1.1 Demographic Transition and Status of Women in Pakistan

Women’s empowerment has more than one component: their right to make a decision; their access to opportunities and resources; authority to be in charge of their own lives, both inside and outside the home. Female empowerment has many dimensions. It includes access to knowledge, possession of social and economic resources and more autonomy in political and economic decision-making processes. All these components and dimensions of female empowerment are interrelated and an alteration in one component will not bring a huge transformation unless all change.

If females have access to the productivity of men, then both genders can work simultaneously towards the betterment of the country, and this will lead to a sustainable way out of poverty. Therefore, women should get equal work opportunities. But women have greater challenges, as they do not get the same economic opportunities as men do. They do not get access to the decent working condition and lag behind men in decision making.

In Pakistan, women do not has proper identities, as she is owned by her male peers. Their integrity and health are often beyond their own control. They are taken as invisible, underserved and undernourished. The culture of Pakistan is greatly patriarchal, there are many old and conservative traditions of women having a subservient and subordinate role. Decisions for female individuals are made by men in her family, especially in under-developed and distant regions. In Pakistan, specific religious beliefs are deeply rooted in citizen’s beliefs, on which many traditions and social perspective surfaces.

Gender empowerment means that females ought to gain equality under the law and it must be implemented and enforced. Women’s empowerment essentially contains legal fairness, equal access to education and practical exercise, females’ management at the national level, positive action for jobs with one and the same pay, and a gender-sensitive justice system.

1.2 Factors Effecting Women Empowerment In Pakistan

Women consist of more than 50 percent of population in Pakistan and to deprive this half population of empowerment is to deprive our economy of growth. Women empowerment will not only result in the empowerment of women but also the economic well-being of the country. The development of the country also should result in equitable distribution of development benefits especially to the women sector. Economically empower women have more autonomy and resultantly this can transform their children and family lives. As she is a pivot about which entire family unit revolve, therefore an economically enriched woman has a constructive impact on the future generation.

Countries who don’t take benefit of its full population and ignores half of it, it is actually misallocating its resources, which will only lead to the reducing their development potential. All countries should focus on its weakness and learn from more successful countries. It should also set up such policies which take advantage of the whole population, as in both female and male. As successful countries are the one who recognize the potential in the women force as well for development.

Throughout the world, there is not a single country which can boast of gender equality and full women empowerment. Women still out there face discrimination and are lagging behind in one way or the other. Gender equality in two critical sections is very important like economic and political empowerment of women. There is improvement in health and education with the advent of technology and as globally economies are developing but yet there is a long way to go as women are still very behind men especially in decision making and income earning. With the past trend it is quiet visible women are actively participating in to take charge of their own lives and this is in fact effecting the communities and society as a whole. But there is a big problem as women are not consistent class, they vary by race culture, society, brought up and opportunity, thus these factors also plays an important part in the disparity of women as these factors affect the behavior of society members.

The objective of this research is to find out what political and economic determinants effect the women empowerment especially in Pakistan. The main goal is to find out what past variables have been selected and to learn from them and find new determinants.

1.3 Incidence and The Extent Women Empowerment In Pakistan

As Pakistan is a growing and developing country and for the past few years its condition is not much improving, this in act is further affecting the condition of women. As more and more people are effected and thus poverty is increasing. Thus women have to strive hard to contribute to the family income, so that their family is at least above poverty line

In Pakistan, apparently through the perspective of Islam this country says it gives equal right to both men and women but there is another side to the picture. Women constitute a small portion in decision making and they contribute very less o the development of the country as there labor force participation with respect to men is very less. The status of women in this country represents the traditions and the social customs, which led women to this condition.

Women are always underprivileged then man in Pakistan, they get less education, food, decision making and health. As it is consider men are the lords of women, and women are deprived from their basic rights. Women destiny is controlled by men. This is not the case in Pakistan only but also in many countries men are considered superior than women. To achieve development, we have to convert our weakness to strengths.

It is also known that increase women participation in the labor force will benefit the growth and resources can be distributed more easily to disadvantaged people. Thus women should get decent work, social protection and voice at work. As most of the time women are subjugated to lower wages than men and their wages have barely increased over time and they are offered low skilled, low paid atypical jobs, mainly performed from home. One of the greatest achievements in Pakistan, during the last decade has been the increasing proportion of women in the labor force, enabling women all over the country to use their potential in the labor market and to achieve economic independence. But yet we still have a long way to go.

From Global perspective higher percentage of female are working in the developed countries than ever before, yet at the identical time these women continuing raise children to bear new burdens. But these women face tradeoffs as it will be difficult to find good demanding jobs with children to look after too as well. That is why there is not equal opportunity for men and women. Not only the family but also the society, government and the whole nation will benefit from the empowerment of women.

Versatile aspects contribute to the passive functions played by women in the Pakistan Society. Great emphasis has been laid on removing gender inequality and improving women empowerment as Millennium Developmental Goal, resultantly many efforts have been initiated by the Government and NGOs in Pakistan on this issue

According to (Pakistan employment trends for women) , international Labor Organization (ILO), has the objective of the promotion of opportunities for women and men to obtain productive employment is also the overall objective of the four fundamental ILO Conventions stressing gender equality cover: (1) equal remuneration (2) non-discrimination in employment and occupation, (3) workers with family responsibilities and (4) maternity protection.

The Millennium Development Goals that emerged from the UN Millennium Declaration of September 2000 are specific measurable targets, including the one for reducing the extreme poverty that still grips more than 1 billion of the world’s people by 2015. Essential to this promise are the MDGs interrelated to educational results: (1) Guarantee that all youngsters complete primary education by 2015. (2) Remove gender inequalities in primary and secondary education. By 2006, most countries have already fallen well behind the necessary targets to meet these goals (Millennium Development Goal, 2006).

As stated in millennium development goal 3 the promotion of gender equality and empowerment is fundamental to achieving the remaining MDGs .Likewise, there is evidence that addressing gender issues benefits individuals and families, workers and employers, society and national economies. Improving women’s wages and earnings has been identified as a key element in tackling poverty and achieving the MDGs.

Yet there are Country specific activities to promote gender equality and decent work as in Pakistan’s constitution ensures all fundamental human rights and guarantees equal employment opportunities for men and women. Existing labor legislations do not discriminate against anyone on the basis of sex, but women are not allowed to work in a few areas for health and safety reasons, but the society as a whole plays a big part. the traditions of Pakistan forces women to sit at home and look after the children only , whether there husband give them money or not ,. Society or community does not approve females going out and raising voices for their rights. They also disapprove females working outside their homes. It is consider the work of women juts to look after their families. So to change this whole perceptive media is playing a big part but the government also needs to be active.

As recently the Government initiated a number of activities to promote gender equality at the heart of decent work and to achieve MDG target calling for “full and productive employment and decent work for all including women and young people.” Those activities range from gender

Sensitive revisions of constitutional and legal provisions to the establishment of new policy frameworks that help to accomplish the target. Therefore, the elevation of privileges of women and men in the domain of work and to achieve gender equality are reflected in a number of national development frameworks and policy documents including the Medium Term Development Framework (MTDF) for 2005-10, the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) and documents exclusively relating to labor markets such as the 2002 Labor Policy and the 2006 Labor Protection Policy. Pakistan’s Decent Work Country Program (DWCP) spells out the main strategy and plan of action to promote the creation of decent work with gender equality as a cross cutting theme. Overview of existing national policies and development frameworks that stress gender equality and decent work in the country. (Haq)

1.4 Managerial and Academic concerns

My research will highlight the key determinants of women empowerment in Pakistan. As this issue is not only prevalent in Pakistan but is a global issue. as It is very important to conduct a research on determinants of women empowerment because it will stress on women troubles and bring them in to attention and it can facilitates and direct the policy makers to make such an intervention in their area, that could enrich these females not only economically but also politically and financially so that they can make a difference in their children lives and their individual living environment .Consequently providing her the individual safety and self-respect that is her essential right. this research is will also help independent institutions like NGO’s to reach out to economically and politically deprived women as The negligence of women in development process will be big loss for Pakistan as it will result in loss in human potential and ultimately effect national development.

Academically, this research is very significant for the undergraduates as it will help them pinpoint the economic and political determinants which effect the women empowerment in Pakistan. Student will find this research more realistic and precise. As now more individuals are getting conscious of this issue, so more instructors and undergraduates are doing research on women empowerment. They will find this investigation more helpful.

1.6 Keywords and Definitions

Empowerment

Refers to increasing the spiritual, political, social or economic strength of individuals and communities. It often involves the empowered developing confidence in their own capacities

(Ouellette)

Women’s empowerment

refers to the ability of women to transform economic and social development when empowered to fully participate in the decisions that affect their lives through leadership training, coaching, consulting, and the provision of enabling tools for women to lead within their communities, regions, and countries

(Wise earth)

Economic and political Determinants

An identifiable element in economic and political that affects that limits or defines a decision or condition.

1.7 Study Objectives

This study is an attempt to find the determinants of women empowerment in Pakistan as women being the core element of development and in Pakistan it consists of more than half of the population.