce their work and told to be at home to learn housework which, by the way, is a life skill.

Evidently, it happens because men relish too much from the economy. More than an economic fight, this is a political battle against the liberties and privileged Pakistani men have revelled in for too long in our society. The curators of this culture fear self-reliant and economically independent women. A clique of dominant conservative men would rather shelter women than promote them. The economic system is built by such men who are enabled by the thankless, unchecked care provided by women. The situation becomes more complex when most of the women work in the informal economy because in the developing world 95 percent of employed women work in the informal economy. This creates an imbalance in duties between the household and workplace affecting their performance at both ends. Giving more time at home could mean an increase in their inefficiency at work and likewise an increase in unemployment. Pakistan is especially important because it has one of the lowest female labour force participation rates in South Asia.

In Pakistan, men are more mobile and have easy access to public spaces to meet anyone, whether friends, colleagues or strangers, eating at a dhaba or driving a car for ride-hailing service Careem without any issues. On the other side of the quantum, countless women are not able to enjoy any freedom. While men easily mentor other men to build each other’s career and prosper in life, most of the work women do is either underpaid or undercounted or worse, even if they are more efficient or skilful than men.

There are cases of female domestic help being mistreated, girl students are judged for what they wear, women are constantly assaulted at work, in public and at home and are often forced to leave jobs after marriage. In short, making your place in a man’s world is indeed difficult.

Women barely find time to themselves as they must play the role of the dutiful member of the house. For many years, explanation for this disparity is focused on structural social inequalities – the social obligations that men conveniently opt out of. It is imperative to make these women economically independent because one doesn’t know what life may throw at them. One must be equipped to do the worst and expect the best. Career progressions take time. Job markets are cutthroat. Every professional woman I know has somewhere stumbled upon male resentment whether in the office or at home. Unfortunately, this also applies to their own gender sometimes.

We assume an unsaid agreement between these gender roles; men are the bread earners, women are the home makers. Maintaining a beautiful self and a well-kept home is what women are made for. We accept this and limit ourselves in order to receive sanctuary and material gains from this setup. Those who call out this disparity are labelled as uncompromising and disrespectful and face the unforgiving burden of living in a space where dominant forces such as housing, career or steady income is the result of an agreeable judgement of an influential male.

The problem is that Pakistanis do not see this as a problem at all. This disparate equation between the men and women is a given for many households. There are no two ways about it. If God forbid, a woman tries to go against the tide, she has to bear the brunt of it because she is unwilling to accept this arrangement. Tragically, we are still waiting for women to carve out a significant place in parliament, the economy, the political affairs, the legal positions, the corporate roles etc to become a norm.

What I do hope for is that we must change the dynamics of our private lives to bring about change, one family at a time. Women must fight for fair wages. Men need to step up and do the dishes. Women should be able to drive the car and not depend on the men. Families must pay minimum wage to the domestic help. Husbands must start co-parenting. Mothers need to encourage their daughters to apply for that job they have been eyeing. Colleagues need to encourage women’s ideas. Women must call out male entitlement. Most importantly, women need to enable each other in friendships and familial relationships. The way out of this inequality is in our daily lives, everyday struggles, ordinary rebellion, and not in one-day protests and marches, not in hollow, vapid sloganeering.

The writer is a journalist based in Karachi